Netboot with Intel EEPRO100+ Management

[Erik Starback <erik@math.uu.se>]

Hello!

When Intel eepro100+ NIC disappeared from the market, I didn't know
what to do. I didn't find any information if anyone has used the
new eepro100+ Management Adapter to netboot linux. 

I thought that the card should netboot with the same configuration as
the old card when I read Donald Beckers comment:
> The driver should "just work" with the '559. It's not supposed to be
> substantially different than the '558. (I don't have a datasheet
> or sample card to confirm this statement.)

The problem was now only to put the netboot-program to the built in
flash memory on the NIC. With the old card I used a flash memory (Intel
N28F020 [N28010 didn't work])) and the program FUTIL.EXE from Intel to
flash it. FUTIL did't recognize the memory on the management card
and did not work therefore.

I found the intel program FBOOT.EXE that was made to upgrade the built
in Intel BOOT agent. I did: Boot dos from floppy, Run FBOOT (choose
adapter), choose (u)pdate, choose Create restore image, rename the
backup file (in my case 2743BE52.FLS [the eight last hex digits from
the MAC address]), rename your netboot code (in my case netboot 0.8.1)
to the backup files original name (in my case 2743BE52.FLS), run
FBOOT, choose (r)estore.

Voila!

A shorter way (if you don't need the backup of the old Intel BOOT
agent code) is of course: rename netboot file to [the eight last hex
digits from the MAC address].FLS, run FBOOT, choose restore.
 
Caution: I think it is possible to make a NIC unusable if you have
made the netboot (or etherboot) file with "wrong" parameters. A couple
of month ago I did a etherboot boot file and put it on an old
EEPRO100+ card. It worked fine, but it was impossible to boot local
with it. So I could not boot dos and with FUTIL or FBOOT erase the
flash memory!  To erase the chip I had to take out the memory chip,
boot dos and then put in the memory chip. This isn't possible when the
memory chip is build in.

Links:
<http://support.intel.com/support/landesk/configmgr/LSA1_193.HTM>
FUTIL.EXE  is a part of LSA1_193.ZIP

<http://support.intel.com/support/etherexpress/pro100/100pboot.htm>
FBOOT.EXE is a part of 100pboot.exe

/Erik S

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erik Starbäck, System administrator    E-mail address:    erik@math.uu.se
Uppsala University                     Telephone (o):     +46 18 4713277
Department of Mathematics              Cellular phone:    +46 70 4250260
P. O. Box 480                          Fax (o):           +46 18 4713201
SE-751 06  UPPSALA                  
Sweden                                


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