installing Ubuntu via PXE using tftpd32

[tomg...@hotmail.com]

Hi

I'm trying to install the latest version of Ubuntu on my laptop using
the PXE boot method. I have looked around the internet and followed
some advice but can't seem to get it to work.

I downloaded and used the program tftpd32 but it doesn't seem to
work. I have a windows machine connected (wired) to my Netgear
router. I have put in the correct values for the DHCP server and
turned off the windows firewall and the routers own DHCP server.

The values of the DHCP server tab are

server interfaces 192.168.0.2

ip pool starting address 192.168.0.3
size of pool 1
boot file pxelinux.0
WINS/DNS Server 192.168.0.1
Default router 192.168.0.1
Mask 255.255.255.0

when i turn on the laptop i get the following in the log viewer window

Rcvd DHCP Discover Msg for IP 0.0.0.0, Mac 00:08:02:9D:B2:3D [25/08
14:57:21.062]
no more address or address previously allocated by another server
[25/08 14:57:21.062]

any help would be greatly welcome. At the moment my laptop has Fedora
Core 7 installed on it and i cant seem to get my wireless connection
working. I was thinking that i might have more luck with Ubuntu.
Does this seem plausable or just a waste of time?

Thanks

[Stephen Bryant]

tomg...@hotmail.com wrote:
> Hi
>
> I'm trying to install the latest version of Ubuntu on my laptop using
> the PXE boot method. I have looked around the internet and followed
> some advice but can't seem to get it to work.

Is there a reason you need to do this? It's not entirely trivial to get
going. If possible, boot from CD-ROM or DVD, and install from there!

> I downloaded and used the program tftpd32 but it doesn't seem to
> work. I have a windows machine connected (wired) to my Netgear
> router. I have put in the correct values for the DHCP server and
> turned off the windows firewall and the routers own DHCP server.
>
> The values of the DHCP server tab are
>
> server interfaces 192.168.0.2
>
> ip pool starting address 192.168.0.3
> size of pool 1
> boot file pxelinux.0
> WINS/DNS Server 192.168.0.1
> Default router 192.168.0.1
> Mask 255.255.255.0

I'm curious to see that you can specify a boot file but no IP address for
the TFTP server. Did you leave it out, or must you use a TFTP server on
the router?

> when i turn on the laptop i get the following in the log viewer window
>
> Rcvd DHCP Discover Msg for IP 0.0.0.0, Mac 00:08:02:9D:B2:3D [25/08
> 14:57:21.062]
> no more address or address previously allocated by another server
> [25/08 14:57:21.062]

You could try making your pool larger, so that it's got more addresses to
allocate.

> any help would be greatly welcome. At the moment my laptop has Fedora
> Core 7 installed on it and i cant seem to get my wireless connection
> working. I was thinking that i might have more luck with Ubuntu.
> Does this seem plausable or just a waste of time?

Have another look at your router settings. They often have two sets of
network addresses - one for wired, and one for wireless. It may well be
that the pool you have is for the wired network, and it doesn't have any
configured for the wireless one.

Are you wanting to do a PXE install over a wireless LAN? I'm not aware of
any WLAN cards that do PXE... maybe there are some, but it would be
_really_ slow! The PXE drivers for normal cards don't perform particularly
well. You really should consider installing at least the base system from
a CD/DVD.

I can't comment on whether Ubuntu or FC7 is better - I don't use either of
those.

Steve