boot disk with network support

[Koinonia]

Ok, i have the weirdest problem, so hopefully making one of these will ease my problem a bit.

Just a bit of background... I have a homePNA card (diamond homefree) that has linux drivers. However, strangely, on boot-up, the nic just does not seem to light up and function. therefore, when linux gets to eth0 or whichever device, it fails to obtain the IP address.

alternatively, when i use windows to boot up, the card lights up fine. since the board is an AT form factor, and using an AT power supply, after running windows, i shutdown, but i leave the power on. I switch the IDE cable from windows HD to the linux HD, and VOILA! the nic is running fine in red hat.

now, i have not found a solution to this bizarre problem, but i think that if i can make a boot disk with the homefree driver and at least get it to light up before running linux, then it should ease my way into finding a better solution.

can someone briefly explain how to make a boot disk in DOS that has network support? i just want to be able to ping some external IP address after booting off that floppy.

thanks.

 

[IJump]

I might be able to make one for you and email it to you. I know it would be easier than explaining it to you. I am not very good at explaining stuff like this. If you want me to try, let me know and I will get the drivers I need from their website.

Just send the make/model/other info about your NIC so I can make sure I have the right drivers. And I will have a go at it tomorrow.

edit: Are you sure there isn't a problem with the Linux drivers and your distribution of linux talking to each other?

 

[madwok]

First I create me a dos bootable diskette then

I used the NT server 4.0 and in Admin tool to create the DOS client floppy

Start// Programs// Administrative Tools// Network Client Administrations// Make Network installation
Startup diskette// Give the Path to the NT CD// For Network Client, select Network Client
V3.0 For MS-DOS and Windows// For Network Adapter Card, select 3Com Etherlink,
(make sure to select appropriate protocols for you Network).


And then copy the whatevernic.dos to dir a:\net . Next I modify the System.ini and Protocol.ini to reflect the whatevernic name in netcard= xxx and drivername = xxx.

You really need the whatevernic.dos file fromt the nic vendor support software disk. Look for NDIS or WFW sub .

I don't know where you can copy those ifshlp.sys , netbind.com and bunch of other stuff if you don't have access to NT server 4.0. These are steps that I did when I want to ghost my laptop with new image resided on the server.

Perhaps, you have WFW floppies around . I think you can get them file in those floppies . Boy, it's been years since I have to deal with WFW ....


Good luck

 

[CBuxton]

I would just download it from here: Network Boot Disks. They've got all sorts, autodetect, IPX, NetBeui, etc.

 

[calpha]

I second mr Buxton up there. that's where i got mine.

 

[SaigonK]

Be careful when using their bootdisks, they are awesome but alot of them use netbui which can be an issue f you need to hop across multiple subnets with routers in between since Netbui isnt a routable protocol.