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Network Boot Disk

Hi, I have a computer lab full of Realtek 8139 network cards. I have to re-image them all using Ghost so they all have the same image. I need to be able to make a boot disk that uses the network card so i can map drives on the server without going into Windows. I know this can be done cos i have seen it before.

Kris

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stevenlewis

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stevenlewis

also see here
http://www.i386.com/default.asp?page=pages&category=ADMIN&keyword=booting
especially the basic network bootdisk section

sydchromeboy

ASKER

Thanks the first link seems to be good. But i can t seem to get it to work. It just says Invalid system disk. I have only been a computer tech for 1 and a half years. So i dont know everything!

Thanks.

kris

stevenlewis

which disk did you get?
the multi boot disk should be easy to modify
you of course unzipped the files and copied them over to a disk you formatted with the s switch
format /s a: form a dos prompt, and then copy the files (form the unzipped file you downloaded) over to a:
OK, that confused me, so let me explain
put a blank disk in
from the prompt type
format /s a:
let it format and copy the system files
then unzip the network disk you downloaded, and copy those files to the disk

sydchromeboy

ASKER

Yes i got the first bit. Yes i did that. It then asked me what card i had. I selected #4. It extracted the nessesary files and said driver installed. Then it said initializing tcp/ip via DHCP. then it fails!!!

kris

ASKER

ASKER

ASKER

do you have a dhcp server on the network?
which disk are you working with, it will help me to help yyou

sydchromeboy

ASKER

We have disabled the dhcp side on our NT4 server. We have a thing called a webramp which assigns IPs to all of our computers. I used the first one on the link. the TcP/IP boot disk for PCI cards.

Thanks

stevenlewis

OK, did you edit the rtsnd.ini in the variable cab? you will have to extract all of the files from this cab, edit it, and then make a new cab file and replace the old variable.cab
change the
[TCPIP]
NBSessions=6
SubNetMask0=255 0 0 0
IPAddress0=0 0 0 0
DisableDHCP=0
DriverName=TCPIP$
BINDINGS=RTSND
LANABASE=0

to
[TCPIP]
NBSessions=6
SubNetMask0=255 0 0 0 (make this a valid subnet mask, use a space instead of the dot)
IPAddress0=<use a valid ip for your network, example 192 168 0 1 (note the space instead of the dot)>
DisableDHCP=1
DriverName=TCPIP$
BINDINGS=RTSND
LANABASE=0

stevenlewis

this way you will not be using dhcp, but assigning a static ip for the boot disk. you will have to use a different ip for every workstation

sydchromeboy

ASKER

i cant work out how to make a new cab file

stevenlewis

see here
http://www.bovistech.com/powerarch.htm

sydchromeboy

ASKER

it is getting worse. I have created the new cab file, and copied it to the a:. When it installs now. it copies the rtsnd.dos file no worries, but when it gets to the rtsnd.ini file, it says cannot find file. Even though the file is there in the variable.cab!

Kris

P.S. You will get a lot of points if all this works out

stevenlewis

when you copied the Variable.cab, did you put it in a:\cabfiles
so it overwrote the old variable.cab?
the autoexec.bat lists how it all operates

sydchromeboy

ASKER

Yeah Mate i did all that. it copies the first of the 2 files, but not the second one. Even though the file is there.

sydchromeboy

ASKER

Mate thank you so much. It took a while but we got there in the end. I hope this is reward enough for you work. I will be doing my MCSE early next year, so i will; be able to do all this myself. Thanks again.

Kris in Australia

stevenlewis

Kris, I'm glad I was able to help, and good luck on your MCSE. It's a lot of studying, but worth it in the end
Steve