Error PXE-E61 : "Media test failure, check cable"

[Jean-Francois Surantyn]

I have just tested RDP 1.5 (with hotfix C) on a DL360 (that i have just installed so with all the default BIOS parameters)

When this server reboots (in order to create an image for example), it shows me the message "Media test failure, check cable"

However, my PXE and DHCP servers are active on the LAN (some others servers are working correctly with RDP, they connect normally to the DHCP server and the PXE server)

What can be the problem ? Can it be a network/switch problem ?

Thanks for help

Jean-Francois

[Ed Cox]

Jean-Francois,
I had the same error yesterday...And port 1 on my server was unplugged.
The "Media Test Failure - check cable" is almost always a hardware problem.
Ed

[Jean-Francois Surantyn]

Thanks for your help

I had plugged the DL360 on the 2nd NIC.
I plugged the DL360 on the 1st NIC and now it works

Is it impossible to make a network boot with another network card than the 1st NIC ?

Thanks again

Jean-Francois

[Ed Cox]

Jean-Francois,
To boot to an alternate nic...what I've done in the past is create the pxe boot file or diskette and then edit the protocol.ini file under the \Net directory. I'm double checking on that and I'll let you know. But basically you can specify in the file under the:

Drivername=Q57.dos
slot=0x0002 (add this line)

>>This is where you can choose which nic to use. The trick is figuring out the embedded slot number for port 2!
I know on the DL360 G1, the slot for embedded nic 1 is 0x0064 and nic 2 was 0x0065. If you have a G1, try specifying the second number above and see if that works. If you have a G2 or G3...I don't know that one off the top of my head. Also bear in mind that if you do choose an alternate nic in the protocol file, then you also have to go to the server in question and disable pxe on port 1 and enable pxe on port 2. If you are trying to use an alternate PCI nic in a slot then I guess that takes the guesswork out of the slot= number.
I'll let you know more info later.
Ed

[Steven Clementi]

If you have an hp branded NIC, you can usually set the PXE switch to on/off in the system utilities of the server or the BIOS of the NIC.

Only one onboard NIC can be "PXE-on" at a time, but you can have multiple NIC's (expansion cards) that all have it turned on.

The media error usually indicates that the NIC with "PXE-on" is NOT connected to the network (which you found out already).

Steven