Configuring the Intel Boot Agent in a Microsoft Windows Environment

If you use the Windows operating system on your client computer, you can use Intel® PROSet for Windows* Device Manager to configure and update the Intel Boot Agent software. Intel PROSet is available through the device manager. Intel PROSet provides a special tab, called the Boot Options tab, used for configuring and updating the Intel Boot Agent software.

To access the Boot Options tab:

1. Open Intel PROSet for Windows Device Manager by opening the System Control Panel. On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager.

2. Select the appropriate adapter and click the Boot Options tab. If the tab does not appear, update your network driver.

3. The Boot Options tab shows a list of current configuration parameters and their corresponding values. Corresponding configuration values appear for the selected setting in a drop-down box.

4. Select a setting you want to change from the Settings selection box.

5. Select a value for that setting from the Value drop-down list.

6. Repeat the preceding two steps to change any additional settings.

7. Once you have completed your changes, click Apply Changes to update the adapter with the new values.

Configuring the Intel Boot Agent in a Preboot PXE Environment

You can customize the behavior of the Intel Boot Agent software through a preboot (operating system independent) configuration setup program contained within the adapter’s flash ROM. You can access this preboot configuration setup program each time the client computer cycles through the boot process.

When the boot process begins, the screen clears and the computer begins its Power On Self Test (POST) sequence. Shortly after completion of the POST, the Intel Boot Agent software stored in flash ROM executes. The Intel Boot Agent then displays an initialization message, similar to the one below, indicating that it is active:

Initializing Intel(R) Boot Agent Version X.X.XX
PXE 2.0 Build 083

The configuration setup menu shows a list of configuration settings on the left and their corresponding values on the right. Key descriptions near the bottom of the menu indicate how to change values for the configuration settings. For each selected setting, a brief “mini-Help” description of its function appears just above the key descriptions.

1. Highlight the setting you need to change by using the arrow keys.

2. Once you have accessed the setting you want to change, press the space bar until the desired value appears.

3. Once you have completed your changes, press F4 to update the adapter with the new values. Any changed configuration values are applied as the boot process resumes.

The following describes the available configuration settings and their possible values.

Network Boot Protocol:

Select PXE for use with Network management programs, such as LANDesk* Management Suite. Depending on the configuration of the Intel Boot Agent, this parameter may not be changeable.

Possible values include:

• PXE (Preboot eXecution Environment)

Boot Order:

Sets the boot order in which devices are selected during boot up if the computer does not have its own control method.

If your client computer’s BIOS supports the BIOS Boot Specification (BBS), or allows PnP-compliant selection of the boot order in the BIOS setup program, then this setting will always be Use BIOS Setup Boot Order and cannot be changed. In this case, refer to the BIOS setup manual specific to your client computer to set up boot options.

If your client computer does not have a BBS- or PnP-compliant BIOS, you can select any one of the other possible values listed for this setting except for Use BIOS Setup Boot Order.

Possible values include:

• Use BIOS Setup Boot Order

• Try network first, then local drives

• Try local drives first, then network

• Try network only

• Try local drives only

Legacy OS Wakeup Support:

(For 82559-based adapters only)

If set to 1, the Intel Boot Agent will enable PME in the adapter’s PCI configuration space during initialization. This allows remote wakeup under legacy operating systems that don’t normally support it. Note that enabling this makes the adapter technically non-compliant with the ACPI specification, which is why the default is disabled.

Possible values include:

• 0 = Disabled (Default Value)

• 1 = Enabled

While the configuration setup menu is displayed, diagnostics information is also displayed in the lower half of the screen. This information can be helpful during interaction with Intel Customer Support personnel or your IT team members. For more information about how to interpret the information displayed, refer to Diagnostics Information for Preboot PXE Environments below.

Linux* Server Setup

Consult your Linux vendor for information about setting up the Linux Server.

Windows Deployment Services

Nothing is needed beyond the standard driver files supplied in the software release. Microsoft owns the process and associated instructions for Windows Deployment Services. For more information on Windows Deployment Services perform a search of Microsoft articles at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspx.

Common Issues

The following list of problems and associated solutions covers a representative set of problems that you might encounter while using the Intel Boot Agent.

Diagnostics Information for Preboot PXE Environments

Anytime the configuration setup menu is displayed (see Configuring the Intel Boot Agent in a Preboot PXE Environment above), diagnostics information is also displayed on the lower portion of the screen. The information displayed appears similar to that shown in the lower half of the screen image below. This information can be helpful during interaction with Intel Customer Support personnel or your IT team members.

Diagnostics information may include the following items:

• PWA Number: The Printed Wire Assembly number identifies the adapter’s model and version.

• MAC Address: The unique Ethernet address assigned to the device.

• Memory: The memory address assigned by the BIOS for memory-mapped adapter access.

• I/O: The I/O port address assigned by the BIOS for I/O-mapped adapter access.

• IRQ: The hardware interrupt assigned by the system BIOS.

• UNB: The address in upper memory where the Boot Agent is installed by the BIOS.

• PCI ID: The set of PCI identification values from the adapter in the form:

  VendorID/DeviceID/SubvendorID/SubdeviceID/Revision
  

• Slot: The PCI bus address (slot number)reported by the BIOS.

  Note:

  The number displayed is the BIOS version of the PCI slot number. Therefore, actual positions of NICs within physical slots may not be displayed as expected. Slots are not always enumerated in an obvious manner, and this will only report what is indicated by the BIOS.

• Flags: A set of miscellaneous data either read from the adapter EEPROM or calculated by the Boot Agent initialization code. This information varies from one adapter to the next and is only intended for use by Intel customer support.