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When a client computer is trying to boot to PXE, it receives the following error message:

PXE-E53: No boot filename received

As well probably being an issue somewhat related to the computer which requested a PXE boot menu and did not receive sufficient instructions on how to get one, I'm wondering if that can also be a link problem.

In a nutshell a faulty or wrong connection between the client and the pxe server, can that generate that type of error?

If client and pxe server couldnt' communicate, the result wouldn't be error PXE-E53..right?

Any help will be highly appreciated.

karl
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    What DHCP options is the PXE client getting? – Shane Madden Oct 16 '14 at 22:07
  • So you agree with me that it's just a software issue not a hardware one..right? – karl Oct 16 '14 at 22:25
  • Not necessarily. I've seen the "No DHCP or ProxyDHCP offers received" error on an entire hall full of rooms served by a bad backplane. If they plugged a machine into a switch connected to the backplane, it worked. If they plugged it directly into the backplane, it failed. This problem was fixed six to nine months later when the backplane finally died completely. – Katherine Villyard Oct 18 '14 at 12:40
  • Er. What I'm getting at is: *probably* software. Try moving the PC to a different location, or PXE booting a different machine. Pat's Wireshark suggestion is also good. – Katherine Villyard Oct 18 '14 at 12:54

2 Answers2

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In a PXE environment the PXE client minimally must receive:

  1. IP address
  2. TFTP server IP address
  3. Boot filename

This info is sometimes provided by a single DHCP server (which is PXE enabled) or by a regular DHCP server (non PXE enabled) providing only IPs and a complementary proxyDHCP server only providing the rest of the PXE related parameters.

In your case it looks like (despite which method you are using) the Boot filename info is missing from the DHCP/proxyDHCP offer.

You can easily check this by running a Wireshark capture at your DHCP/proxyDHCP server and see if the DHCPOFFER contains the Boot filename info or not.

Your case looks like a typical DHCP/proxyDHCP miss-configuration

From PXE error codes

• PXE-E53: No boot filename received. The client received at least one valid DHCP/BOOTP offer, but does not have a boot filename to download. There are several possible causes:

1) The DHCP Server and the PXE Server were located on the same server, but one of them was moved to a different server. This would result in an incorrect PXE Server configuration.

To resolve this issue, reinstall the PXE Server component of the Altiris Deployment Solution.

2) The DHCP relay agent, either a Proxy DHCP Server or a switch configured with helper addresses, is not configured correctly. For example, if DHCP and PXE are on separate servers, the DHCP relay agent needs to have both addresses in its configuration.

To resolve this issue, correct the DHCP relay agent configuration.

3) If the Microsoft DHCP service is installed on the PXE server, but is disabled or unconfigured, Altiris PXE Setup configures PXE to work with the local DHCP service (even if the DHCP service is disabled). This causes the PXE server to not respond to PXE clients that get a DHCP address from DHCP services running elsewhere on the network.

To resolve this issue, remove Microsoft DHCP services from the PXE server and reinstall the PXE Server component of the Altiris Deployment Solution.

Pat
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This error message indicates that the client properly received an IP address and instructions on where to find the PXE server, but couldn't download the boot image. If other machines are working, you have a network issue. If no other machines are working, check your DHCP/PXE server configuration.

Katherine Villyard
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