Can't PXE boot with IDE card installed

I am trying to build a jbod from existing MB and drives, but I want it
to PXE boot. I find that if I install just about any PCI IDE or SATA
disk controller card, the system will not PXE boot. I have tried
Maxtor, Promise and SIIG cards. I have tried two differenet
motherboards - on one the LAN boot option drops of the boot list if the
PCI controller card is installed, on the other it remains on list but
boot fails. Both MB have built-in ethernet with LAN boot option, but I
have also tried with an RTL8139 based card with an MBA room installed,
with the same result. I should add that I am pretty sure all the
hardware is ok - if I remove the card PXE boot works, and if I switch
to another boot device the controller cards work. I found a posting on
usenet warning against having too many potential boot devices, for fear
of running out of "bios memory space", but disabling devices in the
BIOS setup didn't help. An FAQ at the Argon Technologies site suggests
changing switching ints 18 and 19, but the card I purchased from them
doesn't seem to have that ability.

Any ideas? I am open to purchasing a different NIC or controller, but
want a simple $50 IDE paddle board, not a $500 3ware RAID controller or
I will feel I have made an awful mess of this project.

Daniel Feenberg
feenberg isat nber dotte org
617-588-0343

wrote:
I am trying to build a jbod from existing MB and drives, but I want it
to PXE boot. I find that if I install just about any PCI IDE or SATA
disk controller card, the system will not PXE boot. I have tried
Maxtor, Promise and SIIG cards. I have tried two differenet
motherboards - on one the LAN boot option drops of the boot list if the
PCI controller card is installed, on the other it remains on list but
boot fails. Both MB have built-in ethernet with LAN boot option, but I
have also tried with an RTL8139 based card with an MBA room installed,
with the same result. I should add that I am pretty sure all the
hardware is ok - if I remove the card PXE boot works, and if I switch
to another boot device the controller cards work. I found a posting on
usenet warning against having too many potential boot devices, for fear
of running out of "bios memory space", but disabling devices in the
BIOS setup didn't help. An FAQ at the Argon Technologies site suggests
changing switching ints 18 and 19, but the card I purchased from them
doesn't seem to have that ability.

Any ideas? I am open to purchasing a different NIC or controller, but
want a simple $50 IDE paddle board, not a $500 3ware RAID controller or
I will feel I have made an awful mess of this project.


Replying to my own posting...

I found that there is a setting in the CMOS setup screen for PnP
called "Reset Configuration Data". Once that is enabled, everything is
fine. Surprisingly (to me) "Load optimal|safe defaults" did not reset
the configuration data.

Daniel Feenberg
feenberg isat nber dotte org
617-588-0343