Bootutil from linux command line: Repair corrupted PXE-E05

[ZBeeb]

Hello. I have an old Toshiba Laptop with an Intel pro/100 8255x controller NIC. Recently the PXE-BOOTP stopped working with this message: ""PXE-E05: Lan adapter's configuration is corrupted or has not been initialized. The Boot Agent cannot continue.". There's also no NIC visible when the linux system boots up on the laptop.

I have downloaded the preeboot.tar.gz file from Intel's download page, and ran "$ APPS/BootUtil/Linux32/DRIVER/install", which completed without any error.

If understand correctly, I must re-flash the PXE-ROM with bootutil32 in order to restore the PXE-BOOTP capability of the NIC. But what I get is:

# ./bootutil32 => Port / 1, Network-Addr / MAC^, Location / 2.08.0, Series / 10-100, WIOL / NA, Flash / FLASH, Firmware / Not Present

# ./bootutil32 -NIC=1 -up -file=../BootIMG.FLB => "Option ROM area in the flash is not suported for this device on port 1"

Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong and how I can correct this problem?

Thanks & Regards.

[ZBeeb]

To be clear, PRO/100 NIC's based on 8255x controllers are supported according to: http://www.intel.com/support/network/adapter/pro100/bootagent/sb/CS-008362.htm Intel® Boot Agent — How to Update Intel® Boot Agent , so the "flash is not suported for this device" message is a bit strange. Also, I did run "./bootutil32 -NIC=1 -FE" before trying to update.

Perhaps the problem is that I'm trying update (-up) when in fact the flash data has been damaged beyond bootutil's recognition?. Is there a "bootutil install" option or method that I could try?

Regards.

[ZBeeb]

The NIC fails to show up under Linux systems (no eth0), which is claimed as normal from what I have read. I subsequently booted a FreeBSD variant; fxp0 shows up, gets IP using dhclient, but that's about it. The NIC can't ping, can't send or receive any traffic.

"tcpdump" shows the NIC constantly sending "Request who-has tell " outbound traffic, but gets no response since the traffic is not really being sent. "arp -a" finally shows this, aftermulling over the request for some time. The question mark is not a good sign:

"? (dhcp-assigned-ip) at ab:cd:ef:00:11:22 on fxp0 permanent (ethernet)"

Does this mean the NIC is gone without chance to revive, or is there some magic way to bring it back from the dead?