Dell OptiPlex 755 - Boot menu not visible in SOL window

[kris_lmi]

Hello,

I am not sure if I am posting to the appropriate thread. If not, please excuse me. I am a newbie. :)

We have DELL OptiPlex 755 machines which were shipped with AMT 3.2. Since we use multi boot (5-6 different operating systems are installed on those boxes) it would be very nice if we could reboot the machine and select the OS from the boot menu remotely. I set up the machine to use Small Business provisioning and was able to connect to the web interface using http://:16992 Then I have downloaded the Manageability Developer Toolkit from the Intel website and used the Manageability Commander Tool to connect to the host. I was quite successful with that, everything worked (power on/off, b2b, etc.) except for seeing the boot menu in the SOL console window. I saw the initial boot screen but as soon as Vistas boot menu was displayed the remote screen has gone blank. I could navigate through the menu (I pushed up/down on the remote keyboard and saw the cursor moving up and down on the locally attached screen) though. I have also downloaded a 3rd party application whichproduced the same symptoms, everything worked fine except for seeing the boot menu.
DELL bios version# is A13.

I would be very thankful if you could give me any advise.

Thanks,
Kristof

[Shmuel_G_Intel]

Quoting - kris_lmi

Hello,

I am not sure if I am posting to the appropriate thread. If not, please excuse me. I am a newbie. :)

We have DELL OptiPlex 755 machines which were shipped with AMT 3.2. Since we use multi boot (5-6 different operating systems are installed on those boxes) it would be very nice if we could reboot the machine and select the OS from the boot menu remotely. I set up the machine to use Small Business provisioning and was able to connect to the web interface using http://:16992 Then I have downloaded the Manageability Developer Toolkit from the Intel website and used the Manageability Commander Tool to connect to the host. I was quite successful with that, everything worked (power on/off, b2b, etc.) except for seeing the boot menu in the SOL console window. I saw the initial boot screen but as soon as Vistas boot menu was displayed the remote screen has gone blank. I could navigate through the menu (I pushed up/down on the remote keyboard and saw the cursor moving up and down on the locally attached screen) though. I have also downloaded a 3rd party application whichproduced the same symptoms, everything worked fine except for seeing the boot menu.
DELL bios version# is A13.

I would be very thankful if you could give me any advise.

Thanks,
Kristof

Kristof, what an interesting question!
Mysel, I never needed to use a dual boot with SOL, but I still got curious about this issue now :).

A veryold thread at the forum touched this matter:
http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/showthread.php?t=53395

Can you see if you can learn anything from the thread?
Let know if you are still stuck,meanwhile I'll check with my colleagues if they know the answer.

Good luck;
Shmuel

[Gael_H_Intel]

Quoting - Shmuel Gershon (Intel)

Kristof, what an interesting question!
Mysel, I never needed to use a dual boot with SOL, but I still got curious about this issue now :).

A veryold thread at the forum touched this matter:
http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/showthread.php?t=53395

Can you see if you can learn anything from the thread?
Let know if you are still stuck,meanwhile I'll check with my colleagues if they know the answer.

Good luck;
Shmuel

Hi Kristof,

Just for clarification, is the Dell boot menu graphical? Keep in mind that usually when the SOL display goes blank, it is usually because SOL will only handle text. We do not have a Dell 755 in our lab but I do know that our current dells have a graphical bios which does not come up when booting to BIOS during a SOL session. (the systems do switch to a text based bios screen.)

[kris_lmi]

Hi Shmuel,

Thanks for you answer, that topiclooks really useful! I managed to fix it for the XP load progress indicator that should appear when you select "Earlier version of Windows" from the Vista boot menu. I had to enter the follwing command in the command promt window:

bootcfg /ems ON /port COM3 /baud 115200 /id 1

I rebooted the PC, choose "Earlier version of Windows" from the Vista boot menu (which I still don't see) through the SOL window and the XP load progress indicator appeared!

Now I am struggling with Vista (actually it's Windows7). I can't seem to find the right bcdedit command. however, there is hope now.

Thanks,
Kristof

Quoting - Shmuel Gershon (Intel)

Kristof, what an interesting question!
Mysel, I never needed to use a dual boot with SOL, but I still got curious about this issue now :).

A veryold thread at the forum touched this matter:
http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/showthread.php?t=53395

Can you see if you can learn anything from the thread?
Let know if you are still stuck,meanwhile I'll check with my colleagues if they know the answer.

Good luck;
Shmuel

[kris_lmi]

Hi Gael,

No, I am speaking of Vista's (Windows 7 actually) boot menu. Now thatI see what the problem is (I have to redirect the console output to the SOL port using bcdedit commands) I think there is hope that it will work. Boot to bios works fine for me by the way. I can see the bios entries in the SOL window.

I am testing another version of AMT on a daily basis and had no such problem before. But this is another story. :)

Thanks,
Kristof

Quoting - Gael Holmes (Intel)

Hi Kristof,

Just for clarification, is the Dell boot menu graphical? Keep in mind that usually when the SOL display goes blank, it is usually because SOL will only handle text. We do not have a Dell 755 in our lab but I do know that our current dells have a graphical bios which does not come up when booting to BIOS during a SOL session. (the systems do switch to a text based bios screen.)

[Gael_H_Intel]

Quoting - kris_lmi

Hi Gael,

No, I am speaking of Vista's (Windows 7 actually) boot menu. Now thatI see what the problem is (I have to redirect the console output to the SOL port using bcdedit commands) I think there is hope that it will work. Boot to bios works fine for me by the way. I can see the bios entries in the SOL window.

I am testing another version of AMT on a daily basis and had no such problem before. But this is another story. :)

Thanks,
Kristof

Hi Kristof,
Thanks for your explanation of the problem and sharing how you got around it -very interesting, indeed!

[Shmuel_G_Intel]

Actually, we still don't know how to redirect the Win7 boot menu :).
Kristof, be sure to drop us a note if you solve the problem (a secret flag in bcedit?)-- this thread will certainly be useful for others!

[kris_lmi]

I tried all possible combinations with the /bootems, /ems and /emessetting switches but had no luck. Possible Win7 bug? :) I need to check with Vista too.

Quoting - Shmuel Gershon (Intel)

Actually, we still don't know how to redirect the Win7 boot menu :).
Kristof, be sure to drop us a note if you solve the problem (a secret flag in bcedit?)-- this thread will certainly be useful for others!

[Shmuel_G_Intel]

Quoting - kris_lmi

I tried all possible combinations with the /bootems, /ems and /emessetting switches but had no luck. Possible Win7 bug? :) I need to check with Vista too.

Kristof;

You can also try one of the GUI interfaces to bcdedit (search for bcdedit GUI at google, you'll find ABCDEdit, EasyBCD, VistaBootPro and others, I never tried anyone and I can't endorse anyone -- actually, take the advice at your risk and without warantyas it is way out of my expertise :) ).
Maybe one of the advanced graphic interfaces show an option that is hidden from bcdedit's usage notice.

Keep us posted and good luck;
Shmuel