Member Avatar for moshea2008

my pc w/intel p4, 3.00 Ghz, 3Gb ram, 60 Gb Hhd(not proven to be running, yet), no O/S yet, formatted HD wiped with sys mechanic,
tryn to boot from cd rom (windows oem XP pro sp3), turn on screen imm says " Intel Boot Agent FE v 4.1.10
PXE-E61:Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F:Exiting Intel Boot Agent

attempeted to eliminate network boot by f10 goto start up bios. adjust bootup order and disableing Network boot.
however it keeps comming back....

  • 4 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 342 Views
  • 12 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by vbalag

Dani AI

Generated

Practical checklist and clarifying notes for the Intel PXE fallback issue on an older P4 board (adds to comments by , and ).

A few things are commonly missed when a board keeps trying the network even after “disabling” it in setup: BIOS settings not being saved, a motherboard/firmware override, or simply no other bootable device being seen so the firmware falls back to the NIC. Recommended, in order:

  1. Verify the CD and drive are actually bootable and visible to BIOS. Confirm the optical drive and HDD appear in the BIOS device list. Test the same disc/drive on another machine to rule out bad media.
  2. Make a BIOS change, use the explicit Save & Exit option, then immediately re-enter BIOS to confirm the change persisted. Check system date/time — if it resets at each power-off the CMOS battery is likely dead and should be replaced (common coin cell type).
  3. Use the motherboard’s one-time boot menu (the key is shown during POST) to force the CD-ROM for a single boot — this bypasses persistent-order oddities.
  4. Temporarily disconnect the Ethernet cable and reboot. If behavior changes, it narrows the problem toward NIC/ROM behavior rather than the optical/HDD.
  5. If settings still won’t stick, clear CMOS per the motherboard manual (power down, unplug, remove battery for a few minutes or use the clear-jumper), then reconfigure. Exercise caution and note any supervisor/password locks in BIOS that would prevent saving changes.

If the machine came from a corporate environment, expect possible BIOS locks or jumpers that force PXE (as hinted). As a last resort, consider a controlled BIOS update or disabling the LAN Option ROM in firmware (if available) — only if comfortable with the risk. The simplest decisive checks are: confirm bootable media on another PC, confirm BIOS date/time retention, and temporarily remove the network link.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for tinstaafl

some motherboards have a jumper to force the network boot. Sounds like this is what's happening, especially if the puter came from a large business.

Member Avatar for JorgeM

Once you have an operating system installed, if the network book has a lower priority, then it will not attempt because the OS will load first.

However, in your case, if you have no OS, then the computer will go through your boot priority list and try each option until all have failed.

Member Avatar for vbalag

either the cd rom is bad...or cd is bad...since u say the boot order is checked.... try replacing them one by one...it should work..hope this helps

Member Avatar for vbalag

also check if the cdrom and hard disk are recognized in bios....

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.