Some OEM manufacturer's BIOS will not allow for machines to boot to PXE or iPXE

Products

• Ghost Solution Suite
• Deployment Solution

Issue/Introduction

Some newer BIOS won't allow for the machine to PXE or IPXE boot 

Environment

This BIOS is on some newer or updated BIOS version from OEM manufacturers

OEM manufacturers such as Dell, Lenovo, and HP are starting to add DMA protection to the BIOS to prevent unintended Direct  Memory Attacks for all DMA-capable devices during the boot process.

Cause

"Enable Pre-boot DMA Support" is enabled in the BIOS

Resolution

NOTE: If there are two options for DMA Support of 'Enable OS Kernel DMA Support" and "Enable Pre-Boot DMA Support". Disable only "Enable Pre-Boot DMA Support"

To disable go to :BIOS > Security > Virtualization > Enable Pre-Boot DMA Support > Toggle: OFF

If "Kernal DMA Protection" is listed also disable it.

We recommend keeping client BIOS/Firmware updated for successful boot to PXE. These settings should be verified again if a BIOS/Firmware update is applied.

Additional DS (Deployment Solution) and GSS (Ghost Solution Suite) files:

NOTE: It is not pointfix but a new version available that you may want to consider for an updated 64-bit ipxe.efi (ipxe v1.21.1+) binaries signed by Microsoft:

"updated 64-bit ipxe.efi (ipxe v1.21.1+) binaries" (KB 280113)

 

Additional Information

Other articles of interest:

Kernel DMA Protection:

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?articleId=219602

Microsoft: About DMA protection: 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/device-experiences/oem-kernel-dma-protection: