Trouble Booting New HP Machines with PXE
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TechWhiz123
I'm having issues with some new HP machines we received. We're still using PXE to build our machines, but when I tried to boot one, it starts PXE and then goes right back to the network boot screen. I wanted to check the BIOS settings to adjust secure boot options, but all the machines are asking for an admin password. When did this become a thing? We have no documentation as these machines just arrived today. Has anyone dealt with this before? According to HP, the password is user-set, but we definitely didn't set this up.
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Just a thought, but did the boxes get opened before you received them? I've only seen this kind of issue when a distributor sends back used units, which they claim are new. We had that situation once when we tried to register a warranty and found they already had one set.
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It's possible these machines were purchased from a reseller and they might have set the admin password. You can try resetting the BIOS by removing the CMOS battery; that should clear the password if that's the case.
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When booting from PXE, you usually have to press a key at some point to continue. But from what you're saying, it sounds like the machines aren't even getting that far. Ours don’t come with a BIOS password by default. It might be worth checking your PXE setup.
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What PXE server are you using? Also, why was disabling secure boot your first thought?
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TechWhiz123: Yeah, I can’t even get to that stage. It just keeps searching for PXE and then drops back to the boot menu. Everything else seems fine; it’s just these new machines - tried 10 of them and they all have the same issue.