Laptop won't boot when connected to network via Ethernet

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Satch

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#181294 9-Oct-2015 12:26

Hi all,

I am having an issue with a new equipment purchase that neither I nor the technical support of the company I purchased it off have been able to resolve it yet, so I thought I'd post it here for ideas.

To cut a long story short, I purchased a Lenovo X1 Carbon (gen 3) laptop and a Onelink Pro Dock a few weeks ago. The laptop will book fine when it is not connected to the dock, but when docked, it will not boot past the screen which says "press enter to access BIOS etc". I have further narrowed the issue and found that the laptop will boot when connected to the dock as long as I don't have an Ethernet cable connected to the dock. If I boot the laptop not connected to the dock, as soon as it starts to load Windows, it will boot up correctly. Or if it is already booted, connecting it to the dock gives normal functionality.

I am running Windows 10 Home on the laptop.

Things that have been tried so far that haven't resolved the issue:

The dock has been replaced by Lenovo
Updated laptop BIOS
Updated laptop graphics drivers
Updated laptop LAN drivers
Updated wake on LAN drivers
Updated dock firmware
Updated dock drivers
Changed boot order so the laptop FDD is number one priority
Tried different combinations of monitors
Tried different Ethernet cables (this network connections worked fine with an older Lenovo laptop and dock combo)

I was wondering if there were any other generic type things I could try that may be causing this issue? I don't have access to any other Lenovo laptops which use the Onelink Pro Dock so that isn't an option unfortunately.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Cheers.

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#1402995 9-Oct-2015 12:36

Is there an unusual boot order specific, and it's trying some sort of PXEboot or similar and just hanging instead of skipping on failure?

Satch

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#1403004 9-Oct-2015 12:47

Inphinity: Is there an unusual boot order specific, and it's trying some sort of PXEboot or similar and just hanging instead of skipping on failure?

Hey there. Can you provide more info please? I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean sorry.

lxsw20

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#1403013 9-Oct-2015 12:56

Go into the bios, disable boot from USB/PXE Boot etc, make it so the bios boot order boots to the laptop's internal SSD first.

Satch

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#1403015 9-Oct-2015 13:00

lxsw20: Go into the bios, disable boot from USB/PXE Boot etc, make it so the bios boot order boots to the laptop's internal SSD first.

Do you mean disable everything in the boot priority list except for the SSD? Sorry for what may seem to be stupid questions but treat me as a bit of a noob.

lxsw20

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#1403017 9-Oct-2015 13:03

Correct. Or just change it so the SSD is first in the boot priority list. There may be another setting to disable PXE Boot and another to disable USB boot. If you find those options, disable them too.

Satch

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#1403019 9-Oct-2015 13:07

lxsw20: Correct.

Cheers for the clarification. I've been able to rearrange the order, but I've not seen an option to disable any of the eight items on the boot priority list.

D'oh, was just about to post a photo of the BIOS boot priority screen and finally noticed the way to disable an item. Will give this a go when I get home tonight/this weekend and let you know if that was successful. If it is then I guess it is a matter of adding back items one by one until I break it again? Would not want to be in a position where I could never boot from USB.

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nathan

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#1403020 9-Oct-2015 13:07

it should still be under warranty, what does Lenovo support say (after you've tried the above suggestion of PXE / Network book)

Satch

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#1403021 9-Oct-2015 13:08

lxsw20: Correct. Or just change it so the SSD is first in the boot priority list. There may be another setting to disable PXE Boot and another to disable USB boot. If you find those options, disable them too.

I've already tried putting the SSD first (with no other options disabled) and that didn't work. Lenovo suggested this earlier.

Satch

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#1403022 9-Oct-2015 13:11

nathan: it should still be under warranty, what does Lenovo support say (after you've tried the above suggestion of PXE / Network book)

Yes it is still under warranty. I have had exceptionally bad service from Lenovo ever since ordering the equipment. Given I seem to have exhausted all of their available options, short of returning the equipment for a refund (which I'd rather not do), I am insisting they provide onsite support to troubleshoot the issue in my environment. This issue is not unique to me though as another couple of customers have posted the same issue on their support forums with no resolution to date (or posted at least).

Satch

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#1403056 9-Oct-2015 13:39

Ok I got a chance to disable everything on the boot priority list except the SSD and still experienced the same issue :-(

wellygary

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#1403087 9-Oct-2015 14:39

What about disabling the LAN/Network device driver, ?

I know its not very useful to run the laptop in that state, but if it boots OK it would tend to point to it being a Network port/driver issue.

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richms

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#1403088 9-Oct-2015 14:40

Have you tried multiple networks to see if the problem happens on all of them? It might be something whackky that the DHCP server is sending confusing the UEFI TCPIP into crashing etc.

Richard rich.ms

Satch

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#1403089 9-Oct-2015 14:43

wellygary: What about disabling the LAN/Network device driver, ?

I know its not very useful to run the laptop in that state, but if it boots OK it would tend to point to it being a Network port/driver issue.

Just so I am crystal clear, are you suggesting I disable the LAN/Network device driver in Windows, then rebooting with everything still plugged in (dock and Ethernet cable included) to isolate whether it is an issue at the laptop end or something that my network is throwing at the laptop? If so I'll certainly give it a shot. Cheers.

Satch

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#1403093 9-Oct-2015 14:48

richms: Have you tried multiple networks to see if the problem happens on all of them? It might be something whackky that the DHCP server is sending confusing the UEFI TCPIP into crashing etc.

Good suggestion, just not that easy to pick everything up and move it to somewhere where there is another network.

Actually I live in a complex of townhouses and could run a 10m Ethernet cable I have directly to my neighbour's router. Will give that a go.

Also your suggestion as well is further Googling has given me further ideas. Will try running the same 10m cable directly to my router to see if that is more successful. Currently the dock is connected to a network switch which is then connected to the router on the floor above where the laptop and dock are. This will eliminate issues the new equipment might be having with the network switch that the previous equipment wasn't. Finally I will also try plugging the Ethernet cable directly into the laptop (and not the dock) to see if that works. To be fair these are things I should have thought about trying already or that Lenovo L1, L2 or L3 support should have suggested to me! Cheers.

nathan

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#1403113 9-Oct-2015 15:18

Satch:
wellygary: What about disabling the LAN/Network device driver, ?

I know its not very useful to run the laptop in that state, but if it boots OK it would tend to point to it being a Network port/driver issue.

Just so I am crystal clear, are you suggesting I disable the LAN/Network device driver in Windows, then rebooting with everything still plugged in (dock and Ethernet cable included) to isolate whether it is an issue at the laptop end or something that my network is throwing at the laptop? If so I'll certainly give it a shot. Cheers.

Since Windows drivers aren't loaded in the UEFI firmware, I doubt this will do anything

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