Netbooting 2011 MBPs

[ImAMacGuy]

Has anybody run into netbooting the 2011 MBPs to 10.8.x?

We're having a problem using either the option key or the N key on bootup to reimage the machines. The option key will show the netboot options but times out when you select them. The N key just gets the globe but again times out. Apple Care said it needs a new firmware, but there are no plans to release one at this time.

The thing that gets me, is that when we rolled these out, we were able to netboot them, but now that some are coming in on break/fix I can't get them to reimage.

[technicholas]

We have the Mid 2012 MacBook Pro's.

We have the problems sometimes if you netboot too many at once.

Try shrinking the netboot images. When I make my netboot image I run this script when I'm done and it shrinks it down and makes things a little better.

#!/bin/bash

# Very unsophisticated script to trim down a Casper NetBoot.dmg file inside a .nbi folder
# Author : r.purves@arts.ac.uk
# Version : 1.0 - Initial Version

# REQUIRES that the NetBoot.dmg file inside the .nbi file be mounted before use!
# REQUIRES that the NetBoot.dmg have the volume name of "Macintosh HD 1"

# Start by setting up the array variable to hold all the files and folders we're going to delete

delete[0]="/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist"
delete[1]="/Library/Updates/"
delete[2]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Antelope Canyon.jpg"
delete[3]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Bahamas Aerial.jpg"
delete[4]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Beach.jpg"
delete[5]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Blue Pond.jpg"
delete[6]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Bristle Grass.jpg"
delete[7]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Brushes.jpg"
delete[8]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Circles.jpg"
delete[9]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Ducks on a Misty Pond.jpg"
delete[10]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Eagle & Waterfall.jpg"
delete[11]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Earth and Moon.jpg"
delete[12]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Earth Horizon.jpg"
delete[13]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Elephant.jpg"
delete[14]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Flamingos.jpg"
delete[15]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Floating Ice.jpg"
delete[16]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Floating Leaves.jpg"
delete[17]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Forest in Mist.jpg"
delete[18]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Frog.jpg"
delete[19]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Galaxy.jpg"
delete[20]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Grass Blades.jpg"
delete[21]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Hawaiian Print.jpg"
delete[22]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Isles.jpg"
delete[23]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Lake.jpg"
delete[24]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Lion.jpg"
delete[25]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Milky Way.jpg"
delete[26]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Moon.jpg"
delete[27]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Mt. Fuji.jpg"
delete[28]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Pink Forest.jpg"
delete[29]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Pink Lotus Flower.jpg"
delete[30]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Poppies.jpg"
delete[31]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Red Bells.jpg"
delete[32]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Rice Paddy.jpg"
delete[33]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Shapes.jpg"
delete[34]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Sky.jpg"
delete[35]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Snow.jpg"
delete[36]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Zebras.jpg"
delete[37]="/Library/Desktop Pictures/Solid Colours/"
delete[38]="/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter/"
delete[39]="/Library/QuickLook/"
delete[40]="/private/var/db/dyld/"
delete[41]="/usr/share/man/"
delete[42]="/usr/share/emacs"?
delete[43]="/usr/share/vim"
delete[44]="/usr/share/cups"
delete[45]="/usr/share/doc"
delete[46]="/System/Library/Address Book Plug-Ins/"
delete[47]="/System/Library/Automator/"
delete[48]="/System/Library/Speech/"
delete[49]="/System/Library/User Template/"
delete[50]="/System/Library/Caches/"
delete[51]="/System/Library/Screen Savers/"
delete[52]="/System/Library/CoreServices/RawCamera.bundle"
delete[53]="/usr/X11/"
delete[54]="/usr/libexec/cups/"
delete[55]="/System/Library/Input Methods/CharacterPalette.app"
delete[56]="/System/Library/Input Methods/InkServer.app"
delete[57]="/System/Library/Input Methods/50onPaletteServer.app"
delete[58]="/System/Library/Input Methods/KoreanIM.app"
delete[59]="/System/Library/Input Methods/Kotoeri.app"
delete[60]="/System/Library/Input Methods/PluginIM.app"
delete[61]="/System/Library/Input Methods/SCIM.app"
delete[62]="/System/Library/Input Methods/TamilIM.app"
delete[63]="/System/Library/Input Methods/TCIM.app"
delete[64]="/System/Library/Input Methods/VietnameseIM.app"
delete[65]="/System/Library/CoreServices/Encodings/"
delete[66]="/private/var/log/"
delete[67]="/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/"
delete[68]="/Library/Perl"
delete[69]="/Library/Receipts/"
delete[70]="/usr/bin/php"
delete[71]="/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter"
delete[72]="/Library/Application Support/iLifeMediaBrowser"
delete[73]="/Library/Application Support/Macromedia"
delete[74]="/Library/Application Support/ProApps"
delete[75]="/Library/Audio/"
delete[76]="/Library/Dictionaries/"
delete[77]="/Library/Documentation/"
delete[78]="/Library/iTunes/"
delete[79]="/Library/Logs/"
delete[80]="/Library/Modem Scripts/"
delete[81]="/Library/PDF Services/"
delete[82]="/Library/Scripts/"
delete[83]="/Library/Spotlight/"
delete[84]="/Library/User Pictures/"
delete[85]="/Library/WebServer/"
delete[86]="/Library/Widgets/"
delete[87]="/usr/bin/emacs"
delete[88]="/usr/bin/emacs-undumped"
delete[89]="/Library/Application Support/Apple/Mail"
delete[90]="/Library/Application Support/Apple/Grapher"
delete[91]="/Library/Application Support/Apple/iChat Icons"
delete[92]="/Library/Application Support/Apple/Automator"
delete[93]="/Library/Printers/"
delete[94]="/Library/Image Capture/"
delete[95]="/private/var/vm/sleepimage"
delete[96]="/private/var/vm/swapfile*"

# Let's do the deleting!

# Calculate the length of the delete array.
# 61 when I created it. 96 now. May have changed since.

tLen=${#delete[@]}

# Loop around the array and delete the files/folders.

for (( i=0; i<${tLen}; i++ ));
do
echo "Now deleting /Volumes/Macintosh HD 1"${delete[$i]}
rm -rf /Volumes/Macintosh HD 1${delete[$i]}
done

exit 0

[ImAMacGuy]

From what I understand, the 2011 hardware uses 512byte blocks to transfer via TFTP where as older AND newer hardware uses 8192. I will try your script and see if it helps!

Thank you!

[stevewood]

I've seen that behavior, not just on the 2011, but also on the 2009 and 2010 models as well. I haven't spent a bunch of time troubleshooting it. The only work around that I've found is to boot from an USB hard drive, select the NBI in Startup Disks, and then re-boot. I'm able to get the machines to NB that way.