Hardware configuration is not being saved or is getting lost

  • 7000994
  • 21-Jul-2008
  • 27-Apr-2012

Environment

Novell NetWare
Novell Open Enterprise Server (NetWare based)
NIC Teaming
INETCFG
REINITIALIZE SYSTEM

Situation

After installing NIC Teaming the server says that it cannot detect network cards after a reboot.  If HDETECT.NLM is then run it loads the NICs successfully but the information is lost again after the next reboot.

Resolution

Ensure that there are not different versions of MSM.NLM, ETHERTSM.NLM and relevant .LAN drivers (and corresponding .LDI drivers) in C:\NWSERVER, C:\NWSERVER\DRIVERS and SYS:\SYSTEM.  Use the latest available versions of these files.

The configuration of the search path will define where these files are being loaded from.

Additional Information

Troubleshooting steps:
  • Compared NETINFO.CFG to a working server - they were identical
  • Deleted registry (C:\NWSERVER\SERVCFG.*)
  • Upgraded and downgraded various drivers using Novell's and vendor's support packs
  • Configured server as per CoolSolutions cheat-sheet
  • Compared NLM and Drivers versions in C:\NWSERVER\DRIVERS and SYS:\SYSTEM using CONFIG.NLM
  • Noted in a MODULES listing that the .LAN driver was being loaded from SYS:\SYSTEM rather than C:\NWSERVER\DRIVERS