Using Edubuntu and its LTSP I am successful with remote boot of one remote terminal which uses an Intel onboard network connection.

This happens because the BIOS gives me the option of F12 to activate network boot.

My other terminal boxes do not have this particular option, but the motherboards are fairly current. My assumption has been that setting the bios to network boot, and inactivating all other boot options (CDROM, hard drive etc) would force a network boot from the LTSP server.

That proves not to be the case. I get the usual error when there is no CDROM /Harddrive file for boot....no system file available.

I assumed that current network adapters have ROM images to facilitate a PXE boot. Wrong?

Am I overlooking some other variable?

Thanks.

This sounds odd - Intel and 3Com network cards have supported PXE for some years now - it may be a bug in the BIOS or somewhere else that is particular to the model of card, or the symptom of a broader networking issue. Are the machines that aren't cooperating attached to the same switch as the computer that does successfully netboot?

The computers in question are not on the same network switch. How does that work? Cannot one computer downstream one switch communicate with every computer on the network for normal traffic (assuming file sharing and subnet are appropriate) ? Thanks!

Yes. I asked because in this case it sounds like either the DHCP or TFTP exchanges between the clients and the server aren't getting through, so there may be something wrong with an intervening cable or device - DHCP is a pretty basic protocol.

It's definitely worth trying a nonworking computer on the same switch and network cable as the one that works, to eliminate the possibility that the problem is network hardware. If that doesn't work then you have at least narrowed it down to being something that is particular to the client PC itself.