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Stuck on Main Menu of PXE Boot

I have so far a single laptop Dell Latitude E6420 that is having an issue getting past the Main Menu after a PXE Boot.  The Main Menu consists of the links (Scripted Installation, Imagine, Recovery, Hardware Inventory, Restart Machine and Shut Down Machine).  The cursor is movable but I am unable to click on any of the links.  The cursor does not respond to the link either, the cursor remains an arrow and never turns to a hand when hovering over the links.  I found that I could (only sometimes) tab through each link and then hit ENTER to continue but even on the next screen my cursor will not allow me to make selections.  I thought it might be related to a KBE I was using (I have a KBE for x86 and x64) but the experience that I am having is found for both KBEs on this one laptop.  I decided to update the bios and get it on the latest version A16 but still I am experiencing this issue.  The caps lock light goes on and off when being toggled, so I know that it's not completely frozen.  I have another E6420 that works just fine that's on BIOS version A08, as well as an Optiplex 780 and I have VMs that I use that are not experiencing this issue either.  The strangest thing is this laptop was being used to test Kace Images just fine for over a month.  Just recently, it stopped behaving correctly.  I ran hardware diags but no issues were found. At this point I am only having an issue with this one laptop but I wanted to ask you in order to get some more insight.  Thank so much.

Server Info:
Version: 3.7.110284
Model: K2100s

4 Comments   [ + ] Show comments
  • Does everything work if you boot into an OS? - chucksteel 8 years ago
  • Yes, if I am successful in tabbing through the main screen and hitting enter to select either scripted installs or images I can actually complete a scripted install or a deployment of an image and it finish successfully and boot on in after completing all tasks and runs fine inside the OS. My cursor is able to click inside an OS.

    Also, I meant to report that the bios version I am now on is A21 not A16. - hjenkins 8 years ago
  • To me it sounds like there is a problem with the drivers you have loading for the 6420? - jboling 8 years ago
  • Correct me if I am wrong, but the drivers loaded at this point would be the KBE drivers, right? The drivers for E6420s would be injected during a scripted install or deployed image. I am not having an issue after booting into the OS with E6420 drivers installed. - hjenkins 8 years ago

Answers (1)

Posted by: hjenkins 8 years ago
White Belt
1
I found the issue to be hardware.  I will need to replace the Left, Middle, and Right click pad (that's above the touch pad for the pointing stick on the keyboard).  I discovered the issue by plugging in an external mouse.  When I got to the Main Menu screen I still had inactive links when clicking but (out of frustration) I clicked all around the page with the left click, wheel click and right click of the mouse and suddenly the links were active and click-able again.  I started over and found that when I clicked the wheel of the external mouse the links would become active.  So on another restart and PXE boot I watched closely during all the loading of files and command prompts that pop up before the Main Menu and noticed that my cursor would briefly display the auto lock cursor (up arrow, dot, down arrow).  I took a part the laptop and unplugged the Left, Middle, and Rick click pad piece from the touch pad and it was able to load the Main Menu with active links again.     

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