Boot on LAN and ROMs

[The_YongGrand]

Yeah, I've been wondering about what actually is Boot on LAN function in the BIOS settings? Does the setting mean that I can go into somebody's computer which is connected when my computer is down? And Wake-On-LAN? And even newer NIC cards provide an empty socket for ROM upgrading. What's the real benefit if I add a ROM chip into it when I can buy a new and a faster NIC card for under $20? Please enlighten me... Thanks

[glc]

A ROM on a nic is a boot rom, used in diskless workstations to boot them directly into a network. That's what the boot on lan is used for. Wake on lan simply starts the computer when a "magic packet" is sent from a server.

[The_YongGrand]

So most NIC cards don't have ROM chips, and/or most computers cannot actually do Boot-on-LAN? Is it true?

[mbossman2]

boot rom nic's are not exactly common, they are generally used for, as glc indicated, for diskless PC's who need to pick up their bootup procedures from the network which is not a common situation (they do exist, usually in organizations that require a hard lock down on thier systems: IE government installations, factory floors etc)...

is there is a specific reason for your question?