Does a firewall stop a PXE ROM from doing harm?

[Ilena Rose]

I don't know much about home networking so I ask you.
What is the Intel PXE ROM and does my Linksys NAT stop it from doing harm?

I have Windows XP SP2 on a home Thinkpad and recently every once in a while
I get a PXE ROM boot error which is suspicious in that I didn't ask for any
so-called Intel PXE ROM to do anything.

When I google what a PXE ROM Specification, I find this detailed which is
mostly gibberish to me. Can you simplify for a mother what this is?
http://www.pix.net/software/pxeboot/archive/pxespec.pdf

Even the Wikipedia explanation is beyond me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment

Basically I'm asking if I can get rid of this thing and how I would do that
or does it do something I asked it to do that is important?

Please help!
Ilena

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I don't know much about home networking so I ask you.
What is the Intel PXE ROM and does my Linksys NAT stop it from
doing harm?

I have Windows XP SP2 on a home Thinkpad and recently every once in
a while I get a PXE ROM boot error which is suspicious in that I
didn't ask for any so-called Intel PXE ROM to do anything.

When I google what a PXE ROM Specification, I find this detailed
which is mostly gibberish to me. Can you simplify for a mother what
this is? http://www.pix.net/software/pxeboot/archive/pxespec.pdf

Even the Wikipedia explanation is beyond me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment

Basically I'm asking if I can get rid of this thing and how I would
do that or does it do something I asked it to do that is important?

PXE is hardware level. It won't "harm you" unless someone has configured a
PXE boot serrvers on your DHCP server and formats your system.

Disable it in the BIOS - if it is beyond you and this is your personal
machine - you won't be using it. If it is a work machine - ask your IT
staff.