Network boot sequence in the absence of a DHCP server

A data processing system suitable for use as a client device in a network includes a service processor communicatively coupled to a general purpose processor of the system. The system is enabled to respond to a boot event by requesting boot information from a network device. If the boot information request expires unsuccessfully, the boot information is requested from the service processor. If the attempt to retrieve the boot information from the service processor is successful, the retrieved boot information is used to establish a network connection to a file transfer server. The file transfer server connection is then used to download an operating system image from the file transfer server to boot the operating system image and install an operating system on the client device. In one embodiment, the client device is a PXE client on a network lacking a DHCP server.