WinPe won't load NIC drivers

[TheReasonIFail]

I'm working on a Compaq Evo N600c laptop and WinPE is having trouble detecting the NIC. The WinPE image has all the latest and greating Intel Pro NIC drivers so I'm wondering what else I should look into.

Has anyone used WinPE on this laptop or NIC?

[IcemanND]

Which version of PE?

[Jazkal]

I've found that when you know the NIC driver is in the WinPE image, but it still doesn't see it, then there is a driver you need for something on the PCI bus that sits between the NIC and everything else.

Try doing a scan:

devcon find pci*

Then look through your driver INF files and see what other device drivers may need to be installed.

EDIT:

I forgot, you may need to include devcon in your WinPE image.

Edited November 10, 2008 by Jazkal

[TheReasonIFail]

WinPE 2.1

I'll give devcon a spin when I get a chance later today.

[Jazkal]

Give us the output of the scan if you can.

[Tripredacus]

Give us the output of the scan if you can.

Make sure to use the 32bit Devcon if it exists! Regular Devcon won't work in WinPE 2.1. It will say it can't find the file because its a 16bit app!

[TheReasonIFail]

Here's the output:

PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4C59&SUBSYS_B1110E11&REV_00\4&45A7597&0&0008: Video Controller (VGA Compatible)
PCI\VEN_104C&DEV_AC51&SUBSYS_004E0E11&REV_00\4&139E449D&0&18F0: PCI to CARDBUS Bridge
PCI\VEN_104C&DEV_AC51&SUBSYS_004E0E11&REV_00\4&139E449D&0&19F0: PCI to CARDBUS Bridge
PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8169&SUBSYS_816910EC&REV_10\5&26F5516F&0&0018F0: Ethernet Controller
PCI\VEN_11C1&DEV_0450&SUBSYS_04501468&REV_02\4&139E449D&0&20F0: PCI Simple Communications Controller
PCI\VEN_125D&DEV_1988&SUBSYS_00940E11&REV_12\4&139E449D&0&48F0: Multimedia Audio Controller
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1038&SUBSYS_00980E11&REV_42\4&139E449D&0&40F0: Ethernet Controller
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2448&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_42\3&61AAA01&0&F0 : PCI to PCI Bridge
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2482&SUBSYS_00300E11&REV_02\3&61AAA01&0&E8 : Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2484&SUBSYS_00300E11&REV_02\3&61AAA01&0&E9 : Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2487&SUBSYS_00300E11&REV_02\3&61AAA01&0&EA : Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_248A&SUBSYS_00300E11&REV_02\3&61AAA01&0&F9 : IDE Controller
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_248C&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_02\3&61AAA01&0&F8 : PCI to ISA Bridge
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3575&SUBSYS_00300E11&REV_04\3&61AAA01&0&00 : PCI HOST Bridge
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3576&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_04\3&61AAA01&0&08 : PCI to PCI Bridge
15 matching device(s) found.

[Tripredacus]

Two NICs are showing up. Make sure you have the correct one connected. The first, I can tell just by looking at it:

VEN_10EC&DEV_8169 is the Realtek RTL8169 gigabit controller.

The second, VEN_8086&DEV_1038 is an Intel NIC. DriverPacks shows that the INF used for this device is e100b325.inf. However you probably shouldn't use the one from the XP DriverPacks (the one that I have downloaded) but use the Vista driver.

To be safe, peimg both drivers into your WinPE.

[TheReasonIFail]

Yeah, something else is missing as I have Vista drivers for both the RTL8169 and Intel Pro/100 VM adapters and neither is working.

The RTL8169 is a PCMICA card I popped in there to see if the problem was the onboard NIC. But I don't think so as I used WDS to push WinPE.

So as it stands right now, I'm stumpped.

Edit:

I think I have a ThinkPad T23 that has the same Intel Pro/100 adapter, I'm going to try that in a few and see what happens.

Edited November 11, 2008 by TheReasonIFail

[Jazkal]

After it boots up, and is sitting idle for a couple of mins (meaning it is done doing whatever).

Run: wpeinit.exe

See if that helps. I've seen some systems that won't load the nic drivers or network stack with out a time wait.

[WreX]

I'm working on a Compaq Evo N600c laptop and WinPE is having trouble detecting the NIC. The WinPE image has all the latest and greating Intel Pro NIC drivers so I'm wondering what else I should look into.

Has anyone used WinPE on this laptop or NIC?

When you say your WinPE image has the drivers, do you mean you added them with the "peimg" utility or just placed the files in the image? In order to really add the drivers, you need to mount your image with imagex and then issue the command "peimg /inf:"PATH_TO_YOUR_DRIVER\DRIVER_NAME.INF" "PATH_TO_YOUR_MOUNTED_IMAGE\Windows".

[TheReasonIFail]

When you say your WinPE image has the drivers, do you mean you added them with the "peimg" utility or just placed the files in the image? In order to really add the drivers, you need to mount your image with imagex and then issue the command "peimg /inf:"PATH_TO_YOUR_DRIVER\DRIVER_NAME.INF" "PATH_TO_YOUR_MOUNTED_IMAGE\Windows".

"PEIMG /INF:C:\DRIVERS\NIC\*.INF C:\PEMOUNT\WINDOW" is the way I do it!

I have my creation of WinPE scripted via a batch file I created. I've never had any issues with drivers before.

Also, i let WinPE sit and came back to it and I got a weird error message. I'll come back with the massage in a few minutes.

[Jazkal]

Also, i let WinPE sit and came back to it and I got a weird error message. I'll come back with the massage in a few minutes.

I'm really interested in the error you mentioned.

[TheReasonIFail]

I left it running last night and never got back to it, I'll get that message when I'm home again.