PNF Problem

[jtroydc]

I have a DEV RIS server that works fine with PNF file creation. I have created a new RIS server on the domain at work and got it rocking in rolling for the most part. I have added drivers in the same way I did on the old DEV server and it doesn't seem to be creating the PNF files. I got crazy and deleted all the PNF files in the I386 directory and tried to stop and restart the BINLSVC services and still no PNF's. I also tried the old boot up a desktop to the RIS a few times and see if the PNF's would generate and no go. Not sure what I am missing but any help would be apprecaited.

Thanks in advance,

Joey

[Fencer128]

Hi,

I have added drivers in the same way I did on the old DEV server and it doesn't seem to be creating the PNF files.

Could you elaborate on this? Restarting the BINLSVC and then attempting a client install should generate the PNF files for sure (I manage several RIS servers and this is always the case for me).

Regards,

Andy

[jtroydc]

Andy,

I have followed the steps bellow to a "T" and still no dice with the PNF recreation on the Production server.

1. Copy the device driver files for the devices into their respective folders. Use the folder structure that you created in the previous step. %risetup_image_name%\$oem$\$1\Drivers\NIC

2. Copy the network adapter driver and the associated .inf file to the \RemoteInstall\Setup\%language%\Images\%risetup_image_name%\i386 directory.

3. If the device driver that you are adding is an updated version of a driver that is already in this directory, you must delete the associated .pnf file from the \RemoteInstall

\Setup\%language%\Images\%risetup_image_name%\i386 directory.

4. Stop and restart the Boot Information Negotiation Layer (BINL) service on all RIS servers on which you copied the drivers. This step is required for these changes to take effect.

I have done this like 100 times with no issues on our DEV ris server, however on the new Production server it doesn't work. I did some googleing and also tried the following "Restart the BINLSVC and the SIS services." still no dice. Also like I said I deleted all the PNF files out of the \RemoteInstall\Setup\%language%\Images\%risetup_image_name%\i386 directory and did a stop and restart of BINLSVC and no PNF files where recreated. I also plugged a box into the RIS and negotiated an install and still no PNF creation?

Thanks for the quick reply,

Joey

Edited February 16, 2006 by jtroydc

[Fencer128]

Hi Joey,

Sounds to me that you're doing everything right. That means that unless we've missed something it must be a server setup issue. Can you please check and confirm the following, to be absolutely sure:

1. You have authorised the new production RIS server on the domain (should be from what you say)?

2. You are definately connecting to the correct server when client PXE boots, in case you have more than one production server?

3. What other roles is your RIS server performing (i.e. SMS, DNS, SQL, etc.)

4. The folders used to store your RIS images have not had the permissions tampered with (that might stop writes/deletions/etc)?

Could you also let me know if all your RIS servers use the same OS version and what that is?

EDIT: The more I think about this the more I think something is wrong with the service or server. Could you have a look in the event log and see if there's any related errors? Is it possible you can rebuild this server (long shot I know) if nothing wrong can be found?

Cheers,

Andy

Edited February 16, 2006 by Fencer128

[jtroydc]

1. You have authorised the new production RIS server on the domain (should be from what you say)? yes it is authorized.

2. You are definately connecting to the correct server when client PXE boots, in case you have more than one production server? Yes

3. What other roles is your RIS server performing (i.e. SMS, DNS, SQL, etc.) Just RIS

4. The folders used to store your RIS images have not had the permissions tampered with (that might stop writes/deletions/etc)? No I deleted the RemoteInstall directory and re-ran the risetup just to make sure the image was right with permissions

Could you also let me know if all your RIS servers use the same OS version and what that is? The Dev Server and also the Production server are running Windows Server 2003 Serivce Pack 1

I guess we could rebuild it, not looking foward to that but is an option

Edited February 17, 2006 by jtroydc

[jtroydc]

Andy,

Looks like I got it working!!! I had a corrupt *.inf file that was causing the RIS not to create the PNF files.

Thanks in advance,

Joey

[Fencer128]

Hi Joey,

Glad to hear you got that solved!

Good luck,

Andy