2k Server RIS, XP and SATA Driver - Help needed.

[Bradley]

Hi Folks,

This is my first post yes, however I have been lurking in the forum for quite a while and have found it a great help, Thankyou to all.

I am now pulling my hair out trying to get RIS to work with an XP riprep image and a motherboard that requires the usual F6 - load SATA Raid drivers on windows installation (ASUS A7N8XE Deluxe). I have used this motherboard previously with a windows 2k riprep image without issue as Win2k over RIS allows the SATA drivers to be installed using F6 / floppy in the usual manner.

Now with an XP image that for some reason doesn't give me the press F6 option I have only been able to get the SATA drivers to load for the initial part of the text mode setup which enables me to see the hdd and start the setup ie copy files from server, but then it all comes to an abrupt halt.

My problem is that when setup reaches the end of it's text mode portion, right before it reboots and continues with GUI setup, it tries to copy the two SATA driver files to the local machine and can't. It displays an error stating cannot copy SIWinACC.sys - with retry, skip or exit as options If I skip that file the same message appears for Si3112r.sys. Upon skipping the second file the PC reboots and as you would expect BSOD's or continually reboots due to there being no SATA drivers for GUI Setup.

My question initially I guess is, What am I doing wrong?

My RIS Images folder looks like this:

txtsetup.oem, riprep.sif and ristndrd.sif can be found: -=here=-

I hope someone is able to shed some light.

Thanks,

Brad.

[Fencer128]

Hi,

That's an odd one. Admittedly it's been a while since I used RIPREP (I stick to RISETUP because of issues such as these).

I *guess* you're doing everything right - have you tried seaching for updated drivers?

Sorry I can't be of more help with this. Maybe RogueSpear or cluberati can shed more light?

Good luck,

Andy

[Bradley]

Yes, latest drivers, actually I have tried most of the driver versions available including earlier versions but to no avail. I presume that it is something that I have missed in the unattended files, somewhere.. or maybe I don't have the driver files in the correct directories. I don't know, been around in circles so many times now I have lost track.

This issue aside, riprep works really well for me, there are only a couple of apps that don't like the process and it is a small task to install them after the image is loaded. I only have 30 workstations on the network, all in the same room.

Thanks Andy, and any input at all is much appreciated.

Brad

[RogueSpear]

Like Fencer128, I stick to regular RIS installs as RIPrep has given me nothing but grief. What I can tell you is that for regular flat RIS installs, Bashrat the Sneaky's mass storage driver integration does indeed work. You may want to see if you can follow his method to shoehorn the drivers in there.

Now I know you say that RIPrep works well for you and I don't wan't to appear as though I'm "selling" anything, but a properly constructed flat image setup on a modern PC probably takes about an hour from beginning to end in my experience. And that's with all of the software installing from group policy too. Maybe sometime when you have an opportunity, you may like to check it out.

[Fencer128]

Hi,

Only other thing we can think of here - assuming your folder structure is correct and that the file copy fails exactly where you say it does, is that these files are in use when setup tries to copy them.

Can you just confirm that the copy fails during the 2nd batch of file copies (that is with the progress bar on the screen) and not the 1st batch (where it says "Copying Files" at the bottom left of the screen).

I know that's not much help (in fact it's probably no help!) but I can't think why else the copy fails.

Good luck,

Andy

Edited March 16, 2006 by Fencer128

[Bradley]

Can you just confirm that the copy fails during the 2nd batch of file copies (that is with the progress bar on the screen) and not the 1st batch (where it says "Copying Files" at the bottom left of the screen).

Yep, it fails in the second part of setup as you describe, with the progress bar, and right at the very end. Initially it did fail in the first part of setup, I managed to get the drivers loaded for that and thought I had it won.

Incidently, the base image install does complete the textmode portion of setup, but fails to reboot correctly due to the drivers not being loaded. I will check out Bashrat the Sneaky's mass storage driver integration and see how that goes. As soon as I can find it!

Cheers,

Brad

[dk_]

try to change in txtsetup.oem:

disk1 = "Silicon Image SiI 3x12 SATARaid Driver Installation Disk",\txtsetup.sif,""

to

disk1 = "Silicon Image SiI 3x12 SATARaid Driver Installation Disk", \si3112r.sys, \

May be something helpful find here

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=30890

(if you have BSOD - remove HDD and connect to another PC and see files listed below)

MSD files copied from RIS server here: C:\windows\oemdir\

"BSOD" can be finded here: c:\windows\setupapi.log

Edited March 29, 2006 by dk_

[Bradley]

I have resolved the problem/s.

I have now been successful in loading XP riprep images on 2 different types of systems that require sata raid drivers installed prior to textmode setup and have only had problems with one of the software packages that we use (Matlab) not liking the imaging process and thus requiring manual installation, however I am working on that too.

It seems I was getting my unattended information mixed up somewhat, cd install, sysprep and riprep unattended are all a bit different I have found. However, by starting from scratch and with plenty of help and research, I was able to nut out each problem as it arose and document a solution. I will post my ris / riprep issues and problem solutions soon in the hope it may help someone else.

I thank everyone for their input.

Brad