Multi platform PC image

[lkeneston]

Hello,

I have a Multi platform PC ghost image, currently it works on.

Dell GX110, GX150, GX300, GX400 (HALACPI)

Dell GX240, GX260, GX270, GX280, GX520, GX620 (HALAACPI)

Dell 8000, 8200, 8100, C400, C840, D400, D800 (HALACPI)

Dell D410, D810 (HALAACPI)

Dell D420, D820 (HALMACPI)

and more i would guess, However when i choose the D420 / D820

Windows always comes asking to go in safe mode, once in safe mode the pc will detect the HALMACPI i believe, then when i reboot it works fine.

Anyway i could bypass this safemode step, is it possibly that the minisetup cannot write the hal change cause of the sata drivers before boot? or is it just the hal,?

Any help would be appreciated.

[IcemanND]

How are you changing the HAL between ACPI and ACPI Uniprocessor and for that matter to ACPI Multiprocessor?

The ATA controller should only be and issue if you have to press F6 to install it when doing a standard installation, and if you didn't build the mass storage section in sysprep.

[mmarable]

To get our Dx10 image to work on the Dx20 line of Dells we had to swap the HAL during Sysprep.

In our case we boot WinPE, lay down the Ghost image, rewrite the Sysprep.inf and then reboot the box.

[_jd_]

mmarable: are you doing some sort of h/w detection to identify the particular model then change the HAL in sysprep.inf accordingly? i thought of using WinPE as well, just haven't got around to it. this is becoming an assue as Dual Core P4, Core Due and Core 2 Duo stuff is coming through the door.

[IcemanND]

sounds like it is not installing the HAL correctly on the multiprocessor machines.

You poor soul still having to deal with P3's.

FYI: The GX400 and GX300 can be changed to ACPI Uniprocessor via bios upgrade and bios setting change. Possibly the 8000 also since it is basically a gx400 with a different bios.

[lkeneston]

mmarable: pay attention, i already said that it works on those machines, so i am switching hals

I have a script that places the correct hal and kernal at the end of minisetup, it is in the cmdlines.txt

[mmarable]

mmarable: pay attention, i already said that it works on those machines, so i am switching hals

I have a script that places the correct hal and kernal at the end of minisetup, it is in the cmdlines.txt

My apologies for not paying attention. Good luck with your problem.

_jd_, yes, we use some command line tools from Dell to pull the values out of the BIOs and install the needed drivers and HAL. Basically, we came up with our own XImage process instead of buying it from Dell.

[lkeneston]

XIMAGE HMM

Sounds like your from GE

I appreciate the help, i just didn't want to go over it again.

Didn't mean to be Krass

[stickzilla]

Have you tried allowing sysprep.ini to determine/assign the HAL for you ?

I personally create images using a multiprocessor machine, then let :

UpdateUPHAL="ACPIAPIC_UP,%WINDIR%\Inf\Hal.inf"

do the changing for me in the sysprep.ini, if it detects the need to. If your image is created on a Uniprocessor, I believe you can change the command to accomodate also.

May be of use to you.

[_jd_]

On what system are you building the image?

[lkeneston]

I believe that i built it on a D810, but like i said it works on the other machines, i have to add a few apps, so i can rebuild it on another machine, maybe the core duo's?

So this is a hal issue i assume, i wonder if i do build it on the multi processor machine, then have the scrpt change to back otherwise, like stickzilla said, or just have it auto choose.

Can i add multiple entries for UpdateUPHAL=

or just the one,

I heard there are draw backs from using UpdateUPHAL=

[_jd_]

Hmm. If you built the image on the D810 (ACPI Uniprocessor HAL) then it should restore without issue on a system using the ACPI Multiprocessor HAL without any additional directives in sysprep.inf.

Have you instructed sysprep to rebuilt the mass storage section?

[lkeneston]

This is what i got.

sysprep.inf

[stickzilla]

I think it would be worth testing it this way :

Create the image on a multiprocessor machine.

In the top of your sysprep.inf, in the [unattended] section, add :

UpdateUPHAL="ACPIAPIC_UP,%WINDIR%\Inf\Hal.inf"

What this will do is during mini setup it will detect if it should remain a halmacpi like when you created the image, or switch to a halaacpi automatically for you.

------------------------------------------

Now I don't know if your older machines are non ACPI. For them, you may have to rely on a doing a manual copy/paste of the hal and kernel files as you've mentioned you do as part of the cmdlines. I honestly don't know about that...because I've never had to work with that.

[_jd_]

Hmm. Your sysprep.inf looks fine, maybe a few settings that were removed/depricated for SP2. I built my XPP SP2-based images on an "ACPI Uniprocessor" system and they restore fine on Intel P4 HT and Intel Core Duo systems that are "ACPI Multiprocessor". The processor type seems to be enumerated without issue during setup and the proper HAL is installed. I have no idea why your system is hitting safe-mode...