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NIC Speed with PE2.0 - easily set?


Zaker

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Server: IBM x3850

NIC: Dual-port Broadcom Ethernet

*Only 1 used for build

SWITCH: Port set to 100MB FD

Created both x86 and x64 PE2.0 BootCDs, no probs, only replace startnet.cmd

with custom .cmd.

x64 CD boots to network, attaches to build server, build occurs at high speed.

I expect 100FD or HD, still good speed.

x86 CD boots to network, attaches to build server, build speed is horrible.

I expect 1 packet every 1hour...LOL Might be 10 HD.

Is this not strange? PE2.0 BDD kit was used to create both CDs.

Any ideas on what is happening?

Can I easily set the NIC speed on either CD?

Changing the switch port to Auto/Auto is not an option.

Thanks in advance.

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I have found two ways to fix this kind of problem.

If you got a newer cisco switch there is a chance that it suports auto 10 100.

This is something rather new they put into the 3750 and 2960 at least. It allows the switch to use auto negotiation but only on the speeds you allowed.

I'm currently testing this on some of our offices wich still got type1 cabeling i n the walls. The clients are set to auto and the switch has the ports set for auto 10.

The result is that server and client will autonegotiate 10/full.

The second way to fix the proble is to modify the inf file for the card on the pe boot media

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Thanks for your reply Mats.

Found out more...had the switch port set to Auto/Auto to match what I think PE2.0 was set to.

PE booted and got online at 100MB FD, so its not network speed.

I switched the network cable from the onboard Broadcom card, to the Intel Pro card, and BOOM, speed was awesome again. i forgot to mention that there is a dual port Broadcom, and a dual port Intel Pro card in each server. We only use 1 port to build each server for other reasons.

So the Intel card worked great, its the Broadcom performance that sucks.

How do I ensure that PE uses a different driver for the Broadcom card.

I issued DRVLOAD <path to x64 driver> , and the driver loaded without issues.

But I do not think it switched over to this driver, just loaded it.

Can i replace the driver that PE uses and use the x64 version.

It is PE2.0 x86, but it loaded the x64 driver, and that driver worked great with my PE2.0 x64.

I hope this is not too confusing....any ideas?

Thanks.

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How do I ensure that PE uses a different driver for the Broadcom card.

yes, when you build your WinPE image, use this cmd:

peimg.exe" /inf:%DRIVERINF% %isosource%\Mount\Windows

Before you finish up the WIM. It will over write the driver that is built in.

Can i replace the driver that PE uses and use the x64 version.

It is PE2.0 x86, but it loaded the x64 driver, and that driver worked great with my PE2.0 x64.

If you mean load the x64 driver in WinPE x86, then no, you can not mix x64 and x86 drivers, they will not work.

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ok...so after many frustrating attempts at getting this Broadcom card to go at full speed.

I tried drvload all morning and that didnt make a difference.

I will create a new bootcd trying different version of Broadcom drivers.

There has to be something in that driver that is wacked though as I verified that it is on the network at

100FD..but the copy of the OS takes 4 hours.

Thanks again...

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I added the b57win32 drivers to my winpe_x86 source via PEIMG /INF=

I booted to the cd, opened regedit and searched for Broadcom.

It only lists the b57nd60x drivers. No mention about the ones I baked in.

You thought it would overwrite what was in the base image, I dont see that it did.

How can I tell exactly which driver winpe is using, and can I change that on the fly.

Using DRVLOAD or something?

I am running out of options.

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Another way to find id:s for nics is to use regedit and look under hklm\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002bE10318}00X and you vill find all info for each nic

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DEVCON rocks, I love it and will be messing with it tons.

BUT it also sidetracked me huge...

Pleading here...

I used peing /inf and it ADDS the driver to the PE image, but still uses the driver it always had, the driver that does

not work well with the Broadcom card.

I want to REPLACE the driver totally on the PE image so it uses the one I provide.

Maybe I can mount the image and delete the driver that comes with the PE image ?

Then run peimg /inf ?

Any idea how I can try this to test other drivers?

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Once you have the wim mounted. Do a search of all the inf's for that sys file name, and remove the sys file and inf that references it. Then add you driver.

Then you'll see what it does.

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Mounted CD, did a search on b57*, found a lot of files and folder related to the b57nd60x driver and associated files. I renamed ALL of them with a .bak extension.

PEIMG /INF=b57win32.inf c:\winpe_x86\mount\windows

No problems there.

I booted to CD and it failed to load any driver for the Broadcom.

Ran regedit, searched for Broadcom, found nothing.

Jazkal, I appreciate your inout, but unless I renamed more than I should have, it didnt work.

I feel like I am so close, but not close enough.

Need to have this working yesterday of course...

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I would do a search inside *.inf files only. Once you find the INF file that references the SYS file, then remove the INF file and SYS file, then re-install your driver.

EDIT:

I did a search for "b57nd60x", and found these three files:

drvindex.dat

netb57vx.inf

netb57vx.pnf

I would leave drvindex.dat alone, but delete the other two, then reinstall your driver.

Inside the INF file, I only found reference to:

b57nd60x.sys

Delete this file also

Edited by Jazkal
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I search my mounted image of PE2.0 x86 for b57* and found this result.

Nothing like what you posted.

b57nd60x.sys.mui

netb57vx.inf_f53680c1\b57nd60x.sys

x86_netb57vx.inf.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6000.16386_en-us_ea863d28228619ac\b57nd60x.sys.mui

Thanks for your help Jazkal.

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