Ghost Solution Suite

I'm seeing more people post a problem with the 19926 error message and the Ghost cast server stating "Connection reset by client"

See this thread for a picture.  https://forums.symantec.com/syment/board/message?board.id=109&message.id=17804&query.id=619419#M17804

It seems random as one minute it will fail and the next it will work. Does not matter as far as hardware is concerned, we have had this happens on multiple different desktops and laptops.

We have been using the latest version of Ghost for quite a while now with no problems until about 3 weeks ago we started getting these error messages. The client show a 19926 error message and the Error text file reads;

Hi, 

In your case, client does not seem to be able to connect to the server. By the way, your Ghost.exe seems to be build 1533, while the latest for GSS 2.0 is 1573 (available via LiveUpdate). I am not sure if it has anything to do with the version, but do you use GhostCast server from 1573 or 1533?

Krish 

Hi Krish,

I've tried running LiveUpdate but it keeps telling me that there are no update available. 

Nothing on our network has changed and I can ping our Ghost server from the client just fine. We really need to get this issue fixed as we use this almost daily and having to keep resetting the session is not going to work.

How can I tell which version of GhostCast I am using, I didn't see it in the "Help About" section. It just says program version 11.5.0.2113

Thanks

Hi, 

In that case, certainly your Ghost.exe is from 2.0. The error file shows that the build is 1533, which is the first live updated to 2.0. But if the Console is 2113 it is GSS 2.5. 

Probably the boot media is not updated with the new version. Could you check if it is booting from a older media? 

Your absolutely correct, I forgot to check the Ghost32.exe version on the client media. It was in fact an older version.

I am now in the process of updating our boot CD with the newest versions. Hopefully that will resolve this issue.

I'm still confused as why it worked for so long and now it's having issues? 

Thanks

Hi,

I'm not sure if the version is the cause, but it is something better to correct.

In your case, Ghost fails to find the session - this usually indicates some kind of a problem in multicast support in the network. Best thing to do is, if you get the situation again, try entering the IP address of the server when connecting to the session. This will make sure that it will find the server, but if there is a problem with multicast, rest of the process would not work. 

Krish 

Usually we find that when the client cannot find the session it will actually say "unable to contact session" or something to that effect and the session on the ghost server will still be active instead of getting reset.

It must be finding the session somehow because how else would the session get reset on the server?

We are actually using Unicast because our switches aren't setup for multicast yet.

We have also tried entering in the Server IP address as well but that still will fail with the same 19926 error.

Ok, I've updated our boot disc and things seemed good until today.

Now I'm getting a 19944 error and from what I found that is a Multicast error. Funny thing is that I am using Unicast. We always choose Unicast from the client Ghostcast session.

I just tried it again but forced Unicast from the Server Ghostcast session and now it seems to be working. Does it make a difference which side (Server/Client) that I choose Unicast from?

Here is part of the Ghost error message, it's too big to post it all here;

Hi, 

Selecting Unicast from either Ghost or Server will work. In the error file, it is giving a list of calls it made, and the names of subroutines. That does not mean it is using Unicast.  

The error is just after checking the version. Ghost usually works even if the version is slightly different, but could you check the Ghostcast version from Help->About in GhostCast server? It should be 2113 since there was no update for it. 

Krish 

Hi, 

I tried a few options to reproduce this issue, but it was not possible. Does this happen all the time or some times only? 

Do you have server and client in the same subnet or different ones? I am suspecting a possibility of some ports blocking by a firewall. Do you have any firewalls (s/w or hardware) between server and client?

Krish 

It happens at random but when it does happen, it takes forever to get it to work again.

The server and client are on the same subnet. No changed have been made to our router & switches and we've been doing this for years without problems.

We do not have any Firewalls running between our Server and Clients.

Thanks

Hi, 

When it starts happening, does it happen on multiple machines or on a single machine? I'm trying to see if it is client side or the server side. What finally makes it work? Does restarting the client work or do you need to do anything from server side? 

You seem to be using 2k3 PE for this. Is it built from OEM kit or it is BartPE?  Could you try using VistaPE (what comes with GSS) to see if it makes a difference?

Krish 

It has happened on multiple different types of machines but only a single machine at a time. We aren't usually ghosting more than one PC at a time.

We use BartPE built off 2K3SP1.

In order to get it to work, sometimes restarting the client works (this also includes resetting the GC session on the server because it gets reset when we get those messages) and other times I have to map a drive to our Ghost sever image location and then start a GhostCast session on the client itself so that everything is running from the client and not the server. 

About the VistaPE, are you talking about creating a Boot disc using Windows PE? Because I haven't seen anything that says VistaPE in Ghost.

Thanks

Hi, 

Yes, I mean the GBW created boot disks. They contain WinPE 2.0, which is Vista WinPE. Though I don't know if it is going to make a difference, it is worth trying. And GBW now allows you to customize the boot packages (CDs/USBs etc.) by adding files or scripts. It is easier than before.

Just as a separate note, once you map the network drive, is there any particular reason to run multicast server in the client instead of just load the image from share? Under DOS, multicast used packet drivers so you can't connect to network shares from the same boot disk. But under WinPE it is not the case. When you image a single machine, performance would be pretty much the same in both.
 

Krish 

I am trying out WinPE 2.0 but I having some troubles getting our Belkin USB NIC to work and that is very important to us. It does seem to want to add the drivers for it but that's in another thread I started.

As for why we use GhostCast after mapping the drive, I don't know guess just creature of habit. 

Hi, 

This is very useful info. I haven't seen many USB NICs are used these days, since every machine comes with a built-in network card. Any reason to use USB NIC instead of built-in one? 

Probably you are right; it might not use the USB drive since we only look for network and mass storage class. Could you try loading the driver using drvload command? This is one very useful features in WinPE 2.0, where you can load a driver after booting to PE. If you make driver available in the media, you can load it with 

 Drvload <path><name of inf file> 

 
Krish

Reason we use the USB NIC is because in the past when we got a new PC that had a NIC that the Boot disc didn't have a driver for it became a pain to find a working driver and update all of our boot media.

By using one common USB NIC we now don't have to worry about updating drivers. They are easy enough to carry around and even have Gigabit speed where as some older NICs did not.

Thanks for the suggestion on Drvload, I did not know about that feature. I will give it a try.