Ghost Solution Suite

I know the reason is their not pulling an IP.  They'll boot to PXE just fine, and launch the GhostCast session, but will eventually fail, and it's b/c they have a bogus 169..... address.  If I back out into the command prompt and run an ipconfig /renew they pull an IP and I can launch Ghost and it works perfectly.  Any thoughts why they aren't getting the IP automatically?

Version of Ghost?

DOS or WinPE boot via pxe ?

Number of NICs in workstation?

It's Ghost Solution Suite 2.5.1.

WinPE

Just one ethernet, one wireless as well, but I'd assume that isn't coming into play.

Getting a bogus IP address that is not 127.0.0.0 makes me ask whether you may have had a different Ghost server on the network in the past, or whether the IP address you are getting is valid for any part of your organisation. If you have a test server somewhere on the network that is running another DCHP service, it could be issuing an invalid IP.

If all that checks out then I would focus attention on the NIC driver. The WinPE version used in GSS 2.5.1 is V2, based on the 32 bit Vista kernel, so requires the addition of Vista 32 bit drivers via Ghost Boot Wizard.  These two articles may be of help:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH110134

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/do-i-have-correct-driver-winpe

PXE booting initially uses the NIC bios to get the first blocks from the TFTP server, but once the WinPE image gets loaded, it is the installed WinPE NIC driver that takes control. If this is not working for some reason then it would affect the ability to get a working connection.

Well the IP address it's getting is a self assigned since it must not be able to contact a DHCP server.  As far as the driver, it's a Win 7 32 bit b/c Dell doesn't offer a Vista driver for this machine.  It's a Latitude E5430.

Let me ask this.  When I'm running Ghost Boot Wizard, and I'm adding drivers, and it's a Win 7 driver, should i still select Vista, or pick Windows 7?

when inside the PE, you need drivers for the PE.  the ghost PE is Vista 32bit.  Even if you are going to be running windows 8 when you are done the ghost, the PE only takes VISTA

a bogus 169 address could mean a network connection is there, but it is not getting a DHCP address.

So what do I do if Dell doesn't offer Vista drivers?

does the manufacturer of the NIC offer drivers?  who makes it?  what is the card (PCI\VEN_xxxx&DEV_yyyy) info?

Ok, went to Realtek's site and got a Vista driver.  What's the best way to determine which storage driver I need?

Okay, I think I've got most of my questions answered, just a little trial and error, and finding the right drivers.

I find the utility described here: https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/readyutility-assist-identifying-plug-and-play-drivers to be useful in recording all the plug and play device IDs and some information on the driver INFs being used, when you start a search for drivers.

As Terry mentioned, the usual strategy for tracking down driver is to identify the chipset your hardware manufacturer is using for the NIC, etc, and grab the latest Vista drivers from their website.  Server 2003 drivers are also of an equivalent release level to Vista when it comes to imaging servers, for which Vista drivers are not usually available as Vista was never a server O/S.