Ghost Solution Suite

I am trying to create an image of a Lenovo Thinkpad T400 using a PC-DOS virtual partition.  When the computer restarts it just brings me to a C:\GHOST> command prompt.  When I try to open any of the Ghost utilities or programs from here it says "Load Error: no DPMI memory".  I was able to use these settings to get an image of an older T60 laptop without this error so I don't understand why this is happening all of a sudden.

I've tried reading most of the Ghost Implementation Guide and I am open to using other methods to obtain an image as long as it works over the network using the Ghost console but I've not been able to figure anything out.  I've tried using WinPE (fails when going to virtual partition), the Boot Wizard (not sure how to boot from a network image), etc.  If anyone can give me straightforward instructions on how to either circumvent the above error or use a different method it would be much appreciated.

Hi,

This error message is a DOS error message. What error message did you get when try WinPE? It is good to move to WinPE since new machines may have various issues with DOS.

I think this error you get with DOS could be related to PCDOS himem.sys file. Could you try MSDOS instead of PCDOS or replacing the himem.sys file in boot disk with the himem.exe from FreeDOS or MSDOS?

Krish 

When I try to use WinPE as a virtual partition the Image Create task simply fails when trying to go to the virtual partition.  The Console Client registers that a task is about to occur but then nothing happens.  I'm not sure if I need to install something on the machine beforehand for WinPE to work like PCDOS does (booting into it over the network).  When I try installing a WinPE parition on a flash drive and using that I can't get the network to initialize at all.  I've been able to get Ghost running when using PCDOS booted off of the flash drive but when I go to join a Ghostcast Server Session I get an 1859 error saying that the virtual partition needs to be relocated even though I selected the hard drive to clone and the virtual partition is on a flash drive.  It seems no matter what method I try there is an error.  I'll give your suggestions a try but if you have any ideas about the others let me know.

Thanks!

When the task fails, what does Console's task steps say? Does it say time out or something else. You can look at the task steps by going to the task log from menu also. By right clicking the task step, you can look at the details too. It would give a better idea about the failure.

If the network does not get initialized with WinPE, most common issue is not having the correct driver. You can add new drivers to WinPE from Ghost Boot Wizard. If you are not sure how to do it, I think there were couple of posts with detailed instructions in this forum.

If it says virtual partition need to relocated, there is a good possibility that actually a previously created virtual partition exists in the machine. Then when it tries to clone, it identifies the virtual partition and gives that error message. Could you get a copy of gdisk32.exe from console and have a look at the partitions using command 'Gdisk32 1' to see if there is a virtual partition?

Krish

The log says Task Failed at the "To Virtual Partition" step.

I was able to get it booted in WinPE off of a USB drive by finding the right driver but I'd still like to work out doing it completely over the network.

As for the Virtual Partition needing to be relocated I've moved to using WinPE which doesn't have that problem but I'll have to check it out.

Thanks again!

Most likely,  other issue too is resolved by now. Probably client boot to the virtual partition, but not having the network driver installed, it would have booted back to OS. Since there was no communication from client while in virtual partition server did not have any way to find out if it boot to VP correctly or not, so  the step 'to virtual partition' fails. 

When client boot to virtual partition (Windows or DOS) it boot back to OS if it does not find the network. This is done intentionally to avoid client getting stuck in PreOS. Give a try now, most likely it will work.

Krish