Ghost Solution Suite

Ok, so  the problem is as follows.

The machines can reach the PXE server (which is located on the GSS server). Once its boots to PXE a blue screen pops up and just stays there and waits like its waiting for input from me. It then reboots and tries the PXE boot process again.  Any one have any ideas why the PXE boot image is not causing the  Ghost62 or Ghost32 to not start on the client machine.

Here is a blurb from the MTFTP log

D [12:39:39.259 11/08] (2436): RESET Transfer Table Slot: Previous Information
  (2436)     File Name: C:\Program Files (x86)\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\PXE\images\Boot\Fonts\segmono_boot.ttf
  (2436)       File Hd: 1
  (2436)        IPAddr: 10.2xx.xxx.xxx
  (2436)          Port: 17877
  (2436)          Type: 2
  (2436)    Last Block: 71
  (2436)          Wrap: 0
  (2436)          Done: yes
  (2436)     File Size: 36020
  (2436)   UCast Sends: 0
  (2436)  Segment Size: 512
  (2436)CloseFile: reference count = 0
D [12:39:39.259 11/08] (2436): HandleTFTP: action: next block  IPAddr=10.2xx.xxx.xxx:17877
  (2436)HandleTFTP: P_ACK for blk: 70 want blk: 71
  (2436)PxeMtftp: SendUCast() building error - No transfer exists for this client
  (2436)MySendTo completed: len = 4
  (2436)PxeMtftp: SendUCast() error - No transfer exists for this client

What does it mean by  No transfer exists for this client?  I have been working on this for 3 days and I am pretty much grabbing at straws now.

Deshawn,

To get a better background on this issue, please reply with the following...

Ghost Solution Suite Version?

Winpe Version?

GSS 3.1.1 MP 4
​Have tried with Winpe 10 and 5.1

When you get a BSOD, them I would say PXe boot was a success actually,

Most likely the WinPe itself is failing to bluescreen, migth be some missing driver (chipset etc)

Try adding the chipset drivers to bootwiz for this specific client machine you are trying to PXE boot, and try re-creating the WinPe

Ok, I will try adding in the drivers. Guess that I am going to have to do it for each of the 4 different machines.
​However, I dont know  if I would call it a BSOD. Its a light blue screen.  I will attach a link to the video for you.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByDx8NBES14AZTZzQ3lUWmpkSXc/view?usp=drivesdk

It doesnt appear to be BSOD at all , just like HEY im here , but i dont know what to do next or i cant load the file so im going to reboot myself.

​

This is a video of  what is happening. It happened on about 5 different models of machines. I will try to the drivers update and see what happens.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByDx8NBES14AZTZzQ3lUWmpkSXc/view?usp=drivesdk

Still might be a BSOD, seen many times the WinPe10 BSOD to be just a bluescreen with any information in it (not something we are used to from old day BSOD)

If you have a VM I would test with it first to confirm regular PXE is working fine.

Also make sure the PE10 that you are using is ver1511 not the higher one.

NB: I would start testing with VM first legacy boot and then move to UEFI boot to check if they work fine, if both tests are a success on VM, then the driver problem is most likely the cause.

I didnt think about the WInPE10 being the newer one. I also went back to try WinPE5.1 with no avail. lol I think microsoft should change it to RED screen  haha expecially if everything is going blue these days lol.

I will give the Legacy stuff a shot on monday when I get back.

Not an answer but a thought on how to divide and concour this issue.   I have seen it before and we ended up with a new bios update on the one system model that was getting it but not likely the issue since you have 5 models of systems.  

Do check the UEFI, and Legacy settings to see if one over the other is working.  If one works and the other doesn't maybe there is an issue with the .efi files being created by the PXE server.   Make sure you have added both 32bit and 64bit windows to the pxe server.  Even if you only make a 64bit boot option having both some times will make a difference for some reason.

Are you using option 66, 67 on the domain controller?      If so set up iphelpers on the switches instead as the forced mode 66 and 67 can cause issues in some environments and definatly does when mixing uefi and legacy systems.

On the PXE configureation utility, under the PXE server tab change the DHCP server discovery from Auto Detect to the proper solution I have seen where the auto detect can be a problem.   Not specificly this problem.

How about teamed Nics on the server?   I have seen teaming software modify the behavior of the nics and not always work correctly for things like PXE, multicast, some of the less common things.   PXE is important but not common as far as use goes.

Cheers

I will be trying this today and see what happens. My Net admin says that IP helper is turned on , but we have always had some trouble with Multicast. Its does however still fail with uefi and legacy.

I tried the  global setings to no avail.
​Teaming Nics is not present.
​It does not work either using UEFI or Legacy

​I guess i also need to add that our Ghost Server is a VM on its own VLAN. I am going to go with the PXE is just not crossing vlans even though i ws told the IP helper is active onthe switches :\

Update:

Moved the Machine over to the Imaging VLAN and it worked.  Was informed that IP help is turned on but not pointing to the Imaging server. It points to our DHCP server.

Also you can try to disable MTFTP from PXE configuration, some Intel boot agents have trouble PXE booting from multicast tftp

DeShawn,

I have seen issues with WinPE installation if certain anti-virus's are in use during the install process. Mcafee is known to break winpe installs, have seen other's do it as well.

I would uninstall (Turning off is not enough) the anti-virus on your server and then uninstall winpe completely. Re-install WinPE 10 build 1511 and then recreate your boot configurations.

Blue Screen after PXE boot is definitely WinPE related, either drivers are missing or the WinPE is corrupted.

In regards to crossing VLans's, see the below articles. I would definitely recommend using I.P. Helpers but if you don't have them, scope options can be modified manually.

Option 1: Using IP Helpers
PXE not crossing subnets or VLANs
https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH12651.html

Option 2: Manually Setting DHCP Scope Options
Vendor-specific PXE Forced Mode
https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.HOWTO7071.html

OK So im going to go ahead and mark this complete as we have gotten it to work and it was a VLAN issue and IP helper. I think we might have t use the Forced PXE mode option later on. Not sure how my net admin wants to tackle this so its on him.

​ I truly appreciate all of the help i have recieved. I am sure i will have to create another post about why the boot.wim takes forever to be copied to the machine from the server  and its only 333MB on a GB link.