Dell Optiplex 780 and WinPE

lscott · 02-02-2010, 03:26 PM

I just got a shipment of Dell Optiplex 780. Yesterday I tried to image my first one. I am using WinPE on a CD for the pre-boot environment.

I tried adding the two drivers listed on Dells website for the NIC no the WinPE CD, but still no luck. WinPE loads until it has to establish a network connection. Then I get:

Restarting DHCP client service: retry 1...
Restarting DHCP client service: retry 2...

I'm I correct in thinking that this is a driver issue?

If so, I'm not sure what to do. I think I added the drivers correctly to the WinPE CD.

Brandon · 02-03-2010, 05:31 PM

This is a missing NIC driver in your WinPE boot disk. It is likely you will need to get the Windows Vista NIC driver for that model and add it to your bootdisk.

Please see this for more detailed information on the process I use. https://www-secure.symantec.com/conn...winpe-bootdisk

lscott · 02-03-2010, 06:17 PM

Thanks for the reply. The NIC is:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_10DE&SUBSYS_10DE8086,\
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_10DF&SUBSYS_10DF8086

I've thought I had added it previous to your post, but using your link as a way to see what is there, I am not seeing 10DE or 10DF anywhere. I tried to add it again, by pressing 'Have Disk' and selecting the e1k5132.INF file. After hitting 'ok' and looking at the drivers again, it still isn't showing up. I see 10da and 10d9... but not DE or DF.

Any idea what is happening?

Thanks!

Brandon · 02-04-2010, 10:37 AM

What is your version of PXE?

You might want to delete the folder for e1k from F:\Bootwiz\platforms\Winpe2\x86\Drivers\CUSTOM\Dri vers, re-build PXE, then try the steps below.

Breakdown of filename - e1k5132.INF :
e1k (intel NIC code) 51 (Windows 5.1, i.e. XP-based) 32 (32-bit)

You are probably using WinPE 2.1 which is not based on XP. You want the driver for Vista. People get confused and don't realize, your pre-boot OS is not the same as the OS of your PC image.

1. Get this from DELL Intel_825xx-Gigabit-Platform_A02_R252705.exe
2. Extract the vista32 folder with WinRAR or however you prefer.
3. In Bootdisk Manager do a 'Have Disk' on E1k6032.inf
4. Re-build PXE images and try again.

lscott · 02-04-2010, 12:18 PM

Thanks for the help.

I followed your directions. I am under the impression that the new drivers are not getting added to the driver package.

In the top right window that shows what drivers your using, there is a number, which I assume shows how many drivers you're using out of how many you have installed. When I added E1k6032.inf, this number did not change. I did notice that a E1k6032 folder was added to F:\Bootwiz\platforms\Winpe2\x86\Drivers\CUSTOM\Dri vers

I also watched as the boot image was created. There is a part where is seems that it is adding the drivers and shows the file name as they are added. I did not see e1k6032 show up.

I'm going to try to add them manually.

lscott · 02-04-2010, 12:31 PM

I dropped the inf file in the E1K6032. The 'driver count' increased from 1109 to 1115. Hopefully this will work.

lscott · 02-04-2010, 03:13 PM

after I added the .inf file to the folder, still no luck

I have another idea... I'll be back.

lscott · 02-04-2010, 03:45 PM

I got it working

I took a look at the E1k6032.txt file and it looked like this:

Code:

[MAIN]
OS=WinPE 2.1
PROCESSOR=X86
NAME=E1k6032
DATE=2010/02/04 21:02 UTC
SOURCE=USER

I dropped all of the files that I got from dell (.inf, .sys, .cat, etc) into the CUSTOM\Drivers\E1k6032 folder. Now it looks like this:

Code:

[MAIN]
OS=WinPE 2.1
PROCESSOR=X86
NAME=E1k6032
DATE=2010/02/04 21:02 UTC
SOURCE=USER

[FILES]
FILE0=2009/11/14 04:27:42 UTC | 10724 bytes | e1k6032.cat | 
FILE1=2009/10/09 18:43:54 UTC | 3188 bytes | e1k6032.din | 
FILE2=2009/11/09 23:20:52 UTC | 103591 bytes | E1k6032.inf | 
FILE3=2009/11/06 01:38:20 UTC | 197288 bytes | e1k6032.sys | 11.5.4.0
FILE4=2009/04/21 23:39:56 UTC | 72288 bytes | e1kmsg.dll | 10.0.14.1
FILE5=2007/08/24 14:58:20 UTC | 28272 bytes | NicCo26.dll | 2.1.0.0
FILE6=2009/10/11 06:28:10 UTC | 62144 bytes | NicInstK.dll | 9.10.27.0
FILE7=2009/10/26 21:27:08 UTC | 256712 bytes | PROUnstl.exe | 14.8.0.0

Now it works.

Thanks for the help and pointing me in the right direction.