ztruelove

We just got this new model in, and I only have one currently, so I'm not sure if it's a hardware issue with this specific laptop yet, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Symptom: Loading WinPE 2.1 takes 15+ minutes (when it normally takes around 1.5 minutes), and once it's loaded, it keeps attempting (and failing) to get an address from DHCP.

Using the same network drop and cabling, I can successfully (and quickly) PXE boot another model laptop.

The 8530p is using an Intel 82567LM NIC, and I have loaded both the XP and Vista drivers in the WinPE image...but that shouldn't matter because the apparent communication issues are occurring before WinPE even loads.

I turned on all PXE logging and set it to Warning level but got no information.

I hope to get another of this model in the next day or so. Maybe I'll get lucky and find that I just got a bum laptop.

Suggestions in the meantime?

andykn

Try putting a hub in between.

ztruelove

I get the same results with a hub between the laptop and the network drop.

ztruelove

Well, I let it sit long enough, and it made it past the DHCP errors and is loading the image at a normal rate of speed. So why is it taking sooooo friggin' long to load up PE...and only on this model. Hmmm...

Bill Sullivan

I am almost 100% sure this will be because of driver detection. Try creating a new WinPE boot with only the drivers for that model and see if thats quicker.

Bill

ztruelove

In the process of building a new one now. I'll let you know shortly. Thanks for the ideas, guys!

ztruelove

Nope, even with only one driver selected (and I verified that the DEV ID matches), it is still on track to take 15+ minutes to make it past the "Windows is loading files..." screen.

Bill Sullivan

Can you try and disable the Wireless card and Bluetooth?
If there is a switch on the outside use that, if not then disable in BiOS.
THis is jsut a test though
Sucks to have to do this

ztruelove

I disabled all wireless/bluetooth functionality through the BIOS, and I still get the same results.

I have tried both AHCI and IDE for the SATA settings.

I built a new WinPE boot option with only the Vista driver for the Intel 82567LM selected (e1y6032.INF).

Then based off of these articles...

Dell Latitude e6400

Cannot add new Intel NIC Driver

...I added the XP version of the driver manually (e1y5132.inf) and regenerated my WinPE images.

I verifed that both the Vista and the XP drivers are the latest versions available on Intel's website.

I verified that the BIOS is up to date; although, there's no available options for me to alter the NIC speed/duplex settings.

As I've researched this online, I've come across more than one instance of people having similar issues (as this is also the NIC being used in the new Dell E Series), but they all seemed to be resolved once they loaded the Vista driver into their WinPE images. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be doing anything for me.

mainsg

Hi everybody, I am getting this exact same issue (boot takes a very long time with WinPE 2.1 over PXE and DHCP errors out once booted) but this is with a new Dell Optiplex 960. It also uses the 82567LM chipset and I have built a WinPE image with the Dell certified drivers for this NIC, but it does the same thing. I did finally end up getting the Dell e6400 working by going to Intel and grabbing their drivers but that trick doesn't seem to work for the 960. Anyone have a solution?

Thanks,
Gabriel

mainsg

Wouldn't you know it. I got it fixed as soon as I posted this. Ok, so I had to use the Vista 32bit drivers from Dell (as opposed to the XP 32bit Dell drivers) and it works like a charm. It still takes awhile to boot up but once the driver is loaded it works fine.

ztruelove

Doh...why am I the only one not having luck with the Vista driver?!?!?

So just to make sure I'm not smoking crack, here are some screenshots of my config on the new WinPE image I am testing with.

In the first image, this is the one and only NIC driver I have selected to be included. The last image shows the XP driver files I manually added.

Thoughts?

Attached Thumbnails

     

mainsg

On the HP, right? Did you try HP's Vista driver? Did it show you information when it imported? Did you try the Intel driver? That is how I got the Dell e6400 to work.

(won't let me post the link to the Intel download site but just search for 82567 on Intel's site and it will hook you up with a download link.)

Worst case, try the Dell drivers. One of them should work because it looks like you are doing things the same as I did.

Gabriel

ztruelove

That's the kicker...HP doesn't even have the NIC driver available for download from its website nor am I finding it on the driver CD that came with the laptop.

I'll see about grabbing the driver from Dell and see if that makes a difference.

ztruelove

Ok, the issue is somewhat resolved...at least to my satisfaction it is.

Strangest thing...as I stated before, I created a test boot option with only the latest Vista driver from Intel loaded (version 9.52.10.0). It was still taking 15+ minutes to load WinPE. Yesterday evening I loaded a second test boot option with only driver from Dell's website (even though this is an HP). The Dell version is 9.50.14.2. I booted to it, and it only took around 8 minutes to load. So just for grins and giggles, I tried the first test option again...it loaded in around 5.5 minutes. Hmmm. And so then I went back to the original production boot option...and it loads in 5 minutes now. This is still 2x longer than other hardware, but it's certainly acceptable.

Oh well...just another day in the world of I.T.

jdan

Let me point out several items, that might shed some light on this issue:

1) In WinPE boot images, ALL drivers are ALWAYS included into every WinPE boot image. Selecting specific drivers on the drivers page in the boot configuration, does not effect whether those drivers are included into the boot image or not. What it does, is then allow you to control the order in which those drivers are loaded in WinPE. But starting in 6.9, you can "remove" specific drivers from the WinPE boot images, by checking the checkbox next to a driver. But this can only be done for the drivers which have been added to WinPE by Altiris and by the end-user. Drivers that are already in the base WinPE boot image as it comes from Microsoft, cannot be removed.

2) In your screen shots, it shows that you have manually added driver files to specific directories in the WinPE2 Additional Files area. WinPE2 does not use an i386 directory, nor does it use the i386\system32\diskdrivers directory. These are directories that are used in WinPE 1.6, and have no effect on WinPE 2.1. WinPE 2.1 does use driver files in various directories, but instead of using i386, it uses Windows as the directory name, and the diskdrivers directory is not used at all in WinPE 2.1. By adding drivers in this manner (in WinPE 1.6), you could manaully add a driver to your WinPE 1.6 boot images. But you would need to understand what files are needed, and what directories to place those files into. The Boot Disk Creator will do this work for you automatically, if you use teh "Have Disk" button on the drivers page in the boot configuration wizard. The Boot Disk Creator analyzes the driver, and will separate out all the files to the proper directories as appropriate, and it will then list that driver on the driver list page in the wizard. This means that there is not really a need to do this work manually yourself. In WinPE 2.1, you can again use the "Have Disk" button in the on the drivers list page of the wizard, to add a new driver to your WinPE boot images (unfortunately there was a last minute bug in the SP1 release which caused this to break in SP1, and Altiris has released a quick hotfix to correct this issue in SP1).

3) The PXE boot process is not affected by the WinPE drivers. It is possible to PXE boot into WinPE, even without a driver in WinPE for the nic card. This is because the PXE boot process occurs before any OS (like WinPE) is even loaded and running. PXE uses the nic card directly, and does not require any driver, since no OS is running during the PXE boot process. So adding a driver to your WinPE boot images, will not have an affect on the WinPE PXE boot load tiime. But it will/may have an affect on whether WinPE can obtain an IP address once WinPE has booted. But the WinPE download/load time is unaffected by the absense or presence of a nic driver in WinPE.

4) To increase the PXE boot load process for WinPE, go to the PXE config utility, and change the MTU packet size to 1456. This can sometimes have a 5-10 fold effect on the PXE download speed of WinPE. But once the WinPE OS loads and displays the background screen and command shell, PXE is no longer involced, and WinPE is completely in controll of the process from this point on, which can be affected by the presense or absence of drivers in WinPE as mentioned in #3.

ScottM

Yea add me to the list as well. We just started working on these HP 8530's and I was surprised at how slow it was booting into winpe and imaging. It was like I was back in my old job on a 10 half connection with a 40 gig image.

jdan

Have you tried increasing the MTU packet size in the PXE Config utility to 1456?


I remembered one other thing that might help increase the WinPE PXE boot speed, but it only applies to WinPE 2006/1.6, and not to WinPE 2.1. And I thought it only affected Dell systems, and not HP systems. But I've seen it decrease the WinPE download time by 10 times.

5) There are 2 ways to obtain the base WinPE 2005/1.6 files to be used in DS. One way is to provide the files yourself. If you had a service level agreement with Microsoft, then you can/could get it from Microsoft free. If not, then Altiris worked out a deal with Microsoft, where Altiris would be allowed to sell it to any customer, so long as the money was then sent to Microsoft.

Microsoft issued a patch to RIS (Microsoft's old PXE-like network booting service), that contains an updated WinPE 2005/1.6 PXE bootstrap loader file (startrom.com and startrom.n12). By replacing the current startrom.com file located someplace in the bootwiz\platforms\winpe\... folders with the startrom.n12 file in this patch, the WinPE boot time can be dramatically increased.

Some claim that it only helps on Dell systems, but I've heard some people with HP's claim it helps too.

I don't recall the Microsoft patch KB number, but if I recall, the DS 6.8 release notes talks about this Microsoft KB.

But if you got the WinPE 2005/1.6 files from Altiris, then this patched startrom file is already included in the WinPE files.