Dell Optiplex 380 network card drivers not working

[Migration User]

We are new to Ghost and after talking to support were told we needed to add the network nic drivers, so we did from Dell's site and Broadcom's; still no luck. What should we do next?

Also tried the DOS boot disk and no luck.

Honestly it's already taken so much of our time that we are not even sure if we can continue using it.

It would have been good if Symantec would update their software with the latest drivers for Dell and HP business computers.

 

 

[Migration User]

Hi,

I can understand the pain you are facing at this moment but practically it is not possible to add all the new device drivers coming in to GSS database since every day and every moment the hardware vendors are manufacturing devices. But we try to accomodate the drivers in every new release.

You need to download and add vista 32 bit NIC drivers to Winpe by default since they are required to enable network in pre boot environment. Then you need to download and add the drivers for the respective operating systems you want re-target to. Dell driver link is given below

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=WLH&catid=5&dateid=-1&impid=-1&osl=EN&typeid=-1&formatid=-1&servicetag=&SystemID=PLX_380&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en&TabIndex=&scanSupported=True&scanConsent=False

Please try and let us know.

[Migration User]

Hi I downloaded the executable and unzipped the files in it. Within the folder that I extracted the files to 4 subfolders were created called DOS, Vista, WIn 7, and XP. There also an executable called Setup.exe. Where would the drivers for ghost be located? I tried using the files within the Vista folder, but had no luck. I also tried adding the files within the win7 folder and that also didn’t work, please help.    

[Migration User]

In the past I have had several issues as you describe. I suggest the Universal TCP/IP Network Bootdisk.  It's a free download located @ http://netbootdisk.com/. It's upgraded regularly with new drivers and can be customized to use a driver that you add to it. I believe the Broadcom drivers that have been added will work with the Optiplex 380. I had some problems with Optiplex 745, 755, 780 and I use floppy + 3" mini cds in my labs. I have 98 student PC's and 1 bootdisk has all the drivers I need for 6 different Optiplex models and PowerEdge servers as well as the 15 + miscellaneous PC's/Servers/Laptops I GHOST in a university setting almost daily. I have been using it for several years now and the Dell and Broadcom drivers that did not work with the GHOST bootdisk work with this tool. I haven't tried it on USB boot yet, there's instructions on the website. It has been a blessing to me! Let me know if it works for you...

[Migration User]

Thanks, but I'm trying to ghost by using the ghost console so I'm trying to load the drivers within delpoy anywhere.

[Migration User]

I need to know what files I need to grab so that it works fine.

[Edward Tippelt]

It would help if you could specify the version of Ghost Solution Suite you are working with, but let's assume you have LiveUpdated to 11.5.1.2266 which is the current version.

The version of WinPE that this release uses, is version 2, based on the Vista 32 bit kernel. You therefore have to source and integrate the Vista 32 bit drivers for any NIC and Hard Disk chipsets in your hardware inventory. WinPE 2 natively supports the original SATA chipsets, but some of the newer RAID chipsets need the appropriate drivers added.

I would strongly recommend standardising on WinPE rather than PCDOS as modern hardware uses SATA exclusively and has hard disk capacities that are way beyond the capabilities to PCDOS to handle.

When you download drivers, they may come in an EXE or ZIP format. They need to be installed or unpacked, so that the actual driver files are available to WinPE - these usually consist of an INF, SYS and CAT file, and perhaps a DLL.  An INF and SYS are the very minimum required.

If you have an existing machine with a working operating system on it, you can go into device manager and find the PNP ID for the NIC or any other device. This PNP ID needs to be in the INF file from the driver in order for the driver to be correctly associated with the NIC by the plug and play logic.

[Migration User]

I'm using 11.5.1.2266, I searched for all of the INF, SYS, DLL, and CAT files and combined all of them into one folder and it still didn't work.

I also don’t understand what you wrote here about the PNP ID and the sys file.
"If you have an existing machine with a working operating system on it, you can go into device manager and find the PNP ID for the NIC or any other device. This PNP ID needs to be in the INF file from the driver in order for the driver to be correctly associated with the NIC by the plug and play logic."

[Migration User]

If I don't input the PNP ID into the sysfile (which I don't know how to do), then it won't work?

[Migration User]

The computer that I'm trying to create an image of is a Dell Optiplex 380 and attached are the nic drivers for it.

Attachment(s)

PROWin32.zip   26.40 MB 1 version

[Edward Tippelt]

Apologies for misleading you. What I was trying to convey is that you can check whether the drivers are correct for your hardware by obtaining the PNPID of the device in question, and then checking whether the PNP ID is represented in the driver INF file. If it is not in there, then the drivers are not compatible with your hardware. Basically, the plug and play system reads the PNP ID of each device, then searches through the INF files available on the system looking for a match. If a match is found, then the instructions in the INF file are read and used to load the correct device driver for the device.

[Edward Tippelt]

Re-reading this thread, I also want to check that we are addressing your question correctly. The Vista drivers we have been discussing are required for the WinPE boot system which is used as a boot environment from which a Ghost image is created through the Ghost console.

Deploy Anywhere is a separate tool which is used to supplement basic Ghost imaging, by "injecting" additional drivers into an image so that the image can be deployed to different hardware successfully. The drivers that are needed for Deploy Anywhere need to be suitable for the operating system you are ghosting.

[Migration User]

I understand how it works now so WinPE and deploy anywhere are totally different from one another. Ok so now I have three questions. You told the other tech that he needed to load the Win 7 drivers in delpoy anywhere. If my image which is running Windows 7 has the drivers loaded on it already why would I need to install the Windows 7 drivers in Deploy anywhere? Also in the ghost console how do I add the Vista drivers to the WinPE boot system? Lastly, can you take a look at the drivers package that I attached on my last post and give me a hint on to which files are needed for the WinPe boot system to work? The zip file from Dell contains the drivers for Win XP, Vista, and Win 7. There are duplicate INF, SYS, DLL, and CAT files all over the place. I don't know what to grab.

[Edward Tippelt]

> You told the other tech that he needed to load the Win 7 drivers in delpoy anywhere. If my image which is running Windows 7 has the drivers loaded on it already why would I need to install the Windows 7 drivers in Deploy anywhere?

Was this in another thread?  It's not something I recall doing...  

Anyway, the whole point of Deploy Anywhere is to allow an image captured on one particular piece of hardware, to be "Deployed Anywhere" onto any other PC capable of running the operating system. However, for Deploy Anywhere to work, it needs to have a driver library available, so that it can ensure that the image contains drivers for the hardware the image is being deployed to. Obviously, if you intend to deploy the image to identical hardware then there is no need to inject additional drivers, but if your machines have different video cards, for example, you would need to include video drivers for the variety of types you wish to support.

Regarding the correct drivers to use with WinPE, have you read any of the readme.txt files that are in the driver folders? Without going through all of the readme files, one I did look at had the following contents:

 

The driver package files in this folder can be used to install drivers for Intel(R) Gigabit devices on the following Operating Systems:

  *  Microsoft* Windows* Vista (32-bit)

  *  Microsoft Windows Server* 2008 (32-bit)

 

 

[Edward Tippelt]

Here is a link to a KB article. Please store the KB address for future reference as it contains a lot of useful content:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH110136&actp=search&viewlocale=en_US&searchid=1303565168217

[Migration User]

I was having problems with the 380 and winpe.  I copied the winpe 512, unchecked all the network drivers and added the vista drivers from the broadcom web site.  In the passed when dell came out with a new system these drivers alway worked when we used ndis and ms-dos.