DELL Optiplex 760

[burundi]

Had some fun with a new DELL Optiplex 760 today, I couldn't get Windows XP to install even with loading the correct SATA drivers at the start of installation using the F6 option.

Finally tracked it down to the SATA controller settings, in the 760 Bios (REV A00) it has SATA options and in there it was set to AHCI, I changed it to ATA and it allowed me to install windows fine.

Once windows was installed I manually swapped the SATA ATA driver for the SATA AHCI driver available from the DELL Support site (same set I had used at F6 time) and then rebooted, before windows started I changed the SATA setting in the bios back to AHCI and then let it continue booting, it went into windows a lot quicker than in ATA mode and generally the machine seems faster.

The chipset is the Intel ICH10D0 (ICH10/D0).

These Optiplex's are pretty new, hopefully this will help someone.

I've got 150 of these being delivered over Christmas and they all need to be in and working before the staff return in the new year, fucking Joy!

[GroovYF]

I fell foul of this installing XP on an Optiplex 755 a while ago. Thought it was a buggered system. Tried a second one and it was the same. That's when I started googling.
It's OK if you install Vista in AHCI (as it came pre-installed), but we use XP.

Thanks for the tip on installing the correct driver once in Windows. I didn't bother with that, but now you've mentioned the system seems quicker I'll be onto that tomorrow, time permitting, and make a new 755 image with it too.

[jimbobaggies]

We got new 755s at work recently, C2D 2.33GHz 2Gig RAM (although it seems to be running x6 multiplier 2GHz). Certainly an improvement on the HP P4 3GHz 1Gig RAM.

Only complaint is lack of expansion. They were bought for use in an engineering environment, but by the time I'd put in a PCI parallel port and IEEE-488 card, IT have now had to order me a PCIe x1 Ethernet card.

[Neutron]

could be a borked txtsetup.oem, as in the whole driver release. Had it before on an IBM laptop where the displayed driver on the f6 screen still pointed to the wrong driver. Not that this is of any help now, even if it is a similar problem to what I had.

Bound to walk into Intel ICH10 soon though, so I'll keep it in mind

[StarMonkey]

We got a few optiplex 755's with Q6600 chips (2.4ghz quad core) and 4gb RAM - they came preinstalled with XP but a couple of the guys went with Vista.

They are great machines, really quiet, and can encode an entire dvd in about 10 minutes

I also managed 8 HD movies playing at the same time without any framerate drop!

[[n00b]Furious]

We have got a few of these, and same problem - not fun when your trying to ghost the images on them !

[burundi]

I've just sysprepped the box, about to make a ghost image of that and then see if the sysprep works ok.

[GroovYF]

Burundi.. did you use Device Manager to swap the ATA to AHCI driver over?

I've tried Updating the driver for the ICH9 Serial ATA Storage Controller in Device Manager (on an Optiplex 755), but it tells me it can't find a btter match for the current installed hardware.

Did you copy the files directly into the System32 folder (maybe over-writing was was already there)?

Thanks

(I downloaded the Intel Matrix Storage Manager (OS Pre-Install Driver Only) ) package in the hope I could update manually in Windows.

[Bilb]

Burundi ... speak to your Dell Account Manager, and get them to deliver the PC's with your own corporate customised image applied. They even manage the process and integrate their own drivers and update them.

Well worth it !!! (not woolworth it!)

[GroovYF]

Never mind... sorted! Totally missed the "I want to choose what driver to install" option

[burundi]

Sorry I missed these replies, I did it the way you eventually found Groovyf.

Bilb, we are getting DELL to put our image on the machines, sent it off today for em to sort.

[bcampbell3]

Wow... where to start. I've been trying to solve this issue for about a week now.

My problem is similar, I cannot image a Dell Optiplex 760 with the HD set (in BIOS) to AHCI. What I do has already been stated, I set to ATA in BIOS, image the machine with ghost/sysprep and then install the ICH10 driver for the proper device.

My intuition tells me that it has to do with one device. The last version of Intel's Matrix Storage Manager (iastor and iaahci files) that I used was missing two device IDs:

pci/ven_8086&dev_3a02&cc_0106 - ICH10R
pci/ven_8086&dev_3a22&cc_0106 - ICH10D

These devices are present in the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section of Device Manager under Windows XP. When I update the drivers, I can then set the BIOS back to AHCI mode and everything works.

I have some sketchy inside information concerning Dell salesman stating that this is a known issue.

Have a meeting... more to come in a bit.

Ben

[burundi]

I have been ghosting the Optiplex 760 I have (320gb sata drive in ahci mode) with no problems, I am using Symantec Ghost Enterprise 7.5, booting from a boot disk created using the Ghost Boot Wizard, I then run ghost from the same network drive that I save the image on. I'm not using any command line switches with ghost.

There is a switch we use on other DELL models to get Ghost running though, that might help

c:\>ghost -fni

The -fni switch makes ghost interact with the drives using a different method, performance and reliability seem largely unaffected when we use this method.

Also what are doing with ghost, are you making an image or doing a disk to disk ghost?

if it's an image what type of storage device are you creating the image file on: (Network drive, USB HDD, second HDD connected to IDE or SATA?)

[bcampbell3]

/marathon meeting. Continuing from earlier...

I have edited our sysprep.inf file to include the following in the [SysprepMassStorage] section (this is only the iaahci and isstor piece, there are tons more entries for other devices:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2652&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\old\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2653&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\old\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_5029&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\old\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C1&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C5&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2681&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2821&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2829&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2922&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2929&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3A02&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3A22&CC_0106=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iaahci.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2652&CC_0104=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\old\iastor.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2682&CC_0104=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iastor.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C3&CC_0104=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iastor.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C6&CC_0104=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iastor.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2822&CC_0104=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iastor.inf
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_282A&CC_0104=c:\sysprep\massstora ge\iastor.inf

(A space was appearing in "massstorage" above. That doesn't exist in my inf file.)

I also have all of the drivers for every device supported in the OEMPnPDriversPath of the sysprep.inf.

To answer your question, it is the internal SATA 80GB drive. I can make it work in ATA, just not AHCI. I totally assume its something I'm doing wrong, but I can't figure out what. I've done this with the 745 and 755 without any problem. I have approximately 25 workstation models (all Dell Optiplex or Latitude) supported under this image at a count of nearly 7,000. Most boot ATA, but the newer ones are AHCI.

I'll have to look into the SGE 7.5. My hope, however, was to edit my sysprep.inf, add the drivers and everything would work. Heh.

Thanks,
Ben

[bcampbell3]

The -fni switch makes ghost interact with the drives using a different method, performance and reliability seem largely unaffected when we use this method.

I use Barts PE with updated drivers to boot the machine, then lay down the image with ghost... that works in AHCI mode. Its the booting afterwards that doesnt work. I don't BSOD, but I get an auto reboot.... and it continues to reboot until I put it in ATA mode.

Also what are doing with ghost, are you making an image or doing a disk to disk ghost?

From Image (either network, USB or DVD) to local HD.

if it's an image what type of storage device are you creating the image file on: (Network drive, USB HDD, second HDD connected to IDE or SATA?)

Not sure what the concern is here... I can use anything since I run my sysprep scripts to prepare the machine, boot it in Barts PE, run Ghost, make an image with high compression, put it in a network location or USB drive and then use that image to image other machines.

[GroovYF]

We should have some of the 760s coming in the new year. I use Altiris for imaging purposes so hopefully won't run into any issues...

*crosses fingers

[The Big Kahuna]

I'm tired and I have a cough. And I have virtually zero experience with Dell.

The above is a precursor to the following stupid question in the vain hope that it will somehow deflect any (deserved) flaming.

Has anyone tried a Bare Metal Restore, on the offchance that the removal of all drivers and their subsequent re-detection and installation at boot-time will sort the problem ?

Again, I draw your attention to my sleep deprivation and tickly throat (and also the fact that I couldn't be bothered to read any higher than the 3 previous posts, so I don't really know what the problem is).

[burundi]

Niq, If you mean what i think you mean then the machine would work ok like that in ATA mode but not in AHCI mode, the Win XP Install craps out completely if you run it in AHCI mode, the DELLS come with that mode as standard (or at least mine did).


Ben, I'm not 100% sure what the actual issue is here, is it the Ghost program not running in AHCi mode so you can't actually make or restore an image from/to the 760's
or
you can't get the image to work on the 760's once you have restored the image to the machine?

Cheers
B.

[Neutron]

Bcampbell3, have you tried booting the sysprepped machine directly without bothering to create the image and does it still reboot constantly? If so it could mean you're not referencing the driver in the sysprep file properly.

[bcampbell3]

Originally Posted by burundi

you can't get the image to work on the 760's once you have restored the image to the machine?

That's it.

[bcampbell3]

Originally Posted by Neutron

Bcampbell3, have you tried booting the sysprepped machine directly without bothering to create the image and does it still reboot constantly? If so it could mean you're not referencing the driver in the sysprep file properly.

I have to say that there is a good chance it is my mistake. AHCI problems cropped up when we first got our 755s and I added a line to the sysprep.inf. Doing the same thing for the 760 isn't working. I've tried different versions of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager drivers. I've tried rewriting my device id list. I actually used my Dell salesman to get a Dell engineer to email me. I haven't heard back from them yet... that was yesterday evening.

[burundi]

Hmmm, that's a tricky one then, I've not built anything specific into my sysprep because it isn't being used across different hardware, yet...

All I put in my sysprep.inf for the hardware was 'BuildMassStorageSection=Yes', of course the machine I sysprepped was a 760, rather than trying to get an image from different hardware working.

I'll dig out the driver versions and files I used on my 760 for you asap.

[bcampbell3]

That's what I was going to try today... first was recopy the sysprep files fresh from MSFT. Second was try to grab any updates or new software from symantec with ghost. Third was cutting everything but the minimal drivers needed for the 760 and working my way back from there. I actually spoke with a Dell engineer late yesterday afternoon and he thinks its not a problem with them. He's able to do what I'm doing albeit with less hardware installed.

If you have those files, that might help. I'll let you know what works when I get it... I WILL eventually figure it out.

[Q-Target]

Ben,

When you're done with this thread could you weigh in on what your first impressions are as a newcomer to trickery.net?

Ta

John

[The Big Kahuna]

Aye, the colonies are somewhat under-represented on here.

[The Big Kahuna]

Which is a shame really, seeing as we know where Jimmy Hoffa is...

[burundi]

Device Manager Details:

Intel(R) ICH10D/D0 SATA AHCI Controller
Driver Provider: Intel
Driver Date: 20/07/2008
Driver Version: 8.5.0.1032
Driver Files:
%windir%\System32\Drivers\iaStor.sys
Device instance ID:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3A02&SUBSYS_027F1028&REV_02\3&172 E68DD&0&FA

Driver Details from DELL

Title: Serial ATA: Intel Matrix Storage Manager (OS Pre-Install Driver Only) DRVR
Version : A15
OEM name : Intel Matrix Storage Manager (OS Pre-Install Driver Only)
OEM Version: 8.5.0.1032
Computers : OptiPlex 760
OSes : Windows Vista 32-bit,Windows XP
Languages : English
Created : Tuesday, September 23, 2008

[bcampbell3]

Originally Posted by burundi

Device Manager Details:

Intel(R) ICH10D/D0 SATA AHCI Controller
Driver Provider: Intel
Driver Date: 20/07/2008
Driver Version: 8.5.0.1032
Driver Files:
%windir%\System32\Drivers\iaStor.sys
Device instance ID:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3A02&SUBSYS_027F1028&REV_02\3&172 E68DD&0&FA

Driver Details from DELL

Title: Serial ATA: Intel Matrix Storage Manager (OS Pre-Install Driver Only) DRVR
Version : A15
OEM name : Intel Matrix Storage Manager (OS Pre-Install Driver Only)
OEM Version: 8.5.0.1032
Computers : OptiPlex 760
OSes : Windows Vista 32-bit,Windows XP
Languages : English
Created : Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Yep... have that. Thanks.

[bcampbell3]

Originally Posted by Q-Target

Ben,

When you're done with this thread could you weigh in on what your first impressions are as a newcomer to trickery.net?

Ta

John

Sure. That'll be $50. No wait... um.... €50. Yeah, Euro.

*checking exchange rates*

Nah, make that £50.

(I shoulda joined last year. Was in Scotland and the dollars:pounds was 2.11:1. Ouch!)

[The Big Kahuna]

Originally Posted by bcampbell3

Was in Scotland.

Ouch!

Yeah, a lot of us feel that way about the Scots.