Dell GX280 locks up during Mini-Setup Wizard

[kcnychief]

OK, as I understand this is a bit specific, I'm not expecting great feedback. But here goes...

I, as well as two other people, maintain a campus-wide image for roughly 3,000 users. Thank God for Sysprep, it makes life easy, and combined with Norton Ghost, provides us with the ability to have a computer imaged and ready to roll within a half hour.

Since upgrading from the GX270 to the GX280, there has been a problem that is more evident. During the mini-setup wizard section of Sysprep (dark blue back screen, enter in computer name, domain info, etc.), the computer locks up. You can't really tell, it's just stuck on "please wait". It will sit there for hours, unless you reboot. I have it narrowed down to problems loading USB drivers. The GX280 doesn't have PS2 support anymore, comes with USB keyboard and mouse, so hypothetically speaking, no need for PS2 support. Anyways, after a minimum of 15-20 minutes, if you reboot, it comes back up and you are ready to roll for the most part. This process, should only take about 5 minutes, not 20. Has anyone else had this problem, and been able to fix it successfully? I have researched this lightly on and off for months, but have come up with little to no answers. Few chances that didn't work include copying drivers to the sysprep $OEM directory, as well as eliminating legacy driver support.

Thoughts?​

 

[kcnychief]

*bump*

 

[VenomXt]

iv rolled out 40 GX 280's and havent notcied this. We use X-image with Norton Ghost. Not Sysprep.

 

[kcnychief]

Do your 280's have the PCI PS2 adapters? I know they aren't real PCI, but they stick out of the PCI slot...

EDIT: It definitely is a sysprep issue, which I have always known since the process occurs during the mini-setup wizard. It's having issues finding legacy USB drivers. This x-image seams nifty, I'll have to check it out...

 

[VenomXt]

NOPE ALL USB. kinda annoying now have to add 2 more cables to cable tied cord for quick swaping hehe.

 

[kcnychief]

Eh, but it's nice that you can have the speakers draw power off the 1705FP's, real space-saver. Can you link me to x-image?

 

[jaslep]

Having the exact same problem...did you ever find a solution to this. Thanks in advance

Jason

 

[kcnychief]

I didn't actually, but I also stopped working at the place I ran into this last December.

GX280's are almost end of life now anyways, but I believe they are just using PS2 expansion cards when they have to work on these atm.

I can poke some of my ex-coworkers and see if they ever found anything permanent.

 

[teratoma68]

I know this may too little too late, but...

I build the Sysprep images for a company that has over 9000 systems and yes we have GX280s amongst others. Our first attempt at it had the same problem, I didn't work on it too much and I don't remember exactly what was going on. We thought it was the USB too. That image never made it into production.

I am currently testing a "Universal Image" that will work on Compaq Deskpro En 733s al the way up to the new Optiplex 745s. I pack the image full of drivers and then delete the uneccessary ones with custom scripting. So far I am not having an issue with USB.

It may not be USB, it might be Mass Storage....SATA????

Check out www.vernalex.com. He has a great guide to Sysprep (but you may be well passed that level by now) and he has a great Driver Scan utility that makes life easy. I have asked him questions in the past and he has been very helpful.

If you want to provide your sysprep.inf file and an idea of what your driver path looks like, maybe I can help out.

 

[kcnychief]

Thanks for the link to vernalex, the ability to get rid of the Oempnpdriverpath in sysprep.inf with his tool there should prove to be quite useful.