MDT Hanging

[mcoyne]

Hello!

 

I am having trouble with MDT - it gets past the WDS stage of LAN boot, gets to the blue windows 8 logo and then hangs. I have made a video of this so you can see exactly what happens:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUMvD8aHcpg&list=UUn1RCj8MkAV08OkPsn_dfWA

 

It hung like that all day! This is a model of machine that we have previously deployed successfully and as far as I can tell, nothing has changed with the setup.

 

We have WDS on a Server 2008 R2 domain controller running DHCP, and MDT is on our Apps server, same OS.

 

Any ideas would be much appreciated!

 

Thanks!

 

Michael

[computer_expert]

Have you tried regenerating the boot image from scratch?

 

Right click the deployment share > update deployment share > completely regenerate - should be the 2nd option (don't forget to update the boot image in WDS)

[themightymrp]

Have you added any new drivers to the database recently? Could be something messing it up.

 

One thing you could try (but its not exactly quick) is to completely regenerate your boot images and try again. Don't forget that once you've regenerated the boot image you will need to update the one being used in WDS!

 

EDIT - freakily the same answer as above!

[mcoyne]

Haha, I got two for the price of one! Thank you both.

 

I have updated the boot image but I am not 100% sure that I copied the new one over to WDS - I'm quite new to all of this so that's obviously a schoolboy error on my part! I will have a look at that now.

 

I'll let you know how it goes!

 

Thanks!

[mcoyne]

Flip... hasn't worked! We only have a boot image for x86. We're only deploying machines with x86 so that should't be an issue should it?

[computer_expert]

What drivers have you included in the MDT boot image?

 

Go to the deployment share properties, windows PE tab, select x86 from the Platform dropdown box, then the drivers and patches tab. Mine is set to only include the network and mass storage drivers. Regenerate the boot image, add it to WDS and try again.

[mcoyne]

Hello,

 

Thank you for that - if nothing else, this is teaching me about MDT and WDS!

 

I have just had a look where you said and network and mass storage drivers are the only ones that are ticked already. Having seen the Selection profile dropdown, I thought I'd best check the Selection to make sure all the injected drivers were selected, but they already were. Packages were selected as well - is that wise do you think?

 

Thank you for all of your help!

 

Cheers,

 

Michael

[themightymrp]

All depends on if you have any packages added under the "packages" folder. If you don't (which is common) then there's no harm unticking the box. I use them so I need it on there.

[snagrat]

Have you tried building PC with Win7 disk to make sure this isn't a hardware issue?

[mcoyne]

Thanks for the advice themightymrp!

 

Hi snagrat - I haven't done, but then this problem is happening on all of our machines as far as I can tell, although I have only definitely noticed it on two HP models, which worked perfectly before. I don't feel as though it would be hardware related, but I can certainly try that!

[korifugi]

Could you build them using the MDT image before? I've had a few instances with it where an extra driver added in has bogged the entire thing over.

[mcoyne]

Hi Korifugi,

 

Yes, we could build these models before, and as far as we know, nothing at all had changed with it... however, I have embarked on trying to figure out if it's a model-specific issue. I have a Dell machine (the problem is with HPs) and although I couldn't get it to network boot, I have created a WDS boot USB stick and that has got it in to MDT! It's just finishing off the image at the moment. I am going to try the USB stick on the HP afterwards - that will tell us if it's model/manufacturer specific, or just LAN-boot specific.

 

Thank you for your ongoing suggestions!

 

Michael

[korifugi]

I've had to go the USB route for a toshiba laptop, with x86 images - as the PnP_ID in the network driver didn't match what WinPE was after...

 

It was a Realtek network card that I had issues with, what's the network card on the HPs?

[mcoyne]

Hi Korifugi,

 

It's an Intel, so you'd think it would be ok wouldn't you!

 

Aaah, wish I knew more about all of this - got a lot to learn!

 

Thanks for all of the advice so far - no doubt I will have more updates soon!

[mcoyne]

Right then, here's an update...

 

I tried using the memory stick boot method on the troublesome HPs, and although the problem persists, it actually provided a bit more information in the form of the attached error message.

 

I now have something more specific to Google!

 

And suggestions welcome, but I think I am going to try switching between UEFI and Legacy mode in the BIOS, possible looking at a BIOS upgrade, possibly injecting the latest HP drivers and seeing if any of that makes any difference.

 

I'm certainly learning a lot in the process! Baptism of fire with this one.

[mcoyne]

Ooooo.... I switched the hard drive from AHCI to IDE mode and it got in to the MDT environment! It then complained of no network drivers and stalled, so I think I am going to update drivers and take it from there...

[korifugi]

Ooh - a Win8 BSOD, looks like it may not like something you're putting in there.

 

Legacy mode will help - for some reason UEFI can do weird things with OS deployment. Also - if you're only trying to deploy one type of image (as in only x86), then it may be a good idea to ONLY inject the x86 drivers, I've had a machine in the past try to pick up x64 drivers for an x86 build.

 

Le Edit: When it complained of no Network Drivers - did it give a PnP_ID?

Edited March 25, 2015 by korifugi

[mcoyne]

Hi Korifugi and all,

 

Well, you won't believe it - a combination of re-injecting the drivers and running in legacy mode has done the trick, and I now have a HP machine happily taking an image! SO HAPPY!

 

Don't understand why it's a Win 8 style BSOD I was getting before, as we're not deploying Win 8 but oh well, it's working!

 

Thank you for the advice re x64 bit driver - that would have been my next thing to try as some are in there, and we are just deploying x86 at the moment.

 

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

Michael

[themightymrp]

If you have MDT 2013 with the Windows 8.1 ADK on the server then the WinPE environment is Windows 8 based, hence that screen.

[mcoyne]

Aaaah I see - thank you for that!