Question : Symantec Ghostcast 8.3 Dell Latitude E5400 image issue

Hi Folks,

Just before I pull my hair out I thought I would ask...!

We currently run symantec ghostcast server 8.3 with 3com PXE boot. We are a Dell site and have always setup new models of machines, sysprep and taken an image of them for deployment/backup. But with the new Latitude E-rage of Dell's I cannot get an image off them.

When following my usual process I get the 'Application Error 29004' which from what I've found is a read error. My first idea was that the hdd in the laptop was faulty, but I have a batch of 5 of these and it does it with every one, so it's not a faulty drive, it's the way it reads off the drive?

I found some switches to run (-FFX -FNI) but when running with these switches, the laptops just hang after 5 seconds, then nothing. I can stop the Ghostcast on the server but it does not fail on the client, to get out of ghost I have to power cycle.

The only thing I can think is the way the hdd's are read by the bios, but I have no idea of a work around or how to overcome this issue so I can get an image off the laptops.

........................help :o(  ......................................

Many Thanks

Answer : Symantec Ghostcast 8.3 Dell Latitude E5400 image issue

OK, after 2 days of bashing my head up a wall with this, 5 mins after posting the questiong I find the solution.

If anyone is interested it's top do with the SATA AHCI config within the bios, if you put this back to ATA so it uses IDA emulation, it images fine. I'm guessing once this image is finished I'll have to put the setting back to AHCI so it'll boot correctly.

Thanks anyways folks.