Thinkpad e560

[Tom Elliott]

@Darrell-Lanson Either way, can you update somethign and try this with trunk? A LOT of advancements have been made.

[Darrell Lanson]

Is there instructions on how to do this with a trunk not sure if I know how to do it or not.

[george1421]

Hey can we collect a bit of info on that e560?

Lenovo makes it pretty hard to find out the exact network adapter in that computer other than its GbE ethernet. Not very helpful when you need to know of FOG supports that network adapter.

I think as a test I would just upgrade to the latest kernel (only) if you want to get this system to register. BUT, if you want to capture/deploy win10, gpt disks, or systems with uefi firmware, then you will surely want the trunk version of FOG. Understand that the trunk version of fog is a development release so at times it somewhat unstable, but it is a solid tool that is nearing the 1.3.0 release name.

Now back to my question can you post the vendor and device numbers for that network adapter from the windows device manager. It will be vend_xxxx&dev_yyyy or something like that. That way we can look up what the real device is in that box.

To you question about upgrading to trunk there is the wiki page. https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Upgrade_to_trunk

Here is the URL to download the latest kernel. (don’t update your inits or you will break your fog install).
login to the fog server console and then change to the /var/www/html/fog/service/ipxe folder
rename the existing bzImages if you need to put them back.
Then issue the following commands.
sudo wget https://fogproject.org/kernels/bzImage
sudo wget https://fogproject.org/kernels/bzImage32

[Darrell Lanson]

Here is the info off of the network card if you need anything else let me know.
Vend_8086&dev_1570

[Quazz]

@Darrell-Lanson Looks like the ethernet jack is Intel Ethernet Connection I219-V , I believe there intel specific binaries to boot off, such as intel.kpxe you could try.

[george1421]

@Darrell-Lanson You do need the latest kernels for that nic, linux 4.1 or newer.

I would follow the outline a gave for upgrading to the latest kernel first. You just want to rename the existing kernel files and then download the latest using the link I provided. Your fog server will need internet access to do this or you will have to manually download them on a workstation and then copy them to your fog server. The 1.2.0 stable version of fog doesn’t need internet access to for installation, the trunk version of fog does.

If the kernel update doesn’t work for you or you need win10 support, then for sure upgrade to the 1.2.0 (latest) trunk. I would go with the trunk version just for the added support and features of nothing else. But it doesn’t appear to be required here.

[Darrell Lanson]

Well tried it with the latest still no luck I think I will make a VM machine to try the latest trunk and see if that works.

[george1421]

@Darrell-Lanson If you run the FOG compatibility test (from the advanced iPXE menu I think) What does it say about network support with the 4.5.3 kernels?

[Darrell Lanson]

So updating to the FOG trunk fixed my issue with Lenovo E560 not registering now this next one seems to be a Lenovo issue I can image the computer and after reboot I end up with a black screen with the cursor flashing in the corner. I’ve had this happen before and inserting the windows 7 CD in and selecting repair fixes the issue well turns out even though in the BIOS I had legacy only enable UEFI still took over as the drive is partitioned as GPT with NTFS. I still haven’t found a work around yet. I did make a bootable USB stick which will only work on the laptop if I have Legacy First/UEFI if I have it set for LEGACY only it refuses to boot up. I am hoping someone else out there has had to work with these E560 as I haven’t found a guaranteed way of disabling UEFI in the BIOS yet.

[Quazz]

@Darrell-Lanson How are you installing Windows 7 to a GPT disk?

[Wayne Workman]

Windows 7 will setup a GPT partition layout and install that way if the system it’s installing on is operating in UEFI mode (I think).

[Shadow00Caster]

I am having the exact same problem.

I was using 1.2.0 and was getting the non-descriptive error “Unable to register due to these reasons:” (no reasons specified). Note that this 1.2.0 installation has been used successfully with many different Lenovo and Dell model workstations and laptops for Windows 7 and Window 8.1 for the past 2 years. I attempted first to update the kernel to the latest through the web interface, which just hung at transferring to TFTP so I downloaded it and manually put it on the server and ensured the kernel files owner, group and permissions were correct (both matching existing and per the documentation).

I have now upgraded to latest 1.3.0 from git following the documented installation/upgrade process, all worked flawlessly (props to that). I then proceeded to image the laptop with the now upgraded instance of Fog which worked normally, except upon booting from disk it just sits at the blinking cursor in the top left.

I have confirmed that UEFI is “disabled”, in that boot is set to legacy only, there is no drive configuration options (such as raid), secure boot disabled, and os defaults disabled (these are all the common bios factors).

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

I have taken screenshots and pictures of what I believe is all relevant information needed that can be viewed here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9ZqDYezvotjenJRNnVyV2RVYW8&usp=sharing

[george1421]

@Shadow00Caster Just to be clear, you can push the image to this target system. It “appears” to image correctly, but on first windows boot it just sits at a flashing cursor? You get the same results if in the bios the machine has the hard drive set first in the boot order?

Three questions, have you deployed to this model device before?
What model and make is this target computer?
Does this system have an M.2 disk?
OK, last question, what OS are you deploying?

[Shadow00Caster]

@george1421 Questions answered in order:

• Yes it appears to image correctly, meaning it pxe boots and goes through the partclone processes just fine then exits and reboots.
• I have manually selected Windows Boot Manager and the drive, same result. I have also set the drive first and gotten the same result. All my other machines are set to network boot first, which loads fog, and then fog boots from disk, this has never had any issues.
• First time deploying to this model and device (I currently only have 1 device of this model but another arriving shortly which I will test with as well).
• Lenovo ThinkPad E560
• No, it’s a 500GB SanDisk SSD
• Windows 8.1 Pro

[george1421]

@Shadow00Caster Thanks for the clarity here. Nothing is standing out as a possible issue.

I wanted to make sure that the flashing cursor happens when bios is telling the machine to boot (which it is). We have see some issues with select the correct FOG exit mode for certain models, but that is not it in this case.

I guess I have to ask how did do you create your master image? I’m thinking that it could be a sata driver issue or the image being placed on the disk is corrupt. My initial question is how to you inject drivers for each model of computer you deploy? Do you have a single golden image you deploy to every model (then inject the proper drivers) or do you create a model specific golden image and then deploy that?

It would be interesting to know the results of this test. Setup a debug deployment to this target computer (hint: select the debug option when you schedule a deployment task). Then pxe boot the target system. You will be presented with a bunch of instructions then after a few enter presses you will be dropped at a command prompt (this is the command prompt of the FOS engine). At the command prompt key in lstblk /dev/sda and post the output here. (hint: if you give root a password on the FOS engine with passwd at the command prompt you can connect to the IP address of the FOS engine with putty (from your windows computer) to aid in screen shots and sunch)

[Tom Elliott]

@george1421 this sounds, most likely, it’s just 1.2.0. It simply isn’t setting the mbr boot portion properly, or its offset improperly. If I had to guess any further, I’m going to say it’s likely not setting the bootable partition as not active.

If you can please try to update to trunk. I really think it will, at the very least, give your devices a more dynamic supporting layout.

[Tom Elliott]

@Tom-Elliott read fully sorry I see you are in trunk. Was this image created prior to updating or after?

[Shadow00Caster]

@Tom-Elliott Before updating to 1.3.0, should I create a new image of using 1.3.0? Note that I just deployed this same image to a Dell workstation without issue (on 1.3.0) pxe booted, partcloned, rebooted into Windows 8.1 Pro.

@george1421 I use a master image and then do drivers, never had any issue doing it this way and I have been using Fog for over 7 years. I will attempt the debug suggestion and reply with results.

[Tom Elliott]

@Shadow00Caster the system it booted fine to is also ssd?

[Shadow00Caster]

@Tom-Elliott No, it’s a 7200RPM drive, I could throw in an SSD and test, do you think that would make a diff?