Possible Latitude D620 and D600 Sysprep incompatibility

Question

I've been trying to update our company master XP SP2 Laptop system image using Sysprep.  I've found that any image mastered on the D600 will work on the D600 and X300, but is not bootable on the D620.  Likewise any image mastered on the D620 works on the D620 but is not bootable on the D600 or X300.    The computer hard drives are different - Serial ATA on the D620 vs. Ultra ATA on the D600 and X300.  I've reflected the device IDs in Sysprep's SysprepMassStorage section.    D620:  82801GBM/GHM (ICH7-M Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller - 27C4 D600:  82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller-24CA   [SysprepMassStorage]    PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C4=C:\SysPrep\Intel\ich7ide.inf    PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_24CA=C:\windows\inf\mshdc.inf    PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C0=C:\SysPrep\Intel\ich7ide.inf    When starting the computers, the D620 gives a STOP: 0x0000007B (Inaccessible mass storage device), but the D600 just hangs up with no message.  In safe mode, they both stop at AGP440.SYS, but the real reason I believe is the mass storage device or something with the chipset used on the computer.   Oddly, I have a Optiplex GX620 that uses serial ATA Storage (PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C0) and this works fine with Sysprep.   Does anyone have any ideas what may be causing this incompatibility problem?   Thanks     Message Edited by BentMetal on 05-03-200609:00 AM

Robot Randy · Answer

The D600 and D620 are very different inside, so if you have to be able to reimage both models then make a different image file for each.   Storage is cheap, your time is not. Spend the time to do a good image now instead of spending it later fixing an incorrect one several times.   Randy

Chris · Answer

Robot,  I researched this further.   While the Latitude D600 and D620 have different mass storage controllers, the real show stopper is that they have nd incompatible ACPI subsystems.  The D600's have ACPIPIC_UP and the D620 uses ACPIAPIC_MP.  According to Microsoft, the HAL APIC and HAL MPs (multiprocessor systems) are compatible, whereas computers using the HAL PIC (Programmable Interrupt Controller) is not compatible with either HAL APIC or HAL MPs.     Therefore it would appear that separate master images are unavoidable for the D600/X300 and D620 Latitudes.    Woohoo.   BM

Robot Randy · Answer

Sounds like a plan!   BentMetal?   Just curious, but is there a hidden meaning to your screen name? (or are you just into metalworking and/or demolition derby...)   Randy

Chris · Answer

Hi,  Nothing so radical behind it.  Just a bit of auto restoration and a bit of military demolitions. BM

Tom Moore - HRT · Answer

With regards to these issues, I've recently had no problem putting our D600 Image on the D620 and updating it with the correct drivers from the resource Cd.   I'm getting ready to sysprep it so I'll let you know if it works backwards after that.   My real question is will the dual core features still work if the system isn't recognized as ACPI MP? Device manager sees two processors but only one shows up in task manager.   Microsoft's website says that its supposed to detect that 'second processor' and automatically install the necessary files if its already an ACPI system. I'm confused that Sysprep doesn't cover this as well since it should be redecting everything.   Not sure how we'll deal with the hal problem if we cannot get full dual core support while running a ACPI SP Hal.   Tom

Mattron5000 · Answer

The D600's use the 'Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC' HAL.  The D610's use the 'ACPI Uniprocessor PC' HAL.  The Dual Core machines like the D620's use the 'ACPI Multiprocessor PC' HAL.  You can use the D600 HAL on a D610 and D620 but it's not recommended and you will loose multiprocessor support and power management may cause problems.   You cannot go the other direction as the D610 and D620 HAL's are incompatible with the D600.  Unfortunately, MS made it really tough on us in this regard and you will most likely have to have two separate images for the 'Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC' HAL's and one for the other HAL's.  It is possible to use the Sysprep command UpdateUPHAL so that Windows will convert a 'ACPI Multiprocessor PC' to a 'ACPI Uniprocessor PC' on the fly so you will only need one Image for the newer HAL's.

Chris · Answer

That's pretty much the conclusion that I came to.  I found that:   Images created on the D600 would not boot cleanly on the D620 using any UpdateUPHAL or UpdateHAL Sysprep switch options.   Once the image was loaded on the D620 it could be made bootable via the XP SP2 CD and repairing the installation.  Definitely not an acceptable solution!   An image built on the D620 Sysprepped usign the UpdateUPHAL MPS_UP option would allow the D620 image to boot into uniprocesser mode (undesirable as it slows the D620 ). Yet, attempts to boot the D600 with the image resulted in failure - system hung with a 6B error.      End result - for both performance and reliability -  is that two separate baseline master boot images are now required as well as two separate deploy images.    We hope that Microsoft improves their Sysprep tools soon! ..

Mattron5000 · Answer

Hmm.. The UpdateUPHAL option should detect the correct Uniprocessor or Multiprocessor HAL for these machines.  At least that is how it works on my machines.  On Windows XP, you will need to specify UpdateUPHAL = hwid,%WINDIR%\Inf\Hal.inf  instead of UpdateUPHAL=ACPIAPIC_UP,%systemdrive%\Sysprep\i386\Uniproc\Mp2up.inf  as the second one is for Windows 2000.  You also have to start with a Multiprocessor machine and you can't have any 'UpdateHAL' or any 'ComputerType' options from my experiences.

Chris · Answer

The Sysprep reference documents give syntax of:   UpdateUPHAL = hwid,%WINDIR%\Inf\Hal.inf   where hwid = MPS_UP or ACPIAPIC_UP   Valid only for Sysprep.inf . Required if the master installation is built on an APIC multiprocessor computer and the image of that master installation is on compatible APIC uniprocessor or multiprocessor destination computers.   I was unable to get it to work betwee the D600 and D620.  In the System driver properties details on my reference D600 computer, it shows a hwid of ACPIPIC_UP.   The above reference says ' compatible APIC uniprocessor'.  Looks pretty similar but, I am thinking that ACPIPIC_UP Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC) computers are not Sysprep compatible with the ACPIAPIC_UP Advanced Programmer Interrupt Controller (APIC) computers.    Dell isn't very specific about the technical details of their computers, they have been known to change internal components without notice.  And try to find useful benchmark comparison data on their laptop products. Perhaps some D600s are PIC and others are APIC... Message Edited by BentMetal on 06-14-200610:30 AM

Mattron5000 · Answer

Sorry, I misunderstood. I  thought you meant between the D620 and Uniproc machines using the 'ACPI Uniprocessor PC' based HAL. This will not work with the D600 and the D620's.

proctorJBU · Answer

I came across the same problem trying to get the D600 image to a D620.  I ended up building my image on the D620.  I tried everything that people have listed here to get it to work on the D600.  What does work is to put the image on the D600 and then run the Windows XP installer.  Go through the install until the installer says 'There is another version of Windows already on the machine, would you like to repair it'  I run the repair and it will then boot up.  I then copy my model profile that was in the image to the Default User Profile and then all that is left is to do windows updates and drivers.  Now you have a new image for your D600 series without completely building a separate image.  I have done this and deployed over 30 machines and have not had a single problem.  Both images have been reliable.

stonent · Answer

If you're running into a lot of these, you might consider Dell's Ximage service.

We use it and we can load the same image on any Dell pretty much. When it boots it runs through a automated driver install, then launches the mini-setup and joins to the domain.

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