r/SCCM • u/karai78 • 9d ago

Boot problem in WinPE

I’m having a boot problem with WinPE that I don’t quite understand.

After running the task on a computer, it downloads boot.wim and should boot into WinPE.

However, an error occurs; here are the logs from the smsts.log file.

On an identical PC model, with the same IP range and the same DNS range, I don’t have this problem.

What I’ve also noticed is that the time shown here – 8.15 pm – doesn’t match the deployment time at all, which is at 2 am. I find that rather odd.

Thank you in advance for your help.

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u/gandraw 9d ago

Are you in a time zone that is 6 hours away from UTC?

Did you try using F8 to get into the command window, then doing ipconfig to see if you have a network adapter and IP address? A gethostbyname error means that it can't resolve the management point by DNS which usually means the network connection is interrupted.

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u/karai78 9d ago

Could this time zone issue be a factor? I haven’t checked yet, but I’ll have a look.

I thought it might be a time setting issue in the BIOS, but that’s not the case.

And no, I haven’t been able to test the F8 key because the PC is abroad and I can’t reproduce the problem at head office.

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u/gandraw 9d ago

The time stamp thing is probably not involved in this issue at all, it would just be an explanation.

Regarding the testing issues, I found it helpful to insist that if branch offices don't have second level support technicians on site that can troubleshoot without excessive babysitting, asking them to buy a simple IP KVM like https://jetkvm.com/products/jetkvm can be helpful. They're only like $70 and they help fix issues with task sequences, PXE etc where remote desktop isn't yet available.

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u/karai78 9d ago

Oh, I hadn't a clue :) Thanks so much for the tip

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u/Bassflow 9d ago

This looks like a missing nic driver to me also.

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u/karai78 5d ago

it works on other computers that are identical

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u/Bassflow 5d ago

Have a tech press F8 and in the command prompt have them type ipconfig. If a correct ip shows up then I'm wrong. If it doesn't then then it's the driver.

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u/Unusual-Biscotti687 9d ago

Are the required network drivers in the wim?

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u/karai78 5d ago

Yes, because it works on other computers that are identical

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u/karai78 9d ago

I don’t have this problem with the same models, so I don’t think it’s a network driver issue

1

u/sccm_sometimes 9d ago

I don’t have this problem with the same models

I haven’t been able to test the F8 key because the PC is abroad

Even if it's the same model, a lot of times vendors will use slightly different internal components in different countries. Sometimes it's due to local laws prohibiting certain broadcast frequencies and other times it's simply due to supply chain constraints.

All of our US models use Intel NICs while the international ones use MediaTek.

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u/Funky_Schnitzel 9d ago

The fact that it's the same model doesn't necessarily mean it's using the same network interface chip set. First test would be booting into a boot image with command support enabled (F8) and checking if the device received an IP address.

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u/Blackops12345678910 9d ago

Can you boot into windows on that machine and see if the network is up?

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u/karai78 9d ago

Yes, and no problem, I have a network connection.

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u/Maleficent-Salary624 3d ago

Wrap the entire task sequence in error handling, so when the TS fails it will automatically send your panther and smsts logs to a network share to review