ifM63x64.sys file missing or corrupt - SCCM OSD (X1 Carbon)

Building a new Lenovo X1 Carbon with the new integrated LAN adapter (no more guessing which USB port to use!) via SCCM 2007 and I came across this little blinder.

After the first reboot to OS I was presented with this error screen:

I spotted that is was driver in my driver pack (taken from Lenovo's SCCM pack) for the  Intel Ethernet FCoE Virtual Storport Miniport Driver.

I located the driver in my driver pack and removed it - left he check box UNTICKED to update the distribution point and then manually when and updated it after myself. 

Once I was happy that the source had incremented by one version I kicked off the build again.

Sure enough it sailed through and we are all happy....

 

Lenovo X1 Carbon PXE Boot Issues

I  was recently given the nice new shiny Lenovo X1 Carbon to play with and deploy our corporate Windows 7 image to it.  To maintain its slim physique it hasn't got a built in Ethernet adaptor and is supplied with a Lenovo USB 2.0 to Ethernet Adapter.  Obviously we now had to track down the driver to inject to our Boot Image.

Initially we used the Lenovo USB 2.0 Ethernet Adapter Driver 5.4.3.0 which PXE booted but then seemed to fail and hang once WinPE loaded up.

I then downloaded the Lenovo X1 Carbon SCCM Driver Pack which came with v5.12.4.0 which also seemed to give me problems.

Eventually I found that it was the manufacturers Vista driver that worked for me.

From the AXIS website you can download the AXIS AX88772B Vista Driver which worked a treat.  With the SSD this was a dream to image and was quite quick in comparison to others.

Hope this helps.

Chris.

Task Sequence Fails Error 0x80040104

More fun and games with OSD Task Sequences - this time in the form of error 0x80040104.

The error as it was displayed on the clients screen was:

This task sequence cannot be run because a package referenced by the task sequence could not be found. For more information, please contact your system administrator or helpdesk operator.

This happened immediately after selecting the task sequence and processing the dependencies.

Upon viewing the SMSTS.log we spotted the error

Failed to resolve selected task sequence dependencies. Code(0x80040104)


The only change made to the TS since yesterday was a new driver package for the Lenovo X220T tablets.  The reference to a missing package reminded me of a post I made once in reference to drivers and driver packages - that if you leave the distribution point on Source version 1 it will just bomb out.  Refreshing the DP didn't help so went via "Manage" and created a new source version.


As if by magic..... It worked!

SMSTS.log

This task sequence cannot be run because a package referenced by the task sequence could not be found.

If like me you have been bashing your head against many firewalls during Windows 7 OSD via SCCM you will probably sometime come across the error:

This task sequence cannot be run because a package referenced by the task sequence could not be found.

More annoyingly it doesn't reference the guilty package in the onscreen error.  After checking the many log files CCM generates I found within the RAM drive path: x:\windows\temp\SMSTSLog resides the relevent SMSTS.LOG file.

The full error I recieved was after selecting the relevant OSD TS; resolving polices and then BAM :

This task sequence cannot be run because a package referenced by the task sequence could not be found. For more information, please contact your system administrator or helpdesk operator.

I also noticed (and please use SMS Trace to view error logs):

Failed to find CCM_SoftwareDistribution object for AdvertID="xxx", PackageID="xxx", ProgramID="*"

I found it was a Lenovo Graphics Driver Package causing the issue; it appears SCCM has yet another little "quirk" where the hash isn't written sometimes upon creation of a package and the initial ditribution.  If the version number of the guilty package is "1" try right clicking on the DP of the package and select "Update Distribution Points".

After some time the Source Version will increment to "2" and the date will be current - give your OSD another try and then see if it works - if it fails - check the log file again as this time the guilty package may have changed and it may be a case of trawling through a few before you resolve the issue.

I hope this helps.

Many thanks to J over at ManagedUX for the pointer!

Lenovo Driver Installs via OS Deployment

Any tech unfortunate enough to have to visit Lenovo's driver page will agree it isn't the friendliest of places.  Kind of like my home town of Preston at about 2am on a Sunday morning; you only go there if you have to and get the hell out of there as quick as you can - and DON'T make eye contact with anyone!

The naming convention in non existent - unlike their competition such as Dell and HP who have meaningful, descriptive file names for their drivers and respective folders.

If you require a solution to deploy Lenovo drivers throughout your estate then don't despair - there is an answer.

In addition to the handy [yeah, don't do us any favors Lenovo] TVT System Updater tool they provide for individual clients they also developed the "Update Retriever" & "ThinInstaller" as part of their Think Vantage Toolkit (TVT) branded client tool solution.

To configure SCCM to deliver driver updates (it's also capable of MS updates but that's another story) there are a couple of solutions out there but this is the one I settled with:

Assumptions :

• You have a deployment solution in place already with relevant TaskSequence - if not please see the wonderful WindowsNoob tutorials- big shout out to Niall Brady for this site - it's an invaluable resource to any SCCM tech.
• You are proficient with SCCM
• You know the machine type of the Lenovo machine you are using

• Download the above software and install Update Retriever [UR] locally on your machine or the SCCM server.  Set it up and create a folder to act as the repository for the update and driver files and share it out - mines called "Update Retiever".  Tell UR to download to this folder (follow Lenovo's instructions if your struggling but it's straight forward)
• Create a package in SCCM for ThinInstaller (TI) from the files that are extracted from the crappy compressed .exe you end up with and within the package create a program as below:

1. Create a batch file and call it something meaningful like "copyfiles.bat"
2. Within the batch file use the command: xcopy.exe \\SCCMSERVER\DISTRIBUTIONPOINT\PACKAGENAME\*.* c:\lenovo\thininstaller\ /E /D where SCCMSERVER = your servername/IP of server DISTRIBUTIONPOINT = the folder used for your DP packages (i.e. SMSPKGD$) and PACKAGENAME = the name of the package (i.e. LCT000B8).  This will copy the ThinInstaller software locally to the client as it needs to run from a local folder and doesn't extract and "install" as such.
3. Create an "Install Software" task sequence entry under "State Restore" that calls the batch file "copyfiles.bat"

• Create a "Run Command Line" task sequence and call it something like "Run ThinInstaller"
• Use cmd line: cmd.exe /c thininstaller.exe /CM -search A -action INSTALL -repository \\SCCMSERVER\Update_Retriever  -noicon -includerebootpackages 1,2,3,4 -noreboot *don't forget to change this path to suit your config.
• Start in: c:\lenovo\thininstaller -this is where the files were copied to.
• Time-out - 120

This should now enable the client to run ThinInstaller locally and pull over all the relevant drivers for that model.