Ghost 9 Network hassles...

[Kenneth]

Howdy,

I cannot seem to find my network to restore with Ghost 9 (or Drive
Image 7, or V2i Protector.)

If in Ghost 9 if I boot from the recovery CD and attempt to configure
the network, here's what I get:

The Network configuration dialog shows -

"No network configuration was detected."

The netcard name is displayed correctly, but is grayed out.

IP #1 displays correctly
Subnet #1 displays correctly

IP #2 displays 0.0.0.0.
Subnet #2 displays 0.0.0.0.

How should I proceed to get this thing to see the network properly?

Thanks for any assistance,

 

[Peter]

When you finally run "System Restore Wizard", go to Open, using "Look in"
scroll to "My Network Places" and select right server, share, Log In,
navigate to the right image file.

But I have found this method (from Ghost 9 recovery disk) extremely slow (5
min to get started); error prone (ghost8 images reported as corrupted) and
limited (have to have PC with at least 256MB ram, cannot create image,
etc.).
I can start restoring my disk in 30 seconds after cold boot using the old
Ghost8 boot CD (custom made).

I think naming this software as Ghost9 is a huge disgrace to the original
product we are all familiar with.

 

[Kenneth]

When you finally run "System Restore Wizard", go to Open, using "Look in"
scroll to "My Network Places" and select right server, share, Log In,
navigate to the right image file.

But I have found this method (from Ghost 9 recovery disk) extremely slow (5
min to get started); error prone (ghost8 images reported as corrupted) and
limited (have to have PC with at least 256MB ram, cannot create image,
etc.).
I can start restoring my disk in 30 seconds after cold boot using the old
Ghost8 boot CD (custom made).

I think naming this software as Ghost9 is a huge disgrace to the original
product we are all familiar with.

Howdy,

I cannot seem to find my network to restore with Ghost 9 (or Drive
Image 7, or V2i Protector.)

If in Ghost 9 if I boot from the recovery CD and attempt to configure
the network, here's what I get:

The Network configuration dialog shows -

"No network configuration was detected."

The netcard name is displayed correctly, but is grayed out.

IP #1 displays correctly
Subnet #1 displays correctly

IP #2 displays 0.0.0.0.
Subnet #2 displays 0.0.0.0.

How should I proceed to get this thing to see the network properly?

Thanks for any assistance,

Hello, and thanks...

It now appears that my problem may be that my NIC is not on the
supported list...

According to that list, I can "manually" load the driver by hitting F6
when booting from the recovery CD. I have not had the opportunity to
experiment with this.

Might you know what I should expect when trying to load the driver
manually?

Any assistance in advance would be most appreciated,

 

[Peter]

F6 is for Mass Storage drivers, not for NICs as far as I know.
Where did you read that instruction?

 

[Kenneth]

F6 is for Mass Storage drivers, not for NICs as far as I know.
Where did you read that instruction?

Hello, and thanks...

It now appears that my problem may be that my NIC is not on the
supported list...

According to that list, I can "manually" load the driver by hitting F6
when booting from the recovery CD. I have not had the opportunity to
experiment with this.

Might you know what I should expect when trying to load the driver
manually?

Any assistance in advance would be most appreciated,

Hi Peter,

I checked it again, and, of course, you are correct.

The PDF that lists the supported NICs says that if my card is not on
the list, and is not automatically detected, I should contact
Technical Support.

I was on the phone with the "technical" folks yesterday for about 90
minutes. In truth, thus far, the folks with whom I have spoken know
less about the product than I...

Thanks for any further thoughts,

 

[J. Clarke]

This is not a very elegant solution, but a Linksys or DLink PCI
network card should only cost you about $20.

Just make sure it's on the list. And I'd avoid Linksys--they may have
changed but at one time they shipped several different boards with
different chipsets and different drivers under the same model number, so
getting the board from the supported list doesn't guarantee that the board
is the one that is supported.

 

[Kenneth]

This is not a very elegant solution, but a Linksys or DLink PCI
network card should only cost you about $20.

Hi John,

It is a perfectly appropriate solution, but...

I tried booting from the G9 CD on the machine that contains the images
that I would like to access. That machine happens to have a recognized
NIC.

After booting from the CD on that box, when I go into Network
Configuration, it displays "No network configuration detected" though
it does properly display the NIC.

On the original machine, it displays "No network configuration
detected" with the card name grayed out.

Might you help me to understand how to proceed with the "No network
configuration detected" problem?

Thanks as before,

 

[Peter]

Message "No network configuration WAS detected" means that DHCP attempt to
allocate IP address failed. You simply do not have working DHCP server on
your network segment.
You have to configure a Static IP address. See Ghost9 manual on "Getting a
static IP address". Or simply select "IP #1" ->Modify ->enter
www.xxx.yyy.zzz ip, 255.255.255.0 mask ->OK. Use "Ping Remote Computer" to
see if it works.

 

[Kenneth]

Message "No network configuration WAS detected" means that DHCP attempt to
allocate IP address failed. You simply do not have working DHCP server on
your network segment.
You have to configure a Static IP address. See Ghost9 manual on "Getting a
static IP address". Or simply select "IP #1" ->Modify ->enter
www.xxx.yyy.zzz ip, 255.255.255.0 mask ->OK. Use "Ping Remote Computer" to
see if it works.

Hi John,

It is a perfectly appropriate solution, but...

I tried booting from the G9 CD on the machine that contains the images
that I would like to access. That machine happens to have a recognized
NIC.

After booting from the CD on that box, when I go into Network
Configuration, it displays "No network configuration detected" though
it does properly display the NIC.

On the original machine, it displays "No network configuration
detected" with the card name grayed out.

Might you help me to understand how to proceed with the "No network
configuration detected" problem?

Thanks as before,

Hi Peter,

I was confused by the "No network configuration detected" because
below that it showed what appeared to be a proper IP address for #1.

Am I correct that for the two systems to see each other, they need
unique IP addresses assigned, but need identical subnet masks?

Also, can you explain to me the fact that when I am booting from the
G9 CD in the network configuration dialog there are listings for "#1"
and "#2".

Are those the two systems? That is, suppose I boot with the CD on
system "JOE" and have the image I wish to restore residing on system
"BILL".

Would I then enter the config information for system "JOE" as #1 on
both machines and enter the config information for system "BILL" as #2
on both machines?

I do know that once I manage to get this to work it will appear to be
the simplest thing in the world, but for now, I am a bit too confused.

Thanks for any further assistance...

All the best,

 

[Peter]

Before I go into detail, can you describe your network environment?
Hub/switch, how many devices you have, IP addresses, etc. That will
determine the best configuration of your two PC's (Ghost client PC and Ghost
Image Storage PC). That is because you seem to have a little hesitation in
assigning IP addresses in your network.
Another question. Did you ever created a network share on one PC and
connected to it from another PC? It is just for me to understand what
experience you have.... ;-)

 

[Kenneth]

Before I go into detail, can you describe your network environment?
Hub/switch, how many devices you have, IP addresses, etc. That will
determine the best configuration of your two PC's (Ghost client PC and Ghost
Image Storage PC). That is because you seem to have a little hesitation in
assigning IP addresses in your network.
Another question. Did you ever created a network share on one PC and
connected to it from another PC? It is just for me to understand what
experience you have.... ;-)

Hi Peter,

First, I am happy to respond to your questions above, then, I will
tell you of my latest attempts...

We are NOT in an emergency situation. The image creation seems to work
fine, and on the one occasion that we had a crash, I physically moved
the drive that stored the images, installed it as a second drive on
the box that crashed, and restored "locally."

That said...

We have five boxes, all Win 2K pro. They are piped through a Linksys
switch. One box is wireless and goes through a wireless router to the
switch. We have many network shares, and all work properly. I don't
know if it is relevant, but will mention that three of the boxes are
connected with cat5, one is wireless. And, one (and it is the system
that has the images that we may wish to restore at some point) is (if
I have the proper term) light ethernet, that is thin coax. It goes
through a magic little box and comes out the other end as cat5 and
then on to the switch. The reason for that coax is distance: Four of
the boxes are within spitting distance of one another (we have often
verified that) and the image storehouse is in another building about
100 meters away, hence the coax.

Here is the current info:

I shut down all but two of the systems. Let's call 'em "A" and "B". At
the moment, "A" has the unsupported NIC (I anticipate having that
replaced within a few hours). The images of ultimate concern are those
of "A" and are stored on "B".

"B" has a supported NIC.

In windows, I checked that "A" and "B" were happily talking to each
other.

I ran IP Config on "A" and noted its IP address and subnet mask.

I then went to "B" and booted it off of the G9 CD.

I first set "B"s IP address to "one more than" "A"s, that is if the
"A" address is XXX.YYY.ZZZ.123 I set "B" to XXX.YYY.ZZZ.124

"B" assigned that address properly, but when I attempted to ping "A" I
got endless time out errors.

I then released the IP assignment, and tried "one less than" "A"s that
is XXX.YYY.ZZZ.122 again, no joy.

I still have a few hairs left, and thank you, once again, for any
further suggestions.

All the best,

 

[Kenneth]

Hi Peter,

First, I am happy to respond to your questions above, then, I will
tell you of my latest attempts...

We are NOT in an emergency situation. The image creation seems to work
fine, and on the one occasion that we had a crash, I physically moved
the drive that stored the images, installed it as a second drive on
the box that crashed, and restored "locally."

That said...

We have five boxes, all Win 2K pro. They are piped through a Linksys
switch. One box is wireless and goes through a wireless router to the
switch. We have many network shares, and all work properly. I don't
know if it is relevant, but will mention that three of the boxes are
connected with cat5, one is wireless. And, one (and it is the system
that has the images that we may wish to restore at some point) is (if
I have the proper term) light ethernet, that is thin coax. It goes
through a magic little box and comes out the other end as cat5 and
then on to the switch. The reason for that coax is distance: Four of
the boxes are within spitting distance of one another (we have often
verified that) and the image storehouse is in another building about
100 meters away, hence the coax.

Here is the current info:

I shut down all but two of the systems. Let's call 'em "A" and "B". At
the moment, "A" has the unsupported NIC (I anticipate having that
replaced within a few hours). The images of ultimate concern are those
of "A" and are stored on "B".

"B" has a supported NIC.

In windows, I checked that "A" and "B" were happily talking to each
other.

I ran IP Config on "A" and noted its IP address and subnet mask.

I then went to "B" and booted it off of the G9 CD.

I first set "B"s IP address to "one more than" "A"s, that is if the
"A" address is XXX.YYY.ZZZ.123 I set "B" to XXX.YYY.ZZZ.124

"B" assigned that address properly, but when I attempted to ping "A" I
got endless time out errors.

I then released the IP assignment, and tried "one less than" "A"s that
is XXX.YYY.ZZZ.122 again, no joy.

I still have a few hairs left, and thank you, once again, for any
further suggestions.

All the best,

Hi again Peter,

I neglected to say that both systems have the same subnet mask
designated...

Thanks,

 

[Peter]

I'm still trying to find out if you have DHCP server in your network or not.
That is crucial for proper IP management. If you perform IPCONFIG /ALL on
your workstations, when they run normally as Windows 2000 workstations, what
do you see?
Does it say:
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . : Yes
or
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . : No
What exactly is the subnet mask?
Does your IP address start from 169.254.?

If you run Ghost on any machine, you can try to ping any Windows 2000
workstation. To be successfull, they have to match your network portion of
IP address.
So if you have workstation with:
IP: 192.168.1.100 Mask: 255.255.255.0
Set your Ghost PC to:
IP: 192.168.1.200 Mask: 255.255.255.0
Then try to ping other host.
If that does not work, there is something wrong with your physical wiring.
Unplug network cable from Ghost PC - NIC lights should go OFF. Plug it back
in, lights should go ON again.

Once you get IP connectivity, we could talk about ghosting using network
shares.

 

[Kenneth]

I'm still trying to find out if you have DHCP server in your network or not.
That is crucial for proper IP management. If you perform IPCONFIG /ALL on
your workstations, when they run normally as Windows 2000 workstations, what
do you see?
Does it say:
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . : Yes
or
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . : No
What exactly is the subnet mask?
Does your IP address start from 169.254.?

If you run Ghost on any machine, you can try to ping any Windows 2000
workstation. To be successfull, they have to match your network portion of
IP address.
So if you have workstation with:
IP: 192.168.1.100 Mask: 255.255.255.0
Set your Ghost PC to:
IP: 192.168.1.200 Mask: 255.255.255.0
Then try to ping other host.
If that does not work, there is something wrong with your physical wiring.
Unplug network cable from Ghost PC - NIC lights should go OFF. Plug it back
in, lights should go ON again.

Once you get IP connectivity, we could talk about ghosting using network
shares.

Hi again Peter,

I neglected to say that both systems have the same subnet mask
designated...

Thanks,

Hi Peter,

I have installed a supported NIC in machine "A" but when I boot from
the CD, and go into "Configure network" the card name displays grayed
out. It is the correct designation for the card however.

I am not certain if you want me to run IPConfig /all from Windows, or
from the CD. If the latter, I will need help to do it.

When I run IPConfig /all from Windows, both machines display "Dhcp
Enabled: Yes"

The subnet mask for both boxes is 255.255.255.0

The IP addresses are of the form: 192.168.1.XXX

Based upon the instructions from the Symantec website in a doc called
"Cannot access a workgroup share in Recovery Environment" I set the IP
for one machine to be 192.168.1.BBB and the other to 192.168.1.BBB+1

I then tried your suggestion of using 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.1.200
all to no avail.

Thanks again,

 

[Kenneth]

I'm still trying to find out if you have DHCP server in your network or not.
That is crucial for proper IP management. If you perform IPCONFIG /ALL on
your workstations, when they run normally as Windows 2000 workstations, what
do you see?
Does it say:
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . : Yes
or
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . : No
What exactly is the subnet mask?
Does your IP address start from 169.254.?

If you run Ghost on any machine, you can try to ping any Windows 2000
workstation. To be successfull, they have to match your network portion of
IP address.
So if you have workstation with:
IP: 192.168.1.100 Mask: 255.255.255.0
Set your Ghost PC to:
IP: 192.168.1.200 Mask: 255.255.255.0
Then try to ping other host.
If that does not work, there is something wrong with your physical wiring.
Unplug network cable from Ghost PC - NIC lights should go OFF. Plug it back
in, lights should go ON again.

Once you get IP connectivity, we could talk about ghosting using network
shares.



Hi Peter,

I have installed a supported NIC in machine "A" but when I boot from
the CD, and go into "Configure network" the card name displays grayed
out. It is the correct designation for the card however.

I am not certain if you want me to run IPConfig /all from Windows, or
from the CD. If the latter, I will need help to do it.

When I run IPConfig /all from Windows, both machines display "Dhcp
Enabled: Yes"

The subnet mask for both boxes is 255.255.255.0

The IP addresses are of the form: 192.168.1.XXX

Based upon the instructions from the Symantec website in a doc called
"Cannot access a workgroup share in Recovery Environment" I set the IP
for one machine to be 192.168.1.BBB and the other to 192.168.1.BBB+1

I then tried your suggestion of using 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.1.200
all to no avail.

Thanks again,

Hi Peter,

I found out how to display the IPConfig /all stuff from the CD.

It shows:

Host Name: (coded leters)
Primary DNS suffix: (blank)
Node type: "Unknown"
IP routing enabled: "NO"
Wins proxy: "NO"

then for the NIC

DNS suffix: (blank)
Description: (correct name of card installed)
DHCP enabled: "YES"
Auto Config: "YES"

With all of that, I can assign an IP address, release it, assign
another etc. but, whatever I set up, the name of the card appears
grayed, and the description says "No network configuration detected."

Thanks,

 

[Peter]

Yes, I have asked you for IPCONFIG /ALL information when you boot your PC
normally, i.e. without using Ghost CD. And your answer was good. It seems
there is a DHCP server on your network, and most likely it is your Linksys
"switch" or router. It would be good if you can provide their model numbers
for a reference.

Now, to make sure you have network connectivity when running Windows (not
Ghost CD), boot system A and B normally. Find out what are their IP
addresses by using IPCONFIG. Let say box A has 192.168.1.120 and box B
192.168.1.121.
From box A perform
PING 192.168.1.121
and that should be successful.
Then, of course, from box B perform
PING 192.168.1.120
and that should be successful too.

Do not disconnect anything from the network.
Now, do not reboot box B, but restart box A with Ghost CD.
It should start up and pick up some IP address from DHCP.
You can display it by Advanced Recovery Tasks -> Utilities ->Configure IP
Address
It will display "Network Card" info greyed out. That is fine.
It will say "No network configuration was detected", and that is fine too.
"IP #1" should be automatically filled with "192.168.1.xxx" and "Subnet #1"
with "255.255.255.0".
Close that window. Goto Utilities again and select Ping Remote Computer.
Type "192.168.1.121" without quotes and hit OK. It should display PING.EXE
screen with successful message.

I hope that none of above machines (A and B) is the wireless one.

 

[Peter]

Hi Peter,

I found out how to display the IPConfig /all stuff from the CD.

It shows:

Host Name: (coded leters)
Primary DNS suffix: (blank)
Node type: "Unknown"
IP routing enabled: "NO"
Wins proxy: "NO"

then for the NIC

DNS suffix: (blank)
Description: (correct name of card installed)
DHCP enabled: "YES"
Auto Config: "YES"

With all of that, I can assign an IP address, release it, assign
another etc. but, whatever I set up, the name of the card appears
grayed, and the description says "No network configuration detected."

Thanks,

That is right "Run IP Config Utility" allows to do that.
As I have said in my previous mail, "No network configuration was detected"
and greyed out network card description seem to be just fine (I guess that
is normal for Ghost 9 CD).
Did you performed PING tests to and from Ghost 9 CD booted PC?

 

[Kenneth]

Yes, I have asked you for IPCONFIG /ALL information when you boot your PC
normally, i.e. without using Ghost CD. And your answer was good. It seems
there is a DHCP server on your network, and most likely it is your Linksys
"switch" or router. It would be good if you can provide their model numbers
for a reference.

Now, to make sure you have network connectivity when running Windows (not
Ghost CD), boot system A and B normally. Find out what are their IP
addresses by using IPCONFIG. Let say box A has 192.168.1.120 and box B
192.168.1.121.
From box A perform
PING 192.168.1.121
and that should be successful.
Then, of course, from box B perform
PING 192.168.1.120
and that should be successful too.

Do not disconnect anything from the network.
Now, do not reboot box B, but restart box A with Ghost CD.
It should start up and pick up some IP address from DHCP.
You can display it by Advanced Recovery Tasks -> Utilities ->Configure IP
Address
It will display "Network Card" info greyed out. That is fine.
It will say "No network configuration was detected", and that is fine too.
"IP #1" should be automatically filled with "192.168.1.xxx" and "Subnet #1"
with "255.255.255.0".
Close that window. Goto Utilities again and select Ping Remote Computer.
Type "192.168.1.121" without quotes and hit OK. It should display PING.EXE
screen with successful message.

I hope that none of above machines (A and B) is the wireless one.

Hi Peter,

First, the good Neither of the machines in question is wireless.
They are hard wired and are connected by coax...

Ordinarily, they talk to each other happily using NetBEUI. It was
suggested to me that I should do these experiments with only TCP/IP
running, and so have disabled NetBEUI on both boxes.

Now, the surprise:

Running Windows on both machines, they cannot ping one another...

I just get endless time out errors, going both ways.

Though this is a hassle, I do suspect that we are getting closer to
home on all this.

BTW, the switch through which these are piped is a Linksys EZXS88W.

Because of the ping failures, I think it best to go no further with
your other steps above.

Sincere thanks,

 

[Peter]

Something is not right.
You have a Linksys Ethernet switch in your network which does not provide
DHCP service. Yet your computers report DHCP to be turned on and show
assigned IP addresses in 192.168.1 network. Where do they get IP from?
Your computer B (connected by coax-CAT5 converter) still gets IP via DHCP.
But cannot communicate over IP. That is really strange.

Nevertheless, if you still want to pull ghost image from your B machine
using NETBEUI, please send me a private e-mail.

 

[John .]

Hi Peter,

First, the good Neither of the machines in question is wireless.
They are hard wired and are connected by coax...

Ordinarily, they talk to each other happily using NetBEUI. It was
suggested to me that I should do these experiments with only TCP/IP
running, and so have disabled NetBEUI on both boxes.

Now, the surprise:

Running Windows on both machines, they cannot ping one another...

I just get endless time out errors, going both ways.

Though this is a hassle, I do suspect that we are getting closer to
home on all this.

BTW, the switch through which these are piped is a Linksys EZXS88W.

Because of the ping failures, I think it best to go no further with
your other steps above.

Sincere thanks,

Kenneth, you are getting good advice from Peter. I've read all the
threads here and in backup.

If your two PC's (A & B) are both ONLY using TCPIP, and if the
router/switch is configured for DHCP, you should be able to ping
between the two. If you can't that MUST be fixed first. Don't just
disable NETBEUI by unchecking it, make sure it's not in the network
properties list.

I would disconnect all other cables from the router/switch except A &
B and concentrate on getting those two to communicate properly with
each other.

Make sure A and B can browse the other's network neighborhood shares.
Then see if those two can access the Internet via the router.

Once all that is working, then reboot one of them with Ghost 9, and
see if you can access the other one. In the Windows 2000 Pro PC with
the images on its hard drive, you wilt need have a valid logon
id/password defined for the Ghost user.

john