IASTOR.SYS ERROR DURING RIS SETUP

[Guest]

I have setup a RIS 2003 server. Everything goes fine until the process
starts loading files and I come up with the following error:

File iastor.sys caused an unexpected error (21) at line 3540 in
d:\xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\setup.c.

I believe that this file doesn't need to load for the system to be
operational, but all I can find when searching for this problem is
discussions on how to load 3rd party drivers (usually using F6), but I don't
need to load them, so do I remove the references to this file from a setup
file? I've tried commenting out lines that have this file listed on them to
no avail.

Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this problem? Any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

I found the answer, so I thought I'd actually post it here for others don't
have to find the question without an answer...

When risetup is run, txtsetup.sif is created at
\\<risserver>\<risdrive>\remote
install\setup\english\images\<baseinstallname>\I386.

Change the properties of the file to not be read only.
Edit the file, finding the [SCSI Load] section. In this section you will
find the driver that is causing the error. Comment out any lines that
produce a similiar error when you try to load the system. DO NOT comment out
all the lines in this section, as the system will not be able to find a hard
drive after getting past the errors.

Simple as pie!

Good Luck!

 

[anyweb]

actually it's not quite that simple....

I'm sure some of you have come across this problem (or will..) so I'm going to tell you how to solve it,

Please archive this, you'll need it one day...

Customers scenario:- The customer has a whole load of computers and they want to do RIS (remote installation services) installs on their new computers and they want to use the OEM provided Windows XP SP2 OEM cd, I normally would NOT recommend this method as it is troublesome and may lead to activation issues amongst other things.

When the customer uses the OEM cd to install computers using RIS, what they don't know is the OEM cd has modified files on it that cause errors during the RIS process. The first error they'll encounter is likely to be something along the lines of

File iastor.sys caused an unexpected error (21) at line 3540 in
d:\xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\setup.c.

The above error is misleading as the customer will think they actually need this file (and they most likely don't as the drivers they require can be installed properly via the oempnpdrivers path or install.bat).

NOTE: This error can also be seen on some computers with raid/sata, and if so, have a read of this > http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=7454

To get around this problem we have to understand where it's coming from.

When risetup is run on the RIS server, a read only file called txtsetup.sif is created at risserver\risdrive\remote install\setup\english\images\<baseinstallname>\I386.

Remove the read only properties from the file then open it in notepad and find the [SCSI Load] section. In this section you will find the driver that is causing the error. Comment out any lines that produce a similiar error when you try to load the system. DO NOT comment out all the lines in this section, as the system will not be able to find a hard drive after getting past the errors. What happens here is the OEM cd has several references to drivers (for raid/scsi and so on) that you won't find on a Volume License Key cd's txtsetup.sif file.

Have a look at the two samples below, the first part is from an OEM (danish winxpsp2) txtsetup.sif file, the second part is from the VLK cd txtsetup.sif file.

[SCSI.Load]
iastor = iastor.sys,4
a320raid = a320raid.sys,4
aac = aac.sys,4
cpqarray = cpqarray.sys,4
atapi = atapi.sys,4
aha154x = aha154x.sys,4
sparrow = sparrow.sys,4
symc810 = symc810.sys,4
aic78xx = aic78xx.sys,4
i2omp = i2omp.sys,4
dac960nt = dac960nt.sys,4
ql10wnt = ql10wnt.sys,4
amsint = amsint.sys,4
asc = asc.sys,4
asc3550 = asc3550.sys,4
mraid35x = mraid35x.sys,4
ini910u = ini910u.sys,4
ql1240 = ql1240.sys,4
aic78u2 = aic78u2.sys,4
symc8xx = symc8xx.sys,4
sym_hi = sym_hi.sys,4
sym_u3 = sym_u3.sys,4
asc3350p = asc3350p.sys,4
abp480n5 = abp480n5.sys,4
cd20xrnt = cd20xrnt.sys,4
ultra = ultra.sys,4
adpu160m = adpu160m.sys,4
dpti2o = dpti2o.sys,4
ql1080 = ql1080.sys,4
ql1280 = ql1280.sys,4
ql12160 = ql12160.sys,4
perc2 = perc2.sys,4
hpn = hpn.sys,4
cbidf2k = cbidf2k.sys,4
dac2w2k = dac2w2k.sys,4
aarich = aarich.sys,4

And now here's the same part from the VLK txtsetup.sif file…

[SCSI.Load]
cpqarray = cpqarray.sys,4
atapi = atapi.sys,4
aha154x = aha154x.sys,4
sparrow = sparrow.sys,4
symc810 = symc810.sys,4
aic78xx = aic78xx.sys,4
i2omp = i2omp.sys,4
dac960nt = dac960nt.sys,4
ql10wnt = ql10wnt.sys,4
amsint = amsint.sys,4
asc = asc.sys,4
asc3550 = asc3550.sys,4
mraid35x = mraid35x.sys,4
ini910u = ini910u.sys,4
ql1240 = ql1240.sys,4
aic78u2 = aic78u2.sys,4
symc8xx = symc8xx.sys,4
sym_hi = sym_hi.sys,4
sym_u3 = sym_u3.sys,4
asc3350p = asc3350p.sys,4
abp480n5 = abp480n5.sys,4
cd20xrnt = cd20xrnt.sys,4
ultra = ultra.sys,4
adpu160m = adpu160m.sys,4
dpti2o = dpti2o.sys,4
ql1080 = ql1080.sys,4
ql1280 = ql1280.sys,4
ql12160 = ql12160.sys,4
perc2 = perc2.sys,4
hpn = hpn.sys,4
cbidf2k = cbidf2k.sys,4
dac2w2k = dac2w2k.sys,4

As you can see from above, there are quite a few differences between an OEM txtsetup.sif file and the one on the VLK cd. So the first step in resolving your customer's 'iastor.sys errors' is to very simply copy/paste the VLK section directly into their original OEM txtsetup.sif file's [scsi.load] section (marked in RED above) replacing the OEM references with the original VLK references (which leaves out the OEM specific files which cause the issues in the first place).

Once this is done, you can restart the RIS service and the customer can attempt another RIS install. Things will look much better but then half way through the RIS install there will be several references to files 'not found… press ESC to ignore' , the files that are 'missing' are likely to be any of the files below (or more)



Megasas.pdb
Megasas.sys
Nodev.inf
Oemsetup.inf
Delpseud.inf
Mpixp32.cat
Symmpi.inf
Symmpi.sys
Symmpi.tag
Symmpi.pdb
Idecoi.dll
NavAtaBus.sys
Nvrais.sys
Nvraidco.dll
Nvraid.inf
Nvraid.cat
Iastor.sys
Iastor.inf
Iastor.cat
Iaahci.cat
Iaahci.inf
A320RAID.SYS
A320RAID.INF
A320RAID.CAT
A320MGT.INF
A320MGT.CAT
Cercsr6.sys
Cercsr6.inf
Cercsr6.cat
Cercmgt.inf
Cerccin.dll
Afamgt.sys
Aichmgt.inf
Aichmgt.cat
Aarich.sys
Aarich.inf
Aarich.cat
Aacmgt.inf
Aacevt.exe
Aaccin.dll
Aac.sys
Aac.inf
Aac.cat
!Dell_XP.cab
!DPCHFEN.CAB

To resolve those issues we need to edit the TXTSETUP.SIF file some more. We need to locate another section in the TXTSETUP.SIF file called '[SourceDisksFiles]'.

NOTE: you will find SEVERAL references to [SourceDisksFiles] in the TXTSETUP.SIF file, but only ONE of them is the one we need to edit, the one we need to edit will have the following line in it

bootvid.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2

So once you've located the right one do as follows:-
delete everything between [SourceDisksFiles] and bootvid.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2
so it now starts to look like...
[SourceDisksFiles]
bootvid.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2
kdcom.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2
c_1252.nls = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2
c_437.nls = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2
l_intl.nls = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2........... (the file list continues on and on and on, only delete the lines BETWEEN '[SourceDisksFiles] and bootvid.dll = 1,,,,,,3_,2,0,0,,1,2

Ok, now that you have completed editing the TXTSETUP.SIF file, save it, and restart the RIS service,





problem solved !

cheers

anyweb

 

[ggamauf]

how can i change the properties?

the file must be on the systems CD!
how can I do what you suggest?

I found the answer, so I thought I'd actually post it here for others don't
have to find the question without an answer...

When risetup is run, txtsetup.sif is created at
\\<risserver>\<risdrive>\remote
install\setup\english\images\<baseinstallname>\I386.

Change the properties of the file to not be read only.
Edit the file, finding the [SCSI Load] section. In this section you will
find the driver that is causing the error. Comment out any lines that
produce a similiar error when you try to load the system. DO NOT comment out
all the lines in this section, as the system will not be able to find a hard
drive after getting past the errors.

Simple as pie!

Good Luck!
--
The Internet is a great way to get on the net.
Bob Dole-Republican candidate


"JerryZ" wrote:

> I have setup a RIS 2003 server. Everything goes fine until the process
> starts loading files and I come up with the following error:
>
> File iastor.sys caused an unexpected error (21) at line 3540 in
> d:\xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\setup.c.
>
> I believe that this file doesn't need to load for the system to be
> operational, but all I can find when searching for this problem is
> discussions on how to load 3rd party drivers (usually using F6), but I don't
> need to load them, so do I remove the references to this file from a setup
> file? I've tried commenting out lines that have this file listed on them to
> no avail.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this problem? Any help would be
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> --
> The Internet is a great way to get on the net.
> Bob Dole-Republican candidate

 

[guy Mcguy]

Thank you anyweb

I never performed a RIS installation so I had my Guru boss (do it for me) teach me how. Had an old 2004 laptop a friend asked me to fix, been fixing them for years now so I said no prob. I get the thing and the optical drive is on the fritz it wont boot from USB so RIS was the only option. Boss was able to perform a remote install over VMware and we did run into a few hurdles in the process, finding this post saved hella troubles, I simply copied your VLK txtsetup.sif ref the SCSI and it saved the day..



CHEERS!


Guy McGuy