Startup failure on Windows 7 machine?

[chmcke01]

We have about 60 of the same model computer and so we have an image we deploy if one goes down so we don't have to start from scratch. A machine went down and we replaced the motherboard but it will not boot from the image we have. It starts to boot, displays the swirly colors and then the Windows 7 logo and then it restarts.

We tried installing a fresh copy of Windows 7 and that works. Using the image that works in all of our other machines of the same model it tries to get us to do startup repair but it fails every time. Any ideas?

 

[dingo07]

new motherboard = different drivers for chipset/network/audio/usb/etc...

make a new image of that machine with new motherboard so that you now have 2 images for 2 macines to support

 

[chmcke01]

It is supposed to be a direct replacement for the original board, but that is what I have feared as well. Having to have a second image for one machine sure does suck.

 

[danny2000]

I would verify that all of the settings in the bios are the same as one that works.
I would also try installing the image with just one stick of ram; You may have to try with several sticks (one at a time) until you get one that works.

Also ensure that the bios is at the same version as all of the other systems.

 

[windryyder]

We have one image that supports Dell computers ranging from laptops to desktops that are brand new to 7 or 8 years old all using one image. The techs who create the image for our hospital say they just have to add the additional drivers to the base image in order for it to work on the different computers so it should be possible to do this for your image as well. I have never had a chance to do this so I am not sure if there is more to it than that, but supposedly they say that is all they do when we get a new model computer. Once they add the drivers, they repackage the image and it is good to go.

 

[chmcke01]

Can anyone shed light on how to add the drivers for the new motherboard to one of the other machines so we can capture a new image?

 

[danny2000]

Can anyone shed light on how to add the drivers for the new motherboard to one of the other machines so we can capture a new image?

I would verify what I mentioned above first; I worked in Desktop support for over 10 years and found what I mentiond above worked most of the time.

Right now, you're not sure if it is indeed a different motherboard chipset or not so you're barking-up the wrong tree before doing basic trouble-shooting first.

 

[dingo07]

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preparing-an-image-using-sysprep-and-imagex.aspx

 

[chmcke01]

I plan to do that too, but I am not at work right now and I am the type of person who likes to bark up multiple trees at a time so if one doesn't work I am prepared to try something else.

 

[danny2000]

You can also look at this: However, in good company setups, very few people would have access to modify any images in Package Manager . http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766141(v=WS.10).aspx

 

[chmcke01]

I would verify what I mentioned above first; I worked in Desktop support for over 10 years and found what I mentiond above worked most of the time.

Right now, you're not sure if it is indeed a different motherboard chipset or not so you're barking-up the wrong tree before doing basic trouble-shooting first.

Thanks. It was weird though, the first thing we tried was to make sure all the settings in BIOS were correct, namely drive configuration and it still didn't work.

After confirming that it was the same motherboard we tried lots of other things and nothing worked. The next thing I tried was to reset BIOS settings to default and then set drive configuration settings (the same settings I tried first that didn't work). This time it worked perfectly.

Sometimes it just doesn't make any sense, lol. Anyway, thanks for all of the help.

 

[chmcke01]

Best answer selected by chmcke01.