I have been reading every single discussion topic I can find here on integrating Dell's diagnostic utility into UBCD, and so far I am not having any success with the latest version.

I do warranty repairs for a small college, and so I need the latest version because it supports some models that others don't, which are in use here.

I have tried using both 4.1.1 and 5.0b12. I have tried updating syslinux to the latest stable version (3.82), and even using memdisk from the latest test version (3.83pre6).

So far the best I get is using the following custom.cfg from 5.0b12



This gets me to where it starts to set up ramdisks, and then it just hangs.

I'd appreciate any help people can offer, since I've been reading forum posts here for days, trying pretty much everything suggested by people and not having any luck. Don't really care if it's for 4.1.1 or 5.0, just let me know which it's for if you suggest something.

Try the following and see if it works:


You can also try the iso version.
You need the memdisk from the following post:
http://ultimatebootcd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2028

Or try floppy emulation in the grub4dos menu:

_________________
Download Ultimate Boot CD v5.0: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html
Use Parted Magic for handling all partitioning task: http://partedmagic.com/

At least some progress on the hard disk image file. That now boots, but doesn't necessarily want to run. But it might be because I'm running it in VirtualPC and not on an actual Dell system. I'll have to try that a little later.

The ISO version still doesn't seem to want to boot even with the version of memdisk from the post you quoted linked to (and I had tried before).

In any case, I'm at least getting further along than before, so it's a start. Thanks for the help icecube.

Edit: After running the image on a "live" system and not a VM, it loads and seems to run just fine. So it looks like the raw bit was the key. Thanks again icecube, and hopefully this will help someone else.

if you don't specify 'harddisk' on the initrd line it will boot fine without the 'raw' option. It won't work under virtual pc since it checks for a dell system before it will boot.

Cheers

Download the MEMDISK version of http://ultimatebootcd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2028 again (new version).

It should work with Dell Diagnostics now (this ISO uses hard disk emulation which wasn't supported in the previous version of the ISO booting MEMDISK).

I also changed my first post (found the error in your config file):
This is wrong (INITRD line should have only a path to a image):

Try this:

MEMDISK should be smart enough to detect that this is a hard disk image, so the following should work too:

_________________
Download Ultimate Boot CD v5.0: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html
Use Parted Magic for handling all partitioning task: http://partedmagic.com/

I have the Dell Diags working in V5 RC1 with the following entries:

and

I put these entries in the "System" menus.

EDIT: btw, the most recent version of Dell Diags that I have found were from the file listing for the XPS M1530.

Dell has several diagnostic packages each targeting different machines. I have a set of three that I currently use that cover most/all of the dell machines I have worked on.

I personally like to use the CW##### naming scheme (dell uses this) and then adding in the texthelp the list of models that version supports. That way you know what you have and easily know which one supports what.

I have also had success to creating the hdd image file using the dell diag installer tool and running it with syslinux/UBCD (prior to the ISO booting capability being adding in syslinux.

~
dpc