221-EIT Error

[Tomtom565]

Hi guy's,

So I have received a HP DC7800 Ultra-slim PC, and was planning to use it as a media PC in the lounge, anyway I am hoping anyone knows how to help me.

When I turn it on, it displays the boot image fine, but when It gets past this it displays the error "2215-EIT Failure: VA boot record read failure. Ensure drive with VA image is installed correctly" , I have tried several different HDD's, and here is the strange thing, when i try to get to the boot menu or network boot to deploy a new image via FOG it displays the same error, unless I change the emulation type of the HDD from hard drive to none, this then allows me boot from disk etc., windows 7 wont install presumably because of it is not listed as hard drive in the bios anymore, and when I deploy via FOG and format the HDD and deploy windows 7/vista/xp , when i change the emulation type back to hard drive, it just displays the error again, and the same with Ubuntu booting from disk and trying to install from there. I have access the Intel ME BIOS extension and disabled it, but it still displays the error, but on a HP PDF doc. it tells me I can disable it from the AMT config. but the VA config section it displays is not there, in fact it is the only sub menu not there!

Any ideas and help would be greatly appreciated, as I would love to get it working as it’s such a nice little machine with decent specs

Tom

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01159978/c01159978.pdf <-- Official HP PDF

http://www.intel.com/en_US/Assets/PDF/general/ug_Intel_MEBX.pdf <-- Intel official docs on ME

 

[VengeanceUK]

sometimes there are "hidden menus" in bios's try combinations like CTRL + F1 as that seems the most common

 

[Tomtom565]

Nope, Nothing at all

 

[TheOsTech]

I have never worked with free ghost or your hardware so I feel a little out of my depth making suggestions.

then again nothing to loose from trying.

do you need a pre install driver for emulation set to hard drive?

 

[TheOsTech]

Hmm

A TPM is needed for VA 2.0 is to hash the VA boot record. It has to be unhidden, but does not have to be​

enabled.

is the tpm connected to the mb? some are built in some are modular.

edit* looks like the tpm is embedded. are you running the boot image from a host o/s as guest o/s or are you just trying to install the host o/s from scratch?

 

[Tomtom565]

The actual goal I am trying to achive, is to get past the damned error, it does not let me do anything unless the HDD is removed,

Whith a HDD is inserted and enabled in the BIOS, even with Intel ME is disabled, it diplays the error when trying to get into the standalone boot menu and when trying to network boot, it even displays it when trying to get into Intel ME menu when a HDD is installed, the only kind of OS i could run on it, was a Linux live boot CD without a HDD.

Win 7 instillation recognises the HDD when the HDD is disabled in the BIOS, but since its disabled it wont let me install win 7 on it.

The only reason I tried to deploy an image using FOG was just to Format the HDD and Put a Win 7 image on it, and it sucsesfully deploys, but when i enable the HDD again in the BIOS it works fine, (yes I have tried other HDD's of various sizes etc)

 

[TheOsTech]

If I understand correctly your bios options are limited and the boot menu built into the machine will error out without giving you a choice if a drive is installed and enabled.

is there any option in the bios that says "halt on all but keyboard errors" or something like that. I imagine you would have set that to ignore errors if you could have.

is there a bios option to change the boot order?

can you set the order to cd/dvd then hd? enable the hd. then boot from a windows cd.

is there a windows preinstall driver needed?

I have had issues with windows where a former raid drive would not allow a format or even show up until all other drives were removed and a low level format was preformed on the drive. after that it showed up fine but I had to format from the dos prompt because the drive would not show in the GUI.

if your still getting the error can you update the bios and intel me?

also try to Unplug the power cable, hit the power button to drain the system and pull the cmos battery for 1 min.

If all else fails try going to factory defaults.

if none of that works it must be a bios configuration and I would try asking in an hp forum where someone may own a similar system.

 

[Tomtom565]

Hiya, yes i have rest the BIOS several times, and updated twice, checked on the HP forum's and no solotion was posted, Even with the HDD at the bottom of the boot order, it displays the error, unable to update ME becuase i cant remember how to make a bootable MS-DOS cd, only remember how to do it on a USB, but when the USB is set as a MS-DOS drive, its recognised as a HDD, thus causing the error to be displayed, I do belive that I set the error's to "ignore" but I shall check again,

On another note, thank you for trying to help me, makes a change

 

[TheOsTech]

No problem. Racking my brain to see if there is anything else we can try. might be worth it to try all the things one more time just incase you missed something. maybe print out the list from here and do them one at a time.

the next step would be to find a way to update me from a flash drive. Try the dos prompt in the windows install cd repair options. might show up there. not sure what options you have for the usb drive but try them all. it would not surprise me if once that is updated your error vanishes.

also have you checked your service tag/HP Serial number in hp's website to be sure you have the right drivers and bios?

 

[TheOsTech]

http://bizsupport2.a...1/c01162201.pdf

manual for bios. give it a read looking at drive options. also look at me section.

hook hd to sata 0

look in

[font=Arial,Bold][font=Arial,Bold]Computer Setup—Storage[/font][/font]

set type hard drive to hard drive emulation

[font=Arial,Bold][font=Arial,Bold]SATA Emulation=ide[/font][/font]​

Allows you to choose how the SATA controller and devices are accessed by the operating system.​

There are two supported options: IDE and RAID.

also look in

[font=Arial,Bold][font=Arial,Bold]Computer Setup—Security[/font][/font]

[font=Arial,Bold][font=Arial,Bold]disable/reset all features.[/font][/font]

 

[Tomtom565]

Hiya, I'll try that in a minute , just though it'd be nice to see the HW we are dealing with,





As you can see, it had a rough life in service before its de-com hehe

and little slot in the bottom right corner (when looking at the case from the camera veiw) is for the HDD

 

[TheOsTech]

lol..If you get it working blow it out with an air compresser. Maybe pull and cleanup the fans or replace.

Mostly I'm thinking it might be related to security features being enabled as when your using a tpm the partition cannot be read unless the partition was created on the same device as the original tpm. So once that is all reset/disabled and a new partition created on the device that should work. if not we must find a way to update the me or look deeper into the storage options.

 

[kachman]

hello guys,

has any solution been found to this problem?

got a customer who brought a pc with this problem.

If you need any ideas please let me know if there is any way I can help.

 

[Tomtom565]

Yeah, I never found a solution, I went to HP, and they wanted me to send them the PC, without telling me how much it'd cost, so I’ve come to the conclusion that if you get that error, it’s stuffed