beautypg.com

Chapter 13. debugging problems, The imageultra builder image-installation process – Lenovo ThinkVantage ImageUltra Builder Version 5.0 User Manual

Page 207

background image

Chapter 13. Debugging problems

Occasionally, you might have to debug problems during the test phase of your
development process. This chapter provides information about some of the
debugging tools provided by the ImageUltra Builder program and some best
practices to follow to avoid some problems that are difficult to debug.

The ImageUltra Builder image-installation process

To debug a problem, you must have some level of understanding of the processes
that take place during the image-installation phase. All files referenced in this
section are located either in the service partition of the target computer, or, in the
case of a direct-network installation, in the network-staging folder.

The AUTOEXEC.CMD file is the first program launched at the beginning of the
image-installation phase and acts as the master control program for all activities
during the image-installation phase. Activities include the following:
1.

Establishing global variables and PATHs.

2.

Controlling the installation menus. The Mapmenu program runs and processes

the Before Menu Options. Once the Before Menu items are complete, all of the
menu items in the basemap are displayed. Once a selection is made from the
basemap, the Post Menu options are processed, and the EXECUTE.CMD file is
written into the IUTEMP directory.

3.

Once the menu processing is complete, the EXECUTE.CMD file runs to process
and queued utilities from the basemap.

4.

All of the selected modules are written into the AOD.DAT and the process
installs all of the modules in this file.

5.

Customer-first-boot module processing. Upon the successful completion of the
audit boot, the modules in the \IUWORK folder are processed.

Finding debug data in the target computer user partition

During the image-installation process, the ImageUltra Builder program creates a
MODULES.LOG file in the \SWTOOLS folder of the target computer user
partition. The MODULES.LOG provides a listing of each module that installed
successfully. If a problem occurs during installation, you can use this log to detect
the last module that installed successfully, and use that as a starting point for
debugging.

Finding debug data in the service partition or network-staging folder

During the image-installation process, the ImageUltra program creates several logs
in the IUTEMP folder of staging area (service partition or network-staging folder).
If an error occurs during the installation process, the installation process is halted,
an error message is posted, and you can exit from the installation process and view
the logs to determine where the error occurred.

The following is a listing of those logs:

v

The IUTEMP\STAMP.LOG: log contains time-stamped entries for all activities
performed in the staging area

© Copyright Lenovo 2007, 2010

193