OS X and Windows fail - won't load atall

TheKingOfHearts

Registered
Hi guys, I'm new here so please bear with me.

I'm hoping one of you mini geniuses will be able help me. I'm a windows system administrator at heart, and was never trained in OS X Server, and therefore I only know the obvious and what I've picked up. So here's my tec details;
30 - 20" iMacs (10.5.8 & XP)
4 - 24" iMacs (not a problem, but on the same server)
17 - 17" plastic iMacs (also not a problem, but on the same server)
18 - MacBook (2008 model plastic - again, not a problem, besides these are never used, to the extent I'm not even sure where they are)

all connect to an unlimited client Mac Pro as well as a Server 2003 active directory.

My problem is the 30 20" iMac's. When they work they're great, when they don't they're a total pain in the arse.

The problem they tend to have is we image(d) them via Deploy studio netboot, and they happily install XP all the software (or close enough) and a flawless OS X partition. They're occasionally temperamental with connecting to the active directory, thats a given I think. The main problem is they fail CONSTANTLY. For example today we had 7 of the 30 fail just on boot. They get to the little Apple logo with the grey screen and refuse to go any further (thats booting OS X), I can Alt+Start and get the Partition choice fine, however booting neither works, OS X sticks on the Apple logo, and XP freezes mid boot. Its a constant problem. They have to be re-net booted and imaged to get to work as neither partition will work otherwise.

We have a lot of experience in Windows networking, and a moderate amount in Apple, however this is just beyond a joke, in a week we end up re-imaging best part of every machine, its beyond practical.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Jack.
 
Make sure everything is using the NTP (clock source) server as the server! This is VERY important for proper Kerberos connections (they have to be milliseconds within tolerance).

Plus are you using Open Directory or Active Directory to bind the machines to the OS X server? Did you bind the Mac Pro server to the Domain the Microsoft server dishes out?

Plus did you read the forum post [HOW TO] Bind Leopard to Active Directory ?
 
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