diff --git a/agent/probes/inventory.go b/agent/probes/inventory.go
index a64ba50..e54d964 100644
--- a/agent/probes/inventory.go
+++ b/agent/probes/inventory.go
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ package probes
 
 import (
 	"bufio"
-	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
 	"runtime"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -147,13 +147,21 @@ func diskSizeGB(base string) int {
 func diskSerial(name string) string {
 	// Try a few known paths; the kernel exposes serials differently for
 	// ATA/SCSI vs NVMe.
+	//
+	// sysfs reads return raw bytes: vpd_pg80 is a binary SCSI VPD page
+	// with a 4-byte header, and some SSDs put control/NUL bytes at the
+	// head of /device/serial. TrimSpace won't strip either, so the
+	// string survives into the spec map as a garbage key that doesn't
+	// match the reporter's cleaner read from the same file on a
+	// different kernel. sanitizeASCII drops everything below 0x20 and
+	// above 0x7E, which leaves a stable printable serial on both sides.
 	for _, rel := range []string{
 		filepath.Join("/sys/block", name, "device", "serial"),
 		filepath.Join("/sys/block", name, "device", "vpd_pg80"),
 		filepath.Join("/sys/block", name, "serial"),
 	} {
 		if b, err := os.ReadFile(rel); err == nil {
-			s := strings.TrimSpace(string(b))
+			s := sanitizeASCII(string(b))
 			if s != "" {
 				return s
 			}
@@ -167,7 +175,7 @@ func diskSerial(name string) string {
 	}
 	for _, line := range strings.Split(string(out), "\n") {
 		if v, ok := strings.CutPrefix(line, "ID_SERIAL_SHORT="); ok {
-			return strings.TrimSpace(v)
+			return sanitizeASCII(v)
 		}
 	}
 	return ""
@@ -210,7 +218,7 @@ func probeNICs() []spec.NICSpec {
 // the diff engine just won't match any GPU expectations. Phase 4 will
 // add nvidia-smi for VRAM and firmware.
 func probeGPUs() []spec.GPUSpec {
-	cmd := exec.Command("lspci", "-mm", "-nnk")
+	cmd := exec.Command("lspci", "-mm", "-nn")
 	out, err := cmd.Output()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil
@@ -222,10 +230,24 @@ func probeGPUs() []spec.GPUSpec {
 			!strings.Contains(low, "3d controller") {
 			continue
 		}
-		// `lspci -mm` quotes fields; device name is usually field 3.
+		// lspci -mm quotes fields. splitQuoted indexes:
+		//   [0] = class       (e.g. "VGA compatible controller [0300]")
+		//   [1] = vendor      (e.g. "Intel Corporation [8086]")
+		//   [2] = device      (e.g. "Alder Lake-N [UHD Graphics] [46d1]")
+		//   [3] = subsys      (if present — varies between boards even
+		//                      for identical chips; NOT a model identifier)
+		// We used to concatenate [2] + " " + [3], which made the "model"
+		// key include subsystem noise and the occasional -rXX revision
+		// marker, so reporter and live-image runs produced different
+		// slugs for the same silicon. Use only [2], stripped of the
+		// trailing PCI device-id "[NNNN]" bracket that lspci -nn adds.
 		fields := splitQuoted(line)
-		if len(fields) >= 4 {
-			gpus = append(gpus, spec.GPUSpec{Model: fmt.Sprintf("%s %s", fields[2], fields[3])})
+		if len(fields) >= 3 {
+			model := stripPCIID(fields[2])
+			model = sanitizeASCII(model)
+			if model != "" {
+				gpus = append(gpus, spec.GPUSpec{Model: model})
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	return gpus
@@ -262,3 +284,31 @@ func readLine(path string) string {
 	return strings.TrimSpace(string(b))
 }
 
+// sanitizeASCII drops bytes below 0x20 (control chars) and above 0x7E
+// (high-bit / UTF-8 continuation bytes that come from binary sysfs
+// files like vpd_pg80 being read as a Go string) and trims the result.
+// Everything the caller cares about — disk serials, GPU model names —
+// is ASCII-printable, so this is safe and fixes the reporter-vs-live
+// mismatch where the same hardware produced different map keys.
+func sanitizeASCII(s string) string {
+	var b strings.Builder
+	b.Grow(len(s))
+	for i := 0; i < len(s); i++ {
+		c := s[i]
+		if c >= 0x20 && c <= 0x7E {
+			b.WriteByte(c)
+		}
+	}
+	return strings.TrimSpace(b.String())
+}
+
+// stripPCIID removes the trailing " [NNNN]" PCI device-ID marker that
+// `lspci -nn` appends to vendor/device strings — useful context for a
+// human but an unstable identifier across pciutils versions. Keeps any
+// internal brackets (e.g. "[UHD Graphics]" is part of the real name).
+var pciIDTail = regexp.MustCompile(` *\[[0-9a-fA-F]{4}\]$`)
+
+func stripPCIID(s string) string {
+	return pciIDTail.ReplaceAllString(s, "")
+}
+