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ATI 2014 not as autonomous as I thought?

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Hi, I' new to this forum and have to feel myself around a bit, please excuse.

I have the dreaded error 1962 (no operating system found) screen on my Lenovo H520 desktop. After considerable research/trials I concluded that since my performing chkdisk under DOS actually succeeded, except terminating with message "failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50", I should be able to boot from my ATI 2014 Product CD to retrieve my data files from my hard drive, before re-installing Windows 8.1.

My thought was that if DOS can perform read/write operations on my hard drive, then why would ATI not be able to do the same so I can get my data files.

But to no avail.

Instead of getting the expected home screen with all the Acronis options, I got this light blue "Recovery" screen with the following options:

Coninue boot (which results in the same error 1962)

Use a device

Troubleshoot

Turn off PC

To do what I want (get my data files), the only sensible option would seem to "Use a Device", namely the DVD drive with my Acronis disc in it so I can get to a tool I can use (whatever logic this may or may not make at this point, since I did not expect to see this kind of interface).

But, I tried, and after accessing the optical drive (humming) for awhile (wait ~ 5+ minutes??) I got this black screen with a cursor in the upper left corner. I waited another 5+ minutes, then suddenly the error 1962 message pops up again.

Why would my Acronis disc not boot normally?

Can my suspect hard drive influence this booting process at all?

Afterward, I removed the hard drive, installed it in an external enclosure and accessed it with my laptop/usb connection. It showed the directory on the drive and also allowed me to copy a couple of folders, but then it just seemed to "fade away" as my laptop lost the ability to communicate with the drive. The drive was definitely bad in some way.

While this is another problem, it shows that at least for a few minutes, windows was able to read this drive, but Acronis would not even boot properly.

I was/am under the perception that ATI would always boot up, regardless of what happened with the OS. Is this the wrong assumption?

I would appreciate any helpful hints/advise, but since the drive is bad, I'm no lnger sure even Acronis would be able to get data from it??  Ver confusing.

Thanks.

 

 

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Coninue boot (which results in the same error 1962)

Use a device

Troubleshoot

Turn off PC

-----------------

First, error 1962 is a Lenovo error code stating no OS is found.  If your drive has failed or is not detected in the bios, that's a problem. Does the drive at least show up in the bios?  If not, the drive is dead, or there's a bad connection, or you may have a controller issue .

As far as the light blue screen menu you mention, this is the Windows recovery menu.  So far, it looks like you have not successfully booted into your Acronis recovery media as the light blue menu you reference has nothign to do with Acronis and is either Windows recoery, or another OEM recovery menu.  

I would shutdown the system completely.  Unplug power and while the AC power and battery (if it's a laptop) are removed, press the power button a few times to dissipate all remaining electrical power in the capacitors. This will force a "cold boot" of the system the next time it's started up.  Before powering up though... Plug your Acronis USB flash drive into a USB port and connect power to the system.  As soon as the system starts booting up, quickly start tapping whatever button you need to to get to your one time boot menu or boot override menu. This varies from system to sysetm but is often F12 for Dell or custom motherboards, or ESC or F1 for other manufacturers.  

http://blog.lenovo.com/en/blog/how-to-enter-the-bios-setup-utility-or-boot-menu-with-windows-8-1/

Once you get to the one time boot menu, you should then see options to boot your USB drive (if your system is UEFI you should see a UEFI option, if it's legacy, it should just show up as a USB drive).  Pick that one and boot into Acronis.  

Thank you Bobbo for your tips.

Following your steps, I still wind up getting the Error 1962, even though I booted from the Acronis CD. I tried this several times without success.

Also, at this stage I removed the hard drive completely and sent it in for data recovery.

So, the only media present is this CD and a "force boot" will not show anything??

I took a closer look at the Acronis Product CD label:MY NAME on it.

Acronis True Image 2014 Upgrade, (then a bunch of numbers) then "Backup DVD".

Is this perhaps a DVD that is not intended to be booting from?

I'm clueless.

Rudolf, I would recommend downloading a copy of the latest ATIH 2014 bootable Rescue media as an ISO file that you burn to CD or use to make a bootable USB stick using a utility such as Rufus or 'ISO to USB' - you should find this in your Acronis account in the My Products / Downloads section.

Your account would have the latest available build version of the rescue media ISO.

Thank you Steve.

Following your instructions I downloadedthe ISO file and tried making a bootable USB key with Rufus.

Error message: "Image is either non-bootable or uses a boot or compression method not supported by Rufus"

Second try with "ISO-to-USB": Making this key was successful.

Tried booting from it. Error message: "OS was not found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an OS. Press any key to continue.

If I press any key, following the above, I just get the original Error 1962 again.

I made sure to be booting "legacy first" to avoid UEFI boot.

I see the system accessing the USB key, but no luck!

What on earth could the system be looking for?

Any other BIOS related issues?

Any ideas?

 

Rudolf, doing a search on your Lenovo H520 desktop 1962 error produces a number of hits, including:

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-A-B-C-N-S-Flex-Horizon/ERROR-CODE-1962-NO-OPERATING-SYSTEM-FOUND/td-p/1034873  which suggests a faulty (special) SATA cable that connects the boot drive to the motherboard, plus some BIOS settings, and also upgrading the BIOS to the latest version.

See also https://appuals.com/error-1962-no-operating-system-found/  which essentially says the same but offer a little more advice on troubleshooting the problem.

Hi Steve,

Thank you for sending the links.

I have alreday done all of that, except trying to understand how to deal with "updating" the BIOS.

My system is only 3 years old, BIOS supports both Legacy and UEFI modes and also has CSM.

No matter what combination I try, it either results in the original error 1962, or a differently fomatted message saying the OS was not found.

At this stage I removed the hard drive and SATA cable is out of the picture as a fault item. All I'm trying to do now is to boot from the USB key I made using ISO-to-USB and the Acronis ISO I just downloaded.

It just is not working.?!

Looking into BIOS updating next, but have my doubts.

Hi Rudolf, just took a quick look on the Lenovo support website for your H520 desktop and there doesn't appear to be any BIOS updates available for that system!  So I would guess you are back to looking at the various different BIOS options, where I would recommend seeing if there is an option to restore your BIOS default settings.

From what I have read for the H520 you should be using UEFI boot mode - see http://www.lenovo.com/shop/americas/content/user_guides/h_ug_en.pdf  page 35 for BIOS.

Rudolf, please see webpage: LENOVO desktop computer only boot with F12 which looks to be very similar to your problem.

Hi Steve,

I just saw your reply and yes, no BIOS update on Lenovo site for my machine. I don't think I will ever buy another Lenovo!

I have to checkk your other links, still, but just discovered another issue:

I made my bootable USB key with the Acronis ISO on it on my Lenovo Latop, Windows 8.1.

This working laptop also will not boot from this key!!?? It also says "No OS found".

While I'm digesting this, I will check your links.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Regards

Rudolf, just a quick check point - was your USB stick formatted for FAT32 before you created the Acronis Rescue Media on it?

Hi Steve,

Thanks again for your ideas!

Here is what I did:

USB key was made using “ISO-to-USB” Utility with FAT 32 selected and Acronis TI 2014 ISO file.

Computer used to download ISO and making usb key is Lenovo ideapad S400, Windows 8.1.

Observation: testing this key on the same working machine it was made on is not working!

I therefore believe there is a systemic (Lenovo?) issue at work.

The problem I have with trying all sorts of BIOS gyrations on my only working pc now is that I have every reason to believe it will result in a non booting system, and therefore I am not going that way.

So, for now, I am prepared to experiment with my broken desktop to see if ANY BIOS configuration would boot from this key I made, without actually KNOWING that it is a good usb key!

Prior tests using my optical drive with Acronis factory Product CD did not result in an ability to boot from it either. Although, I did not try a systemic BIOS settings approach, figuring why would such a CD not boot?

Step 1)

BIOS Setup Utility on Lenovo desktop H520 (entered by pressing F1 at power on until Lenovo logo shows)

Startup Tab

Primary Boot sequence:

USB Key:

            USB Key 1:  SanDisk Cruzer Glide 1.27

USB FDD:

SATA 1:

SATA 2:

SATA 3: MATSHITA DVD-RAM  SW820

CSM                                        Enabled

Boot Mode                              Auto                            If Auto, then sequence UEFI, Legacy

                                                                                If UEFI, system will only boot from UEFI

                                                                                If Legacy, system will only boot from Legacy

Boot Prority                            Legacy first                   If UEFI, first try to boot from UEFI

                                                                                 If Legacy, first boot from Legacy

Quick Boot                             Disabled

Rapid Boot                             Disabled

Boot up Num-Lock Status      On

Keyboardless Operation         Disabled

(Note: If CSM mode is disabled, it forces:

Boot Mode                              Auto

Boot Priority                           UEFI first

(these settings cannot be changed if CSM is disabled)

STEP 1) Result: Booting from USB Acronis key not working with above BIOS settings….OS not found

For some obscure reason I believe that a FAT 32 would be “legacy” more so than UEFI, but I am just guessing.

 

STEP 2) Identical BIOS settings as above, except Boot Mode = UEFI only.

Results: first pass through after settings change resulted in Error 1962, no OS found.

Powering off and on again, same error 1962.

Powering off and on again, this time pressing F12, which opens the startup device menu where one can force boot from a selection (in this case the USB key). Pressing Enter selects the already highlighted USB key.

Result:

“An operating system wasn’t found. Try disconnecting any drives that don’t contain an operating system. Press any key to restart”.

Disconnected only remaining drive (optical drive) and hit space bar.

Result: Same error 1962…

I believe these are the only options?

 

Side note:

I inserted the usb acronis key into another pc Dell Desktop, Windows 7 Pro.

It located the device and auto installed the device driver.

Subsequently, windows explorer identified the key and displayed “Acronis_Med (E:)” and below it showed a folder: “Recovery Manager”.

However, when I tried booting from it it also showed “No Operating system found” (pointed BIOS to this key).

So this issue is not necessarily a Lenovo issue?? (I recognize this is a different OS)

 

 

Rudolf, it seems to me that there are possibly two separate issues at work here!

One is the USB rescue media which doesn't sound like it has been created correctly given it is not being recognised as boot media.

The second is the BIOS / EFI settings for your Lenovo H520 but it will be difficult to configure the correct settings until the first issue is resolved!

What size of USB stick are you using here?  Ideally you only need a 1GB USB stick, though I have regularly been using 16GB sticks recently (as bought a pack of 8 of these).  The maximum size should not exceed 32GB.

Next, the USB stick should only have a single FAT32 partition - I would recommend doing a full format of the USB stick and retrying the ISO to USB utility for the ATIH rescue ISO file.  We have been seeing a number of problems in the forums recently where the USB stick needed to be fully formatted (not just a quick format).

As a test, please download a copy of the AVG Rescue CD software from http://www.avg.com/gb-en/download.prd-arl - select the option for Rescue CD (for USB Stick) which you should extract to a temporary folder, then run the setup application with your formatted USB stick connected and create the AVG Rescue media on USB.  

I have just used the same AVG media on a Lenovo B50 laptop where I had to change the BIOS / EFI settings to be able to boot from the USB stick (this is Linux based), where I configured for Legacy with try UEFI first, with Secure Boot disabled.  When I got the Lenovo boot menu shown, I took the Legacy USB option for the AVG media to get it to boot.   This is just as a test in your case to show that you can boot from USB media.

So, others have had issue with non-bootable drives when using RUFUS and iso-2-usb as well.  Why don't we run diskpart /clean on the usb drive, go into computer management and initialize the drive and format as fat32 using the LONG method (not a quick format) to ensure the existing system volume information is wiped out.  

Then, use the embedded Acronis media builder to build the USB flash drive directly and not use a 3rd party tool to convert the .iso?

At least that would rule out the conversion as a potential issue. 

I would test that USB key on another machine to confirm it actually boots on something other than a lenovo if the lenovo still doesn't boot with it.  There have been a few others who simply could not get a specirfic flash drive to work, but when trying another one, it worked fine (especially if you have one of a different make/model) to test with.

Hi Steve and Bobbo,

So now we have some good news: The AVG key booted!

The key is 16GB and I re-formatted using "Dsk management" in Win 8.1. Long format, FAT 32, as instructed.

Lenovo BOS settings used:

"STARTUP":  CSM                  (Enabled)

                   Bootmode           (Legacy only)

                   QuickBoot           (Enabled)

                    RapidBoot           (Disabled)

                    Bootup Numlock.. (On)

                    Keyboardless mode (Disabled)

 

"EXIT":        OS Optimized defaults   (Enabled)

Next step is to re-make this USB key the same way but using the Acronis tools, per Bobbo's suggestion?

Only question is: where do I find them?

Or, should I re-try now with "ISO-to-USB" utility?

Re: Rufus. I was apparently using an incorrect (portable) version of Rufus to begin with AND Rufus just might or might not work with this Acronis version. Unknown. For now I will go forward with what you think I should use.

Finally, once I have Acronis working, it is my aim to install a new Hard Drive on this system. The key question with that is this:

Do I break the line with Lenovo and build my new system without their proprietary tools, or should I (for reasons of unknown potential BIOS issues yet to come) buy their $69 recovery media to get back to factory status with my system? I know for sure Lenovo will not give me any techsupport.

Rudolf, thanks for the feedback and good news about getting the AVG boot USB stick working - you now know that this is achievable.

Couple of questions arising from this:  Do you have another working system with ATIH installed?  If so, then the best method of creating the bootable Acronis Rescue Media would be to do so using the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media Builder application which can be found in the GUI Tools section, or via the Windows > Programs menu > Acronis ...  Tools.  Make sure the USB stick is inserted before running the builder and it will offer to write the media directly to the USB stick for you without needing any other tools.

If you don't have another system with ATIH, then you are back to writing the ISO file to your working USB stick but do a long format of this again first.

Second question, please check if you have an EFI partition on your drive.  If you do then you need to be booting the USB stick in UEFI mode which in turn means changing the BIOS option from Legacy only for the Bootmode to UEFI.  If you have no luck in getting this to boot in this mode, then give it a try with Legacy only as you main focus is to back up your data files prior to reinstalling Windows 8.1 (per your original post).

Another option that you have, would be to boot from a Live Linux distribution on USB stick, such as Ubuntu Desktop edition - see webpage: https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop and then see also further down on that same page the link for: How to create a bootable USB stick on Windows which uses Rufus.  This would give you a working desktop environment and would also allow you to copy any of your user data to an external drive etc.

With regard rebuilding your system with or without the Lenovo tools etc, I would suggest going for a vanilla build initially and then see if you need to add back any of the Lenovo utilities or not.  With laptops there is often a need for some of the tools to handle the function key applications but with desktops it can be different.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your feedback.

As to another system with ATI installed, I don't have one.

However, I have another working Dell machine with Win 7 PRO installed. I opened my Acronis Product CD on that PC and see the application on it. I did not run the application. My question to you is this:

The application on my CD is identified as ATIH2014_5560_en_US.

Checking your website for supported Os's, it says that Win 8.1 is only supported starting with build 6614 or later. Do I conclude that my CD is therefore useless?

When Acronis makes such a CD, would the application on it be operating system specific, in my case Windows 8.1? Or would it run on any Windows machine?

Would running this application as an Administrator on that Dell PC cause anything to be modified on that hard drive, while I'm looking for the media builder?

If we can determine this, then it might be an avenue for me.

As to looking for an EFI partition on my drive (in my broken Lenovo system): The failed drive is with a repair/data recovery service and thus I cannot check this. Assuming they can make it work, all I plan on doing is to retrieve my data files from it. But, if it is actually bootable, then I have all the options I need.

So, my aim now is to gain enough control over my system to install a new hard drive. It is a WD drive and I understand they provide Acronis tools. I am not clear how I'm supposed to be using those tools on a non working pc. Thus my effort to try and boot with SOMETHING.

As I am writing this, I realize that I should probably try one more time to see if any other BIOS settings will allow me to boot from my Acronis CD. It would be the quickest path. What settings would you suggest for this CD?

I shall wait until I hear back from you.

Beyond this, I think my next step is to re-make the bootable USB stick with the Acronis ISO to see if it will work, using ISO-to-USB.

My second option, after that, assuming I cannot get hold of the Acronis Media Builder, would then be to try the Linux route you suggested.

Would there be a downloadable version of the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media Builder on the Acronis website?

Regards

Rudolf, the Acronis Product CD is not limited to a single version of Windows so should install on either 7 or 8.1 - ATIH 2014 is not supported for installing on Windows 10.  If you did install the product on the second computer then you would get into activation issues if it has already been registered to your other system.

I am not aware of any way to run the Acronis Rescue Media Builder from a product CD - this is normally only run after the ATIH software has been installed - if you could run it from the product CD then any Rescue Media created would only function in limited trial mode as it would not find any activation information to create the full rescue media.

Do you have any disk & partitions backups made for your problem system?  If so, then this could be browsed to check for a EFI partition, but this again requires that you can either boot from the rescue media or can run the Windows ATIH application in order to open the .TIB image file.

If you are going to use the OEM version of ATIH provided by WD with a replacement drive, then please be aware that this will be an older build, possibly of ATIH 2015 or 2014, and will also have reduced functionality compared to the full commercial product.

The Acronis Product CD, if you are going to try to boot from this, then I would try the same settings as you used for the AVG boot media initially, especially as you are mainly interested in recovering data rather than attempting to recover a backup of the failed drive.

The Acronis Rescue Media Builder is not available as a separate download from the Acronis website.

Hi Steve,

Here is an update:

I attempted again to make a USB key, using the Acronis 2014 ISO and ISO-To-USB untility and preformatted the stick as before, but it would not boot either in Legacy or UEFI. So either the burn utility is the problem or the ISO?

Also, I talked to WD support and they said their Acronis version will only clone drives.

Switching subjects for a moment:

To your knowledge, does Microsoft have online tools to download and burn an ISO file (Win 8 or Win 8.1) to a USB stick? And in doing so with system A, can this stick then be booted on system B?

Thanks again for all your help.

Hello Steve,

Since my last post I was able to download the microsoft media creation tool, along with their windows 8.1 installation sotware and created a bootable USB key with it.

I installed the software on my new hard drive and am back in business!

While we were not able to boot the Acronis ISO, I got good info to guide me through the underbrush toward success.

I wanted to thank you for your valued support!

Best Regards,

Rudy

 

Rudy, thanks for the update and glad to hear that you are back in business with your rebuilt Windows 8.1 system.