Stuck in an update loop
I have 5 computers, all running W7 Pro, and on every one Acronis 2016 has failed. It appears to be stuck in what I call an update loop. It will not let me access the program. I tried uninstalling, reinstalling, shutting off antivirus/firewall, reverting to 2015 version, but all fail. I strongly suspect a Windows Update for causing the problem but I can't find any documentation on it. Acronis has ignored my 2 or 3 dozen attempts to report the issue. The attached screenshots are what I see. #1 ... there is a problem. #2..... the program will close now. #3... what happens when I try to revert to 2015. I can't possibly be the only person having this problem. I am very frustrated and will ask for refund.
George, please take a read through post: https://forum.acronis.com/forum/121945 that I dealt with for another user very recently and where the upgrade issues were being caused by his security software (Norton Internet Security).
I provided steps in the above post on how to resolve this issue plus the user gave feedback on what he had to do with regard to NIS.
You may have different antivirus / security program(s) but any of these can prevent the Acronis upgrade because of the very low level OS access Acronis needs to operate which the security software wants to block by default.
Thanks for your assistance Steve. I'll get started on this right away. I just wish I didn't have to spend the day fixing this on 5 different machines. I did diasble my antivirus on at least one repair attempt but I wasn't aware I would need to do all this cleanup too. I'll keep you posted.
Well darn. I followed the procedures you mentioned precisely and it did not work. I think what I may do now is wait until the W10 debacle expires on July 29th and rebuild each system from scratch. Or, maybe I'll uninstall the last 50 or so Windows updates and try again. Eventually, hopefully, I'll find the one that is causing the problem.
George, did you run the Acronis Clean-up tool as per KB document https://kb.acronis.com/content/48668 and did this run to completion and remove ATIH 2016 (or 2015) from your system?
I am not aware of any issues with ATIH that are caused by any Windows Updates.
Yes I have been running the cleanup utility in many attempts. I have found that running it in Safe Mode eliminates any antivirus and many other programs as well. I had one instance where I was able to access the program but within a few minutes it failed again. Reinstalling the full latest version each time from a fresh download. I have gone round and round trying different things. Of course, you can't install in Safe Mode and after each step cleanup/install there is a fresh boot involved.
I have analyzed my registry and found none of the offending entrees to delete. I moved my prior backups to a different location and that did not help.
I have uninstalled every Windows Update issued for the past month. No luck. I believe the problem started about 3 weeks ago so I thought that would cover the time frame. I planned to reinstall updates one at a time until I got a failure but that plan seems to be fizzling. Maybe I'll go back another few weeks.
I did nothing to cause this program to start failing on 5 different W7 computers at the same time.
My one W10 computer is working fine still. The problem is W7 specific I would venture.
I am not able to regress to Version 2015 either.
I wonder if 2016 requires UEFI to be enable now. That would make it incompatible with W7.
I think I'll rest on this for today. Thanks for your continued assistance Steve!
George, I still do not believe that this issue is related to Windows Updates and there are many other users out there who are running ATIH 2015/2016 on Windows 7 systems, including myself on another box.
If you are able to complete the install of ATIH 2016 (after having done the clean install), then do not attempt to upgrade it from within the application itself, even if it offers you the option as per your first screen shot in post #1.
If the application will stay open on the initial GUI screen, then click on the Account icon (head & shoulders outline) and confirm what build version you have installed? If you have downloaded the latest version installer from your online Acronis account, then you should have installed build 6571 and there are no further updates for that version at this time. If you see an earlier build version then please download the very latest installer file from your account.
If you show build 6571, then next, please create an Acronis System Report and post it to the forum. A zip file will be created and it needs to be less than 20MB in size to be allowed to be attached.
ATIH 2016 does not care about UEFI to install into Windows - all of my systems are still Legacy BIOS. UEFI only really comes into play with the Acronis Rescue Media for booting when the boot mode must match the way that Windows boots.
Have a good rest - will be doing the same as getting late here in the UK (now that Portugal have just won the Euro 2016 Football Final against France!).
Good Morning Steve,
I'll respond paragraph by paragraph.
I downloaded a fresh version #6571 to start the day yesterday so I no longer see any update notices.
The GUI stayed open once during a dozen or so cleanups and reinstalls but failed within minutes.
I am attaching the zip file SystemReport for your perusal. I see under applog.evt there are many reports of Trueimage Monitor crashing. I don't know what to make of the rest or what the crash codes mean.
I'm sure the answer will eventually prove to be emarrasingly simple but I'm not proud. I need my backups :)
Thanks Again!
George, thank you for the System Report information, this makes for some interesting thoughts...!
The problem with TrueImage looks to have started on 15th June at around 4pm per the Event logs:
15/06/2016 16:00:47 Windows Error Reporting
Fault bucket 197435689, type 27
Event Name: BEX
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0
Problem signature:
P1: TrueImageMonitor.exe
P2: 19.0.0.6569
P3: 571fb15e
P4: StackHash_0a9e
This was followed by a BSOD
15/06/2016 16:00:51 Windows Error Reporting
Fault bucket X64_ACCESS_VIOLATION_csrss.exe_BUGCHECK_CRITICAL_PROCESS_c0000005_BAD_IP_nt!PspCatchCriticalBreak+92, type 0
Event Name: BlueScreen
Response: Not available
This suggests that this issue was happening with ATIH 2016 build 6569 at that time, as there are further errors reported.
It is possible that this also coincided with a Windows Update problem..
15/06/2016 16:00:52 Windows Error Reporting
Fault bucket 3031127747, type 5
Event Name: WindowsUpdateFailure
Response: Not available
Though this may have been as a result of the BSOD.
One thing that I do see in these logs is that you are running Malwarebytes AntiMalware and this looks to come active immediately around the times of the Acronis error events.
Please can you try stopping / disabling MBAM and see if ATIH will then launch without crashing?
Hi Steve,
Interesting!
Well, the updates, I just tried yesterday uninstalling all my windows updates received from 6/14 forward. After that, ran cleanup, probably in safe mode at least once, and then tried the fresh install of the latest version 6571. (Which failed)
I have since reinstalled those updates.
On your suggestion, I tried turning off the MBytes protection but that test failed. I'm pretty sure I did that several times yesterday as I was also turning off Vipre Antivirus. I also just checked my Vipre logs and there are no entrees regarding Acronis or any entry for any blocking actions on 6/15
My MBytes logs run from 04/09/2016 (last system rebuild) through today. I've attached the log for 6/15
Well, you sure are helping me figure things to check. One strange thing is that ATI16 is running and making backups and it is following the same instructions from before the problem for doing that. There must be something not getting cleaned out. I'm not uspset it's still making backups though.
I am also wondering if this stun.txt log means anything. Attached. I Googled Stun Servers but it's just jargon to me. Could a router block a stun server and would that make any difference? Maybe I should be looking at router logs next? I'll do that this evening but I have to go swim my laps now.
It's what I call a head scratcher for sure.
Thank You!
George, thanks again for the new information though I didn't see anything specific in these, except again for the coincidence of MBAM being active when ATIH is recorded in the Windows event logs.
Please see: https://www.malwarebytes.com/support/guides/mbam/MalwareExclusions.html and add an exclusion in MBAM for the Acronis program folders, C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\ which will exclude all fines contained in the same. It may be worth doing the same for C:\ProgramData\Acronis\ plus also
C:\Users\[your_username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\ProgramData\Acronis\
If you can do the same for your Vipre Antivirus, that would be good too.
See KB document: 36429: Acronis Software: Exclude Program Folders and Executables from Security Programs which has a more complete list of locations to white list.
It is interesting that your scheduled Acronis backup tasks are still running even though you have run the Cleanup tool, but yet you cannot get the Acronis GUI to stay open! This again suggests that something is blocking the real-time execution of the GUI application program(s). Realtime protection tends to be the province of security programs such as antivirus, firewall, antimalware, antiransomware etc.
The stun.txt file is totally new to me, I had not even heard of STUN servers before looking at Google hits, and the majority of these seemed to be focussed on Voice over IP applications, or simply determining the real-world IP address of your router from behind a NAT firewall which gives you a private IP address such as 192.168.0.1 etc.
I could not find any trace of any stun.txt file on my own system except the one downloaded from the forum that you posted.
Hi Steve,
The stun.txt file was located in the folder "NetworkTopologyReport" of the System Report.
I did consider adding exceptions for the program folders for both MBAM and Vipre but it isn't logical that it would make any difference.
This problem ... began on 5 different computers at the same time. ....occurs even with those programs turned off... occurs with cleaning and fresh installs. I get notifications from these programs when something is trying to contact the web. It would show up in the logs as well.
I am still looking into the possibility the router is involved because it seems like that is the last common link.
I have finally received a response from Acronis and I am going to refer them to this thread. It doesn't seem like they pay any attention to their own forums otherwise.
Thanks so much for your assistance, Steve.
OK, I was mistaken about backups continuing. They are not.
I just did a cleaning again in safe mode and I could not find any Acronis folders or directories remaining.
I have checked the router and only basic firewall functions are in place. There are no special services enabled and no logs indicating any blocking action.
I'm not going to reinstall it for now.
This problem ... began on 5 different computers at the same time.
George, was anything changed on all these 5 different computers at the time this problem started? Are they all running the same Windows OS version, have the same AV and other security programs installed etc?
This is certainly a puzzling problem and I can understand your decision to remove Acronis and leave be at this time!
Yes, all have the same AV and Malware software. Three are W7 Pro and two are W7 Ultimate. My W10 machine is working fine and it is on the same LAN though they don't talk to each other very well, W10 and W7. I have a home network via Homegroup but the W10 computer has never been able to join together in the Homegroup with the W7 computers. I know I've jumbled these OS's up a little in past posts but I'm an old man, not as sharp as used to be.
I keep the machines all up to date as possible except I have removed W10 malware (that crap from MS) from several of them. My wife's still has the W10 malware, pop-ups, takeover attempts, W10 downloads, etc. and her ATI16 isn't working. So I don't think it matters if the MS junk is there or not.
One W7 Ultimate machine I have not turned on in about a year and a half. I am waiting for July 29th to pass before I update it again.
One of my machines is a laptop that I plug in every 6 months or so for updating. Used for road trips. I don't know that I have installed ATI16 on that.
I don't do a lot of changes to my machines. I mostly work on the one I'm on now. If I get some new software or there are some updates that are needed, I'll go from machine to machine and do that manually. I don't recall doing any of that around the date in question.
Three of my W7 machines are set up with media center and TV tuners. One is not.
My new router was installed on Feb13th. I just updated it for the first time since installation yesterday.
Can't think of anything else really to check right now. Kinda stumped. Maybe some program coding is checking the LAN and determining if it is counterfeit? I believe it is pretty smart that way. Only a software engineer could spill the beans on that. Anyway, maybe that would cause it to exit.
Thanks again Steve!
George
George, on the subject of Win 10 'malware' as you called it.
See webpage: http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/ for the GWX Control Panel program - I have this installed on several Windows 7 systems to prevent Microsoft from downloading and nagging me with the Get Windows 10 messages on systems that are incapable of running Windows 10!
It works very well and will also allow you to both clean out all traces of GWX (Get Windows 10) plus prevent it from being offered again. It will be redundant after July 29th when the 'free upgrade' offer expires but its an option until then.
Thanks Steve,
I've heard of this and it does make it much easier to clean up the mess. I think I'll walk around and install in all my machines!
Well, I have tried the last thing I can think of plus your suggestions Steve and nothing seems to work.
On this last attempt I completely uninstalled my Vipre Antivirus and Malwarebytes Antimalware, ran the Acronis cleanup tool, rebooted, re-ran ATI installation as administrator, and I got exactly the same result.
I have 6 licenses for this product and they're pretty much worthless. I might be able to use the disk cloning feature from the boot disks I made earlier. But other than that, I don't know.
The program runs nicely on my one W10 machine but It's almost not needed with the W10 backup program that's already on the machine.
Acronis closed my support ticket and said my support options had expired. I referenced this thread. I put in dozens of tickets with each failed installation. We're talking ATI 2016 here. I'm guessing they see the writing on the wall on they're headed for the exits.
George, the only other suggestion from me at this point is to recommend that you send a PM to Gaidar, General Manager Acronis True Image with reference to this forum thread, and express your frustration with this issue etc.
Thank you Steve! I worked with Praveen at Acronis.
My problem mysteriously went away after the July 29th deadline for installing W10. I use only W7. When I went to work on my other machines with ATI16 installations, after working with Praveen on the first one, they were all mysteriously working again. I got the pop-up for "There was a problem, etc." and then it was as if there had never been a problem. Microsoft is the dark player in this episode.
I went through the process with Praveen just as I had done it myself many times and when it succeeded, I was astonished. I had and was using the same exact installation file he downloaded to my machine. My Malwarebytes and Vipre Antivirus were both ON when we did a clean installation and it succeeded the first try. The only difference was the date.
George, thank you for the update and good news that this is resolved for you. It certainly is a mystery but I would suspect that the Microsoft GWX (Get Windows 10) software had a hand in the problem as this would have stopped on July 29th. I had installed another program utility to stop MS from trying to upgrade some of my Win 7 systems to Windows 10 - this was doubly annoying as these systems were not capable of being upgraded due to their age with older Pentium 4 processors!