ATI 2011 Crashes PC
Recently I upgraded to ATI 2011 and started to suffer random power downs - after about an hour or so of running the PC just instantly shuts down. Immediately I assumed it was an overheating problem and started diags on fans, checking core temps, cleaning out the tower etc but all to no avail. Temps were within the normal operating range, all fans working OK and no dodgy overclocking going on that would cause system instability.
This problem affected all logged in user accounts (admin and non admin), also affected safe mode but not the startup logon screen where the system would happily sit all day. It had to be a program/ software issue.
I was unable to get through a single non-stop backup (NSB) schedule (which had been my preferred backup strategy to date). In the end I uninstalled ATI to see if I could get NSB to work and - the random power downs stopped. Having now run a stable system for over two weeks without ATI installed I have since re-installed the latest version as I want to convert a RAID 0 array to a basic disk and need an ATI backup to do it. 90 minutes after the installation - I get another instant power down and here we go again.
It obviously has to be an issue with Acronis. OS is Win 7 64 bit with Intel Quad Core and 8Gb RAM. I have generated a system report from ATI but it doesn't tell me much.
Any ideas with what's going on here would be appreciated as I appear to have forked out good money for an upgrade that is killing my PC stone dead every time I try and use it!
No lock up, no BSOD - just instantly dies and powers off - no dump file in Windows either - Acronis got halfway through a backup and bang - dead! Powers back on fine as though nothing happened (although you get the usual Windows shut down unexpectedly message). I normally use Ccleaner to tidy up after uninstalls but will give some of these a whirl - something odd is going on here that's for sure.
Thanks for the response
Andy
Uninstalled and cleaned up using Acronis Cleaup Tool and Revo - reinstalled but still have exactly the same problem, halfway through the backup process the machine just dies in a heap. I know I have a disk error reporting on the first RAID 0 volume (which is why I want to get the damn thing backed up asap) and wondered if that was causing the crash and so have tried a backup on the second RAID 0 data partition (which is in perfect health) and the same thing happens - dumps out and dies less than halfway through.
This is driving me insane - I have a hard disk that is going to fail any time soon and yet I can't seem to back it up because the developers at Acronis can't cut code or software test properly! Looks like this should never have been released - except as a beta maybe - I can't be the only person having this problem.
This doesn't sound like an Acronis problem. Most likely, it is a physical problem with your PC. Memory is a posiblilty, but I doubt it. The most likely cause is a failing power supply. Power supplies fail like this very often. Most people have trouble diagnosing the issue because the power supply is the last thing they think of. They tend to think the power supply either works 100% or not at all. I would suggest the reason you only see the problem when Acronis software is running is because this program puts more stress on the machine than any of your other programs. It's not a 100% gaurantee, but as a computer tech, it's where I would go next after testing the memory and processor.
Paul - it's a reasonable hypothesis but it's an 850w Enermax Galaxy PSU and I have plenty of apps capable of putting it under considerably more load than Acronis (Digital Audio Sequencer, Adobe Photoshop and Video Editing software) and it handles these with apparent ease; so although symptomatic of an impending PSU failure I just don't buy it - primarily because with Acronis uninstalled the system never blinks. There is either a conflict or some other issue that affects ATI 2011 either in Win7 64 bit environment or it's to do with the backup of RAID drive configurations (mine are twin RAID 0 drives).
I have uninstalled ATI again now but I have a hunch that when I break the RAID array (as I intend to) and reinstall the OS and apps to plain drives; then Acronis will run just fine.
However - thanks for the suggestion - it is something I have considered.