Acronis 2015 weirdness involving GTX-690 and other things
Ok, this is a little long, and a little complicated... but So worth it! ;-)
Here's a few of the specs of the computer involved in my tale of woe:
Game Computer -
motherboard = ASUS Rampage III Extreme
CPU = Core i7-960
GPU = GTX-690
C: drive = Crucial 256GB SSD
That's probably all that matters. This machine went belly up on 11/16, or 11/17 (I can't even remember that...) I went to boot it, and BSOD, out of the clear Blue. Unfortunately, I had a lot going on, and was being totally consumed by my job, so I wasn't able to deal with it immediately, which is why some of what follows is a little fuzzy in my memory.
Some additional background:
I recently added a 10TB NAS to my network (and so I was ready to evaluate the backup schedules for my various machines: 3 Windows, and 2 Linux), and on 11/14 I upgraded my Acronis license (originally only on the Game Computer) to the 2015 version, and then extended it to 3 computers.
Well, when I got around to trying to figure out what was wrong with the Game Computer, I went looking for backups, the scheduling of which I had, as I implied above, just updated...
The last Full backup of the Game Computer I found (now on the NAS) was dated 11/13, so it must have been made with ATI 2012. I also had an Incremental, dated 11/16 - just before it became non-bootable - that, I guess was made with ATI 2015. I must be getting senile, because I would have sworn that they were both made with the ATI 2015... but since my license wasn't issued until the morning of 11/14 (I checked), I guess that couldn't have been possible. As you will eventually see, ATI 2015 didn't appear to have any problem reading, and applying, them both.
Ok, that's the setup. Non-bootable computer on 11/17, Incremental backup from 11/16, Full backup from 11/13, and a question about ATI versions between the 11/13 and 11/16 backups.
So, on 11/17-11/20, I tried to figure out what was wrong. I bought a couple of inexpensive spare parts (a GeForce 210 GPU, and a Corsair CX600M PSU), to aid in verifying whether this was a hardware problem or not. But it wouldn't boot (even to safe mode) no matter what I did hardware-wise: Removed sound card, replaced GTX-690 with GeForce 210, replaced Corsair AX1200 with CX600M, disconnected all drives but the SSD. Short of a bad Motherboard, it didn't appear to be a hardware problem.
Unfortunately, searching for a software explanation, and/or fix, just led me to a Train Wreck of wild guesses, and unresolved threads, with everyone, including Microshaft, insisting that This was the fix, or That was the workaround... a real mess, and nothing definitive.
So, all I could do was try my backups. And, now to the PROBLEM(s):
First off, after booting from the Acronis 2015 rescue DVD it would not load Acronis True Image with the GTX-690 in the machine. I had to pull it, again, and replace it with the GeForce 210.
So, that's problem number One: Acronis True Image recovery appears to be incompatible with the GTX-690.
I was able, eventually, to restore the 11/13 Full backup, and the Game Computer would now boot. Whoo hoo!! At this point, I checked the version of Acronis that had been restored, and all I could find was the 2012 version...
So far, so good. I then restored from the 11/16 Incremental, and upon completion I was right back to the BSOD I was getting before. :-(
As I mentioned, this is my gaming machine, and software additions and upgrades happen rarely... In fact, I am 99.99% sure that the change to this machine between 11/13 and 11/16 was the installation of Acronis 2015.
So, I'm pretty sure that this is problem number Two: Acronis True Image 2015 broke my computer.
Now I only finished the restoration earlier this evening, and I haven't put that machine back into Gaming service, but when I do, I'm going to be a little worried about re-installing ATI 2015...
That's my story. Thanks for reading.
- s.west
Probably too late now but if it happens again the BSOD error code and text would be useful in seeing what went wrong and where you could go next.
Thanks for the upgrade instructions. I am getting ready to re-upgrade to 2015, and I will follow that guidance.
Probably too late now but if it happens again the BSOD error code and text would be useful in seeing what went wrong and where you could go next.
Understood. I did so much searching on the BSOD (and didn't come up with anything that seemed even close to definitive), that when I finally decided to move ahead with trying the restore and it actually worked, I was so relieved that my only thought was to just get back to a working system...
Also, in all those search results I didn't come across anything that implicated ATI. Ayway, the BSOD error code was:
0x0000007e (0xffffffffc0000005, 0x0000000000000000, 0xfffff880047080d8, 0xfffff88004707930
And I don't recall the additional text being particularly helpful.
Thanks for the responses.
- s.west
p.s. There is something wrong with the 'quote' function of this forum editor...
Error code 0x7E points to a driver not loading or preventing other drivers loading correctly.
0xC0000005 - often (but not always) points to a network driver of some kind.
Gents,
While I was running the rescue system (getting ready to restore the Full backup I mentioned above), I took a level 0 dump of the broken C: drive onto my local 1TB mirror (where I was making my backups before the QNAP NAS was part of my network). You would think that it wouldn't be too hard to browse that backup and try to spot the offending driver(s)... If this were a linux system, I would hazard a trip out on the proverbial limb and say that it would be 95% likely that, if it a driver, I'd be able to figure it out from that dump. Oh, how I hate Windoze.
Obviously, my WAG that the problem is (was) directly related to the ATI 2015 upgrade -- with a little weight being added to its chance-for-correctitude by Mustang's warning about de-installing 2012 before installing 2015 - and, by the way, where is that documented? -- my guess about the problem being ATI 2015 is entirely circumstantial. Nevertheless, would any of you know what I should look for in that copy of C: that I mentioned above that would constitute a smoking gun? I think I'll have a go at looking, so any suggestions would be appreciated. I'll post my results later...
Thanks.
- s.west
p.s. No one has said anything about ATI's inability to run in the presence of the GTX-690? Could it be the unhappy coincidence of the acronym for Acronis True Image ? ;-)
p.p.s. I still haven't re-upgraded to 2015 yet. Still a little gun shy.
p.p.p.s. Still haven't re-upgraded yet, but I went looking for upgrade instructions (to corroborate Mustang's instructions above), and found:
Upgrading from old versions of True Image
If you already have True Image installed, the new version will simply update it;
there is no need to remove the old version and reinstall the software.
at: http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATI2015/index.html#2…
So, no mention of those other instructions... comments?
p.p.p.s. Still haven't re-upgraded yet, but I went looking for upgrade instructions (to corroborate Mustang's instructions above), and found:
Upgrading from old versions of True Image
If you already have True Image installed, the new version will simply update it;
there is no need to remove the old version and reinstall the software.at: http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATI2015/index.html#2…
So, no mention of those other instructions... comments?
The two versions are pretty different though. A great deal has changed between the 3 versions ( 2013, 2014, 2015 ) and 2012 both the interface, features, and activation process.
If you have not attempted installing 2015 you might want to do the following. Install the extra GPU in-place of your primary GPU. Create a image of this system state with the current display drivers. You should then removed the 2012 installation, use the tool to do a cleanup, and reboot your system. Verify the system is still working. At this point you should install the 2015 version and follow any installations instructions.
You can then verify if the system works. You can then put the primary card back into the system to see if it works. This way you can either conclude there is indeed a conflict with the card and the 2015 version.
Greetings Ramhound,
First off, thanks for responding!
Now I can, and probably will, go through the steps you just outlined, but I do have one question: You did see that I mentioned I was unable to run ATI from the RESCUE DVD, right?
There is nothing exotic, driver-wise, running at this point, and we would be using the generic (for lack of a better word) VGA driver for video, wouldn't we?
Thanks, again.
- s.west