Bootable recovery disk doesn't work on windows 7 machine
I have True Image Home 2010, build 6053 and I have made a bootable disk from it. However, when I try to boot my Windows 7 dell laptop with it, a black screen pops up, with a couple of files not found, and then the computer reboots.
Am I doing something wrong?
Try the boot disks on another computer. If you get the same result, make another one. If the same, try another type of blank media.
The boot disks do not care what OS is on the computer and do not have to be used on the computer that created it.
The disk that won't work on my windows 7 machine work perfectly fine on a Windows XP computer.
I have tried both DVD and CD...still nothing works.
Have you ever successfully booted a bootable cd or dvd on your computer?
I am able to put in my Windows 7 disk and boot from that...if that is what you are asking.
or are you refering to a 3rd party disk?
Yes, that's what I meant ... that is strange. Well, while waiting for someone else to suggest something, try a third party bootable cd also and see if that boots. If it does then it means that the laptop burner isn't burning correctly - that can happen. In fact I have a burner in a laptop that doesn't burn but it will read optical discs.
Well, I am pretty sure the burner is working correctly, since the recovery disk I burned, works perfectly on a Windows XP machine...just not my Windows 7 machine.
Well, one of my co-workers also has Acronis Home 2010, and he created a boot disk, which I borrowed.
This one actually went into the software at boot, and as I was setting up my backup...
the system rebooted...
Wow! You really have a weird one there.
Grasping at straws here ... True Image is extremely picky when it comes to proper working hardware. Run memtest overnight to see if you have marginal memory.
Or if you have two or more memory modules pull all but one out and see if you get the CD to start with one of the modules only.
Hi,
Same problem here: the acronis boot disk starts up the acronis software then crashes after some obscure error messages that flash by. I haven't tried it on another machine yet though. When acronis made the boot disk, the program said it made it successfully.
This kills my confidence that the rest of the acronis software will operate correctly in an actual disaster.
I have submitted a request to Acronis support; if they can fix it I'll try to report back here.
Has either of you actually done a full recovery with Acronis? I mean, not just files but actually restoring a system hard disk?
Has either of you actually done a full recovery with Acronis? I mean, not just files but actually restoring a system hard disk?
Yes, many times by many of us. Restoring a system or disk is where TI excels. The index listed in my signature may provide more examples via item 7 and others.
Your problem does appear to be unique. You might try the option of creating an Acronis bootable Flashdrive but I suspect you may need some special drivers for your unit.
Your registration page also lists an iso file which can be downloaded and burnt as a special Rescue CD. This has more updated drivers. If you try this solution and let us know if it works.
I have used the ISO file to burn a disk...and it doesn't work either. Have ran a full memory scan on my windows 7 machine, and it passed with flying colors.
This thing is beginning to irk me slightly.
Hi, thanks for the comments you guys.
I'm certainly not unique, as we can see from the rest of this thread.
I did manage to take some pictures of the screen as the error messages flashed by, and I've attached them.
I tried the same disk on my old XP laptop, worked fine, just like the other non-unique posters have noticed.
Also: the boot recovery CD that Win 7 makes works fine on my Win 7 machine, WITHOUT the extra driver selection.
So it's clear that Acronis is making a bad boot CD for Win 7 in at least our cases. I really wonder how many other people on win 7 have actually tried out their bootable CD.
Maybe the missing library modules or "st" whatever that is from my startup pictures will be a clue for Acronis people if they look at this.
Using bootable media, build 5053, on both xp and windows 7 pro it resulted in a failure. After recovery completed and I tried boot the computer both result in a black screen and nowhere to go. The windows 7 machine I recovered back to original and installed all programs again. The xp machine I used I recovered using True image 11 home. Now using Microsoft backup for Windows 7 but have not tried to recover it yet as that is too scary. I'll back up date and reinstall all programs until I am assured something works. No way to get hold of Acronis as my 30 days have expired even though I had not ran the recovery.
Well, based on the underwhelming amount of interest from Acronis about this issue...and complete lack of help from them as well...you can bet I will tell my boss to completely skip the idea of buying Advanced Workstation for the 40+ computers in our organization.
I mean seriously...several of us are having the same issue...and yet nothing is being done to address it. Seriously?
Using bootable media, build 5053, on both xp and windows 7 pro
Do you mean 6053? there was a 5053
but that was a pre release build. If you do mean 5053 then I'd suggest making a new rescue CD from th elatest build.
As for your blank screen this might be down to the newish way in which W7 installs itself.
Have you been able to tell if TI has actually restored your system files, even though you obviously can't boot from it at the moment.
Using the bootable rescue disk is the only way I can get a backup to run using build 6053 with my Win7 64-bit O.S. And it works like a champ. Not as convenient for sure, but it works.
I meant the bootable media 6053 made from Aconis True Image Home Build 6053, fat fingered it. I used the Bootable media to both backup and restore when the problem occurred. I have another disk on the way and after install into my laptop I will try again. I don't want to take a chance on having to rebuild my old disk from scratch again again.
Hello all,
Let me comment this situation.
First of all, I'd like to thank Colin and GroverH for the correct suggestions.
John and Richard, in your situation it looks like the product is not able to load some module responsible for exact hardware installed on your PC, that explains the situation why you're able to boot other PC's from the same CD. In this case we should determine which module fails to load in order to customize the special ISO for you.
1. I'd recommend you to download the version which is based on another loader (the version has some extended list of drivers and startup parameters). Make sure that it's the latest (6053) build. We have implemented the possibility to download the appropriate ISO file after logging into your account (the serial number should be registered). This option is available for the current and (n-1) versions. Please log in to your account, go to the Registered products and downloads section -> Bootable media. Download the file.
To get access to the ISO you should first register Acronis software.
You can find more information on how to burn an ISO image to a CD here.
This is very important, since all investigations should be performed with this version!
2. If the software still reboots, please try booting with acpi=noapic option, it loads all drivers in a special mode and helps to operate with the product in some cases
3. If this does not help either, let's figure out what exactly hangs and where, please do the following:
At the same screen (where you can choose between several boot parameters), please issue
quiet=off and hit Enter.
The product will start to boot and display all processes at prompt, it will pass some time but then stop instead of rebooting. Please capture the last screen using any photo camera and attach it to your answer in this thread. I will discuss it with our Experts then..
Also, please feel free to ask me if something is not clear from my instructions.
Regards,
Okay, I tried the "quiet=off" command and got an error on that which stated:
Execution of user command quiet=off failed. Error code:1
Just prior to that was a big long error message basically saying it couldn't find the file.
I have the same problem. Alexander´s advices didn´t help.
Here is the photo.
(Hope it helps.)
I have had a strange solution to my problem. After having reinstalled TI 2010 several times to the default location and getting nowhere, I decided to install it on the same drive as the backup files are on.
While that may sound strange, you must realize that my backup files are on an external drive. Now my copy of TI 2010 (build 6053) is installed on that drive. I just finished up a backup and it worked fine.
Go figure.
I have used Acronis True Image Home 6053 from a Rescue CD and done full backups and restores on a Dell XPS 630i and on an older Dell E520 – Yes, I have multiple licenses.
Trying this same software on a pair of Dell studio XPS 8100s – NOT licensed yet, and WONT be if this remains unresolved - I experience the problem of booting, selecting ATI Home (Full version) from the selector, seeing ATI Home start to load, show the splash screen and then reboot the computer.
Contacted technical support and tried the ISO version. The “quiet” versions of the multi-parameter choices (1,3,5,7) show the splash screen and then reboot. The “non-quiet” ones stop with a message. I have sent this data to Acronis and was asked to provide Windows SysInfo report, Acronis SysInfo report, and a Rescue Media SysInfo report (requires a flash drive to do this.) After having done all this I have sent the required reports and information to Acronis and have been promised my issue will be “elevated.” I am waiting for their response.
Since the issues here seem to be very similar – halt or reboot – on loading ATI Home and on newer computers I would suspect that it may be a new motherboard/chipset issue that is likely to require and updated driver. Hopefully Acronis will gather enough information to make a patch - soon. I have seen posts that this issue also affects the Dell studio XPS 9000 and some Dell laptops.
I've been working the same problem on a Dell XPS8000.
Tech support gave me the link to the ISO version. It crashed in approximately the same way as the Acronis-generated rescue disk, but printed out a lot of dots on the screen first.
Meanwhile, Windows 7 itself is perfectly capable of making a rescue disk. Acronis need only buy or rent an XPS 8000 (or possibly any Win 7 machine) and make the Windows rescue disk, then modify it to have the Acronis software on it, then give it to us.
I have also tried to make a USB external drive be the Acronis boot device...amazingly, Acronis couldn't find it, even though Explorer was able to...so I couldn't use it.
Sure seems like very little Win 7 testing has been done.
When you add up these two failures or bugs, I have very little confidence in the rest of the restore process, and maybe not even in the backup process.
Robert,
On your usb Acronis bootable, did your try using Grub4Dos and it is so easy to implement. I have it also installed on my second internal drive so I can boot into the 2nd drive instead of using a flashdrive or a CD or a usb external.
I like this so much better than a normal Acronis bootable anything. I am using XP Pro.
Hello all,
Let me comment this situation.
Tom, could you please clarify, which CD have you used?
I have the same problem. Alexander´s advices didn´t help.
Here is the photo.
(Hope it helps.)
Astrid, thanks for the photo! According to the output you're getting, product loads without any error, and on the last string it just waits for you to press Enter, what happens in that case?
Frank, I have found your case in our database, it has been escalated to Experts Team. They will contact you as soon as possible for further troubleshooting.
Robert, unfortunately there's no ability to modify Windows disk and inject Acronis software to it, because our Standalone versions are based on Linux, so this can't be done by default. However, you may try BartPE version with our product, please check this article for the detailed description.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Thank you.
Hallo.
After return the prompt # is shown.
/bin/product leads to a black screen.
Tom, could you please clarify, which CD have you used?
It is the CD I created from True Image Home 2010 for bootable recovery purposes. I installed the full True Image Home 2010 and Disk Director on it so I have everything available is case of an emergency
Alexander, thanks.
Wouldn't it be a lot easier to install Acronis TI 2010 on some other computer, and then use it to take the backup image it previously maintained, restore that onto a drive in a USB enclosure, and then put that drive in the computer that died?
OR...use the windows rescue disk to rebuild enough of a windows system on the failed computer to then install Acronis and then restore from an Acronis image?
The BartPE method seems VERY complicated. Has a restore using it onto a win 7 system been tested?
I would volunteer to test it on a Dell XPS 8000 if Acronis would make it. The great outcome is that Acronis could then offer a working recovery system for Dell Win 7 computers...probably a valuable chunk of the market.
Grover--
Thanks for your post.
Acronis was unable to find the external USB drive in order to install its bootable program, even though the drive was visible to Win 7. I don't really understand how Grub4DOS would change that, but I don't think I"m expert enough to pull that off anyway.
Thank you for the update Alexander. I'm waiting to hear from the "Experts Team."
Hello all,
Astrid, please try collecting Acronis Linux Report:
Wait for # prompt to appear once again. Please insert a Flash disk to a USB port and issue the following commands: # cat /proc/partitions This will give you the list of partitions/drives available in your system. For example: 8 0 127744 sda 8 1 127744 sda1 3 0 80417183 hda 3 1 10241406 hda1 3 2 20482875 hda2 3 3 1020127 hda3 Flash drive's partition is visible as 'sdXY' (X - disk letter, Y - partition number). You may find your flash by partition/drive size. For example the line "8 0 127744 sda" In this example means that 'sda' size is 128Mb. If the flash is partitioned it will bring the list of its partitions as well. Then you need to create a mount point for your flash and mount it. # mkdir /mnt/tmp # mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/tmp There can be some warning messages but it is safe to ignore them. Make a directory on your flash drive to save files to it: # mkdir /mnt/tmp/sysinfo Check whether the drive is mounted correctly for writing access: #ls /mnt/tmp This will give a list of files/folders located on the drive. Save 'sysinfo' and unmount the flash drive: # sysinfo > /mnt/tmp/sysinfo/sysinfo.txt # umount /mnt/tmp Please collect the created sysinfo.txt file from the flash drive.
Robert, this won't be possible. If you recover the information to an external drive and then plug it in as the internal one - the system won't boot.
The second scheme is possible - you may perform clean install of Windows and then just restore some data from Acronis image. This is very good solution (because clean Windows install is much better than any image recovery, since it gives you the most clean system) but we do not suggest this way to our customers because this method is time consuming - you must install all drivers and software manually in this case. So if this acceptable for you - feel free to follow such way.
Thank you for the update Alexander. I'm waiting to hear from the "Experts Team."
Frank, if you feel that process is not going a right way and the case is being handled incorrectly - please let me know and I will make sure that the situation is addressed.
Best regards,
Thanks Alexander.
As far as creating a system image onto a disk that can be swapped into the PC, see
Bounceback Ultimate by cms products. They do system backups, like Acronis, but they claim you can swap in a drive that was in a USB enclosure and got a restore from the backup. There was an article about it in PC World that said it was a big advantage, because you could get back in business really quickly that way.
Thank you for the update Alexander. I'm still waiting to hear from the "Experts Team." I'm not upset - just in a "wait" state. If an update becomes available that addresses this issue will you be able to let us know in this thread?
Alexander,
Maybe Acronis can restore from a backup in a different way that avoids this whole lack of a usable boot CD:
What if I use Tools & Utilities, Clone Disk Wizard to create a bootable clone on a disk that's in a USB enclosure?
Can't I then take that disk out of its enclosure, put it in my desktop, and use it as my new disk?
I must emphasize: all I'm looking for is a way to make a system backup that I can do a restore from. Since Acronis is unable to make a boot CD for our Dell machines, and all the other boot CD-making methods appear to fail, then there is no way we can restore. The method I'm asking about here may be clunky, but it would work, right?
Hello,
Robert, thank you very much for the suggestion! I will show the Bounceback Ultimate abilities to our Product Management so we will surely consider such implementation.
What if I use Tools & Utilities, Clone Disk Wizard to create a bootable clone on a disk that's in a USB enclosure?
Can't I then take that disk out of its enclosure, put it in my desktop, and use it as my new disk?
Yes, you can act in such way, but with one reserve - you should need to clone one drive to another one with the same interface, because we are aware of some issue when external cloned drive does not boot the system.
I must emphasize: all I'm looking for is a way to make a system backup that I can do a restore from. Since Acronis is unable to make a boot CD for our Dell machines, and all the other boot CD-making methods appear to fail, then there is no way we can restore. The method I'm asking about here may be clunky, but it would work, right?
Unfortunately, the recovery of the entire should be performed via the CD, have you tried the special ISO file based on another loader? All I found is two photos from the standard version error.
We are looking forward to hearing back from you at your earliest convenience.
Thank you.
My desktop runs XP and True Image Home 2010. Until this morning, I have been able to back up and then use the Startup Recovery Manager (F11 at boot) to restore when needed. This has been working fine, the last backup being first thing this morning.
After the last backup, I have been trying to install Nokia OVI software for my mobile, but failing in that, I went to reboot and restore to clean my pc back to the last image.
The F11 option started, and I selected Acronis Full Version, it then told me that it was starting Acronis, after a couple of seconds the screen went black and the pc hung. I then repeated the restore booting from recovery CD which did the same, and then repeated it with my "backup" recovery CD (Yes I am paranoid about the whole backup/recovery process!) All backup and restore options have been working.
Finally, I rebooted back into XP and used TrueImage to first to disable F11 startup recovery then re-enable it, then recreated a brand new recovery CD. Each attempt resulted in the same black screen hang.
Now, I am worried. Any help will be much appreciated.
Sorry, my previous post may be in the wrong thread.
Just to confuse, I do also have a Windows 7 issue on my wife's Samsung N220 Netbook. This is running Windows 7 starter and Acronis "Netbook" Trueimage.
Backups work OK, and I have been using CD recovery disks when needing to restore. The cd boots, I select Acronis Full Version, it does something, then I get the selection screen to select Acronis Full Version again and I can restore OK.
However, when I next boot into Windows 7 it tells me that there has been a previous windows start that has failed and do I want to start normally or in recovery. Selecting normal seems to work OK.
This isn't a show stopper like my desktop above, but is worrying.
Sorry to confuse the thread.
Gordon:
That's normal. Windows keeps track of its state (running or shut down) in a file. When you create an image, Windows is running. If you then restore that image and boot from it, Windows boot manager will figure out that the state is inconsistent (Windows is not running yet the file says that it is). So it concludes that Windows must have been improperly shut down, like would happen if the power failed.
As you have found out, this will self-correct on the first boot.
Mark,
Thanks for the reply. However, I suspect it might be more likely to be the strange activity that is going on as the first boot from the recovery cd seems to fail, then restarts. I have never had that with any Acronis True Image product in the past.
Gordon:
So what exactly happens? Is this a correct description:
1. You boot to the recovery CD and restore an image
2. You reboot the PC
3. The PC starts to load Windows, you see the "Starting Windows" splash screen
4. The PC then reboots
5. After a reboot you see the black and white Boot Manager screen with the error message.
Is this correct?
Mark,
As best I can recall, it goes like this,
1. Boot using recovery CD
2. Get the message "Acronis loader starting."
3. Get the Acronis selection screen to choose booting to Windows or Acronis Full Version
4. Select Acronis full version
5. Screen blanks for 2-5 seconds
6. Get the Acronis selection screen again, as in step 3.
7. Select Acronis full version again.
8. Acronis recovery then loads and I select the retore file as normal
9. Restore works.
10. Reboot to windows
11. During the Windows reboot I get a non graphical black screen with white characters telling me that Windows did not start correctly on a previous occasion and do I want to start in recovery (recommended) or normal mode.
12. Selected Normal and windows came up with apparently no errors.
I appreciate the help, but don't want to waste anyone's time on this as I have my wife's Netbook back ok, but I did want to share it with the community as there could be something serious underlying this.
It just doesn't fill me with any confidence, which is a pity, I have been a long time Acronis customer.
Gordon:
Steps 5 and 6 in your description are unusual - that should not be happening. However, at this point nothing that has been done has affected Windows or your disk in any way.
The last part of the procedure, steps 10 - 12, are what I described in my previous post #40. This is normal.
The booting of the Acronis full recovery environment, however, is not normal.
Mark,
I have just completed testing with Macrium-Reflect on the Netbook, and it has backed up and restored three times now without any errors or "unusual events" As this is my wife's machine, I am not prepared to run any risks, so my money has just gone to them and a refund request to Acronis.
I have also re-posted my miss-posted desktop issue of non-rebooting at all for recovery on my XP desktop.
Regrettably, I am outside the 30day refund period for that, however, I think that being able to restore is a fundamental requirement for recovery software and, as Acronis advertising always says, "Compute with Confidence" I think I will be looking for a refund on that as well.
At the end of the day, IMHO, backup/restore software is the most important software you can have. Carefully used, and of proper quality, it can get you out of almost every situation caused either by oneself, or others.
I do appreciate your help, thanks.
Hi Alexander,
Yes, I tried the ISO version of the boot CD as I described earlier in this thread. I downloaded it from the Acronis web page I was supposed to, and downloaded the appropriate burner, and created it. It failed in approximately the same way as the Acronis-made boot CD: some stuff flashes by on the screen, and then the machine reboots. My guess is that the portion of the Acronis software that creates a boot CD has not been tested for Win 7 Dell machines. There are other users earlier in this thread that have Dell Win 7 machines with the same symptoms. NOTE: both the Acronis-generated and ISO boot CDs work great with XP, as other users have noted and I myself have verified. So Acronis needs to develop code for Win 7. THere's something about Win 7 versus XP that causes this problem...that should be a great clue for your developers, along with the pictures of the failures that I posted. I volunteer to try out any boot CDs that they make in the process. At a minimum, please see if you can get them to try the Acronis-generated boot CD on a win 7 machine so they can see this error for themselves.
As far as creating a clone disk...I propose the following: purchase the exact same make and model hard disk that's in the desktop; then create a clone disk on it while it's in a USB enclosure by using Acronis Clone Disk Wizard; then remove it from the enclosure and put it in the desktop. That should work, right? What did you mean by a different interface causing it not to boot?
Robert:
There's a fundamental misunderstanding here. Whether or not a boot CD works on a particular PC is independent of the operating system installed on that PC. The boot CD runs its own operating system and could care less what OS is installed on the PC.
The problem that you and many others are running into is hardware dependent. It has nothing to do with XP vs. Vista vs. Windows 7. Acronis uses Linux for the boot CD's operating system and whether it works on your particular PC or not depends on whether their implementation of Linux contains drivers for your PC's hardware. Acronis reliance on Linux is a fundamental weakness of their product and probably always will be since most hardware manufacturers develop drivers first for Windows. Some don't even bother supporting Linux, leaving this up to the volunteer Linux community. Development sometimes lags behind by several months.
Kolo,
Thanks for the great explanation.
It seems Dell is less on top of Linux drivers than Sony, since the Acronis-generated disk works great on my obscure Sony laptop.
Why can't the Acronis disk-generation program figure out what drivers are necessary and include them on the disk that gets generated? Or maybe it's impossible to dynamically do that.
And furthermore, why would Acronis release a product that didn't work on a huge segment of the market: new Dell XPS machines?
And finally, why doesn't their tech support department know about this?
And one more, while I have you-- does their lack of quality about things like drivers and boot disks say anything about the reliability of their actual backup and restore process?
Robert:
The boot disk generation program cannot magically gin up a set of Linux drivers from a Windows installation.
On most hardware the Acronis recovery CD works very well. It's normally newer hardware that has problems since, like I mentioned previously, Linux drivers for new hardware are often not available for many months after the hardware is released. This is a fundamental limitation of the Linux operating system that has nothing to do with Acronis, other that the fact that they chose to use Linux as a recovery operating system. Had they chosen to use Windows PE, for example, this problem would be much more manageable. They will probably tell you that there are licensing cost issues with a Windows recovery environment that would make their product more expensive, but I'll let them defend their decision themselves.
In my case the wireless keyboard and mouse don't work, but when I put a keyboard and a mouse with wire the bootable media work. I hope so that the solution for you.