Help, Can't Boot to other snapshots.

[divedog]

I am currently on the 14-day trial. I have 3 snapshots on an 80g hard drive running XP. I am unable to boot to any of the other snapshots at this time. I get the error GMAL-04 and it says press any key to boot to windows. When it does boot, I am stuck in the same snapshot. There is no pre boot option to hit f1 and boot to another snapshot. I don't have a floppy drive but I did save a copy of the mbr to a separate hard drive. I may have messed up playing with the reg cleaner in cc cleaner I thought it would only clean the snapshot I was working in. any help would be appreciated.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I am currently on the 14-day trial. I have 3 snapshots on an 80g hard drive running XP. I am unable to boot to any of the other snapshots at this time. I get the error GMAL-04 and it says press any key to boot to windows. When it does boot, I am stuck in the same snapshot. There is no pre boot option to hit f1 and boot to another snapshot. I don't have a floppy drive but I did save a copy of the mbr to a separate hard drive. I may have messed up playing with the reg cleaner in cc cleaner I thought it would only clean the snapshot I was working in. any help would be appreciated. <-QUOTE}

1) Do you have a lot of files in your C:\ directory
2) Whom did you get the trial from.

Pete

[divedog]

{QUOTE-> 1) Do you have a lot of files in your C:\ directory
2) Whom did you get the trial from.

Pete <-QUOTE}

I have about 10g in each snapshot.
I downloaded the software from Raxco.

I have used an ATI image to recover the c drive to a time before the GMAL-04 error. I am curious what could have caused the error. The only 2 things I can think of are, I had just used the reg cleaner in CC Cleaner, and I had BitDefenders new beta on the snapshot that froze on. I could not boot to the primary or secondary.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I have about 10g in each snapshot.
I downloaded the software from Raxco.

I have used an ATI image to recover the c drive to a time before the GMAL-04 error. I am curious what could have caused the error. The only 2 things I can think of are, I had just used the reg cleaner in CC Cleaner, and I had BitDefenders new beta on the snapshot that froze on. I could not boot to the primary or secondary. <-QUOTE}

Hi Divedog

You misunderstood my question. It isn't big the snapshot is but how many files you have in the root directory C:\

I ask because I encountered the same issue, and there is a bug in FDISR. It stems from to many files located in the root directory. If you have many files there, that may be the cause of the problem. Contact Greg Hayes at Raxco. He has a fix from Todd, and also I am sure he would reset the trial count.

Pete

[divedog]

{QUOTE-> Hi Divedog

You misunderstood my question. It isn't big the snapshot is but how many files you have in the root directory C:\

I ask because I encountered the same issue, and there is a bug in FDISR. It stems from to many files located in the root directory. If you have many files there, that may be the cause of the problem. Contact Greg Hayes at Raxco. He has a fix from Todd, and also I am sure he would reset the trial count.

Pete <-QUOTE}
How do I tell how many files are in the root directory?

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> How do I tell how many files are in the root directory? <-QUOTE}

My Computer and then click on your c: drive. You will see all the folders and at the bottom files.

[tobacco]

Doesn't BitDefender use the KAV 5 engine?.And doesn't KAV 5 conflict with FD ISR?.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> Doesn't BitDefender use the KAV 5 engine?.And doesn't KAV 5 conflict with FD ISR?. <-QUOTE}

Hi Tobacco

Yes Bitdefender uses the KAV 5 engine, but it wasn't the engine causing the conflict, it was the Istream stuff which used NTFS ADS. You could use KAV 5 as long as you didn't use Istream. No I had the joy of first seeing what Divedog is seeing. It is an obscure bug in FDISR, that comes into play if you have to many files in your C:\ root directory.

Pete

[Blackcat]

{QUOTE-> Hi Tobacco, Yes Bitdefender uses the KAV 5 engine, Pete <-QUOTE}
:o ??? :blink:

[Longboard]

What is the lower limit of "too many files" ?

Is this a problem that arises with first creation of snapshots or one that occures if the file/folder count gets too high along the way?

LBD

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> What is the lower limit of "too many files" ?

Is this a problem that arises with first creation of snapshots or one that occures if the file/folder count gets too high along the way?

LBD <-QUOTE}

Re question 1, I don't know, I had 22 files in there, plus something also set an attribute in the MFT record that is afffected. That was too many. I now have 8.

The problem only seemed to be affecting new snapshots. I didn't notice a problem, until I tried booting to a new snapshot. My current one had been fine. Then I did a complete uninstall/reinstall, and couldn't build/boot to anything. Solution was to clean out some of the files, and run a fix they have.

Pete

PS. That count didn't include hidden system files. The extra files I had there weren't needed there, I just stuck them there from the old DOS mentality.

[Longboard]

EEEkkk :o

I have 15 folders and 17 files in Local Disc (C: ) when will I freeze??

Do ineed to uninstall fiddle with C: and then reinstall.

Please advise.

Lbd.

[divedog]

I have 7 folders on the c drive; the majority of data on that drive is in 3 folders.
1) Windows has 604 folders and 10293 files.
2) Program files has 1005 folders and 8021 files.
3) Document has 685 folders and 6485 files.

When I made the additional snapshots I did not anchor any data I simply made a copy of the primary. I had 3 copies of the primary that had been adjusted the way I wanted them.

[Peter2150]

Guys slow down. Yes while techically a folder is a file. Wait a picture is worth a thousand words.

Look at the screenshot below. You are looking at c:\ Above are the all the folders that reside in c:\ Below are the few files that are in c:\ It is strictly the number of those files I am talking about. Hopefully the screenshot makes it clear.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> EEEkkk :o

I have 15 folders and 17 files in Local Disc (C: ) when will I freeze??

Do ineed to uninstall fiddle with C: and then reinstall.

Please advise.

Lbd. <-QUOTE}

Longboard.

Folders are fine. I would delete as many of the seventeen files you can. I am assuming you aren't counting the hidden system files. Deleting them could be a disaster. Then try creating a new snapshot and booting to it. If you can all is well, if you can't, DON'T uninstall, but assuming you are dealing with Raxco, contact Greg Hayes, and tell him you need the fix Todd did for me. I say don't uninstall, because if you have one snapshot, I think it will keep working fine. Uninstalling and reinstalling won't help.

Pete

[divedog]

If I understand rite I have no files on the root of the c drive, and 7 folders. Here is a screen shot from the snapshot that has BitDefender running, it has 2 files on it.

[TonyW]

This is all I have in drive c:.

[crofttk]

I've got 56 non-system files in my system partition root. It's not a problem for me. Booting to other snapshots works flawlessly.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I've got 56 non-system files in my system partition root. It's not a problem for me. Booting to other snapshots works flawlessly. <-QUOTE}

Hi crofttk

Interesting. Have you built a new snapshot with all those files and been able to boot to it. I could boot to the snapshot I already had, just couldn't boot to a new one. Also it wasn't just the number of files, but the number of files combined with the fact an attribute had been written to the pertinent record of the MFT. Apparently each file in the root directory takes up some space in this particular record, and the combination of the number of files and this attribute was using to much space in an MFT record FDISR has to write to, to rollover to a new snapshot.

Thing is what wrote that attibute, and on that I am clueless.

Pete

[crofttk]

{QUOTE-> ...Have you built a new snapshot with all those files and been able to boot to it.... <-QUOTE}
I would say almost certainly since I've been through a number of reinstalls of both Windows and FD-ISR in the past with more or less the same root directory contents.

I'm about 1600 miles from my desktop right now but I may be able to do this using RealVNC from my laptop down here where I'm at. I'll see if I can give this a try and report back. After all, what are Sunday afternoons stranded in a hotel away from your family for? ;)

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I would say almost certainly since I've been through a number of reinstalls of both Windows and FD-ISR in the past with more or less the same root directory contents.

I'm about 1600 miles from my desktop right now but I may be able to do this using RealVNC from my laptop down here where I'm at. I'll see if I can give this a try and report back. After all, what are Sunday afternoons stranded in a hotel away from your family for? ;) <-QUOTE}

I'd be very curious, as when I found I had a problem, I have no idea how long the problem existed. I only discovered it trying to boot to a new snapshot.

Now I periodically do it to test my archives.

Pete

[crofttk]

OK, in progress, creating new snapshot from primary right now.

Dang, I found that the last image FD-ISR did at home was 5/14 ! (Normally, this is done once a day) I don't know what the hell happened but I couldn't get the management module fired up !

I had to uninstall and reinstall (program only). All of my snapshots and schedules and options are intact. Pretty weird. Good thing this came up or I may have bumped along not knowing FD-ISR was dead back on the thome desktop !:o

Anyways, barring something weird but unrelated going on, after I get this new copy made I'll give booting into it a try and report back again.

[crofttk]

Well, all went OK, there I am:



After my earlier scare with FD-ISR being dead for a whole week, I sure am glad THAT worked out like I thought it would !:P
ETA: Now, I'm back in my original primary, and everything's still hunky-dory* (http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hun2.htm).

[divedog]

I am starting to think on my end it has something to do with BitDefender Beta. After loading an ATI image I had from before FDISR was installed. I recreated each snapshot, I can boot between snapshots with no problem, I made a third snapshot uninstalled NOD, installed the Beta, and when I tried to boot back to another snapshot BSOD. This time I could get back to the primary. I will do some more testing and let you know how it goes. Is anyone else running Bitdefender Beta in one of there snapshots?

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I am starting to think on my end it has something to do with BitDefender Beta. After loading an ATI image I had from before FDISR was installed. I recreated each snapshot, I can boot between snapshots with no problem, I made a third snapshot uninstalled NOD, installed the Beta, and when I tried to boot back to another snapshot BSOD. This time I could get back to the primary. I will do some more testing and let you know how it goes. Is anyone else running Bitdefender Beta in one of there snapshots? <-QUOTE}

That would seem more like it. I've installed many beta that hosed my system. BSOD's couldn't even get into safe mode, but I could always reboot to a good snapshot. Restoring the ATI image may have fixed the problem.

Keep us posted.

Crofttx. Cool. Glad to see you don't make much use of FDISR;D

[ErikAlbert]

I always had troubles with BitDefender (beta or not), it caused BSOD's on my computer. From my readings it is caused by a combination with other softwares, but I don't remember which ones, but some member at Wilders could help you more in this matter. Sometimes it would be better to create one thread per software in order to find problems with some softwares easier.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I always had troubles with BitDefender (beta or not), it caused BSOD's on my computer. From my readings it is caused by a combination with other softwares, but I don't remember which ones, but some member at Wilders could help you more in this matter. Sometimes it would be better to create one thread per software in order to find problems with some softwares easier. <-QUOTE}

Actually what was being questioned here is if somehow the BitDefender beta was a cause of the FDISR issue, and it seems it wasn't. All beta's can be a mess. At one time or another KAV,Ghost Security,OA,ProcessGuard, the list goes on. All these beta's have had hangs crashes, etc. Point here is FDISR was the means of recovery, and it seems Divedog was able to do that so all is well.

[divedog]

I am not sure what caused the gmal-04 error that made me unable to boot to other snapshots. At this point I lean towards the Bitdefender Beta. I had to rebuild using an ATI image, and again was having no trouble until I created another snapshot with the Beta in it, the second go around, I had a bsod not the same as the gmal-04 that froze up first defense but it was enough for me to remove that snapshot and I have had no trouble since. If I get some time tomorrow I will call tech support and report back.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I am not sure what caused the gmal-04 error that made me unable to boot to other snapshots. At this point I lean towards the Bitdefender Beta. I had to rebuild using an ATI image, and again was having no trouble until I created another snapshot with the Beta in it, the second go around, I had a bsod not the same as the gmal-04 that froze up first defense but it was enough for me to remove that snapshot and I have had no trouble since. If I get some time tomorrow I will call tech support and report back. <-QUOTE}


Duh. Was just on the Raxco Website. There definitely is a conflict between Bitdefender and First Defense. See the website if it applies.

[divedog]

I don’t see anything on there web page about Bit Defender. Could you post a link? This is all I found.

Known Issues with 3rd Party Software:

* Kapersky Antivirus 5.0
* Master Boot Record modifying programs
* Non-English versions of Windows
* Registry cleaners such as System Mechanic may delete FirstDefense registry keys

[Acadia]

I found it here:

http://www.raxco.com/support/windows/kb_index.cfm

Ignore the warning concerning BitDefender in the PerfectDisk section, and scroll down to the FirstDefense section.

Acadia

[divedog]

Thanx, alot of good info there.