pagefile.sys reboot problems

Making clone from a SATA RAID 0 array to another RAID 0 array (a Promise IDE one), it works just fine except when I try to boot from the Promise array. I get the "no pagefile" errors and cannot, no matter what I do, get a swap file going. I 've followed all the suggestions; Permissions, Intel IAA, etc., nothing works. The PC seems to run just fine but it has no paging file.

Using this on stand alone drives, I had no problems, this is only since going to a RAID configuration.

Is it possible to tell True Image to copy pagefile.sys?

 

What does it say in My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced tab -> Performance settings button -> Advanced tab -> Virtual Memory

 

Hello jgivens,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Do both RAID arrays reside in the same computer? If so do you disable the secodn array before booting from the first one? The page file should be created by Windows automatically. However, Windows may be confused by two identical drives in the system. Furthermore, do you have appropriate drivers for Promise RAID?

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

MiniMax & Ilya:

Thx for following up. Here is the situation:

Asus P4C800-E Mobo, a pair of WD 120 JB's (on the Promise array) and a pair of WD 160's (SATA) on the SATA array. Both arrays are on the Mobo; The Promise is an 'extra' from Asus incorporated into the board while the SATA one makes use of the inherent Intel chipset (875), ICH5 I belive it is the particular one.

After cloning, if I run just the Promise array, it boots but gives the pagefile errors. The system seems to run just fine though. Examination shows that there is indeed no pagefile present. All settings have been tried; allow windows to manage, manually setting the file, etc. After rebooting the same thing happens, despite windows reporting that whatever settings done last are in effect. The only thing is that it shows up as zero in the virtual memory dialog, despite the settings being cleary set to [whatever].

Indeed the Promise Fasttrack drivers are loaded in the machine (the array is functioning properly) before the cloning is made. As I said, it boots so the MBR is making it over, it is active, etc., everything seems ok 'cept the lack of the swapfile.

I am doing a 'proportional' clone as the destination array is smaller the the source. The source though is currently at about 100 GB in actual usage, maybe a tad less.

The usual things have been tried. Intel Application accelerator was tried for the IDE RAID but it aborted when it detected the RAID as the IAA (IDE) does not support the RAID. They have a SATA IAA version but you have to be running the ICH5 SATA RAID, which I am, and as such this has been installed on that array. So there is no IAA to install on the Promise array and the SATA version has been installed on the SATA RAID.

I've also tried the permissions thing and that was fruitless as well. These two items are what are repeated ad nauseum when this issue is Googled.

I've even tried copying in a large file to the root and then renaming it pagefile.sys and booting that - no difference, the system reported no pagefile as usual and actually deleted the 'bogus' file.

The only other thing I can think of doing is to boot from some other OS, like 98, grab the good pagefile.sys from the SATA array and copy it to CD (renamed probably) and then back into another OS that will support the Promise array, and try to copy this pagefile into there and then boot that one. But I doubt that will accomplish anything except burn a couple of hours.

Anyway, this is what I am looking at.

Thanks all for the time.

TI8 is a good good program. I had given up on Ghost due to its sudden appearance of crashes while imaging that they couldn't fix, except by having me use some switches which took all calls to a low level and thus 8 hours to clone 90 GB. No way.

Tried Ghost 9 and the clone wouldn't even boot properly (no arrays).

So I am happy that TI does just about all I want (a single disk boot with a script for automation would be nice), all I have to do is resolve this pagefile matter.

 

Hello jgivens,

Thank you for the perfect explanation of the situation. Could you please tell what operatnig system you use? Are you able to log into cloned system without page file? Please try to do the following:

1. Right click on "My Computer" and choose "Properties" -> "Advanced" tab -> Performance "Settings" button -> "Advanced" tab -> Virtual Memory "Change" button;
2. Choose "No paging file" and click "Set" button.

You will be asked to reboot the computer, please click "Yes" that you would like to reboot. After you get to Windows again perform cloning once again. After that you will be able to change the page file setting back. Please note that after you reboot the computer may work slower because there will be no page file. However, as I said, this can be corrected by changing the setting back.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Ilya,

I am on XP Pro SP2. The cloned system is fully functional and operational, except for the pagefile problem. As best I can tell I am taking no performance hit on the lack of this file. I have read of some people claiming that with a lot of fast RAM you can get performance this way. I don't know if that is really true but is a moot point as I don't have a ton of RAM and what I have isn't fast either.

Anyway,

I disabled swapping and rebooted. I verified that there was no pagefile.sys now. However, True Image would not make a clone. It told me that the destination disk was too small. I did all options as I have always done: manual, delete partitions on destination, keep data on source, proportional sizing.

I rebooted and still no difference. I then set the paging file to 'system managed'. it did not ask for a reboot. I saw the swap file was created. TI still gave the error so I rebooted. It now is cloning with no reported errors. I will let you know how the clone boots. The only difference with the cloning in process at this moment is that it has a system managed swapfile as opposed to my manual settings (768 min 1536 max). I don't think this will make a difference but we will see.

Thanks again for all your time.

 

Hello jgivens,

This is very strange that Acronis True Image couldn't clone manually. Have you tried to perform the cloning after booting from Acronis Bootable CD? If you have is the result the same?

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Ilya, I ran from the CD and had no problems in cloning. I made my swapfile zero, rebooted, checked everything, then booted from CD. There were no problems in the cloning process. I then booted into the Promise RAID array and had no problems there either (remember, the source was a zero pagefile situation). I then set the swap file to be managed by the system and rebooted and sure enough the pagefile errors started appearing. There is no pagefile.sys and Windows throws a warning about the pagefile not existing or being to small and to....blah blah. None of the settings has any affect, as usual.

So, from CD no difference in cloning a zero pagefile source and trying to reinitiate a swapfile.

 

J, have you tried doing a clean, fresh install of WinXP using only the WD 120 JB's (on the Promise array)? I want to verify that WinXP is able to create the pagefile all by itself.

 

Hello jgivens,

In addition to MiniMax's advice I would ask whether you tried to disable your old RAID array (that is on SATA drives) after the cloning is complete? The presence of old drive in the system might cause the problem.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

MM: I can say that I have succesfully installed XP, SP2 on the Promise array all by itself and everything worked ok. I did this before I bought TI8, as I was playing with the new arrays. However, I cannot say definitely it made the swapfile because I wasn't looking for that aspect of the install. It did not, however, give me any errors or mentions of being low on virtual memory, so one could infer that yes it was there.

Ilya: I've disabled by pulling power on the SATA drives, I haven't done anything in the BIOS. I will attempt that sometime today.

 

Run regedit and look at this key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]

If the answer is not evident to you there, export the key and post the results here.

 

>> Run regedit and look at this key:

Am out of town, will report results on Fri. Thx.

 

OK, still having no luck.

Summary: Running XP Pro from a SATA RAID 0. Use TI to clone to a Promise onboard IDE RAID 0. The Promise array boots and behaves proper in all aspects except it has no paging file and cannot be made to create/keep one.

All attemtps to create the file have failed. Security permissions, Intel Application Accelerator (it crashes on install), eveything commonly offered as help has failed.

Now, in the process of troubleshooting all this, I booted from the SATA array with the Promise also online. This caused a TON of problems. The SATA's booted and loaded the OS but then called themselves D: and this caused all kinds of problems with Windows. Removing the Promise array and the SATA's now barely booted at all, and then very unstably.

Windows repair install did not fix the problem. The first time even thouhg the installer allowed me to select c:\windows as the repair location, when all was said and done it was still booting as D:, even as the sole drive present. I then did a reg edit and changed the system drive to c:, and did a repair install again. This seemed to do the trick, windows booted as C: but the system was hughly unstable and basically unusable.

So I restored my cloned image on the Promise array back to the SATA array. This went well, all is working, *including* the pagefile on the SATA array.

First off, why when booting with both arrays connected, did the boot array (SATA) come up as D: in Windows? I have never had this happen before when booting with multiple cloned disks present.

Now for the reg entries. I see nothing earthshaking in the entries of the Promise array system. There is the TempPageFile key present but deleting this (all occurances) makes no difference.

SO any more ideas why I can't create a pagefile on the Promise array, yet when it is cloned to the SATA array the pagefile behavior is just fine?

FWIW here is the Promise array Memory Management registry section:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000000
"DisablePagingExecutive"=dword:00000000
"LargeSystemCache"=dword:00000000
"NonPagedPoolQuota"=dword:00000000
"NonPagedPoolSize"=dword:00000000
"PagedPoolQuota"=dword:00000000
"PagedPoolSize"=dword:00000000
"SecondLevelDataCache"=dword:00000000
"SystemPages"=dword:00183000
"PagingFiles"=hex(7):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,70,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,66,00,69,00,6c,\
00,65,00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,20,00,37,00,38,00,36,00,20,00,31,00,35,00,\
37,00,32,00,00,00,00,00
"PhysicalAddressExtension"=dword:00000000
"SessionViewSize"=dword:00000030
"SessionPoolSize"=dword:00000004
"WriteWatch"=dword:00000001
"TempPageFile"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters]
"VideoInitTime"=dword:00000b3b
"AppLaunchMaxNumPages"=dword:00000fa0
"AppLaunchMaxNumSections"=dword:000000aa
"AppLaunchTimerPeriod"=hex:80,69,67,ff,ff,ff,ff,ff
"BootMaxNumPages"=dword:0001f400
"BootMaxNumSections"=dword:00000ff0
"BootTimerPeriod"=hex:00,f2,d8,f8,ff,ff,ff,ff
"MaxNumActiveTraces"=dword:00000008
"MaxNumSavedTraces"=dword:00000008
"RootDirPath"="Prefetch"
"HostingAppList"="DLLHOST.EXE,MMC.EXE,RUNDLL32.EXE"
"EnablePrefetcher"=dword:00000003

 

You are right, that key looks fine. It would appear that your problem is similar to this post:

Page File problems


Here is information on solving drive letter and "disk remember" problems. drive signature and drive letter problems