Acronis and BIOS errors while attempting to restore an image

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by Fly, Jul 25, 2008.

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  1. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    Using Windows XP ...

    Situation: attempting to restore an image from an external harddisk (USB connection) using a bootable Acronis CD-R to boot and then restore an image.

    It's a little weird, if I have the external harddisk fully connected and powered up when I attempt to boot from the CD-R things sometimes get 'stuck' and the computer doesn't appear to go further than the bootable Acronis CD-R.

    If I make the connection between the external harddisk and the computer AFTER the Acronis CD-R has run, Acronis usually doesn't recognize the external harddisk when I connect it.

    It often DOES WORK if I quickly connect the external harddisk when/while the CD-R is running. My subjective impression is that there may be a difference between having the external harddisk connected and then turning the power on, AND not having it connected by a cable but then quickly connecting it and powering it up. Anyway, if the restore image thing works at all I tend to get BIOS error(s), sometimes something about a ramdisk.

    Making images is easy.

    My first image was made of my PC with a fresh OS installation.

    I am new to image software. Can anyone shed some light on the BIOS error issue ? If I get such an error I can, after a brief pause, succesfully restore the image.
    I don't recall the exact error message(s), and I've only had to restore an image about three times.
     
  2. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    BUMP

    Sorry, I'll do this just once.

    Is there anyone who has had any experience with BIOS error messages when attempting to restore an Acronis image from an external harddrive ? (Booting the PC with an Acronis bootable CD-R).
     
  3. MrMorse

    MrMorse Registered Member

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    I thought you use the rescue-cd o_O ? And that is Linux.


    IMHO only the Linux start procedure try to recognize hardware.
    There is no 'services.exe' like under windows looking for new plugged hardware.


    I doubt that there is a BIOS-message.
    When rescue-cd starts the bios procedure is over. Finish.
    Don't you mean a Linux error message?


    To help you we must get the whole error message. I'm sorry.
     
  4. shieber

    shieber Registered Member

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    The external drive should be connected before the ATI bootCD is run so it will load the right drivers (hoepfully).
     
  5. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    The OS on my PC is Windows XP Home Edition.

    Is the recovery cd-r written in Linux ? I have no idea ! The Acronis software wrote the cd-r.

    It's actually a BIOS error, at least, that's what it says on the screen.
    I'm not in a hurry to duplicate the error :)

    To be precise: I have Acronis version 8. I know that in this section of the forum one is 'encouraged' to upgrade to version 11, but I have a background.
    I bought an external harddrive that was advertised as being able to make an image of the harddrive. However, the software that came with it only allowed making backups ! After some effort I got a very old version of Acronis (OEM).
    I could not make a bootable cd-r, I called the company again and I now have version 8. The company in question didn't really know what they were selling, they made a few statements that were not true. Supposedly, because I have OEM software I would be unable to upgrade, but the older version of Acronis offered the ability to upgrade, but at a price !

    Anyway, I've made a few images with Acronis 8 and don't want to risk anything by getting a later version.
     
  6. MrMorse

    MrMorse Registered Member

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    @Fly

    The older Ti8 becomes, the more unreliable the rescue-CD-start is.
    (oh oh, I hope the sentence is correct :D -> see sig.)

    What I want to say is:
    The hardware becomes newer and architecture changes. Your rescue-cd of Ti8 will get start problems.
    The reason is that the OS 'Linux' from Ti8 cannot recognize new hardware.

    What I would do is to download the newest Ti11 trial version.
    Install it and build a rescue-cd.
    Start with this rescue-cd. When the start is successful validate the images you created with Ti8.
    If validation is successful there is no reason not to change to Ti11...

    (I hope you can understand my horrible Engkish...)
     
  7. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    MrMorse,
    Your English is very understandable. Good job!
     
  8. MrMorse

    MrMorse Registered Member

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    ;) Thank you GroverH.
    But when I see my last posting: "...my horrible Engkish..." :D :D
    (I do not change it for warning other German members here ;) )
     
  9. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    Thank you for your answer.

    However, my computer is more than 4 years old, I think I bought it at about the same time Acronis 8 was released ! So right now the 'newer hardware' would not be an issue, except possibly the external harddrive. And I could envision some problems if I went to the latest Acronis version because of old hardware and software, and software drivers that don't 'fully' match the hardware !

    Maybe I'll follow your advice, but so far I have been able to restore images three times, although the last time was a bumpy ride.

    I really see BIOS errors !

    I have no intention to change the hardware of this computer.
     
  10. MrMorse

    MrMorse Registered Member

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    @Fly
    I review this thread again.

    I see you have no problems except the 'Bios-error-message'.
    The message you cannot exactly remember. But it has to with a ramdisk o_O

    Post here again the proper message text when the 'bios-error' appears next.

    Without the message I see no chance to get on here.
     
  11. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    Okay, I restored another image today.

    When I rebooted the computer with the bootable/rescue cd-r, I saw:
    MP Bios bug: 8254
    timer not connected to IO.APIC

    But I did see the same error after I had restored the image, removed the bootable Acronis cd-r, deleted some temporary files, shut down the computer, rebooted while forgetting to disconnect the external harddrive, and then quickly disconnecting (unplugging the power cord from the external harddisk) the harddrive. Everything else seemed to go smoothly.

    I vaguely recall that I have an M7NCD mainboard, not to be confused with the M7NCD pro. The manual doesn't completely match with the real mainboard (picture), and I have some NVIDIA device drivers (not just graphics).

    And the memory settings in the BIOS for the RAM are on automatic (that has always worked for me), the psf or whatever setting didn't work for me. (And nothing is overclocked)
     
  12. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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  13. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello Fly,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    We are sorry for delayed response.

    Please make sure you use the latest build of Acronis True Image 8 Home. To get access to updates you should first register your software. Don't forget to recreate Acronis Bootable Rescue Media after updating.

    If the latest build doesn't solve the problem, please try booting with "acpi=off noapic" parameter as it is described in Acronis Help Post, as suggested by seekforever.

    Note that since you use an older version of Acronis True Image (version 8.0 or lower) you should press F11 button when the "Starting Acronis Loader..." message appears and not when the selection screen appears (Acronis True Image 8.0 Bootable Rescue CD for example does not have any selection screen).

    Thank you.
    --
    Marat Setdikov
     
  14. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    I have a bit more information now.

    I use Windows XP Home Edition on my computer.

    I store images on an external harddrive.

    When I don´t need that harddrive to create or restore an image, I unplug it.

    Except for one case, recently. I had forgotten to unplug it.
    Acronis bootable cd r was removed, I had shut down my computer, rebooted, and got the same BIOS error ! Fortunately, Windows XP booted just fine.

    The external harddrive is modern, it does have an eSATA feature but I believe I can´t use that with Acronis 8. That´s not really a problem, USB works fine too. Is my harddrive too modern for my more than 4 years old computer, leading to problems with the bootable Acronis disk ? I think that if I got a newer version of Acronis I´d have the same BIOS problem, I´m not sure how such a new bootable disk would react. I could imagine that if I used the latest Acronis version it would not be able to handle my more than 4 years old computer !

    Any suggestions, comments ?
     
  15. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    The MP BIOS error you are experiencing seems to be related to Linux support for the hardware and shows up with various versions of Linux. It seems that the Linux used in TI8 has the problem. The Linux OS was changed in TI11 so it may not have the problem and the only way is to try it. Same goes as to whether or not it supports your hardware but it likely will. I am using TI on a PC that is older than 4 yrs old.

    How about some feedback: Did you try the "... no apic" command as recommended by myself and Acronis?

    You can download the trial TI11 version and see if it corrects the problem. I am not aware of a flood of questions about this problem on the forum so it could be your case is because of TI8 which is now 3 versions behind.
     
  16. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    I'm cautious about making changes.
    You state that the MP BIOS error has something to do with Linux, but why do I get it too when I boot my system under Windows XP (not using Acronis cd-r) with my new external harddrive connected to my computer ?

    I did google the error in question, and I saw references to Linux and possibly variations on Linux (Ubuntu?), nothing (clear) about Windows XP systems.

    But I also get it when I just use Windows XP ! Under Windows XP my system boots up fine, I get the error message, but it doesn't cause any problems.

    I suspect that my new external harddrive is 'too new' (out of spec?) for my outdated computer.

    I'll try that ACPI off next time I need to restore an image.
     
  17. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    I missed that since your other posts indicated a Linux recovery environment bootup problem.

    I did find a reference where a person with the same problem and XP determined that the timer was bad on the motherboard and was going to replace the MB.

    I understand yours only happens with the external connected so I would perhaps pursue the external drive's vendor website for clues or contact them with your problem.

    Is your BIOS updated to the latest version? I normally don't advocate updating a BIOS just because there is a newer one available if everything is working. Is there any performance penalty that you notice now that the error has surfaced in XP?

    You might try going into the BIOS and using whatever command there is to restore the default settings. If something got flipped this might correct it.
     
  18. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    I once had to set something in the BIOS to 'automatic', since the spf (or something like that) setting of RAM didn't work properly. It took a lot of time and effort to figure that out. Briefly: shutting down computer at the end of the day, and then booting the computer the next day caused problems, probably crashes (it has been a while since I changed that!). The automatic setting works fine, except that I get that BIOS error if I connect the external harddrive to my computer, which I only do for creating and restoring images.

    I don't know if it's a RAM problem, mainboard/motherboard, BIOS settings or installed drivers or incompatible hardware !

    The computer is 4 to 5 years old, the external harddisk is very new.

    During normal use of my PC it's not a problem at all.
     
  19. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    For reasons that don't matter here, I have restored an image, using the bootable Acronis 8 cd-r.

    This time I tried the 'quiet acpi=off noapic' thing.

    First of all, according to the instructions I had to press F11 'when the selection screen advising you to select either ""full", "safe"", or ""Boot into Windows" option appears.

    I never saw that selection screen ! I presume that's for different versions.
    I did try pressing F11 when booting my computer from the bootable Acronis disk, and entered the acpi off thing. It didn't help at all.

    After some trial and error, I was able to restore an image.

    I'm hesitant to 'upgrade' or anything like that, I don't want any problems.

    Till I get a new computer I'll probably use this Acronis version.
     
  20. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    The Acronis reply to you previously included this condition:
    "Note that since you use an older version of Acronis True Image (version 8.0 or lower) you should press F11 button when the "Starting Acronis Loader..." message appears and not when the selection screen appears (Acronis True Image 8.0 Bootable Rescue CD for example does not have any selection screen). "
     
  21. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

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    I pressed F11 when I turned on my computer (Acronis bootable cd-r inserted), so I don't think it matters whether I do it at the very beginning or when the 'Starting Acronis Loader' message appears.

    I'll have to live with it.
     
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