Autochk program not found...

I recently switched from tape backups to drive image backups using the latest Acronis True Image Server products on our servers. Most of these backups run nightly.

Several servers have developed a problem where they will not reboot. If I shut them down or reboot them, while Windows is loading I get the error that "Autochk program not found - skipping AUTOCHECK" and then a BSOD that quickly flashes and the system reboots.

I've tried running fixboot and fixmbr from recovery console but fixboot won't run and says it's corrupt and cannot be fixed. The only way to recover the server is to restore the last drive image that was made (the whole disk, not just the system partition).

I've looked at the partitions and I can't find anything wrong with them. If I boot to the recovery console and run the bootcfg, it does not find any Windows installations. Running diskpart does show the NTFS partitions.

This only happens on 3 servers consistently (all 3 are Windows Server 2003) and it only happens after running a scheduled drive image. For a while, 2 of those servers were only backed up once per week. After recovering them, I could reboot them all I wanted during the week with no problems. After the scheduled drive image was run, if I restarted them then they would crash.

When "crashed", I can image the data partitions, then restore the entire drive from the last drive image and then restore the data partitions and all is fine. If I try to restore just the system partition then it shows up as "unknown format" and will not work at all. I have to restore the whole disk.

I am running True Image Server v9.1.3567

Any ideas or anyone else having this problem?

Thanks!

 

I should also note that when "crashed" I cannot access the partitions using the recovery console (invalid drives). I also have a BartPE CD that I boot from and, although the partitions show up, Windows PE does not assign drive letters to the partitions and I cannot access the files on them.

-Tim

 

Hello Tim,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Server Disk Backup Software.

If your servers do not boot after the scheduled image creation, please restore them from the previous image then download and install the latest build (3633) of Acronis True Image 9.1 Server for windows which is available in the Product Updates section of our web-site.

After the latest build installation, please create the images of your servers manually, recreate the old scheduled tasks of image creation and see whether the problem still persists.

Please let us know the results.

Thank you.
--
Tatyana Tsyngaeva

 

Thanks. I will try that and get back to you.

One of those servers is actually running on a workstation system so I restored the image to another identical machine and have been testing on that. I can't seem to nail down where the problem is.

In Windows Recovery Console:
FIXMBR works. FIXBOOT will not and says it cannot write a new boot sector. If I run BOOTCFG /SCAN, it does not find any Windows installations.

I've tried several other disk/partition recovery programs. They all say everything is ok and can find no errors. I can mount the partitions and access the files.

I'm still trying to find the easiest way of recovering the servers with current data intact. Two servers are still in the "broken state" which means if I shut them down, I will not be able to bring them back so I am trying to find something that will fix them one way or another.

 

I managed to get a "repair procedure" put together:

1.) Reboot to BartPE CD & copy all files off of system partition.

2.) Make drive image of entire disk.

3.) Clear entire disk.

4.) Create new NTFS primary active partition using some other partitioning software. I found that if I used the Acronis Workstation Restore CD and the Disk Director that was on it, that the new partition was not recognizable.

5.) Copy all files back to new partition.

6.) Restore data partitions (all other partitions originally on the disk besides the system partition).

Then it will boot.

Now that I have a "working test machine", I will try to break it again to prove the Acronis imaging is the culprit. Then I will try the new build and see if the problem goes away continues.

 

Here is what I found:

1.) Restored last known "good" image.
2.) Rebooted several times to prove it was good.
3.) Ran drive image.
4.) Rebooted and got the "autochk error".

5.) Restored last known "good" image.
6.) Installed latest build from website.
7.) Ran drive image.
8.) Rebooted and got the "autochk error".

9.) Restored "bad" image.
10.) Ran repair procedures on it as outlined in previous post.
11.) Rebooted several times to prove it was now good.
12.) Ran drive image.
13.) Rebooted and no error.
14.) Ran more drive images (scheduled and manual) - still no error.
15.) Installed latest build, ran drive image - still no error.

Is it possible that there is/was a problem with the partition to begin with and running a drive image is what corrupts it? By creating a completely new partition and copying the files over to it, now there is a clean partition with no problems and everything works fine.

-Tim

 

Hello Timothy,

Please create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post. This information would let us investigate the problem under consideration thoroughly.

Please submit a request for technical support. Attach the collected report file and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko

 

I will have to do that, the problem keeps coming back.

I've replaced the physical hard drives and even changed controllers (from SATA to IDE). It has settled in to my two domain controllers, all the other servers seem to be ok.

I've updated to the latest builds of Acronis TIS. The two machines are different in that one is an Asus Workstation Mobo and the other is an Asus dual-Xeon Server Mobo. One is running the OS on an IDE drive and the other on SATA. Both are Windows Server 2003 Standard.

Last night, both were wrecked and now I have problems in the FRS as a result. I've disabled Acronis TIS on both for the time being and will just go back to offline drive images for backups. I want to research into what is wrong with the partitions and see if there is a way to actually fix them without having to restore from backup or rebuild them. Any partition experts out there?

The partitions are still there. Windows will not recognize them. The data is there and can be retrieved. All partition repair programs I have say there is nothing wrong. If I boot to Windows PE on my BartPE CD, it does not assign drive letters to the partitions. However, I can manually assign them and then copy files off or make changes or whatever. When they are working, WindowsPE assigns drive letters automatically. I'm guessing that is the key to what is wrong: the partitions are there but Windows is not recognizing them for some reason. Running the recovery console from a Windows CD, it can repair the MBR with FIXMBR but will not run FIXBOOT (says it cannot repair the boot sector). It also cannot find any previous installations of Windows even though they are there. These are NTFS partitions without compression or anything else unusual.

 

I have also just started using acronis images as well and now we have encountered the same problem. We rebooted our exchange server this morning and recieved the Autochk program not found error and the server goes into a loop.

Has anyone found a solution to this problem?

 

Of course we also should have read this thread before installing Acronis as we encountered the same problems on two different servers.

Anyone have a solution for this?

Please let me know A.S.A.P.

One funny thing was when we contacted Acronis support, they´ve never heard of it before. I thought this thread would proof that the had?

//Best Regards Jonas

 

All problems solved....

Read this thread:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Microsoft_Operating_Systems/Windows/XP/Q_20433674.html

Good Luck all!

 

I had the same problem occur to a clients system. Was a very bad day. Just so happened to be on a Dell server with a new style perc controller that the windows "f6 to add driver" feature would not work. it would detect the device, but not actually work.

Back on track....

can someone post the solution from the above link, for those of us who refuse to pay 10 bucks a month for that forum?

 

I recommend this to everyone because it worked for me in getting my computer to boot when nothing else would. Download the demo of "paragon justboot corrector" according to website it works with windows server 2003. The demo can be burned into a self-boot cd. When you bootup with it look at where your system boot partition is and if it has the correct drive letter. From personal expierence something as simple as a wrong drive letter will prevent the computer from booting. I've ran into problems where my image would not boot when I restored it, it mainly happens to me when I have multiple hard drive's in my computer.This program goes into the unbootable os registry and does the changes there. The demo won't allow changes to be saved, but you can at least get a different look at what your unbootable os looks like. If I do run into another restoration that won't boot, with this program I can get my computer back up in less than 5 minutes. When my computer wouldn't start , I did get all the way up to the windows is starting screen and it would go into a loop. Maybe in your computer it can't find the autocheck program because the bootloader is looking for it in the the wrong drive?

 

The link is to a pay-to-read-the-answer website, so not much use unless you want to cough up $10 bucks to see it.

 

Just scroll down and almost everytime the answer is there...you don´t even have to pay...

Regards JBK