Computer/Acronis T.I. Boot Error Problem

Greetings All,

.....it has been a while since i have been here and that could probably be a good thing! on a desktop dell computer, win xp pro, 160gb+ hd, 1gb ram, 3.0ghz, i had made an image on dvd discs for back up purposes including the rescue disc for true image v9(?). this is on my brothers computer in another state as i gave him all my stuff (acronis). it is not "multiple-partitioned" and only has the one operating system installed.

....during the last few days when booting up his computer, the screen was black saying that (in effect) that it couldn't locate a boot command (or similar). i instructed my brother (via phone) to insert the rescue disc into the dvd tray and reboot the computer.

....he was given selections at the right of the acronis graphic interface dealing with the operating system selector at which time he selected "ACTIVATE OS SELECTOR" (or similar). at that point, the computer booted up normally. this is the 3RD TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED.

...WHY does the os selector become deactivated requiring the use of the rescue disc??...also, can acronis be un-installed and if doing so, will the computer BOOT NORMALLY? this part is VERY IMPORTANT!. he is disabled vet and has all his medical records, related e-mails and inquiries, etc. stored there and if the computer, after un-installing acronis were NOT ABLE to boot normally w/out the loss of data, would be completely devistating!...please advise and THANK YOU for the info!

**i will apologize for the lack of some specific detailed info but, my brother is NOT computer literate requiring me to have to put all the facts together from bits and pieces**

 

One of you must have had Acronis Disk Director installed for the OS Selector to be present.

OS selector does occasionally throw a wobbly - if the complete DD is present on the TI Recuse Disk, then OS selector can be de-activated and removed.

Then a new image and Rescue disk could be made.

Colin

 

..thanks for the reply!..it was over a year ago that i built the computer for him and really don't remember what "portions" of acronis i put in...i could have sworn it was true image and not "dd"....(i wish i could be sure!).....

.....there is no screen that comes up requiring someone to pick an os to boot into...it would appear by my thinking that if i uninstalled acronis true image (v9 home version i THINK), that the computer would not boot up at all as it would be my belief that the "standard" bot commands would have been over-written by acronis....like i said, it has been a very long time since i fooled with acronis.....bear with me...and thank you for the response!

 

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aditional;

1...would Acronis Disk Director be listed in the "un-install programs" section of control panel? (i am working completely blind here!).(not litterally).

2...why would "the complete dd" have to be present on the RESCUE DISC since i would be un-installing it from the computer itself and not the disc?

3...if Disk Director is in fact present in "control panel", what effect would un-installing it have one the computer when booting up? will it boot up "normally" w/o loss of data?

 

It is better to remove OS Selector via the rescue environment than from within Windows.

DD will appear in the add/remove list, I don't think OSS does as Windows is 'blind' to it's existance.


Colin

 

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thanks again for the reply and help!....I don't mind telling you that this makes me damned nervous!...I also did not know or forgot that the os selector could be removed from teh rescue disc...

....So, the computer will boot up "normally" then?

 

Yes, it has. Welcome back.

I don't know. I seems to happen on some systems/setups more than others. It just seems to deactivate itself.

Yes, OSS can be uninstalled. You could also use OSS to deactivate itself. Either way, OSS should give you the choice of which OS is going to boot by default after OSS is removed. If you only have one OS, then select that one.

Since you're not getting the OSS menu at boot-up, I assume that Windows was set to boot automatically. This would skip the menu unless a key was pressed when the computer boots. With only one OS, there isn't really any need for OSS.

Since you are worried about something going wrong, I would try to deactivate OSS first and make sure Windows still boots okay. If it does, you can leave things that way or you can uninstall OSS.

OSS won't show up in the Control Panel under Add/Remove Programs. (Uninstalling DD may or may not remove OSS. I don't remember.) If OSS is installed in Windows, you'd need to start it (it's in the DD start menu section) and deactivate it from there. You could also boot to the DD/OSS CD and deactivate or uninstall it from there. Again, select the OS you want to boot.

You don't need to create a new DD CD if it already includes the programs you need. It sounds like you already have the OSS programs on the DD CD since you can use it to reactivate OSS.

If you start OSS and try to deactivate it and it can't find an OS, you'll have to boot to the DD/OSS CD to uninstall OSS since it won't let you do a normal deactivation or uninstallation if it doesn't think an OS exists.

 

***getting more confused by the minute!..grin..ugh!

 

Sorry for causing more confusion. You said that OSS needed to be reactivated in order for the computer to boot. Once OSS is activated you should be able to deactivate it using OSS. This deactivation will be different than when OSS does its periodic self-deactivation because the original MBR will be restored and the computer will be set to boot into the selected OS.

 

***hummn, you may be onto something my dear watson!..i will digest this over 20 or more beers and see if i can get my brother to follow directions over the phone...

Thanks again for the help and i wil always entertain additional info from anyone. damn, i gotta get back here more often!

 

You should also verify that it really is OSS that is being activated and not the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (ASRM) used by TI and the Secure Zone.

If OSS isn't installed, then you'll find out because uninstalling it won't be an option (only installing it will be).

If you need to verify anything or ask more questions, feel free. I don't want the computer to get messed up any more than you do.

Does your brother have a current TI image backup of the drive?

 

***no, and that is what bothers me!..i made an image of the computer just over a year ago when i gave it to him (bare-balls with the programs, favorites, and some of the medical, etc), and since them a lot more was placed onto it. it was just put "on line" in december. i had to transfe all his info from his old computer which was a disaster to this current one...if it fails, well, you know the story...

 

Hello all,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image

Da Mail Man, if it is better to fix the issue on-line, you can recommend your brother to use our Live Chat service here, we will help him.

Thank you.

--

Oleg Lee

 

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...thanks for the reply..would you be implying that the info already provided is faulty in some way?...also, he still has dial-up and is yet to switch to broadband so, that would probably not work too well...