How is this Possible??

Not new to Acronis. Had image in Secure Zone. Hard Drive experienced problems (I believe), and could not read image from SZ, so using Recovery CD that came with PC I restored Hard Drive to original state (or so I thought).

After restarting PC I see the normal message stating to "Press F11" for start Acronis Recovery. But just underneath that I am seeing error message stating that "Partition cannot be found. Press Enter to continue to boot Windows".

So HOW is it possible after restoring HD to original state that I am still getting message to press F11? When using manufaturers Restore CD it sait the Hard Drive would be reformatted and all data lost. How is Acronis Message still hanging around, and how can I get rid of it?

- Baffled

 

As I understand it, the SZ writes to the MBR (Master Boot Record) to set up the SZ boot option. It's possible that the manufacturer's boot CD didn't overwrite the MBR, and just reformatted the main partitions. It also appears, from your "Partition cannot be found. Press Enter to continue to boot Windows" error message, that the manufacturer's CD did repartition the drive (eliminating the SZ partition), during the reformat.

I'm not sure why the manufacturer's CD didn't overwrite the MBR, but you can usually fix it using the Windows XP Recovery Console, http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058, with "FIXMBR"... but, i'm sure that Acronis Support will be around shortly to confirm this (or correct me).

 

Thanks for the info. In your opinion, would this possibly contribute to the PC not being able to complete a CHKDSK of the Hard Drive. It is hanging on "Checking File System" at 0% complete (Step 4 of 5).

 

How/where are you running CHKDSK? From XP Recovery Console, or just from the CMD prompt?

In Recovery console, if you can't run CHKDSK, that's a big problem (probably due to physical hard drive problem). If it can't run from Windows CMD prompt, that's less of a problem (it's possible that CHKDSK was not restored properly to the hard drive).

In either case, it's entirely likely that your hard drive has physical problems, and CHKDSK is hanging because of that.

So, I'm guessing that you're running Win2000 and not XP, right? CHKDSK only has 3 steps in XP, but 5 in 2000, IIRC. if that's the case, and your hard drive and system are also "a bit old," I'm going to go ahead and guess that you're having physical hard drive problems... backup now (just to be on the safe side).

Try booting into recovery console (2000 or XP) and run CHKDSK from there. MS should have a Help Page on both of them (you can run "CHKDSK /r or /p for more "extensive" scans... the MS page can explain better, i can't remember off the top of my head).

What were your original hard drive problems (that required the recovery/restoration)? Is it "clicking" or anything like that? Try to backup your data before you do anything else - a CHKDSK might stress the drive too much if it's having physical problems... so backup while you can.

good luck. give as much info as you can, and maybe we can figure out what's going on.

 

Thanks again. I am running Windows XP! After rebooting to Windows, I scheduled a check of the C drive inside the properties of the C drive. I told me that it would check the drive upon reboot. So I rebooted the PC, and it started checking. And there are 5 steps. It is hanging on the 4th.

 

Regarding your other questions....

The PC was locking-up while using various apps, forcing a complete shutdown of PC each time. When trying to restore image from Secure Zone (which I have always been able to do before), it said it was unable to read the image. Hard Drive does not really make much sound.

I'm just wondering if the changes Acronis made to the MBR might be causing all of this. I am able to boot to Windows now, although things are rather slow.

 

How long did you let Check Disc run (hang) before you did something? CHKDSK can sometime take hours, depending on the size of the drive and the errors it encounters.

And just to be clear... you tried to restore from the SZ, but were unable. So, you just reformatted/reinstalled from the Manufacturer's CD, right?

Wow... I'm at a loss right now. Even if the SZ is still listed in the MBR, it shouldn't have any impact on your performance once you boot into Windows.

I'm betting you got a bad install (which would partially explain the SZ remaining in the MBR), or maybe the manufacturer's CD contains and installed so much "extra crap" (like Dell, HP/Compaq, and Gateway so often do) that you are seeing a performance hit in comparison to your last good configuration (did you ever uninstall anything that came standard on the PC, before you had to restore?). It's also possible that your virus scan is acting up because of the new install - the virus scan can really slow things down if it's not acting properly.... Or, there's some physical problem (which, we'll hope there isn't).

but, i'm just grabbing at straws right now. The "best cure" is to do another reformat/reinstall. But, I think that Acronis Support would be helpful (before you reinstall again) to tell you why the SZ is still in the MBR.

Alternately, you can download a hard drive utility (like Seagate's SeaTools, Maxtor's MaxBlast, or something like that - each hard drive manufacturer has their own) and write zeros to the entire drive. it's kind of drastic, but it should whipe everything away - it would essentially be "from the factory" at that point... But, from a "knowledge" standpoint, I'd want to know why the SZ still shows up as an option at boot.

I'm sorry... i've been no help... maybe someone else can chime in with some ideas.

 

20 minutes.

It's only got a 40GB Hard Drive. And it was at 0% for 20 minutes. Tried multiple times.

Right.

That's why I'm thinking there might be a physical problem with the HD.

There is a lot of crap (software) on the restore CD.

Never reinstalled my Virus software. Although I beleive Norton is preinstalled.

Already tried that. Same result.

The only software I did try to install was Norton Utilities. It would not let me install it. Kept getting errors.

Not true. You have been very helpful. Thank you.

 

Is there any way that you can find out what brand your Hard Drive is? You can double-click on My Computer, then right click on the hard drive - and hit "properties"... then click the hardware tab... in there you should have a list of all the "drives" in your computer.

the most common hard drive brands are Maxtor, Western Digital, Seagate, and Hitachi. Once you find out the hard drive manufacturer, you can go to that company's website - somewhere in the "support" section, should be an area where you can "download software" or something like that. Try to download the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic software... you can usually download an ISO file (or something like that), and write it to CD... this will (usually) create a bootable CD... then, stick it in your computer and reboot.

the manufacture's software should have some kind of hard drive testing tool... it will have a "quick test" and "extended test" (usually). I'd run both (quick first).

These tests are *usually* non-destructive - meaning that your data should be safe. every now and then, something goes wrong, and your drive will crash (if that happens though, your drive was messed up anyway).

If you can't find out what brand your hard drive is, then Seagate's SeaTools can run on just about any drive. it can also test your IDE controllers.

I'd run some hard drive diagnostic tests... if the Hard drive is failing, you can sent it back to the computer manufacturer (like Dell) if it's still under warranty, or send it back to the hard drive manufacturer (if your computer manufacture's warranty has expired, and your hard drive is still under warranty... some hard drives have a 5-year manufacturer's warranty).

oh, and while you are running the tests, try to write down as much info as possible - like hard drive model and serial number and all that... it will help if you have to RMA the hard drive.

 

Utility that provides Hard Drive information

There is a free utility that will give you all the information about your computer including the manufacture of your hard drive.

The link is http://www.lavalys.com/. Download the free "Everest Home Edition" it will provide you with an amazing amount of information.