Installed Acronis True Image 10, now computer won't reboot

I downloaded the software from Acronis website and ran through the
installation process. At the end I was told a reboot would be
necessary. Since then (two days ago) each time I turn on the computer
power I get the manufacturers logo display (Sony VAIO) then the screen
goes blank except for a blinking cursor, then after another few seconds
the screen clears and the VAIO logo appears again. It never proceeds
beyond that. I followed Sony support suggestions and brought up setup,
made sure network boot was disabled, and tried to do a Safe Mode
bootup. Problem is, it never makes it to Safe Mode. There is no
indication that the boot loader ever tries to run. I tried all of the
debugging options (enable boot logging, disable reboot on system
failure, Safe Mode, etc.) but always get the same result: no evidence
that XP is even trying to boot up.

I removed the hard drive and put it into a USB external drive
enclosure, and am able to browse the disk and open documents on it from
a different pc. I looked for files that changed around the time of the
software installation but could find none.

I need to find a way to get this drive to reboot! Please help!

Laptop is Sony VAIO VGNFS580w, 100 gb HDD, Windows XP Pro w/ SP2, etc.

Thanks, Ken Grover

 

First thing to do is save your data and if no one comes up with a fix, I would use the Sony Restore CDs to restore the laptop to factory condition. Then try reinstalling True Image and see if the system boots correctly this time. Are you using GoBack by any chance?

 

Yes, I'm backing up the data now - fortunately I can do that. And, no, I didn't have GoBack installed. I was installing True Image so that I could protect the drive - ironically, just the opposite occurred!

 

kengrover,

Do you have a BartPE CD? If so, does it boot? If it doesn't then it indicates a hardware problem. One of my desktop computers behaved like that due to a motherboard failure. I saw the Dell slash screen and then a blinking cursor in the left upper corner of the monitor.

An absent Master Boot Sector does much the same thing. Are you familiar with using a disk editor? It's suspicious that your problem started immediately after installing TI which can change the MBS.

Do you have another laptop HD you could try just to see if it gets any further into the boot process. I wouldn't expect it to boot into WinXP but if it goes further than your present HD then that helps us.

 

Hello kengrover,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Please be aware that we have not heard about such problems of Acronis True Image 10.0 Home before and so we would like to investigate this one with your assistance, if you have time for this of course.

First of all please unplug any USB devices, if any and try to boot the computer.

Since you can use external USB enclosure please do the following:

- Plug the external USB enclosure with this hard drive to another compter;

- Create Acronis Report as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

Please also make a screen shot of Windows Disk Management by following Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management.

Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files 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 a solution.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov