Major, Major, OS Selector Problem - Need Advice

I am a registered owner of Disk Director (10.0, build 2,117)
and True Image (build 3,677).

I was ready to sing the praises of both, until last night.
I encountered a MAJOR, MAJOR problem when I tried to install
OS Selector. I have been working to fix the problem every
since 10 PM. It is now 11:59 Central.

This was REALLY a headache. I need advice and assistance, any
and all.

My system, listing all that could possibly pertain to the problem:

Completely new build computer. All new. All just installed. All
working fine - until OS struck.

DFI Lanparty UT CFX3200 DR; Phoenix AwardBIOS v6.00PG.
AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego.
Crucial Ballistix 4000 2G Kit.
Enermax Libery 620 (should be no power problem).
Hann HN199D 19" LCD Monitor.
Saitek Eclipse USB Wire Keyboard.
Dell PS/2 Keyboard.
Logitech G7 and MX1000 Mice.
Microsoft PS/2 Mouse.
Dell USB Wire Mouse.
Six HDDs; four SATA II, two Sil 3114 SATA.
Windows XP Pro x32 on two HDDs.
Windows XP Pro x64 on one HDD.
Vista Beta 2 x32 on one HDD.
Vista Beta 2 X64 on one HDD.
One HDD data disk.

Disk Director installed on all HDD but data.
True Image installed on XP x32 HDD.

Everything was functioning perfectly until I tried to install
OS Selector. On first reboot, the blue Acronis screen and OS menu
were locked and frozen. No keystrokes or mouse movements from ANY
keyboard were accepted. Reset and poweroff were only option. I
did this over and over. Same result.

I then changed BIOS to boot from other disks. Same result. No
way to get beyond locked OS menu and Acronis screen.

I used a bootable CD to get to default HDD and tried to uninstall
OS Selecor. Same result - locked frozen screen for all HDDs.

Booted True Image to restore backups of all disks made just before
attempting to install. True Image found only three old backups
in the Acronis Secure Zone. It should have found many. None of
the ones found were any good to me.

Finally, I had to install XP x32 on the data disk, install True
Image, and restore the two XP x32 HDDs.

I am finally back up and running.

I would like to be able use a simple method to boot to all
hDDs; I will be doing this frequently.

I'm darn sure not going to try another install of OS Selctor
until someone provides an answer.

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

saunjack

 

Re: MAJOR, MAJOR OS SELECTOR PROBLEM - NEED ADVICE

Did you have the Vista boot selector enabled (enabled by default)? If so, this might cause OSS to spit the dummy.

The other thing might be a conflict with the mouse/keybaord if they are USB or USB/Wireless.

Colin

 

Re: MAJOR, MAJOR OS SELECTOR PROBLEM - NEED ADVICE

Thanks for the reply.

I did not clarify some information. Sorry.

I tried to set my XP Pro x32 hdd (new, WDC Raptor 150) to the default hdd for OS Selector. That is as far as I got.

Even though I've installed DiskDirector on my Vista x32 and x64 hdds and my XP Pro x64 hdd, I have not used Disk Director (including OS Selector) on them.

What gets me is why the OS menu screen locks up and will not allow any keystrokes from any type keyboard or any mouse movement except the frantic, erratic type from my PS/2 mouse.

If I could somehow manupulate the OS menu, maybe I could get the thing installed. I'm certainly not going to try until I'm sure there is at least SOME chance of success.

saunjack

 

Re: MAJOR, MAJOR OS SELECTOR PROBLEM - NEED ADVICE

The key thing here is what type of mouse/keyboard do you have ?

There are some USB and USB Wireless combinations that fail in the Linux environment of the rescue CD.

For example I have a Logitech DiNovo setup which doesn't work properly with the CD.

The things to check are - if the mouse keyboard work at the first Acronis menu, but fail after clicking on load Full DD then you can try clicking on SAFE DD option - the mouse keyboard normally work on this - but USB drives may or may not be recognised.

Is the PS2 mouse a wireless one, is the keyboard PS2 as well?

If you have a USB hub plugged in - unplug it.


If the keyboard works at the first menu - after selecting DD Full version or OSS press the F11 button until the linux command line appears with the words quiet...... type here acpi=off noapic.

You didn't mention anything about the bootmenu OS selector that Vista install automatically overriding everything else - because that will cause Acronis OSS to fail.

See if that helps.

Colin

 

Re: MAJOR, MAJOR OS SELECTOR PROBLEM - NEED ADVICE

Hello all,

Thank you for using Acronis Disk Director Suite

to Saunjack:
Actually you can use the workaround advised by Bodgy. You can also set off USB Legacy Support in BIOS.
Moreover you can read about Acronis Disk Director 10.0 Suite and Windows Vista here, here and here.

Thank you
--
Alexander Gladkov

 

Re: MAJOR, MAJOR OS SELECTOR PROBLEM - NEED ADVICE

Thanks again for the kind reply.

I did a slight double-take when I saw your reference to Linux. I had to re-read my first post. I have Xandros Linus and would dearly love to install and use it again. Alas, my motherboard(??) apparently does not like its installation process, so I've yet to get it to load. So, I'm not currently using Linux at all.

My keyboards:

Dell (old, leftover PS/2 direct wire. Had to dig it out of storage). It is the only keyboard that will function with my BIOS.

Saitek Eclipse USB direct wire.

I keep both keyboards connected since my BIOS works only with the Dell.

My mice:

Logitech G7 - wireless/RT.
Logitech MX1000 - wireless/RT.
Microsoft USB/PS2 - direct wire
(I also have an old Dell USB direct wire somewhere.

I don't connect all at once, of couse. Although I suppose I could. I tried them all while the OS menu screen was frozen. No luck at all. The only mouse that show any response at all at the OS (Acronis blue background) Selector screen. It is unusably erratic.

My Dell PS/2 keyboard and Microsoft PS/2 mouse work with all Disk Director screens EXCEPT the initial OS Selector Screen - which is as far with OS at I could get.

I have one USB 2.0 4 port powered hub plugged-in.

I do not know about a Vista bootmenu OS selector that Vista installs automatically. My only - disastrous - attempt at installing OS Selector was made from my WDC Raptor 150 running Windows XP Pro x32.

I'll appreciate any more help. I'm still VERY hesitant to make another attempt and will not do so until I have a full True Image of at least my Raptor XP Pro x32 hdd.

Jack

 

Re: MAJOR, MAJOR OS SELECTOR PROBLEM - NEED ADVICE

The rescue CD uses a Linux loader and kernel - so using the CD you are in a limited Linux environment - that's why your drive letters will look different.

As this combination gives you some sort of result, try this using the F11 trick as I typed above as soon as you click on OS Selector. It would be worth clicking on DD SAFE option and just see if your mouse works - if it does then we know there is possibly a driver problem.

Whilst we're trying to sort this out, I'd unplug the USB hub just for the moment. Once everything is working, we can then see if this also causes a problem.

As I mentioned Vista tends to install it's own boot menu and ignores everything else. There are posts here on how to get around that problem. Just don't be surprised if when booting the Vista menu appears instead of the Acronis one.

So long as you don' try to delete anything manually, there should be very little to cause you a major problem.

If you have made a TI rescue CD then from the safe option you would be able to make an image of your drives as they are now.

Your minor problem might be if you intend to use an external USB drive, as in safe mode the USB drivers aren't loaded. However it would be worth checking if your BIOS is modern enough to recognise USB devices at boot up - so plug your external drive in - have it switched on - boot the computer and see if it lists an extra drive in the BIOS boot screen - if so, you should be able to use the drive even from safe mode.

Colin

 

Re: MAJOR, MAJOR OS SELECTOR PROBLEM - NEED ADVICE

Thanks for staying with me, Colin. I am ready to make another attempt today.

I can, of course, boot to all hdds using BIOS - which I do often. This is a bit slow, so I was (am) hoping OS Selector will work faster. Actually, I'm hoping it will work at all without another disaster.

I'll try your "work around" as it was referred to.

I still cannot quite fathom the frozen/erratic movement mouse/keyboard problem.

MY BIOS is PHoenix Award v6.00PC, 4/26/06. There is NO legacy reference whatsoever. You can only enable/disable USB controller, USB mouse/keyboard and USB performance.

Jack