rescue cd is not bootable

I downloaded and paid for TI 8 build 826 yesterday as I am upgrading to a larger hard drive. I was able to create an image and store it on an IOGear external HD just fine. I then tried to create a bootable rescue cd, and that's where I am having problems. I' m on my 6th cd, none of them bootable!

TI indicates all of the cd's I created were successfully created, however none of them are bootable. I have my bios set to search for bootable cd first, then a:\ then c:\. Not matter what I try, it bypasses the cd and does not see it as bootable. I can boot from a winxp cd, so it's not the cd drive. (Recently flashed the bios to the latest version too, so I don't believe that's the problem)

I have tried every possible combination to create and boot from the 6 rescue cd's made (i.e. fixed master boot record, safe mode, checked bios, etc.) and scoured through this support forum. All the research I've read suggests TI is at least as good if not a better product in many ways than Ghost. I'm impressed with it other than this issue, however to me this is major issue and I am at my wits end. The product has already cost me an additional $7 in wasted cdr's, and 4 hours of my time trying to figure it out, and I am now wondering what else could go wrong when I go to actually install the hard drive. It shouldn't be this much of a hassle to create a rescue cd that is bootable.

I've e-mailed support with a report.txt file attached, along with a detailed system summary generated by Everest. I'll let the forum know of my success. Any other ideas while I wait? TIA

Giga-byte 6vxc7_4x_p
ami bios
p3 933
w2k sp4
512meg
Quantum 13G
Fujitsu 9G
Liteon 48x
Plextor 12-10-32

GaryB

 

Hello Gary,

Sounds familiar. I wonder if your problem/solution is similar to that posted by dixieppc in this thread titled <Can't Get Bootable Rescue CD to BOOT>.

Regards

 

Very similar, in fact that's one of the articles I scoured. I hit esc and f10 to my hearts content to see if a menu would come up so I could force boot from the cd, but no luck. Any other ami bios pros out there?

I was wondering if it was something as simple as the Liteon cd is an older model so not bootable, but the Plextor cdrw 12*10*32 is not that old. Also, I'm now not sure whether I did boot from the xp cd or not. I just tried it and it didn't work. I was going to install xp as well, but now I'm just holding off on everything until I get this bootable cd issue fixed up. Thx. for the reply!

 

Have you thought about using CD-RW disks ?
At least you don't have to throw them away every time and you can reuse in future for later builds or something else.

 

Hi again Gary,

I see that you've recently flashed your bios. Hmm - I wonder. Did you flash from within Windows, from the BIOS setup screen or Giga-Byte's DOS based flash utility? I too have a Giga-Byte MB and the message on various hardware forums is that you should never use the Windows based flash utility.

Did you save a copy of your previous BIOS before flashing the latest version? If so, it might be worth reverting to the previous one and then see whether you can boot from the Windows installation CD.

Regards

 

Flashed from within BIOS - Q-Flash utility. All is working well with my pc, just can't seem to boot from CD. Floppy is fine.

 

Hello Gary,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Could you please send your serial number for Acronis True Image to support@acronis.com along with the link to this thread indicating in the subject of the letter that you want to contact Ilya Toytman? I will help you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Q-Flash is good - that's what I use (although my MB has an Award Dual BIOS). After flashing the new BIOS, did you re-enter the BIOS setup and load the Setup Defaults as recommended in the Q-Flash instructions?

I've just downloaded the manual for your motherboard and scanned through the AMI BIOS setup screens to see what's what. Am I correct in assuming your hard drive is connected to the Primary IDE controller as Master with your Plextor and Liteon connected to the Secondary IDE controller as Master and Slave respectively? If so please confirm the following BIOS settings:

STANDARD CMOS SETUP - Pri Master, Pri Slave, Sec Master & Sec Slave all set to "Auto".

INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS - Onboard IDE set to "Both".

If these are o.k. then can you confirm your CD ROMs are detected correctly during the bootup phase? If not then switch off your computer, disconnect it from the mains socket and leave it for a couple of minutes. After that, reconnect, switch on and boot the computer to see if the the CD ROMs are now detected.

Regards

 

Responses
1. Didn't load Setup defaults, just continued on normally and rebooted as I didn't want to mess with the settings. I had adjusted some wake-on lan and pme event settings as I was getting spontaneous boot-ups. Working with these disabled, so didn't want to load setup defaults and have to deal with it again.

2. Correct. Primary IDE - Master is Quantum and slave is Fujitsu HD's. 2ndary IDE - Master is Liteon CD and 2ndary is Plextor.

3a)b). Correct. INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS - Onboard IDE set to "Both". STANDARD CMOS SETUP - Pri Master, Pri Slave, Sec Master & Sec Slave all set to "Auto".

4. CD's detected on setup. I can see and use them both, and have. When I boot up with a bootable cd in either drive, the drives get read. PC is looking for the master boot record. After 15-20 seconds or so, it bypasses and boots from the hard drive.

Someone mentioned that it may be that the Liteon is an older cd drive (LTN483L) and I may not be able to boot from it, and also that this could impact being able to boot from the Plextor regardless of whether the Plextor is a bootable device or not. I picked up a new Sony cd-drive on the weekend and plan on installing in the next couple of days to see if it makes a difference. I also wonder if a jumper has come off, which could impact whether the cd drive is bootable.

Thx. for your help

 

Per my initial post, I e-mailed support on April 30 with serial number and details. Max Malushko e-mailed me back that he has escalated this to the Development Team. Should I e-mail them again with your name in the subject line, or wait to hear back.

 

Hello Gary,

Could you please let me know your Acronis request # which was sent to you in autoreply to your first letter? There is no need to send new letter. I will try to help you.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

[Acronis #232143] TI 8 (826) Unable to create bootable rescue CD

Thanks for your help, Ilya. Also see my earlier post today re. swapping out the older cd-rom drive to see if that's a factor. TIA

 

Hello Gary,

I have found your letter and it seems that the file given to you may be written incorrectly. Please read this article for the instructions on how to write bootable ISO files.

Also please make sure the CD is finilized after it is created.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Having made my share of coasters trying to burn rescue CD from Ver 7 onward, I finally tried the <quiet acpi=off noapic> tip mentioned in this forum many times and IT WORKED! Sorry I can't provide exact link, but you will see this tip in many places here. Very easy steps to follow.

 

I believe Gary's problem is not that his system stalls whilst booting from the recue CD but that it bypasses the rescue CD altogether and boots straight into Windows. Hence the acpi=off noapic command isn't relevant.

Regards

 

That is the problem exactly. Per my earlier post, in case it happens to be a hardware issue with an older cd-rom drive, I will install a new cd-rom drive tonight, check all cables and jumpers, and try again. I'll let you know.

Thanks to all in this forum and with Acronis support for helping me try to get this figured out!!!

 

Re: rescue cd is NOW bootable. Now can't see external usb drive

Few more tests to run, but CAN NOW BOOT FROM RESCUE CD!!! Installated a new cd-rom drive. On 2ndary, made sure cd-rom jumpered to master and cd-burner jumpered to slave (do not rely on cable select). Now booting with various cd's (i.e. acronis rescue disk, winxp, other bootable cd's, etc). I had my machine serviced by someone else a while ago as I didn't have the time (i.e. new case, powersupply and motherboard). I'm wondering if the cabling/jumpers for the the cd-rom & burner were changed when that happended) In any event, Wwwhhheewww!

Learnings re. other things to check if you can't boot from the rescue cd (or any other cd): In addition to all other checks outlined at Acronis or on this forum, if you have multiple dirves, ensure they are set properly re. masters & slaves. Use jumpers, and do not rely on cable select or other auto options. Also check if you have an older component that may be causing the problem. Basic stuff, but sometimes that may be the reason - it seems to have been in my case.

Now, the issue is I can't see my usb external drive where my backup image is stored. I have an IoGear 80G COMBO 3.5" ION™ Drive - GHD335C80. Per Everest, the actual drive is a Hitachi ("HDS72808 0PLAT20 USB Device )

The TI rescue disk I created is "full" so it should see usb devices on boot up, but it is not seeing the external drive. I'm wondering if I need to create a rescue disk with the usb device actually turned on?? I'll do some more checking and see if I can get it to work.

(I'm posting all this for the benefit of other newbie cloners, so please, all you experienced cloners, don't flame me. I think others may have similar experiences, so I'm just sharing my pain so all can learn. Thx)

 

Re: rescue cd is NOW bootable. Now can't see external usb drive

Hello Gary,

Glad to hear you have solved the issue. Thank you for your willingness to share your experience, it is really helpful for others.

As for the external disk, it should be visible when you boot with Acronis Bootable CD providing it is turned on during the whole boot process. Please try the "acpi=off noapic" workaround as described at Acronis Help Post and if it doesn't help please create the sysinfo.txt file in the way described at the same link and send to support@acronis.com along with the link to this thread.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman