TI Echo Workstation - endless loop

Hi there,

I yesterday tried to restore my OS out of Acronis with the OS running. After being prompted to restart the system in Acronis, I acknowledged and received the message stating that Acronis bootable agent was not loaded. The operation hung at 0% and the system was not rebooted automatically.

Thus, I tried to solve the problem by starting the operation remotly from another system. But now, the operation hung a few minutes later - after deleting the partition C! Consequently, my OS is now lost - as well as all data installed on this partition.

Then, I tried to restore the OS by inserting my Acronis CD. There, two more problems occured. In the full version no HDD was found (although BIOS recognizes it). In the secured version the hdd is found but the mouse is not operational (which makes it difficult to check checkboxes). The mouse was attached via USB and PS2 - both didn't work.

Finally, I tried my bootable media previously created by Acronis. At least, the operation started and I was glad due to it only taking 14 minutes. But - as one might guess now - it didn't work, either! Choosing to check the backup-file before restoring, Acronis hung after this check. When not checking the backup before restoring the system, Acronis hung at about 45% - the same as above during the remote process.

In conclusion - all my data and my OS are lost now and I am not willing to spend days and hours to restore everything on my own due to my creating backups 3 times a day. I hope anyone here can help - any advise is welcome!

Thanks a lot!

//edit:

All PC's run Win XP pro SP2/3 installed
Acronis is runing on its last built downloaded and installed yesterday

 

Can anyone explain me, why I

1. bought a software that should backup my data and restore it - if neccessary - but fails the first time it is needed
2. contacted acronis support via mail without any response after several days
3. contacted acronis support via this board without any response after two days

I am not willing to recommend this software nor this company and its support to any of my customers!
On the one hand you claim that your customers can save money and time by using your software but on the other hand they have to spend days and hours with a failing software as well as with a failing support.

Very disappointing!

 

I certainly understand your anger and frustration. However, your backup is fine. The problem is that you didn't check whether you could restore it before you neded to. If it makes you feel any better, you are in good company. Lots of people make backups and never test the restore function before they need it.

You should have booted from the Rescue CD and confirmed that you could see all your hard drives and validate your backup image at the very least to be confident that you could restore a backup. Unfortunately, you trusted that it would work and never tested it. Now, you have discovered that the Linux environment of the Rescue CD doesn't support your hardware properly.

That's water under the bridge. What can you do now to restore that good backup?

1. What version of TI are you using? Did you create the Rescue CD from that version and build? If you don't have the latest build of your version of TI, download that and create a new Rescue CD. All Rescue CDs from the same build are identical, so this can be done on a different machine.

2. If you are not using TI 11, download the Trial version, install it and create a Rescue CD. Boot with that and see if you can see all your drives. If so, it should be able to restore you image properly.

3. If none of the TI Rescue CDs work, then you need to create a BartPE or VistaPE boot disk with the TI plug-in. This will have Windows drivers and should support your hardware. You can find instructions on creating one of these alternate boot disks on this forum.

When you can boot and see your hard drives, you will be able to restore the backup image and get your system back again.

 

1. I use(d) the latest version and built - the Rescue CD was created out of this latest built. The latest built was installed after experiencing problems concerning the acronis bootable agent (unable to restore the system out of windows).

2. I am! And I tried the original CD, the rescue CD and and the management console out of the trial version.

3. All of my hardware is to be found in the safe version of the Rescue CD. But TI hangs after about 45% - as it did when I tried to restore a previous backup when I was logged in to Windows as well as when I tried to restore this previous backup by using the management console. Thus, TI always hangs at about 45% or can't find any hdd.

I don't think it is my fault, that TI fails... I paid money to prevent my network from such events and not to produce one.

 

How many weeks one has to wait for an answer from mail-/board-support normally? How many days does it take to download updates/bring the acronis-website "back to life"?

Moreover, Is there a money-back option for customers?

 

Hello poeschi,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for delayed response.

Could you please let us know your Acronis request number (e.g. [Acronis #123456]) which was sent to you in autoreply to your letter? We will find out how the investigation of your issue is going. If you have not received an autoreply then please send us a Private Message containing your e-mail address.

Could you please clarify, what version of Acronis True Image was used to create an image? What version are you using now? You can find the full version name and build number by going to Help -> About... menu in the main program window.

If Acronis Bootable Rescue Media created with the latest build of Acronis True Image doesn't see your hard drive, please try booting with "acpi=off noapic" parameter as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

If the issue persists, could you please collect some information to let us investigate it thoroughly?

Please create Acronis Report, Windows system information and Linux system information (sysinfo.txt) as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

Please send the collected files with a reply to the latest e-mail you received from our Support Team. We will do our best to investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

The request number is #1623052 - i did NOT receive any answer yet!

I used Acronis TI Echo for workstations built 8.xxx to create the backup and to restore this .tib-file. After receiving the error "bootable agent not loaded" i contacted the Mailsupport and finally tried an update after several days of waiting. This update ended up with the endless loop mentioned above!

Due to the partition being deleted i cannot! open the help->about menue! But, this information should be integrated in the report file sent to you in my first mail!

I am going to look up if acpi-mode is turned on or off!

I already created the report file - it was sent to you by mail... no response yet!

 

Ah you didn't mention that you used Echo rather than TI11 - there are differences, Echo in theory is Workstation 10, are you positive it wasn't TI 8 that you used?

First download the latest version of Echo, and use the rescue CD from that.

Now, is your PC a home made one, or a brand name?

If you are able and want to get this problem over quickly, one possible option is to re-install XP, install Echo (if that is what you made the images with), then you'll be able to use TI in a Windows environment and restore your image onto the system you are using. It might be worthwhile mounting the image before restoring, just to make sure it is still in good shape!

Once you are back up and running, your choices with the rescue CD are - contact Acronis and ask them to provide you with a rescue file that is tailored to your system, or investigate eithe rmaking a BartPE or a Vista PE boot CD with TI included.

Just one thing about your setup, if the drive that has your image on it is a USB one, make sure you are not running it through a hub, and if you ahve it plugged into a front USB port, swap it for one on the back of the PC. The rear USB ports are normally straight off the motherboard, whereas the front are normally from a different USB hub (inside the computer) and connected by flying leads.

Colin

 

Isn't the threads topic "TI ECHO WORKSTATION..." ?!

I already downloaded the latest version after the "bootable agent not loaded" fault which then lead to the endless loop. I reinstalled Windows XP and TI Echo as well. The bootable agent didn't load again. Thus, I installed the latest backup and the endless loop was back!

My PC is homemade.

Contacting Acronis is a bit difficult due to them not answering! I already tried a BartPE and was therefore forwareded to a tutorial I would have had to pay for. I don't see why I should pay for a tutorial to use a software that created the problems!

The disk is an internal SATA-II 500GB Samsung with 3 partitions: C:/ D:/ (bakups only) and the Acronis secure zone.

 

Indeed, my error , I looked at one of the replies and the mention of TI11 and didn't look back up to the topic heading.

As far as BartPE is concerned, there is a free tutorial on the Bart website. You do have to pay for Mustang's Bart plug in, if you don't want to go through the bother of setting BartPE up yourself, his plugin also has some extras that the Acronis one doesn't.

I think the ImageAgent problem is now due to the fact you've got an old registry entry lurking. I've found ImageAgent to be a little unreliable sometimes.

As I said, if you want to get yourself up and running again fairly quickly, then the install OS, install Workstation, image over the top is the quickest way to go, then we can all work out what the rescue CD doesn't like about your system.

Colin

 

Again:

I already

* reinstalled the OS
* reinstalled Acronis TI Echo Workstation
* tried to restore => bootable agent not loaded

and then

* reinstalled the OS
* reinstalled Acronis TI Echo Workstation
* updated from build 8.035 to bild 8.115
* tried to restore => endless loop

I tried both - 8.035 and 8.115 - out of the OS as well as booting from a rescue CD. Same errors/faults all the time.

I even tried to restore the system through remote management... and guess what: same errors/fauls.

 

Hello poeschi,

We are sorry for delayed response.

Thank you for clarification. Please check your Private Messages, I have sent you a link for an .iso image of Acronis Bootable Rescue Media.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov