True Image cloning errors - XP doesn't boot, clone failed

I tried to clone my primary hard drive to another internal hard drive via Acronis True Image. The version I'm using is 9, because I purchased it some time ago, but I've used this same version before successfully; my current setup was cloned from another hard drive using this same version. However this time the cloning failed (it seems to me that it was never really attempted by True Image), and now I can't boot normally from my primary hard drive - I have to use Safe Mode instead if I want to get into Windows.

I started the True Image for cloning after quick formatting the destination hard drive. I clicked the reboot button inside True Image, and after reboot the blue "analyzing partitions" screen came up.

However after it was done analyzing partitions, it appears that it skipped the cloning step and went straight to the "Congratulations..." message, which only displayed for a few seconds before my computer powered down.

After I turn the power back on, the Windows XP logo comes up - but after that, my monitor goes blank and says "no signal". The computer is still on, but doesn't respond at all. Hitting control+alt+delete doesn't do anything. I have to either hit the computer's reset button, or force a power down by holding down the power button.

The blue checkdisk screen follows the XP logo after I reset a few times, and does a disk check and reboots. But after the reboot, things are the same as before - following the XP logo, the monitor says "no signal" and the computer does nothing.

I can still boot Windows in Safe Mode. I tried running True Image again from inside Safe Mode to see if running it again would fix things. It did not; same as before, after it analyzed partitions, it shut down without ever cloning, and Windows still can't boot up normally, only in Safe Mode. I then tried it for a 2nd time from Safe Mode (3rd time overall), this time I think it analyzed partitions a couple times and rebooted both times, but Windows still can't boot normally.

What possible fixes might there be for this failure to boot the OS? Is this a problem that's been encountered previously?

 

try removing or disconnecting the other internal drive. Maybe when it attempted the clone it corrupted that hard drive.

You can also try a full chkdsk c: /f on your system partition this will automatically fix any file corruption that might be causing the safeboot. Currently when it's doing disk check it might not be doing any repairs.

If that doesn't fix it, you might want to do a fixmbr fixboot on your system drive. (in most cases it won't make your problems any worst since it only touches the boot sector and not your system partition.). If you have a saved "image backup" of your c: drive, you can try to restore that on the drive you tried to clone.

The only problem I see since you are using windows xp is "possible partition ID drive letter" problems, since the source windows xp has "seen" the drive it will be restored on.

The only similar problem that I have seen is when the computer is booted up following a clone with both the source and restored drive connected at the same time. In some rare cases both drives become unbootable. In your case it might possible that only the MBR was cloned to the other drive and then it crashed before the rest of the data could be cloned.

 

This should never happen. The original OS should not be altered in any way by the cloning app. We've seen several reports along the current lines.

Anyone know what is happening?

 

Did the other reports ever find any solution to fixing the hard drive?

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I tried disconnecting the other drive, as well as chkdsk c: /f. No change.

I can't try fixmbr because I don't have the XP install CD with me. I'll try that later.

I don't have any saved image backups.

From XP safe mode I used True Image to create a boot CD. But when I boot with this CD, and try to clone/backup/etc., it gives me the error "E00010fF4: Acronis True Image has not found any hard disk drives". Whch I don't understand - the BIOS detects all the hard drives; two SATA, an IDE, and an external eSATA.

So I tried True Image Safe Mode (from the bootable CD), and this time it was able to detect the drives. I was able to clone properly here (for some reason the progress bar never changed. but after a long time the cloning finished), but now booting with the new drive results in the same thing as before - after the logo, nothing. The error must have been cloned over.

Seems like I should always clone using the bootable CD from now on. But my hard drive is still messed up - XP won't work outside safe mode.

 

Just a hunch here, but it sounds like the video driver is not working. At the start of the boot process, a generic VGA video driver is used by the BIOS to operate the display. A little later during the boot process (after the Windows XP logo is displayed) Windows loads and uses the installed video driver, which apparently isn't working because your display goes blank at this point. Perhaps the display adapter driver file is damaged or corrupted.

In safe mode, can you uninstall the video driver? I don't think that the Windows Installer can run in safe mode so you won't be able to do it from Add/Remove Programs in the control panel, but can you start Device Manager and go to the Display Adapter and uninstall it? When Windows reboots then it should use the generic VGA driver. If the reboot is successful then you can reinstall the proper video driver.

 

I got the install CD and did fixmbr, but the issue was still there. But...

Bingo! That seems to have been the problem. Thank you. I used F8 to enable VGA mode, and that worked; and then uninstalling the driver does allow a normal boot to work.

Though I'm still having trouble - the first time I reinstalled the driver everything seemed to be fixed, as the computer started normally with the driver installed, and working properly at a 1920x1200 resolution, which is what I was at before all the cloning mess. However after the first restart, the same problem reoccurred. So I used VGA mode/uninstalled driver/reinstalled driver again - but this time, it didn't fix the problem. I've tried this many times since, but only the first time worked for some reason.

I'm going to try and install an OS on another hard disk, to find out if the problem is with the hard disk, or graphics card itself. I have no idea why a failed cloning attempt would mess up the graphics card (or why the cloning failed in the first place), and if the graphics card is the problem I don't know what to do about that either. I'll have to keep messing with things for now though.

 

I think you may be on the right track. I can't think of a reason for the imaging/cloning process to cause this problem. I had a hunch that you have some kind of hardware problem going on, and it's just a coincidence that it began showing up now. You might want to check your RAM by running Memtest for a while, preferably overnight. Another suggestion is to check online for updated video drivers to see if a different driver produces the same symptom. Hopefully you can pinpoint the source of the problem.