Acronis 2009 resue disk freezes

I recently installed Acronis True Image 2009 on my 1 month old Vista 64 computer with the latest build but today when I tried to boot in safe mode (I was going to update my video drivers) I received a Windows failed to start...a recent hardware or software change might be the cause. File:\windows\system 32\winload.exe
Status: oxc0000225.

The only new software I've installed is Acronis true image 2009. This is a retail version so I tried booting using the rescue disk boot since I recently made a full backup on my main drive but it freezes after loading and doesn't allow any keyboard or mouse imputs. I then tried my vendor Vista 64 installation disc but when I get to Press any key to boot from CD or DVD.......... nothing happens when I press a key although the bios shows the DVD as the first boot device. It seems like my usb keyboard is not being recognized although I can enter bios.

I'm now using a backup computer since I'm totally locked out of my new one.

 

Since you can enter the BIOS, have you checked if the Legacy USB option (if available) is enabled?

Can you try a standard PS2 keyboard?

 

Ok, I bought a PS/2 keyboard at Target for $11 and was able to boot my Acronis 2009 rescue disk and restore an image from just three days ago but I'm still concerned over what caused the original problem.

Since I've never had a problem booting in safe mode before installing Acronis I was wondering if it changes something in Vista that would cause a failure when trying to boot in safe mode? After what happened today I'm afraid to try safe mode now for fear it will happen again.

 

Hello northtexas,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image Home 2009

The reason for the issue can be incompatibility between Acronis and some third party software. In order to be sure we need to analyze a crash dump. But as you have already restored the system we can’t do it. In case the issue repeats again please provide us the following diagnostic information:

- Right click on My Computer, choose Properties and go to the Advanced system settings
- Hit Settings in the Startup and Recovery box
- Choose Small memory dump in Write debugging information
- Close all the dialog windows by clicking OK buttons
- Reproduce the system crash
- The small dump file will be created in the directory chosen in the Small dump directory box.

As workaround you can do the following in case \windows\system 32\winload.exe error appears:

Repair Vista Boot Configuration Data in the following way:

1. Put the Windows Vista installation disc in the CD\DVD disc drive, and then (re)start the computer;
2. Press a key when you are prompted;
3. Select language, time, currency, keyboard or input method, and then click Next;
4. Click Repair your computer;
5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next;
6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box click Command Prompt;
7. Type the following:

Bootrec.exe /FixMbr
Bootrec.exe /FixBoot

Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev

 

Unfortunately, instead of a Vista installation disk I have one of those crappy venders disks that only restores your system to it's original state.

What happened was that after installing Acronis 2009 I let it create a complete backup that utilizes the safezone and activates the startup recovery manager by default. Several days later I tried to boot into safe mode by selecting it via msconfig and that's when I got the Windows failed to start message.

So I'm wondering if the startup recovery manager had changed the boot sequence in such a way that it prevented me from booting to safe mode via msconfig??

 

Bingo! Another problem caused by the SRM. There is really no need to use the SRM nor the SZ nowadays. You would be better off getting rid of them. Keep your Backup Images on another hard drive, external or internal. The True Image program is otherwise excellent for recovering from problems.

 

I've got a second 500 GB internal HD on order that I'm going to use exclusively for backups. After It's installed I will delete the SZ and deactivate the SRM.

UPDATE: I went ahead and deactivated the SRM but when I rebooted my computer it stopped at boot from CD/DVD!!!! After several attemps to boot to windows I once again inserted my Acronis 2009 rescue disk and restored the MBR from a backup and I'm now able to boot to Windows plus SRM is deactivated...thank goodness! What a pain in the butt!