Big Rescue CD Problem

On two different machines now I have noticed this big problem when using a rescue cd created by true image 768 or 771: After the logo is displayed, after the Loading, please wait.... is displayed, two error messages come up with the following:

usb.c: error getting string descriptor 0 (error=-84)
usb.c: error getting string descriptor 0 (error=-84)

I happen to be using a USB mouse/keyboard. The program then loads fine, however if I try to do a create image or restore image, the process will not work unless I am moving my mouse. As soon as I stop moving the mouse, all HD activity ceases. So for the entire process my mouse has to be moving back and forth.

I disconnect the USB keyboard/mouse and hook up a serial mouse and serial keyboard. The error message is then gone. So I try another backup, and now the rescue cd is having heart attacks. A 4 minute backup now takes 40 minutes, as for every 1 second it spends backing up it spends 3 seconds idle doing nothing (moving mouse does nothing). It just keeps freezing where the mouse/keyboard cant do anything.

The HDs are regular ATA drives hooked to the motherboard, not using any third party controller or chip. Motherboards tested on have i875 and i865 chipsets.

So, what the heck is wrong with this?

 

Have you tried enabling "Legacy USB Support" in the BIOS, if you have such an option? Failing that, have you tried the "F11" "acpi=off noapic" trick? (Search the forums if you're not sure what I'm talking about)

 

Yes I have tried both options. Legacy USB Support changes nothing, the backup process with a serial mouse/keyboard is extremely slow, and with the F11 and acpi=off noapic trick it locks up.

 

are you backing up to a USB hard drive? If not, perhaps try disconnecting any other USB devices to see if that makes a difference. Or try using the "Safe" version of the CD. You keyboard, despite it being USB, *should* still work if the Legacy USB option is enabled in the BIOS. The mouse isn't necessary, as you can go through the backup wizard just by using keyboard controls. (Should the mouse not work with the Safe version of the CD)

 

Im backing up from one partition on the IDE ATA hard drive to another partition. If I do the 'move mouse around' while using USB keyboard/mouse to get it to finish, it takes about 4-5 minutes. With a serial keyboard/mouse attached the process takes atleast 10 minutes.

 

Backing up from one partition to another on the same physical drive is inherently inefficient. (That plus it gives you no protection against hardware failure)

Aside from trying the Safe version of the CD, perhaps you could try imaging from one drive to another.

I do agree, though, that the mouse movement thing you describe is strange. Some sort of interrupt problem??