Problems after cloning and switching drives

I am not sure whether the problems which I am facing now have to do with cloning or not. I would like to share my experience with you. Two weeks ago, C-master drive was cloned to D-slave drive using TI v.8.937. So, now D-slave became C-master drive. Vice versa. Everything was perfect. My computer (XP Pro-SP2) has been running just like before cloning. Since then, I start to have blue screenings. I am getting two kinds of errors:

Kernel_stack_Inpage_Error and corruped/missing \Windows\System32Config\System file

That's where I am now. I am not blaming this problem on TI. But I am tempted to speculate that switching drives might have caused some confustion on registry. What do you think? sarutaro

 

I wouldn't think you'd get this kind of error at this point in time. Why don't you go to "start > run > sfc /scannow" (no quotes) and see if that will correct some of your files. (Notice space between sfc and /)

You could have other problems also, but you could start with the above. (Have your WinXP CD handy)

...Allen

 

Thanks Allen. I ran scannow. No error was found. I was out of town for a week and just came back. My compuer used to run super now encounters occassional crashes as described earlier. TI-dependent restoration became a life support situation for my home computer. When restored with TI, my computer runs just fine for a while. Somehow along the line, the computer crases due to the errors as descrbed earler.

My feeling is that the registry mixup due to the switch of drivers is the core problem. I am going to try to fix registry based on http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=307545. If unsuccessful, I would be forced to re-format and re-install WinXP Pro-SP2. I am just crossing fingers that it does not happen. It seems that cloning using TI is potentially a risky business. Sarutaro

 

I really don't see why cloning one hard drive to the other and replacing could possibly have any effect to the registry. The drives are both the same family? (SATA or PATA?) Since you made a perfect image of the operating system and data from the original hard drive to the other object hard drive, they would be identical. (Unless they are a different in the SATA or PATA fashion) Size and speed, drivers, etc, would be irrelevant. Only thing would be re-setting the drive jumpers.

In my opinion, the errors would have to have been present on the original hard drive before the cloning.

...Allen

 

You probably could be right. Before cloning, I did not have blue screens and did not have that stuff for a long time. This Dell compuer has been running super for the last two years. Somehow, registry seems to be messed up. Right now, I am checking viral infeciton once more by online housecall (trendmicro). I am now considering to rectify the registry based on http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=307545. If this fails, I have no choice but to re-format and re-install WinXP Pro. sarutaro

 

Have a look at this. XP is not so forgiving when you restore images to different drives.

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm

 

Sarutaro,

I glanced at the link you provided, and I would not try that. To quote one statement: "Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the original registry hives."

Before you do your suggested complete format and reinstall, try a repair from the recovery console booting with the WinXP CD , if that is an option with the Dell restore disk, which I believe it is. (Older Dells had a complete OS disk) I don't know what year your Dell is, but recent Dell's didn't come with a recovery CD or OEM recovery one. (they have a hidden partition that you can burn an ISO from the files hidden there, if you can get info on how from Dell, and that will give you the 'regular' disk you need, I think!) Do the fresh install as a last resort for the time you will save.

...Allen

 

Thanks Allen again for your comment on the link. I was almost doing it last night but virus scanning took forever. It appears that U. N. Owen's post explained my problem.

As a matter of fact, before Housecalls virus scanning, I ran a program called "Analyze a window crash" (by Winternals). The analysis indicated a bad driver for csrss.exe. I am tempted to replace csrss.exe before formatting/reinstalling WinXP. Since csrss.exe is an integral part of WinXP, I am not sure whether there is a way to replace only csrss.exe. That is where I am now.

My Dell computer came with WinXP CD disk, I can reformat the hard drive. But I wish to avoid the time-consuming process. sarutaro

 

If the problem is a driver that csrss.exe is calling, then replacing the .exe file wouldn't work would it? Thinking of it that way, you would still have the problem because of not replacing the driver. If I'm not mistaken, unless there is an uninstall process for csrss.exe, then the driver would remain therefore the problem would remain until you found out what driver it is trying to call that is corrupted.

My 2 cents. I'm sure if I'm wrong somebody will say something

QD

 

You're right.

>I am tempted to replace csrss.exe

I misstated the above line. Driver for csrss.exe must be replaced, not exe file. It seems that this is is a tough call. Sarutaro.

 

I did find out about csrss.exe now. I now realized that I did not know what I was talking about this stuff. The way to go is to format and re-install Windows. Cloning between hard drives in the same computer seems to be quite risky as U. N. Owen posted. It's a good learning experience for me. Thank you for your assitance. Regards, Sarutaro.

 

Why don't you at least try a repair install. (I believe that what it's called) You boot with the WindowsXP CD and then it will ask what you want to do when it 'sees' you have Windows installed. You tell it to repair and I think it will re-install over your existing copy on your machine, but will retain all your settings and programs, etc. Save you a lot of time. Worth a shot. That's what I would try first before the full format and reinstall of all settings and programs (whew!!).

...Allen

 

I just read the link from U. N. Owen, and it is correct if you don't clone a certain way. If you boot from the ATI disk and clone your C hard drive (no matter how many partitions) to a new hard drive installed as a slave and remove the drives after the clone and before the machine reboots you would then have two identical hard drives. Of course the ID #'s of the hard drives will not be the same, but that would not matter if you do as the above states. You then replace the newly cloned drive as master and just leave the other active drive uninstalled or hook on as a slave. Your machine will see the replaced newly cloned hard drive as in the correct active C partition and with all the partitions that you had on the original...because you cloned or mirrored the old drive to the new. The slave drive will be visable, but not in the boot order as C in the MBR, even though it once was C, it will now be moved by your BIOS to a different letter, probably one following the last partition on the C drive. You can alway change it later under computer management.

Now, if you let the machine reboot before you remove the cloned drive you just made, then you have the problems that U. Owen's link describes. If this were not true, you could never replace a hard drive with a new drive in a computer, be it a clone or an image replacement, without problems such as you are having...someone correct me if I'm wrong, please. But do offer an explanation.

Hope this makes sense, as I'm typing fast!

...Allen

 

Thanks again. I will follow your recommendation this evening. I will let you know how it goes after a few days. Right now, the computer runs fine just like before. After running a few days, something will trigger crash. Interstingly, whenever Windows is down, restoration with True Image revives the life of Windows. I confirm that True Image (v. 8.0) is indeed an amazing program and saved a lot of time and pains.

I read your following comment on U. N. Owen, which makes a lot sense. I feel that Acronis TI manual should warn a potential complication after cloning. I did cloning thinking that XP would validate the same XP license# not individual hard disk ID#. Sarutaro.