TI 9 install problem

I tryed to install TI 9 on my (HP laptop) hard drive. The install image was on a USB drive. The BIOS on the laptop doesn't recognize USB devices.

The install went well until the reboot. After the reboot, the laptop does nothing except flash a _ character in the top left corner of the screen.

I moved the HP hard drive to the ultra bay on my T43, and looked at the drive with Disk Director. DD shows the primary drive (partition), but shows the remainder of the drive as unallocated. If this is so, I lost a significant amount of client files, data, and my accounting.

Is there some way to restore the drive to its "pre-install" condition, including the extended partition and logical drives?

 

By "install image", do you mean the file to instal True Image?
If your bios does not recognize usb devices and the install file was on the usb drive, how did you start the install?
Clarify what is a T43.

 

Install image is trueimage9.0_s_en.exe. I downloaded it off the internet and it's been sitting quietly waiting to be used.

WinXP Pro installs the drivers necessary to recognize USB devices. The drivers ARE NOT part of the BIOS.

T43 is a Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad. Has a handy "bay" I can put various drive type devices (CD/DVD/2nd hard drive) in. I put the drive from the HP in the bay. That's how I'm able to look at it with Disk Director.

It looks like the MBR was changed during the TI install.

 

When we use the term "image" here we mean the backup created by True Image, not the installation file that installs TI on your hard drive.
I'm further confused when you said, "I downloaded it off the internet and it's been sitting quietly waiting to be used." Then in your last sentence you said, "It looks like the MBR was changed during the TI install."
So you did, in fact, install TI. Just an install should not interfere with your MBR. You're leaving out something in your situation.

 

You're correct. I'll try to be more precise in my terms.

1. Image is not the correct word. I'm not dealing with an backup image. I'm talking about the installation program file that I downloaded from from the internet.

2. I installed TI9 from a hard drive connected to the computer via USB. As I mentioned, there is no BIOS support for USB.

3. Install went fine, then said I needed to reboot the computer. I clicked "Ok" (or whatever the pop-up says for reboot now.)

4. XP Pro shutdown just fine, then started the reboot. This is when the cursor started sitting and flashing in the screen's top left hand corner. Nothing happens beyond that.

5. I took the drive on which I had installecd TI9 out of the HP laptop, and moved it to another laptop that has the ability load 2 HDDs without using USB.

6. I ran Disk Director suite and looked at the HP laptop drive. It has the active partion (about the correct size) and the remainder of the disk is "unallocated". Prior to installing TI9 the entire drive was allocated, and divided into D:, E:, F:, G:. This is what led to my statement about "the MBR looks like it's been changed." How else would I explain the "new" unallocated space?

Does TI do any post installation work after the reboot?

What other information can I provide?

 

I'm perplexed ... I don't know why your existing partitions would "disappear" like that right after installing True Image and then rebooting. If it is just a matter of the MBR being incorrect, there are some MBR fixes, but I've never had to use one. Some of the other regulars may be better versed in that aspect.

 

I appreciate your help. I don't understand it either. I'm going to start looking for MBR fixes, and as local a place that can rebuild the partitions.

 

For MBR fixes there is a utility you can download from Please Read Before You Post sticky. I never used it either.

But it seems extremely unusual for a program installation process to corrupt the MBR or somehow wipe partitions. There must be something else to it.

 

Well, it works, and quite fast.

Prior to using re-writing the MBR, I used GetDataBack NTFS to check the drive/file structure on the problem drive. It found the files, and I copied the files to another (temporary) drive PRIOR to re-writing the MBR.

I still don't know how I farkled the MBR, but after re-writing the MBR, the drive booted. Unfortunately I was missing everything but the primary partition.

I repartitioned the drive and have successfully restored from the "temporary" drive.

 

Glad to hear you had some measure of success and all was not lost.