TIH 2009 changed the active drive, how to change it back?

I'm sorry if I'm repeating a previously asked question but I have done searches and didn't find any similar questions.

I installed ATIH 2009 yesterday and after spending hours reading up on partitioning, settings etc, I managed to get everything (nearly) working as I wanted. I saved images of my comp internal hdd to my newly partitioned external hdd, and activated the ATI Recovery Program as well. I tried rebooting a couple of times after and all went well.

Today I turned on the comp and it just hung on the first black BIOS screen. That did tell me that "Pri. Master Disk HDD S.M.A.R.T. capability .... Disabled". So I pulled the plug on the comp, turned OFF my external HDD and tried again. This time it did boot into Windows and I was able to check that the System C drive (internal hdd) was NOT active, but the external partition WAS active. I tried to change them round (by right clicking in Disk Management) but the option to make active was greyed out. Can someone tell me how to effect the change please?

And when I checked the ATI Protection Status page, it just told me that the Startup Recovery Manager is NOT now activated. If I activate it again (and is that how one SHOULD leave it?), will I have this problem next time I boot up?

Thanks

Ian

 

Did you setup the SZ on the external drive?

Can you post a screenshot of what Disk Management shows for your drives?

 

For what it's worth, on my Windows XP-Pro computer, the boot order changes unless I boot up without externals connected and disconnect them before shutting down.

This applies to my external hard drive and USB printer. There is probably a setting that controls this but I don't know what it is.

Stan Hilliard

 

Yes, I did set up the SZ on my external. Here's a screenshot, hopefully..

http://us.mc01g.mail.yahoo.com/y5/s/viewphoto;_ylc=X3oDMTR1NTBlaXY5BEFjdGlvbgNUaHVtYm5haWwgY2xpY2tlZARJbnRsA3VzBExua1R5cANSZWd1bGFyBFBhcnRUeXBlA1lhaG9vIQRSZXNQb3NBAzAEUmVzUG9zUgMEU3JjaEN1cnIDcGhvdG8EU3JjaERlc3QDcGhvdG8EX1F1ZXJ5SWQDMjUzMDAzMzIzMTQ5ZTU1Y2M3YWUyNWUEX1MDMTUwNTAwNzU2?show=largephoto&folderid=%40S%40Search&mid=1_22_2_276092_0_AHPsjkQAALBSSeVcsgq/yQx7gGQ&partid=2&name=Disk+Management+Screenshot+14.4.jpg&size=410624&search=1

... and thanks Stan, thats exactly what I did too. I hope we will find out how to get round it with Mudcrab's help.

Ian

 

The screenshot link doesn't seem to be working. If it's a JPG image, can you just attach it to a post?

A lot of newer computers seem to automatically switch the booting device to the last one connected. This is not a feature I like because it causes problems (like when you forget to remove your flashdrive).

First, it's not recommended to create the SZ on an external drive. Second, if you do create the SZ on an external drive, it's strongly not recommended to activate the ASRM. In most cases, this is because the system may not boot properly if the external drive is not connected.

Since Windows still boots, the partition is probably still Active. This would also explain why Disk Management won't let you set the option. Does Disk Management show the Windows partition as Active?

Here is what Vista shows:


XP will probably just show Healthy (System).

 

Hi MudCrab and thanks.. my OS is XP sp3.. try this Flickr link, I can't seem to attach my screenshot, it just offers me a URL to set

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12319549@N03/?saved=1

WOOPS, sorry I just found the proper attachment icon, doh!

Ian

 

Your partition looks fine.

When you first activated the ASRM on the external drive and rebooted successfully, did you test start the ASRM by pressing F11? If so, did it work properly?

You really only have two choices: Leave the external connected all the time (assuming it lets the computer boot and work properly) or deactivate the ASRM by either resetting the MBR or removing the SZ and recreating it.

 

No I didn't test the ASRM by pressing F11, and the computer DIDN'T boot successfully with the external HD still connected, it just hung on the black BIOS screen.

I had to turn off the ext HD, unplug the computer and try again.. then it did boot into Windows.

But what I'm wondering is whether it tried to boot from the Active H partition (and failed, why I don't know because that contained an image of my whole internal HD) rather than the SZ.. because the SZ partition only contains 30MB, which surely isn't enough data to boot from? I didn't actually copy anything into the SZ anyway!


And thanks for your help, btw..

Ian

 

Is Windows booting normally now (no error messages on boot-up)?

What should have happened is that the MBR on the internal drive (the booting drive) would have been modified and the external drive would have needed to be connected. It seems that either the MBR didn't get changed or it couldn't find the external drive.

It may have been, especially if the boot order got changed.

Actually, it is. The rescue media installed when you activate the ASRM is the same as the TI Full Mode you can put on a CD or flashdrive. It doesn't take up much space.

 

Mudcrab, note in the screenshot, the external ATI (?) drive is marked as active and not the 'c' drive

Colin

 

I'll just try some booting exercises both with and without the external HD connected. But earlier, it would only boot from the internal HD with the external disconnected.

Just before I try that, can you tell me if I deleted the H partition for the time being (recreating it again later and saving an image to it just like I did before of my whole internal HD), am I likely to get the same thing again.. not being able to boot from the C drive? And btw, the ARSM is NOT activated anyway now.

Thanks, I hope I'll be back

Ian

 

Thanks Bodgy, that was the whole point of my original question.. how to change it back to making the C drive active again.

Ian

 

The Windows partition is Active (at least it should be because Windows is booting). XP doesn't show the System partition as Active. It just says (System).

If you really want to check it, you can start a Command Prompt and run the following commands:

Code:

diskpart <ENTER>
select disk 0 <ENTER>
select partition 1 <ENTER>
detail partition <ENTER>

This assumes that the Windows partition is Partition 1 of Disk 0, which it looks like it is from the graphic.

Diskpart will return something like the following:

Code:

DISKPART> detail partition

Partition 1
Type  : 07
Hidden: No
[B][COLOR="Red"]Active: Yes[/COLOR][/B]

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 1     C                NTFS   Partition     39 GB  Healthy    System

If you need to see the disks and partitions, you can list them so you can find the one you need.

This will return a list of the disks with their numbers:

Code:

list disk <ENTER>

Once you've selected your disk, you can list the partitions and their numbers:

Code:

list partition <ENTER>

This way, you can find out the disk # and the partition # needed and be able to view the properties using:

Code:

detail partition <ENTER>

To exit Diskpart...

Code:

exit <ENTER>

---

Edited 4-15-2009 to correct Diskpart commands and to add more instructions.

 

I am back, but had the same problem.. I had to turn off the external hd before Windows would boot.

I ran diskpart MudCrab, but it said no disk selected, even when I had! See screenshot..

Ian

 

Update: I've now got rid of the Active tag in my H partition (by deleting the original partition and then making another one in the same place on the external HD). And I also deleted the SZ and haven't renewed that either. BUT I've STILL got the same problem when booting... grrrr.

I tried rebooting between deleting the previous H partition and making a new one and leaving the external HD turned on and I got an even worse BIOS screen: black with corrupted flashing colored characters (scary!). After turning off both the comp and the external HD (and leaving the latter turned off while I tried booting again), turned the comp back on and it loaded Windows as per normal (thank gawd).

I have now saved another image of my complete internal HD to the H partition on the external.. after all that's the object of having TI isn't it? You never know when a HD might fail, and mine is 5½ years old now.

Anyway, I tried rebooting again and I got the original (healthier-looking) BIOS screen up. Windows would still NOT load until I turned both comp and external HD off again, turned the comp back on and then Windows loaded normally again. But the point is that the H partition is now not active and neither is there a SZ on that HD, so why (and this has only happened since installing ATIH 2009) does the external drive now take over on boot up (even with no Acronis images on it)?

And what MIGHT be more worrying is that I tried booting from a CD (while the BIOS screen was up) using one CD I'd burned from the Acronis application AND I also tried the original Acronis installation CD (which I only learnt also acted as a boot CD when reading a Microsoft website) and NEITHER of them worked!

So at the moment it appears that a relatively costly program will only, for me anyway, do a backup task which I could have done by many other cheaper means and without spending the hours on it that I have on this one.. so far.

Perhaps it's me but the program does seem to be exceedingly complicated, especially when it's advertized as the one-click solution (I wish) AND judging also by the huge number of forum questions. I just want it to work effortlessly, am I asking too much?


Ian

 

You should be selecting the partition and not the volume. I've edited my post above with the correction and some more commands for listing your drives and partitions to make sure you're selecting the correct ones.

Usually, if there is one or more Primary partitions on a drive, one of them is set Active. This is completely normal and shouldn't cause a problem.

Since it's possible the booting order got changed, check the boot order in the BIOS and make sure it's correct. For example: DVD drive, Windows drive, etc.

If you have a XP installation CD, you can boot to it, enter the Recovery Console and repair the MBR by running the following command:

Code:

fixmbr <ENTER>

That should remove any ASRM code from the MBR. Make sure the drive with the Windows partition is the booting drive in the BIOS before you run this command. Otherwise, it may "repair" the MBR on a different drive.

 

Hi MudCrab

Thanks for the new info.. I just signed in and will try what you suggested shortly (btw, what's it like being clever? lol).

Should I try booting from my 2003 Windows CD (that came bundled with the PC: Fujitsu Siemens) since I think that was even before XP sp1 (I'm now on sp3)? Would it/could it change any recent settings if I did use it to boot from?

Thanks for sticking with me on this, I really would like to get it sorted and maybe, in so doing, it may help others as well.

Ian

 

Any XP CD that will boot into the Recovery Console should work. All you're trying to fix is the MBR.