Worse software experience in 15 years!!

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by Bummed, May 19, 2005.

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  1. Bummed

    Bummed Registered Member

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    :( This without a doubt, the worse software experience I have had in 15 years. Continual BSOD events. Am running XPsp2 on a new high end PC. Spent two months sending all kinds of reports to tech support (Anton) with no resolution. He gave up, but rather than admit that his knowledge had been exhausted, and seek the advice of a colleague, he just stopped responding.

    I thought the problem may have been with my third HD which I use solely for backups. The hard drives are: 160MB, 160MB, and 80MB. All Maxtors. Even though checkdsk, and Maxblast reported no problems, I noticed that the BSOD would stop if I turned off the 3rd hard drive. After three weeks, and spending $75 shop labor to replace the 3rd hard drive, everything appeared to be OK. Was even able to make an extensive back up.

    Then about a week later, the BSOD reappeared. Several times during boot up, and occasionally, any random time later. I decided to look at this Forum. Was surprised to learn that build 826 was available, even though when I registered I asked to be notified of any up dates. Never was. The build I was using was 796. Downloaded build 826 without any problem. The install process produced a BSOD. All such BSOD events showed machine check exception.

    The install process produced an invalid icon, but on replacing it with a valid one, and clicking on the TI icon, the splash screen came up for a few seconds, then BSOD. Since I do have a need to locate and restore some files, I can't tell you how disappointed I am with this product. Any suggestions on alternate good backup software?
     
  2. beenthereb4

    beenthereb4 Registered Member

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    Machine Check exception - here are the causes in order of likelihood: (I'm sure that your machine is perfect however)

    1. Overclocking
    2. Bad memory
    3. Bad motherboard
    4. Bad processor
     
  3. snowbound

    snowbound Retired Moderator

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    Since this is the Acronis support forum, feel free to start a thread in the appropriate forum(Software and Services) to inquire about alternatives.



    snowbound
     
  4. TheQuest

    TheQuest Registered Member

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    Hi, Bummed

    There is where your answer is somwhere, as beenthereb4 says.
    Take Care,
    TheQuest :cool:
     
  5. djmorgan

    djmorgan Registered Member

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    I'm inclined to spring to the defence of ATI which I think is the best pieced of software of its type available.

    Clearly, you cannot blame ATI for your problems as your issues are unique otherwise the forum would be filled with similar type problems.

    You could have issues with your hardware or conflicting software, I'm sure it is not ATI, which from my point of view has again this week saved me on 2 seperate occasions due to my fiddling with registry settings :D still I hope you can find the cause of your troubles and go on to use this great piece of protection software
     
  6. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    My vote goes for iPlanet Application Server 6.0 :( Glad that we are moving to BEA WebLogic soon :)
    That is not good :mad:
     
  7. rjbsec

    rjbsec Registered Member

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    I don't know ... if it's probably a component problem rather than a software problem how long should the software tech support be prepared to spend trying to solve a component problem?
     
  8. TonioRoffo

    TonioRoffo Registered Member

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    For the record, I've had machines BSOD'ing on me (Win2003 machines even...) when using NEC or INTEL based USB 2.0 and Maxtor Onetouch drives - replaced them with

    Don't shoot the Acronis people, it could be USB related!
     
  9. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello Bummed,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    We are really sorry for the inconveniences.

    Could you please let me know your Acronis request # which was sent to you in autoreply to your first letter? I will find out the reason for Anton's not answering. Even if the problem is connected with hardware we always inform our customers about it. It is our policy that we never give up witout finding the reason for the problem. Of course, we cannot tell the exact reason if the problem is in hardware. But we can always find out whether it is software or hardware problem.

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2005
  10. Bummed

    Bummed Registered Member

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    While nothing is perfect, items 2,3,and 4 are all new as of 2.1.05 and I don't believe in overclocking. The third hard drive was replaced a week ago. I tend to believe that ATI is the source of the problem, since everytime I click on their icon, I get a BSOD. Even when I was on their web site to register the product, and chose to click on a button that was available to make an emergency repair disk, that produced a BSOD. The install of release #826 produced a BSOD.

    No other updates, patches, or software installs have produced BSODs. :)
     
  11. Detox

    Detox Retired Moderator

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    Be sure to send this
    to Ilya either here or via PM.
     
  12. beenthereb4

    beenthereb4 Registered Member

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    Since you have lots of experience and a nice machine, you'll want to get to the bottom of this whatever the cause. Beyond a memory test, which You must have already run, download a Knoppix CD (it's free) and boot from it. Let your computer run for a day or two and use the Internet from Knoppix. This is an good hardware test which will eliminate or incriminate Windows and Acronis.
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2005
  13. Bummed

    Bummed Registered Member

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    Now this is an example of an excellent suggestion to resolve this very vexing problem. I certainly will try your suggestion, and thanks again for the very helpful comment. :)

    Part of the frustration in dealing with ATI tech support was all the time wasted with non performing suggestions, such as send us a copy of USBATA.SYS. Such a file did and does not exist on this PC. Am runing XP Pro sp2. Another suggestion was to use a digital camera to take a picture of the BSOD. Only once did the BSOD stay on the monitor, most times it flashed by in microseconds.

    The only time the BSOD stayed in place was in trying to respond to their request to use their report software to generate a NFO file. I tried it three times, and while it went through several modules, it always got "stuck" on "serial" at approximately 48% completion, and then the BSOD with an error message IRQL NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL STOP: [long memory address]. This was accurately recorded and passed on to Anton, but no response as to whether this recorded message was any clue to resolving the problem.
     
  14. TonioRoffo

    TonioRoffo Registered Member

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    IRQ not less or equal is a hardware problem - most of the time it's using USB drives (large data transfer over USB)

    If you use external drives, try an external drive of another make!
     
  15. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    Tried this?
    1. Hit "Windows-key" + "Pause/Break"
    2. Click "Advanced" tab.
    3. Click "Configuration" button in the "Start up and Recovery" section.
    4. Uncheck "Reboot automatically" in the "System Error" section.
     
  16. beenthereb4

    beenthereb4 Registered Member

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    Don't be surprised if Knoppix fails to boot with a "kernel panic" or some other message. This indicates a hardware problem. Also, be sure to let it run 24 hours a day and give it some large file copy chores to exercise your computer.
     
  17. Bummed

    Bummed Registered Member

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    Nothing is external. Two of the three HD are serial ATA 150 set up on raid 0. The third 80 MB drive is used solely for backups. Everything is NTFS.
     
  18. Bummed

    Bummed Registered Member

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    Yes, this was done as part of the many/many emails from ATI tech support.
     
  19. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    Yes, these things are very frustrating, but I hope you can appreciate how difficult it is to troubleshoot by internet or even phone. Stick with it, I'm sure you'll get it sorted out at some point. If the Knoppix test doesn't show anything, you might try some burn-in tests, like this.

    Have you tried disabling the serial ports in your BIOS? This may or may not help, but it's something you can try.

    IRQL NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL means your processor was interrupted when it shouldn't have been. This is almost always a hardware issue. I very recently resolved this when I pulled my CPU cooler off and noticed that the thermal grease had emulsified. I put some new grease on and all BSODs completely stopped. I got some Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound this time and even got a bit of a boost.

    Since mine was a thermal issue, it would also be worth noting that you should check the inside of your case for failing fans and dust on heatsinks, if this was not already done by the tech that helped you with your harddrive. Fans should spin freely, at least a couple rotations with a gentle spin, but should ideally spin for a couple seconds until slowing down to a stop. If you've taken a can of air to your heatsinks at any point, you should definitely check the fans as this can force dust into the bearings.
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2005
  20. Bummed

    Bummed Registered Member

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    That error message appears only when trying to produce the report they request using their report software. Would disabling the serial ports in Bios solely apply to the external ports? I suppose I could try on a temporary basis, as my UPS talks to the computer via the serial port. This would have no impact on the two Serial ATA150 160MB drives?

    With regard to the other part of your post on temps, etc. This ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe is outstanding. It has a software module called ASUS Probe that measures everything imaginable, with warning triggers you can set. It measures temps for both MB and CPU, shows the variable fan speeds for the CPU, Chipset, and Chassis. There is even voltage monitor panel. This PC is brand new as of February. Don't have to worry about dust yet. :D
     
  21. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    Okay - but then I don't understand why the BSOD did noty stay on screen, and instead disappeared in a microsecond...

    Backing up a moment... In your initial post you wrote:
    What do you mean by "replacing it with a valid one". Did you simply install TI again?

    Do you get the same BSOD if you start Windows in Safe Mode (F8 during boot) and then launches TI?
     
  22. plmsbx

    plmsbx Registered Member

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    There must be something wrong with your hardware or with your operating system installation. I am quite critical when it comes to software qualtiy, I use various operating systems (windows xp, 2k, linux, freebsd) and have been using true image on 3 computers with various linux and windows installations, I've never encountered BSOD or the other problems that you describe. I've used TI to create/restore on local disk, on USB disks, on DVD-R(W) and over the network (on a linux samba server) and the only problem I've encountered so far are slow restore speed due to my latest laptop hardware not being fully supported yet.
     
  23. Bummed

    Bummed Registered Member

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    There are two sets of BSODs. The IRQL NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL STOP: [long address location]. This one stayed on the screen and was reported to ATI with the full details. No response whatsoever. This one occurs when attempting to build a report with their report software. It always stops at approximately 48% completion while in the serial mode.

    Concerning your second question. There are several ways to replace a non-functional icon. Right click/properties then replace the incorrrect pathing, but this is generally problematical, because it is always hard to see the correct pathing in the small shown window. The easier method is just the delete the icon, got to the exe file and request a new icon .lnk. This time it was just the desktop icon that was replaced. But I have replaced this program so many times, I am sick of it. It is one difficult devil to remove.
     
  24. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    I will hazard a guess here. Something in your system is preventing the Acronis installer from doing a complete job, hence the missing icon. And there are probably other things that are missing too, things you don't see, like special Acronis (filter) drivers, registry entries, etc, that are vital to the operation of True Image. And that is why you get those BSOD's.

    I would concentrate on getting True Image to install without errors. I would start installing it on top of the current install. Maybe do it 2-3 times. Next, use the ordinary uninstaller to remove TI. Go to your %ProgramFiles% folder, and search for anything "Acronis" / "True Image". Delete everything you find. Do the same for the folder "%ProgramFiles%\Common Files". And finally, search the Registry for anything "Acronis" / "True Image" and delete the keys.

    Once you have cleaned the system, install True Image again. Hopefully it will install without any missing icons, drivers, etc.

    Look in the Event Log, System Log, and Application Log for unexplained errors. Reboot, and check the Logs again. Any errors that could be cause by a faulty True Image install?
     
  25. Bummed

    Bummed Registered Member

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    Some excellent suggestions here MiniMax. Been all over the log files you suggest. The only red flag I can find seems totally unrelated to ATI. In the system log, event 23 is shown as a print error with the explanation that: "suitable NT Fax driver could not be found."

    A review in software environment shows that all drivers are marked OK. In the loaded modules, all Symantec references are show to be 4/29/05 with everthing appearing to be in order. The only anomaly I could find was that Winfax Pro was set for Automatic start. I changed that to Manual.

    In another section of this Forum, I found some posts on Serial ATA Drives. I wonder if this may be causing some conflict with ATI? My two Maxtor 160GB drives are set up on serial ATA 150 raid 0.

    I have not had time to try your other suggestion of removing ATI and starting fresh with the latest build. The uninstall module only produces a BSOD, and everything has to be removed manually. I have been using Fix-It Utilities V5.0 for almost all registry modifications.
     
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