Problem after restoring a disk image

[jh88fan]

I had been backing up my data on an external drive using EZ Gig II to make disk images. My DirectX quit working Saturday, and after I couldn't fix it, I decided to restore the most recent disk image and see if that resolved it. Everything went just fine until rebooting, and all I got was a black screen with a flashing cursor in the top left corner. Next I booted from the EZ Gig boot CD, and restored another, older disk image, but still had the same problem, Windows doesn't load. Any suggestions on what to do at this point?

Thanks for any help

[glc]

Next I booted from the EZ Gig boot CD, and restored another, older disk image, but still had the same problem, Windows doesn't load. Any suggestions on what to do at this point?

Did you disconnect the external drive before restarting? You can try booting with the WinXP CD, and using the repair console. I'd use the fixboot and maybe the fixmbr commands.

[jh88fan]

I left the external drive on (it's an eSATA setup) when I rebooted. When the black screen came up, I waited a while before turning everything off, then turned on just the pc, same problem. I'll try the Windows repairs when I get home from work.

Just out of curiousity, the EZ Gig II disk came with my Apricorn enclosure, is that the same as True Image?

[pam123]

No it's a stripped version but the basic functionality is the same and it's very useful.
Like glc I think you have a master boot record problem that can be fixed with a repair using the XP disk.

What is your boot order in the bios?
Also, was the partition you copied the image to made "Active" ?

[jh88fan]

Yes, I made the partition active. Not sure about the boot order, I believe it's HD-CD-Floppy. I can access BIOS and change boot device priorities. I'll try the XP disk when I get home. EDIT: boot order is floppy, hard drive, then cd-rom.

[jh88fan]

OK, tried the XP disk repair console. Ran fixboot and it said new bootsector was successfully written. Restarted but same problem. Started to run fixmbr, but says "This computer appears to have non-standard or invalid master boot record. FIXMBR may damage partition tables and make partitions inaccessible." So I stopped there without doing anything. My pc also has Farstone RestoreIT installed, I've disabled it but it still loads it right before Windows would normally load. I can uninstall it if that's the problem.

[pam123]

I am unfamiliar with that software but going by the description of it, I googled , it would be the non-standard master boot record.
Since it loads before Windows how do you intend to uninstall it?

[glc]

This Farstone sounds like GoBack. If it works the same way, I think you might be out of luck.

Run FIXMBR anyway, you have nothing to lose. If that doesn't work, try doing a repair reinstall.

Ez-Gig II is a stripped down version of Acronis True Image 8. It only does full images and clones, it does not have differential or incremental imaging capability.

[jh88fan]

Farstone came with my motherboard utilities cd-rom. When it's loading, hitting space bar brings up the restore menu, and one of the options is "Uninstall". Disabling it seems to just prevent it from automatically creating new incremental restore points.

EDIT: I looked it up too, and I think it answers a question I posted here a while back about my HD size not being what it should. My hard drive has 2 partitions, the normal C partition of about 67GB, and then one called "Unknown" of about 6 or 7GB. From what I read about RestoreIT (and I think I have the Lite version which shipped with Intel classic series mobos like mine), this is the hidden partition where it stores the backup images. It won't help me now, because it made a restore point after I had the problem. My question now is, should I run FIXMBR first, or try to uninstall Farstone first?

http://developer.intel.com/design/mo.../restoreit.htm

[pam123]

I would uninstall and then do a repair reinstall.
You will have to redo drivers and updates but it should keep all your data intact.

[glc]

Something else I just found out - when you did the image restore, not only does the partition need to be active, it must be set to be a primary partition, not extended or logical.

[jh88fan]

FIXMBR seems to have fixed the problem. Windows loaded fine, just have to run a month's worth of updates. Thanks for the help! My guess is there was a conflict between RestoreIT and EZ Gig II when I restored the C partition. I went ahead and uninstalled RestoreIT, didn't need it anymore.