SystemState restore failure
From: Joseph Anthony (joe.anthony.pub_at_gmail.com)
Date: 08/14/04
- Next message: webermis: "Re: SP2 Login extremely slow"
- Previous message: dev: "Re: Startup problem"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ]
Date: 14 Aug 2004 13:21:35 -0700
I recently had a bad experience using the ntbackup.exe utility on
Windows XP Pro (sp1), and I wanted to know if I did something wrong to
cause the failure.
About 4 months ago I used ntbackup to save my system state data (about
350MB are in the backup file). Last week I installed some
developmental software with a new network driver. That driver,
combined with my VPN client, caused all networking to stop working. I
tried to recover from the situation, but even the uninstall for the
software locked the computer.
No problem, I thought to myself. Earlier that day, I had taken a
snapshot of my system using the System Restore utility (rstrui.exe)
that comes with Windows XP. However, when I tried to restore my
system to that snapshot, after the reboot, I saw a message saying that
the system state could not be restored (no reason given as to why it
failed). I then tried going back to an earlier snapshot, and then an
earlier one, and then an earlier one. All failed in the same way.
I thought, well, it's probably because I added a networking driver to
my system. No problem, I thought once again. I knew I had a
SystemState backup from several months ago that I made using the
ntbackup.exe program. So, I proceeded to restore that image onto my
computer.
All went well, until the system rebooted. The boot appeared to be
fine, but when I saw the Windows Welcome dialog (you know, press
Ctrl-Alt-Del to log in, etc.), I found that my mouse and keyboard were
dead. Thus, I could not log into my notebook computer at all. I
tried plugging in an external keyboard and mouse, but with the same
result. I powered off and booted several times. I tried booting into
Safe Mode. Always the same result: my keyboard and mouse were
non-responsive. I tried using the Last Known Good Boot option--same
result--no mouse or keyboard support at the Welcome dialog.
At this point I was angry. What's the point of saving your system
state if restoring it doesn't work? In fact, it made my system worse.
Originally, it was just my networking that wasn't working. Now, I
was locked out of my computer entirely!
I have even tried reinstalling WinXP Pro SP1 from scratch, which
allowed me to gain access to my system again. Then, as an experiment,
I tried restoring the same SystemState backup on top of that clean XP
install using ntbackup.exe. Shortly after the reboot sequence, I get
a blue screen saying I might have a virus or a corrupt hard drive. I
know my system was virus-free and working fine when I saved the
SystemState image months earlier. I tried powering off and booting
several times, each time seeing the blue screen of death.
At this point I ran the WinXP Setup and tried to repair my
blue-screening image. However, Setup hung halfway through, and after
each reboot Setup tries to pick up where it left off and then hangs
again.
It looks like my saved SystemState backup is worthless--worse yet--it
seems to be harmful. Has anyone else experienced this type of failure
before?
Is there any other course of action for my system, or am I forced to
perform a clean install of WinXP and all of the other applications I
had on that computer before the failure?
Thanks in advance!
Joe
- Next message: webermis: "Re: SP2 Login extremely slow"
- Previous message: dev: "Re: Startup problem"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ]
Relevant Pages
|
