RE: Computer Freeze prevents Backup

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

Vince,

My brother-in-law (IT wiz) also swears by Ghost He was so keen to give me a
copy on floppy disc that I didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't
have a floppy-drive. I went out and bought a new copy of SystemWorks Premium
which included Ghost, and my life became a nightmare, starting with an evil
thing called GoBack, then Ghost refusing to write to DVDs, then the Symantec
Recovery Disc unable to install the required Drivers. I reckon most Ghost
disciples must still be using versions prior to v. 8 or v.9. From what I
gather the later versions with fancy features like Windows Interfaces,
Incremental BackUps, etc, are vastly different from the old.

I hadn't heard that McAfee had problems on MCE. I switched from the free AVG
to a beta of Windows Live OneCare when I was beta-testing Vista RC1, and have
retained it now that I'm back with MCE2005. No problems, except for some
manual configurations to get Media Center on the XBox 360 Extender.

"vince" wrote:

Allan:

I'm going to check the Event Viewer Log in a bit.
It's unlikely that I had a a remote shutdown and reboot unnoticed since I
never get a clean start up (I always get a file missing warning on my HP5550
Printer HW addition). As much as I could tell from the last communication
with HP on the PMD and Sonic was that there was no probable incompatibility
(although I can never fully understand their wording on the reply). I thought
about using the backup that is part of the Roxio EMC9 but that turns out to
be the same as the Sonic Backup My PC.
I did blow away the Reader Update and thenInstalled Reader 8. I agree with
you about Ghost and Diskeeper but was sorry I had to take them off since Jim
Coates (of Chicago Trib Technology) swears by Ghost and the Diskeeper did
wonders in defrag.
Any news on McAfee being compatible with MCE. I read somewhere in the
newsgroup that it wasn't. That's the only reason I left the Symantec on this
computer. I would have shifted to McAfee in a heartbeat otherwise. I have it
on my other 3 computers (non-MCE) and they work fine.

Thanks again.

Vince
--
vince


"AllanF" wrote:

Hi vince,

I'm glad your computer has most of its functionality. Initially, I thought
that the freeze might have occured at StartUp, hence the suggestions of
Bootable Discs.

Your Event Viewer logs may throw some light on the problem. I'd have a look
through each log for any Events occuring at the time of the freezes - Events
flagged as "Information" as well as "Errors" and "Warnings". I feel certain
that there should be something in Event Viewer, however vague.

One thing to look for.... Is it possible that your computer has shutdown and
restarted while it is unattended? In which case, there may have been a System
Failure or BSOD possibly related to the Personal Media Drive. You should have
a "Save Dump" entry in Event Viewer, and a "Mini[mmddyy-##].dmp" file in
C:\WINDOWS\Minidump. Hopefully, you will not find this.

You might also contact HP to see if there are issues with the Personal Media
Drive and/or the Sonic BackUp Software. Look for Driver and Software updates.

You mentioned Kerios. You may still be using Norton Antivirus, which may be
the cause of the System Restore failure. However, this problem is probably
not related to your computer's inability to complete a BackUp.

I don't suspect that the Acrobat Reader Update is the culprit, but you
should be able to uninstall the Update from Control Panel "Add or Remove
Programs". Then reinstall any version you have at hand.

Dependiing on the versions, either Ghost or Diskeeper may have upset the
Sonic Software, and you were right to uninstall them. Unfortunately, it is
possible that they may have left traces of themselves that are causing
continuing problems. In particular, Symantec thinks itself very clever with
this sort of deception.

Sorry I can't provde specific assistance. Good Luck!



"vince" wrote:

Thanks for replying Allan:
You are correct! I am able to start the backup and yes because of the time
required, the computer either goes into a sleep mode (which it shouldn't do
because of my power settings-never on all 4 scores). I'm assuming that there
is a genuine "freeze" which has sometimes occured after the installations
(Ghost and Diskeeper) I spke of. About 5 times over 4 days after being on
for about 7-8 hours, and in the middle of an operation, my keyboard, mouse
etc freezes.
I start he backup from "Start/Sonic/Backup My PC Special Edition for HP"
chosse Wizard then full system backup with Validation.
I send the backup to a Personal Media Drive (215 GB free).
The freeze has occured (guessing from the size of the file after I reboot)
at 65, 75,90% of completion.
I have aboot disc, but don't have a re-boot problem.
I tried to use Ghost on one backup, but got a freeze. I have used Diskeepeer
for a week (prior to uninstalling both Ghost and DK) and it worked
exceedingly better than Disk Fragmenter on the computer. I do not have
apartition.
I have Norton Security Center, but use Kerio Personal Firewall with Norton
off.
I'm going to go to the site from Symantec to see if I can get a clue.
--
vince


"AllanF" wrote:

Hi vince,

I may not be able to help. However, others who might be able to provide
assistance might need clarification of the "inactive condition" of your
computer. It seems from your initial description that you are able to
commence a backup, but unable to complete because the length of time required
puts your computer into sleep mode which then requires a reboot in order to
wake your monitor. How do you start the backup - keyboard or mouse under the
installed MCE Operating System, or can you boot from a CD/DVD? At what point
does the freeze occur?

You say that you have used Norton Ghost and Diskeeper. What have you used
them for? Do you have a BackUp Image on a Partition or Discs? These
Applications may have provided you with a Bootable Disc, or given
instructions about how to create one. The Bootable Disc may have diagnostic
functions. Have you tried this?

As for System Restore: if you also have Norton Antivirus, you might not be
able to return to any of your Restore Points. See:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/symantecdoc1.html
From my own experience, the quoted Symantec Article should also include
NAV2005. Explore the Website to determine if the failure of your System
Restore has a different cause. Whatever the case, it is unlikely that you can
use System Restore in your current situation.

Depending on the functionality of your computer, you may need to go to a
repair shop to recover your valuable documents from your Hard-Drive before
doing an OS reinstallation.

"vince" wrote:

I have an HP m7260n 2005 MCE. 300GB HDD (52% free). I found after upgrading
from Adobe reader 7.0 to 7.0.9 that I got an inactive conditon where computer
was on but inactive. At about the same time I installed and used Diskeeper
and Norton Ghost. Thinking the mouse (and cursor) inactivity was due to the
wired optical mouse I changes to a wireless mouse. No Help! I then tried to
do a system restore but was told (regardless of the restore point) that
system could not be restored. I then unistalled Ghost and Diskeeper; same
problem.
I Decided to Backup using the HP (Sonic Backup My PC Special Editon for HP)
and then use the recovery discs and a full restore. With the Computer freeze,
I am never able to do a complete Backup before the computer shuts down. Also
bothering me is that when I return to the computer after overnight trying to
back up, my monitor (19" LCD HP) won't wake up because there no input from
the computer (obviously due to the freeze).
Anyone know how can I change the situation to allow the backup or find out
why I can't do a restore (even as recent as 5 days ago), or how to get the
monitor to wake up without turning the computer off/on.
My power levels are set to Nover on all scores and a homw office scheme.
Thanks for any help.
--
vince
.

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