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Newbie with 2003 Problems (Read 10272 times)
cdaniell
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Newbie with 2003 Problems
Dec 15th, 2005 at 6:31pm
 
Started with Vs 10 but it would not load - got to the middle of the Wizzard and it just quit.

I'm running XP Pro on a Compaq Presario with big disks, 500MB memory and an USB drive. Have tried every trick that I know  to use the 2003 version that came in the Vs 10 box but have failed, miserably.

1st problem is that I cannot seem to boot up into DOS with any kind of floppy disk, including the  Ghost floppies (2) that I made, or a 98 bootable downloaded from bootdisk.com. It gets to a point when a blank black screen with a curser appears and nothing else can be done.

Then I went ahead and tried to back up my C: and it created a new active, virtual partition that booted the same way as the floppies, i.e. not at all, ending with the blank screen. After that, the computer wouldn't boot anymore because it was using the virtual partition and always ended up with the same blank screen. Fortunately, I had an XP WIn boot disk (from bootdisk.com) with which I got gdisk32 to run and changed the active partition from C: partn 2 to C: partn 1 and the computer finally could be booted normally. All of this took a week's worth of work and much heartache 'cuz I though I'd lost my c:.

Anyone that can help this poor soul get a good c: OS and Program files  backup on my USB drive that can be restored if the HDD dies would be greatly appreciated.

Charlie
 
 
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Re: Newbie with 2003 Problems
Reply #1 - Dec 15th, 2005 at 7:00pm
 
I didn't go through as much as you, but I had my problems.  What I finally did was call the free support number, and in about 45 minutes I was fixed up.  The number was posted a day or 2 ago, if you can't find it I'll look for you.

Do you have a cd drive?  If so, can you boot from the ghost disk?  I don't think you wanted to do all that partitioning.  My problem is I used DOS a lot in the past.  I didn't understand that the cd I made is drive A AND drive C, I guess it's partitioned, so I could boot from it, but I couldn't find ghost.exe or any *.GHO file on it, because I had to look at drive C, not drive A. 

I'll try to help if I can, I just got it working last night about 11pm.  From what I've read and know, ghost 2003 is much better than the later versions because it works from DOS, and that works better than trying to image windows while you're running windows.

Believe me I feel for you!

 
 
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Re: Newbie with 2003 Problems
Reply #2 - Dec 15th, 2005 at 7:28pm
 
cdaniell

Does your system use SATA HDD's?

If *yes*--are there settings in the BIOS to make them run compatibly with DOS (legacy OS!)?
 

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Charles Daniell
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Re: Newbie with 2003 Problems
Reply #3 - Dec 15th, 2005 at 9:18pm
 
Thanx for the replies and Bruce, the sympathy.

No, there are no SATA drives and the BIOS was carefully checked that A: would be first accessed during boot.  C: is 37GB, D:= CD drive, E: (my data) is 200GB run from an ATA board, F: a DVD burner. The G: used to be my USB external drive but the @#$^# Ghost took over that drive letter so it is now a 7MB partition on my C: so finally, when it is connected my 160MB external USB dive is H:.

Any ideas how to get DOS running, because Ghost in DOS seems the way to go.

Thanks,

Charlie
 
 
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Re: Newbie with 2003 Problems
Reply #4 - Dec 15th, 2005 at 9:42pm
 
The title of this thread makes it sound like you have many (2003) problems.
 
 
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cdaniell
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Re: Newbie with 2003 Problems
Reply #5 - Dec 16th, 2005 at 12:56pm
 
Right Amish, I do, caused by Vs 10 not installing and using 2003 as follows;

1   The "Standard Boot Disk" floppy created by Ghost Utilities in Windows looked good, but will not boot my computer into either DOS or Windows. It ends up with a gray screen with a blinking curser at the top left and no keyboard control - the computer is dead in the water. So far, problem unsolved.

2.   Running the "Create a Backup Image File", starts off fine but reaches a point that it asks to reboot, after which it falls into the same syndrome as 1) above. So far, problem unsolved.

3.   Once 2) above occurs, Ghost created a new active virtual partition #2 on my C: from which the computer goes into the same syndrome as 1) above when trying to boot from the HD. Solved by using gdisk32 and activating the old c: partition #1 and de-activating partition #2. Solved, except that now I have a 7MB c:#2 de-activated partition existing that won't boot and that I can't get rid of.

Fortunately I had on hand a Win XP bootable floppy from bootdisk.com that allowed me to boot into Windows and accomplish 3) above from the command line. Bless bootdisk.com.

Other than these posts that's as far as I have come in the last 10 days.

This is a great forum, which I now see is developed and maintained by Ghost gurus helping a very large group of people that have been stung by a Ghost - what does that say for these programs? Is that #4 of my problems?

Thanx for your reply

Charles Daniell

 
 
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Re: Newbie with 2003 Problems
Reply #6 - Dec 16th, 2005 at 12:59pm
 
Bruce;

I looked all over the Symantec site and couldn't find the telephone number for technical help that you mentioned below.

If you have it handy, please pass it on and I will give it a try as a last resort. Meanwhile, I'm hoping that this forum will solve some of my troubles.

Thaks in advance

Charles Daniell
 
 
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Re: Newbie with 2003 Problems
Reply #7 - Dec 19th, 2005 at 6:58pm
 
cdaniell

Quote:
Fortunately I had on hand a Win XP bootable floppy from bootdisk.com that allowed me to boot into Windows and accomplish 3) above from the command line. Bless bootdisk.com.

If a WinXP boot disk works, but a DOS boot disk does not--then I suspect there's something *wrong* with how you are formatting the DOS boot disks--std WinXP formatted floppies will not work with DOS--the master boot record points to the wrong boot files.

How are you initializing the floppy disks for use?

When you use the WinXP format command for a floppy disk, you have the option at the bottom of the format screen to check a box that says *Create an MS-DOS Startup Disk*.  You can then delete the files on the disk and use it for other DOS boot disks--such as the Ghost Boot Disk Wizard.

Quote:
1st problem is that I cannot seem to boot up into DOS with any kind of floppy disk, including the  Ghost floppies (2) that I made, or a 98 bootable downloaded from bootdisk.com.

Again, this suggests that it's a boot disk problem and not a Ghost problem, per say, because you can not boot from any DOS boot disk successfully.

Quote:
E: (my data) is 200GB run from an ATA board,

What does this mean--are you using an add-in HDD controller card?  If *yes*, is it possible to temporarily pull that card and test to see if the system now boots to DOS okay?

Quote:
The G: used to be my USB external drive but the @#$^# Ghost took over that drive letter so it is now a 7MB partition on my C: so finally, when it is connected my 160MB external USB dive is H:.

How did that partition created by Ghost when booting to it's *virtual partition* do perform the Ghost functions from the Windows interface, get assigned a drive letter--oh--I guess you used the WinXP boot floppy and was able to boot to WinXP while that partition was still set active and *seen* by WinXP.

Can you use *Disk Management* to delete that partition?

You could then use one of these techniques to make WinXP *loose* it's drive letter assignment memory and re-assign drive letters:

Fixing Windows 2000/XP Drive Letters


 

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Re: Newbie with 2003 Problems
Reply #8 - Dec 20th, 2005 at 4:39pm
 
Thanks Night Owl, your help keeps me going at this Ghost proble;
Quote:
" How are you initializing the floppy disks for use?

When you use the WinXP format command for a floppy disk, you have the option at the bottom of the format screen to check a box that says *Create an MS-DOS Startup Disk*.  You can then delete the files on the disk and use it for other DOS boot disks--such as the Ghost Boot Disk Wizard."


Ok - I formatted a floppy from A: with XP and checked the "Create a DOS Disk" box then erased the files. Then I used the 2003 Ghost Utility and this floppy to maka a standard boot disk resulting in two disks. Then on a restart with the floppy in the drive, the result was "Invalid Disk" error. So no joy here. For your information, I also tried the boot disk that XP format made and that resulted in a lockup witha small group of some srtange ASCII symbols at the bottom of the screen ( a few line symbols and the ace of spades). Each time I hit any key at all, the group moved 1/3 of a screen width left until at the far right it then moved to the far left at each keystroke. Something wierd is happening!

Quote:

What does this mean--are you using an add-in HDD controller card?  If *yes*, is it possible to temporarily pull that card and test to see if the system now boots to DOS okay?


The E: on my machine contains strictly data and runs from an ATA card supplied by Maxtor and I really hesitate to remove the board while my C: remains without a means to restore it. That's in case  I bumped a connection or somethiong and all was lost. But I shouldn't think that its presence would affect the way the machine boots from a floppy?? Sorry, but I'm paranoid!!

Quote:
I guess you used the WinXP boot floppy and was able to boot to WinXP while that partition was still set active and *seen* by WinXP.

Can you use *Disk Management* to delete that partition?


That's all correct. But instead of Disk Management, I used Ghost's GDisk32 to activate the "real" C: and I suppose I could also use it to delete the small partition that Ghost made. I also checked and I see that Disk Management would also allow me to do that. But like I say, I'm very paranoid and I will let that little partition sleep until I get a restorable image of my C:.

Any more thoughts on getting the machine to boot from a floppy? or as to why it does not?

Thanks again for you help.

Charles Daniell
 
 
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Re: Newbie with 2003 Problems
Reply #9 - Dec 20th, 2005 at 5:42pm
 
cdaniell

Create the above *MS-Dos Boot Disk* using WinXP again, but do not delete any files--will that boot to DOS?

Go to *bootdisk.com*, download the Win98 OEM boot disk here:

Boot Disks


Using a new out of the package formatted floppy that has not been formatted in WinXP (or use GDisk32 to use the command line to *wipe* the floppy disk--GDisk's wipe command does the master boot sector as well as the data part of the disk)--use the boot disk program to create the Win98 boot floppy.

Will that boot to DOS?
 

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cdaniell
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Re: Newbie with 2003 Problems
Reply #10 - Dec 28th, 2005 at 4:16pm
 
Sorry Night Owl but none of the suggestions work.

After reading Dan Goodell's post today under "Please Don't Throw Rocks" i'm going to try to save a lot of time (maybe yours included) by jumping the Ghost ship and trying a Terabyte product. I simply cannot put up with Symantec's jinxes, albeit, I've had some very gracious help from this Forum for which I am most grateful

Thank you all - wish me well.

Charles Daniell
 
 
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Re: Newbie with 2003 Problems
Reply #11 - Dec 28th, 2005 at 5:10pm
 
cdaniell

I'm sure we all *wish you well*!  Please report back with the results of your efforts!

But, based on the following:

Quote:
1st problem is that I cannot seem to boot up into DOS with any kind of floppy disk, including the  Ghost floppies (2) that I made, or a 98 bootable downloaded from bootdisk.com.

Your problem really seems not to be a *Ghost* problem, but more likely a *system* problem!

Dan Goodell's comments I believe are in regards to a DOS product as well--so you are likely to get no further until you solve the basic boot to DOS problem you seem to be reporting!

Good luck!
 

No question is stupid...but, possibly the answers are  Wink !
(This is an old *NightOwl* user account--not in current use.  Current account is NightOwl without a dash at the end.)
 
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