PC Pals Forum
Technical Help & Discussion => General Tech Discussion, News & Q&A => Topic started by: Kaz on June 29, 2007, 19:16
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Hi,
I have just installed Acronis Workstation 9.1 for backing up my PC I have done a Backup and installed some new software which I decided I didn't want at the moment so I restored the previous back up and during the back up it says that the restore needs to re boot it start to reboot but stops and freezes or hangs Iv tried a few times but it wont go the full restore i have a bootable cd, but Im not sure how to use it can any one give me some ideas and help please
Thanks Kaz :dunno:
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Can you still get into current (pre-back up) Windows? If so, try uninstalling the unwanted software via the usual method (Control Panel > Add / Remove Programs).
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You need to enter the BIOS and set the boot sequence to CD as the first boot device.
Then save changes and exit and it will reboot and run off the CD.
After you have done what you need to do re start the PC and enter the BIOS again and change the boot sequence back to the hard drive as the first boot device then save and exit again.
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Hi All,
thanks for that, i know I can go to add and remove to remove the software, but it doesny remove all the ''Stuff'' that comes with it thats why I git this so I could install and uninstall with no ''Problems (Iwish).
Thanks Kaz
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I can't personally recommend it, as I haven't used it myself, but this free uninstaller could be useful to you:
http://www.revouninstaller.com/
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Thanks Simon
Ill take a look at it
Kaz
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Hi Simon
I have had a look at Revo, but I think im already covered with this as I have Tune up Utilites 2007 and Windows Care Pro They more or less do that sort of thing reg clean start up ect, but thanks very much for your help and info.
I just need to know how to boot from a bootable CD? and maybe that will fix the problem I have
Kaz
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Kaz asked me via PM how to set the pc up to boot from the CD so I have written this to try and help her, maybe we can edit to improve it with possibly adding some screenshots of the various BIOS screens from various BIOS types and make it a sticky somewhere later Simon, in order to help others who dont know about the BIOS?
Some newer PCs, especially with SATA hard drives, use F8 to select the boot sequence, if yours does then just press F8 and a list of bootable options should appear, if it does use the UP and Down keys to select the CD or DVD drive and press Enter, have the bootable CD in the drive before you press enter.
It should then boot off the CD.
If yours doesnt give you that option then you need to go into the BIOS setup.
When you start your pc, depending on the model you have to press certain keys to get into the BIOS screen.
As the pc starts you should see the writing flashing past, sometimes a bit too quickly, you should see a line that says Press "X" for Setup.
I have put "X" to cover all the options.
99% of pcs use the DEL key some use F1 or F2 so see if you can see which one it says as it starts up, its on the first screen that appears justafter it tells you the speed of your pc and the memory size.
Once you know which key to press restart your pc and keep pressing the key repeatedly until it either make multiple beeps or the BIOS screen appears.
If it boots into windows then you have missed it and have to start again.
Once you see the BIOS screen, there are 3 or 4 different types so I cant say just where the option is on yours, you need to look for a section called BOOT along the top of the screen or sometimes you have to look in different parts of the menu, usually in Advanced, for something that says BOOT Order or BOOT sequence.
You cant use the mouse at this time, use the keyboard to select the various lines or options.
Sometimes you need to use the Page Up and Page down buttons to change values, sometimes its the arrow keys, it will say at the bottom of the screen which one works for your type of BIOS.
The ESC key takes you out of the part of the menu you are in and back to the sub menu or the main menu, depending where you are.
Once you have found the BOOT menu, make the first bootable device the CD or DVD and then select the Save Changes and Exit option, sometimes you can use the F10 key to do this but again it will say at the bottom of the screen.
A box will come up asking you to confirm save and exit, type Y and then press enter and it will reboot and boot from the CD.
After you have done what you need to do go back into the bios and set the boot sequence back to what it was before, usually boot from the hard drive as the first boot device.
Hope this helps, it sounds complicated but thats because I have tried to explain it fully and clearly and mentioned some of the options for the different types of BIOS.
Post here to let me us if you found it easy or difficult to follow please Kaz and if you can think of anything to add to make it easier to understand once you have seen the BIOS screen :)
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Thanks Sandra,
for this your a star If it helps my Laptop is a Dell
Kaz
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Ok that will probably mean that the easy option of F8 wont work for you :(
I think they use F2 but you should see it easily enough on the screen as the text flashes by :)
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Ok Im going to give it a go !!!!!!!!! :peepsofa: close my eyes and hope for the best LOL
Thanks
Kaz
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Sounds fine, Sandra. Not sure where we could get BIOS screenshots from though. :dunno: It might also be worth mentioning that sometimes a USB or Wireless keyboard will not allow BIOS access, as the drivers for them aren't loaded in time to hit the F8 / F2 / DEL key.
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Hi Folks,
Now? when I use this bootable CD and reboot it, where does it take me back to? is it to the uninstall I want to do before installing the software I don't want or to the time I installed Acronis Im a bit confused I dont want to loose stuff?
Kaz :dunno:
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It should restore it to the point that you made the backup bootable CD.
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Hi folks,
well the verdict is ''It Didn't work''
I used the bootable CD went into bios selected boot from cd and Enabled it it booted back up ok, but it made no changes at all?
what the heck am I doing wrong, I think Im goinging :crazy: and then im going to :cry:
Help kaz :brickwall:
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Hi Kaz,
From what I understand, the main reason for your wanting to use the back up, is to remove the residue of an uninstalled program, yes? There are often easier ways to do this, which we have touched on above, and it might be worth investigating the program vendor's website, to see if there is a dedicated uninstall utility for it, which would hopefully remove it properly. It might even be worth Googling for one, if it's not obvious on the website. If you would like to tell us what it is you're trying to remove, we may be able to help further.
I have to say, using a backup facility to uninstall unwanted software isn't all that great an idea, in my opinion, as the backup process can often also remove other files that you may need, such as updates for other programs, etc. Of course, backing up your data is a good thing, but for the purposes of removing software, I would always go by the conventional methods, and only if everything gets screwed, would I revert to a previous backup. This is just my opinion, of course, and others may disagree. :)
As for why your backup hasn't worked, sorry, I can't help with that, but hopefully someone who is more familiar with Acronis, and the like, will be able to suggest something.
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When it booted off the CD what options did you get Kaz ?
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Hi All,
The reason for me backing up like this is not just so I can install and uninstall, but it does help backing up just before installing and new piece of software and if it isn't what you want you can un-install it and hay presto your computer is back to what it was before the installation, nice and clean without all the rubbish that comes with it, so I think for that reason it works well for me.
Now for the booting thing I went into F2 setup looked for boot and selected the cd drive pressed F10 to save on exit and it booted up but when it returned to my desktop I still had the software on my PC that should not be there Im assuming? this is correct (and is this explanation understandable?) I just don't know what else to do :crazy:
Kaz
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It sounds like its a bootable CD that you made in order to bypass the normal windows OS on the hard drive and to run the restore progam but once it has started you should then have the backed up data, possibly on another CD/DVD to restore from.
I havent used the program that you have used but when I have used similar ones I have had to boot from a floppy to load the program then use the back up CD to wipe the hard drive and then restore the backed up image to the hard drive.
I assume that you dont have a floppy in your laptop so your program will have created a bootable CD for you and then it should have asked you to select a source to create an image to back up.
This would either be on a seperate partition on the hard drive or to a CD/DVD.
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Hi Sandra,
ok this is what I have done, made a bootable cd, that is what it tells you to do first, backup my C drive to an external E drive varyfy back up all ok. Install new software, nope don't want that, so ill just go back to my install before software call up retrieve C drive to My C drive and it all is well till it says this install needs to reboot goes into reboot gets a quarter of the way done and Hang freezes, that whats happening at the moment :cry:
Kaz
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Cant think what the problem is Kaz, unless for some reason the boot cd doesnt install the USB drivers for your external drive. :dunno:
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It says it has all the usb drivers when you make the bootable cd