DO NOT Use Acronis recovery from Windows when running UEFI

[smakme7757]

To start: I would not believe what I'm writing if i hadn't just experienced it on two machines.

Problem: After starting a full OS recovery from within Windows (Not using the bootable media) using the Acronis True Image 2014 software the computer restarts to the following screen:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c11/smakme7757/WP_20131126_004_zps1dbd1ca7.jpg

It seems the Acronis Bootloader has corrupted something within the UEFI boot system.

Affected system = 2.

I did a recovery on my Dell laptop last night which ended up with the same problem. I had Dell support out today to change my motherboard and all is well. However both myself and the Dell repair man put it down to bad luck and that components fail every now and again.

Then tonight I decided to recover my Desktop (A few projects coming up so i need everything clean for new software) and as you can see in the picture above, exactly the same problem.

Both system were using UEFI boot
Both System were running WIndows 8.1
Both system were running Acronis TrueImage 2014.

After my Dell got repaired i tried again with the bootable media and that worked, but now i'm out of pocket a new motherboard on the desktop system.

Obviouly Acronis has a clause in their EULA which covers this type of thing, so I'm just left out of picket, but this problem must be made known to users.

 

[smakme7757]

Small update.
I've managed to get into a temporary BIOS on the MSI Z77a-GD65 motherboard in my desktop, so i might be able to save it.

Crosses fingers

 

[smakme7757]

YAY - Fixed

Managed to get into a temp BIOS by booting the BIOS from a USB key. Then i flashed the primary BIOS and everything is working again.

But still, bad bug from the Acronis team. My Laptop wasn't so lucky. It had to get a completely new motherboard (Thank work for Pro Support!).

 

[lxskllr]

I haven't studied UEFI, but why would a recovery program even touch it? It should set something on the MBR, and UEFI would hand control over to that, no?

 

[smakme7757]

I haven't studied UEFI, but why would a recovery program even touch it? It should set something on the MBR, and UEFI would hand control over to that, no?

I don't know enough about it, but i presume when you start a recovery from Windows it has to load it's "Recovery Enviroment" into some sort of memory.

My first thought is a buffer overflow where some the Linux pre-boot environment Acronis uses is overwriting some of the UEFI code. But i would presume the UEFI is loaded into a EPROM or something similar. So how could Acronis even touch it?

I have no idea. But it's a fact. Two system were burned by it. One needed a new motherboard and i fixed the other with a redundant BIOS.

I like the Acronis product, but i think I'll do all restores from the bootable media from now on.

**Every PC should come with two redundant independent BIOS!

 

[stinger608]

That is crazy!!! I would at least contact Acronis and make them aware of the issue.

 

[smakme7757]

That is crazy!!! I would at least contact Acronis and make them aware of the issue.

I did, but i had to do it through their forum. You have to pay for support otherwise. At least i couldn't find an email or contact form.

 

[Dahak]

you could try the feedback page and use complaint i guess

http://www.acronis.com/support/feedback.html'

*Edit* also on that page if you have a login/registered prodcut you can use the http://www.acronis.com/support/contact-us.html

 

[smakme7757]

you could try the feedback page and use complaint i guess

http://www.acronis.com/support/feedback.html'

*Edit* also on that page if you have a login/registered prodcut you can use the http://www.acronis.com/support/contact-us.html

Those support options are greyed out apart from "Live Community"

Some of support options are unavailable because your support program is expired!

I have to pay if i want direct support ($9.95). So I posted on their forum. That's the best I can do.

Thankfully i had pro support with Dell or i would have had to purchase a new Laptop. Expensive bug.

Also their EULA will cover this sort of stuff. So it's just a loss for the consumer. However it's unethical to not make users aware of the issue as i found a similar post on their forum from a while back.

 

[AdamK47]

If you have fast boot enabled with Windows 8/8.1 then the normal POST screen doesn't display.

I don't think you can boot a secondary UEFI BIOS off of a USB flash drive. What probably happened is that when you put the USB drive in, the BIOS selected it as the primary boot device.

Flashing the BIOS probably reset the boot selections back to a default.

 

[smakme7757]

If you have fast boot enabled with Windows 8/8.1 then the normal POST screen doesn't display.

I don't thinkg you can boot a secondary UEFI BIOS off of a USB flash drive. What probably happened is that when you put the USB drive in, the BIOS selected it as the primary boot device.

Flashing the BIOS probably reset the boot selections back to a default.

Fastboot isn't enabled because i like to be able to get into the BIOS. Additionally i started the restore from Windows, from within the Acronis GUI while logged into Windows.

The BIOS is, as far as i know, supposed to fetch a BIOS image from a USB drive in acse of a crash. I presume that's why i have Dual BIOS in the motherboard. However switching over to the B-BIOS didn't help at all. It also didn't help to unplug all the harddrives, i was still unable to get into the BIOS. - Just got that fuzzy screen thing in my picture above.

Even with no drives connected i got the same screen. So i don't know why it's happened, but I'm lucky i was able to repair the desktop. The laptop was a lost cause, there was no way to fix that.

 

[AdamK47]

In that case, it is writing something to the board. Kinda scary.

 

[Gillbot]

I've used Acronis with a few UEFI systems and havent had an issue yet.

 

[Pardus]

Disable UEFI beforehand.

 

[smakme7757]

I've used Acronis with a few UEFI systems and havent had an issue yet.

Neither have I, As a matter of fact it's only a few months since i did the same procedure to roll back. So it came as a total surprise. I'm thinking it's a specific version of Acronis 2014. There has been an update released recently however I didn't bother to update seeing as I was going to roll the system back.

Two completely different systems (and form factors) in 1 day using the same version of the software and exactly the same recovery method can't be wrong.

Acronis uses a small Linux boot disk to get going and there was a bug on the Ubuntu bugtrack for this very issue. It was affecting only a few UEFI BIOS, not all, primarily Samsung Laptops.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-cdimage/+bug/1040557?comments=all
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6713/samsung-laptops-bricked-by-booting-linux-using-uefi

From AnandTech

Update: It appears the problem stems from NVRAM corruption. Removing power, opening the laptop up, and disconnecting the CMOS battery appears like it will clear the problem, but that's a pretty serious set of steps to take for most laptops.

Pretty much why it was easy for me to fix my desktop and why i had to get Dell support in to replace my motherboard in the Laptop.

So it's most likely a specific build of Acronis causing the issue. I was just unlucky enough to have that very build with a flaky Linux kernel

Disable UEFI beforehand.

Sound advice in hindsight, but would you think of that before restoring your system with a piece of software you have used for years?

I might also add that I'm not trying to make Acronis out to be a bad software, I love it, but if this is a known issue it's important that users are aware. Even if it is only affecting certain UEFI boards.