Occasionally during the backup my system completely crashes and I find that it has rebooted itself with a message saying:
"The system has recovered from a serious error."
The message is accompanied by a question asking if I want to send log information to MS. I have a copy of the log information generated but I'm not sure it would make sense to anyone except some poor MS dude who sifts through them for a living.
I am on WinXP, latest trial version of AISBackup 2.7. (348), backing up a whole partition to an external USB hard disk.
Looking at the log file, the crash occurs directly after the Using Media: [EXTERNAL] message. The next message is normally "Preparing Registry Files" but it doesn't get to that when the crash occurs.
When first evaluating AISBackup this error happened every time I ran a backup, and I found that if I first shut down skype the problem went away. I wrote a script to shut down skype and added it as a pre-backup job to ensure skype was always shut down.
I have since discovered that the problem still occurs occasionally even when skype isn't running, and I have been unable to find the cause.
My trial period has almost expired, but I do not feel comfortable buying a licence if this problem is not resolved. Has anyone experienced a similar problem or know what might be causing it?
Thanks
Martin
Intermittent system crash during backup
This is not normal behaviour of AISBackup.
I can think of a couple of possibilities that may be causing the crash, please read the complete post then choose your own order of testing:
The disk may be corrupt and this can be fixed with a scandisk (this will require a re-boot to check the disk at boot time)
There may be a memory corruption and this can be tested if there is more than one memory module in the PC. If the PC has 500MB or more RAM and there are two memory DIMMS in the PC turn off the PC, remove one of the modules and re-try the backup. If this works try the same again but this time using the other memory DIMM module. If the backup continues to fail regardless of which memory module is used it is unlikely that both are faulty so I would guess the fault lies elsewhere.
It may also be worth testing the backup to an alternate destination, for example the local hard drive (C: drive) if you have room.
It may also be worth trying the backup with full logging enabled to see if the backup fails at the same file. (Manage Backup / Change Backup Job Settings / check Log Everything –leave this option unchecked for normal use)
The Microsoft Event Logs may also shed some light on the problem: Right Click My Computer / Manage / Expand Computer Management / System, Tools / Event Viewer and check each log in turn for errors.
If the backup to the local disk (C:\) works without error then you can try the settings Manage Backup / Change Backup Job Settings /Create backup and then copy to media. This option was made to facilitate backup over a network as AISBackup makes a lot of random I/O when making the backup zip format file, if there is a problem with the USB drive in this respect then the copy to media option will help.
I cannot think of any reason why SKYPE would cause this problem; SKYPE is running 100% of the time on this (also XP) PC and this PC gets backed up many times a day.
I welcome any more advice on solving this kind of problem.
Barry
I can think of a couple of possibilities that may be causing the crash, please read the complete post then choose your own order of testing:
The disk may be corrupt and this can be fixed with a scandisk (this will require a re-boot to check the disk at boot time)
There may be a memory corruption and this can be tested if there is more than one memory module in the PC. If the PC has 500MB or more RAM and there are two memory DIMMS in the PC turn off the PC, remove one of the modules and re-try the backup. If this works try the same again but this time using the other memory DIMM module. If the backup continues to fail regardless of which memory module is used it is unlikely that both are faulty so I would guess the fault lies elsewhere.
It may also be worth testing the backup to an alternate destination, for example the local hard drive (C: drive) if you have room.
It may also be worth trying the backup with full logging enabled to see if the backup fails at the same file. (Manage Backup / Change Backup Job Settings / check Log Everything –leave this option unchecked for normal use)
The Microsoft Event Logs may also shed some light on the problem: Right Click My Computer / Manage / Expand Computer Management / System, Tools / Event Viewer and check each log in turn for errors.
If the backup to the local disk (C:\) works without error then you can try the settings Manage Backup / Change Backup Job Settings /Create backup and then copy to media. This option was made to facilitate backup over a network as AISBackup makes a lot of random I/O when making the backup zip format file, if there is a problem with the USB drive in this respect then the copy to media option will help.
I cannot think of any reason why SKYPE would cause this problem; SKYPE is running 100% of the time on this (also XP) PC and this PC gets backed up many times a day.
I welcome any more advice on solving this kind of problem.
Barry
more information...
It just crashed again, but this time I had AISBackup logging everything.
The end of the log is this:
12:20:46 AM REG Finished Registry Backup
12:20:46 AM INF Backing up 1 Exclusively Opened File
12:26:57 AM EXCEPTION Exception: EAccessViolation: Access violation at address 00404256 in module 'AISBACKUP.exe'. Read of address 0000002C
12:26:57 AM EXCEPTION Component: Tab3
12:27:09 AM EXCEPTION Exception: EAccessViolation: Access violation at address 00404256 in module 'AISBACKUP.exe'. Read of address 0000002C
12:27:09 AM EXCEPTION Component: Tab1
12:27:10 AM EXCEPTION Exception: EAccessViolation: Access violation at address 00404256 in module 'AISBACKUP.exe'. Read of address 0000002C
12:27:10 AM EXCEPTION Component: Tab3
As I mentioned before, the computer flashes up BSOD and reboots immediately.
I have thoroughly checked the RAM which was all good, and there were no errors on the disk, and it is a relatively new disk.
The crash occurs only rarely now, but seems to be when I continue using the computer during a backup instead of leaving it run alone. In this last case I connected to the internet via 3G USB modem and browsed a couple of pages in firefox while the backup was running. The USB modem also registers a couple of drive letters when it is plugged in, but I'm not sure that would be relevant.
From memory, when it crashed the time before that I just had a few internet explorer pages open.
Do these error messages give you any hints as to the cause?
I have also noticed that Paragon backup gives me a BSOD every time I attempt a backup, but other utilities such as Acronis work fine. Does AIS use a similar technology to Paragon?
Cheers
Martin
The end of the log is this:
12:20:46 AM REG Finished Registry Backup
12:20:46 AM INF Backing up 1 Exclusively Opened File
12:26:57 AM EXCEPTION Exception: EAccessViolation: Access violation at address 00404256 in module 'AISBACKUP.exe'. Read of address 0000002C
12:26:57 AM EXCEPTION Component: Tab3
12:27:09 AM EXCEPTION Exception: EAccessViolation: Access violation at address 00404256 in module 'AISBACKUP.exe'. Read of address 0000002C
12:27:09 AM EXCEPTION Component: Tab1
12:27:10 AM EXCEPTION Exception: EAccessViolation: Access violation at address 00404256 in module 'AISBACKUP.exe'. Read of address 0000002C
12:27:10 AM EXCEPTION Component: Tab3
As I mentioned before, the computer flashes up BSOD and reboots immediately.
I have thoroughly checked the RAM which was all good, and there were no errors on the disk, and it is a relatively new disk.
The crash occurs only rarely now, but seems to be when I continue using the computer during a backup instead of leaving it run alone. In this last case I connected to the internet via 3G USB modem and browsed a couple of pages in firefox while the backup was running. The USB modem also registers a couple of drive letters when it is plugged in, but I'm not sure that would be relevant.
From memory, when it crashed the time before that I just had a few internet explorer pages open.
Do these error messages give you any hints as to the cause?
I have also noticed that Paragon backup gives me a BSOD every time I attempt a backup, but other utilities such as Acronis work fine. Does AIS use a similar technology to Paragon?
Cheers
Martin
BSOD
The BSOD message should be in the Microsoft event logs, Start / right click My Computer / Manage / expand folders to System Logs.
To stop the PC rebooting on BSOD so that you can read it: Right click My Computer / Properties / Advanced tab / Startup and Recovery Settings / Uncheck Automatic Restart
In Vista / 7 Right click Computer / menu on the left Advanced system settings / Advanced tab / Startup and Recovery Settings / Uncheck Automatic Restart
If the reason for the crash is always the same then you may be able to address the problem by Googling the STOP 0X00000000 code. I have found that if the reason for backup is always different then the memory (RAM) is likely to be faulty. If you have more than one memory module in the PC then you could try removing each one of them to see if the situation improves (assuming you are left with enough memory to run Windows). I am not an expert here (and anybody passing this post who knows please comment) but I guess if there is a hard disk corruption in the disk space used by the virtual memory then this may cause a problem. If there is more than one disk in the PC you could manually move the virtual memory to a different drive.
Barry
To stop the PC rebooting on BSOD so that you can read it: Right click My Computer / Properties / Advanced tab / Startup and Recovery Settings / Uncheck Automatic Restart
In Vista / 7 Right click Computer / menu on the left Advanced system settings / Advanced tab / Startup and Recovery Settings / Uncheck Automatic Restart
If the reason for the crash is always the same then you may be able to address the problem by Googling the STOP 0X00000000 code. I have found that if the reason for backup is always different then the memory (RAM) is likely to be faulty. If you have more than one memory module in the PC then you could try removing each one of them to see if the situation improves (assuming you are left with enough memory to run Windows). I am not an expert here (and anybody passing this post who knows please comment) but I guess if there is a hard disk corruption in the disk space used by the virtual memory then this may cause a problem. If there is more than one disk in the PC you could manually move the virtual memory to a different drive.
Barry