[mark4man]

Should have frickin' listened to WhitPhil, I guess...!!!

Background:
Purchased a new, high-end Core 2 PC, designed by ADK of Kentucky as a (super-duper) digital audio workststion. The techs at ADK laughed at the notion of any program written by Norton/Symantec installed on a machine assembled by them...so I went out & got iolo's System Mechanic to replace Norton's System Works (which I had on my old machine).

Current:
So I install System Mechanic; & I was prompted to then run the program, which I did. After it analyzed my system & performed its fixes, I was prompted for restart, which I did.

Because the install disk was still in the CD-ROM Drive, an iolo recovery console came up, telling me there was a problem w/ my hard drives. I selected my local drive (C) & let the fix run its full cycle. After completion, the PC rebooted; & this same recovery console cycle began all over again. I finally realized what was going on & removed the installation disk from the drive. Another cycle then took place, this time a completion & reboot of a registry fix; & on it's 2nd cycle the PC rebooted all the way to desktop.

Trouble is...whatever System Mechanic did to my C Drive, the Windows Hardware Wizard detected the drive as being newly installed; & reinstalled the drivers.

Now...ADK had this machine set up w/ their own recovery console; & by the looks of the way configurations were flashing by & being replaced as the BIOS loaded...I'm thinking that iolo has now taken that over.

What can I do to put my drive & system back the way it was (over the holiday weekend...until I can contact ADK support)?

Thanks,

mark4man

[Elvandil]

I like system tools and I like using them to keep my machine running well. But "suites" that do things that are not entirely clear to the user are not something I'd recommend. System Mechanic is one of the worst, and it's registry tools cause more damage than most, though that isn't saying much.

It's hard to help you because you have been kind of vague about exactly what they had set up originally and what is there now. Was it the XP Recovery Console as a boot option that they had before, or something else?

Were you not suspicious that SM told you there was a problem with a new machine?

[mark4man]

I've since gone back & popped it in again to see exactly what it was (without allowing it to work this time). It’s called 'Drive Medic Recovery Console'. The splash page reads: “Drive Medic(tm) will repair drives that have become unbootable, inaccessible or otherwise corrupted. It works by performing a series of tests on installed system drives & optionally fixes detected problems.”

My system seems to be running just fine...but the only thing that bothers me is the fact that (the first time) I selected my C Drive...it tested & repaired it (have no idea why)...& when I finally pulled the install/boot disk & got back to the desktop, the Hardware Wizard recognized the drive as newly installed & reinstalled the drivers. So...it did something, that's for sure.

I'm not asking to be beat up on...I already know I did a stupid thing. I'm asking if anyone has any knowledge of this function of System Mechanic...& how I can find out exactly what it did.

Thanks,

mark4man

[Elvandil]

Sorry about the lecture. It was meant to be informative to others as well as you.

So you are not necessarily asking how to remove it?

From Iolo:

"This emergency rescue CD restores and automatically repairs downed systems and drives, partitions, boot records, and more. Simply insert your recovery disk (or let System Mechanic create one for you), restart your PC, and DriveMedic will have you up and running in no time."

"The Drive Medic CD you create with this wizard helps you recover from disaster if your operating system cannot be started. Drive Medic is a DOS-based program that runs tests and repairs, and does not require Windows to operate.

We suggest that you create a bootable Drive Medic CD prior to any trouble occurring. Along with the Drive Medic functions, the CD saves your computer's master boot record information and other key data that can be valuable in reviving a damaged computer."


Since it is a CD and therefore read-only, and since this utility must save the information it gathers somewhere in order to be able to restore it, I suspect that it may have repartitioned your drive and made a space for itself, or at least made some modification that improves its ability to access the drive. This will no doubt make it either impossible or risky to use other methods of repairing problems, such as XP's Recovery Console, and I would question whether other utilities, such as disk imagers, would work properly.

Take a look at Disk Management and see what is going on there.

Right-click Computer > Manage > Disk Management.

What is the make/model of your machine? If it contained a recovery partition for repairs, SM probably assumed that the proprietary partition and MBR were errors and removed your ability to restore your machine by replacing them with standard versions. If so, this cannot be undone by undoing the changes, unless it somehow saved the prior MBR.

[mark4man]

Elvandil...

You are a bonified freakin' Microsoft freakin' GENIUS, man...!!!

There it is (under Disk Management...just as you said)...the UNKNOWN Partition (not to be confused w/ the unknown comic, mind you).

It's 4.28 GB (& healthy).

Thing is...ADK Pro Audio created a recovery console for me (& for all their custom-builds)...& like you said...I now don't know if that unknown partition is theirs, or was usurped by System Mechanic's Drive Medic.

Well I was happy (after I read the first part of your reply). That could have been there since day one; & could still belong to the PC's mfg. (ADK)

Any way to find out what's going on w/ that part of the volume? [I've put my specs in the footer so you know my hdwe. & system.]

Thanks,

mark4man

ADK Pro Audio Core 2 | Intel DP35DP MoBo/Chipset | Intel Q6600 Quad Core CPU | 4 GB SuperTalent DDR2-800 CL5 RAM | Seagate 160 GB SATA II Primary HD | Western Digital 320 GB SATA II Audio HD | Windows XP Pro ~ SP2 | Lynx Aurora8 ~ AES16 | UAD-1 | SONAR PE 7.0.1 | WaveLab 5.0.1

[Elvandil]

4.28 is a bit large I would think for what SM says it saves and restores. That may be a recovery partition that was placed there. The next question, if it is a recovery partition, is how you are supposed to access it if needed. You'll need to ask about that, especially if they set it up for you and it is not standard.

If you can still access your recovery partition by the method they tell you about, then maybe SM didn't do anything serious to your drive. But if you can't, and SM "repaired" an MBR that it thought was damaged, you may need to bring the machine in to rectify the MBR problems and get it back to the way it was.

[mark4man]

The next question, if it is a recovery partition, is how you are supposed to access it if needed.

Well...now that you mentioned it...at startup...as the BIOS settings flashed by...there USED to be a quick F Key prompt that read: Emergency Startup from Recovery Console. Now that SM did it's thing...that's gone.

But they (ADK) also gave me 2 boot disks in the box...a System Recovery Disk; & a System Factory Recovery Disk. So...between those two, w/ a walk-thru from tech support...I'm sure they can get me back to where I was. I'll probably phone them up day after Christmas.

Thanks for all your help,

mark4man

[Zeroday]

System Mechanic can be used only by people who know what changes they are making to their computer, and select what they want changed.

As for someone who just installs the program they are not aware of the things being changed, a program, is only as good as the user, the program acts as it was programmed, and "deem's" what it thinks is neccesary to change.

So you have to be very, very careful when dealing with those type of programs.

I recommend using Ccleaner - It is a safe, easy, understandable, fast uninstaller/issue (registry) fixer, it cleans temporary files - such as cookies and you name it. < but that was in my word's.

Here is the full summary of what it is.

CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner) is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused and temporary files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster, more efficiently and giving you more hard disk space. The best part is that it's fast! (normally taking less than a second to run) and Free.

Cleans the following:

* Internet Explorer Cache, History, Cookies, Index.dat.
* Recycle Bin, Temporary files and Log files.
* Recently opened URLs and files.
* Third-party application temp files and recent file lists (MRUs).
Including: Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and more...
* Advanced Registry scanner and cleaner to remove unused and old entries.
Including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more... Backup for registry clean.
* Windows Startup tool.

and the main site

http://ccleaner.com/

[Elvandil]

Originally Posted by mark4man

Well...now that you mentioned it...at startup...as the BIOS settings flashed by...there USED to be a quick F Key prompt that read: Emergency Startup from Recovery Console. Now that SM did it's thing...that's gone.

But they (ADK) also gave me 2 boot disks in the box...a System Recovery Disk; & a System Factory Recovery Disk. So...between those two, w/ a walk-thru from tech support...I'm sure they can get me back to where I was. I'll probably phone them up day after Christmas.

Thanks for all your help,

mark4man

Somehow you need to get your MBR back. After you get it fixed, since it is a proprietary MBR and can't just be "fixed" by replacing it with normal partitioning tool, make a backup of the MBR on floppy or thumb drive. There are free tools for doing this, like MBRWiz, MBRSaver, and MBRfix that you can find on the internet. The MBR is a tiny piece of code, but when you have an odd one, it would really pay to have a backup. It would have solved this problem, for example.

Good luck and let us know how you come out.

[mark4man]

UPDATE:

ADK tech support walked me thru a fix today. They had (as a precautionary measure...on all their custom-builds) installed Paragon Drive Backup...& it was the Paragon recovery partition installed at the factory that had been screwed around w/ by System Mechanic’s Drive Medic.

They simply had me delete the original (& corrupted) recovery partition...& I then installed a new one (& configured it for recovery from boot up, w/ a particular hot key).

So I'm all fixed up [&...I really have to get my s_it together here & realize (& appreciate) what I have going w/ this new box, as the mfg. has done a far superior job of protecting it than I have in its everyday operation].

[The remaining problem is System Mechanic...not for the functions it performs (which are numerous & fairly important)...bit in that the help files are weak...there is no manual...& no support forum on the net.]

But my machine is fixed up.

Thanks Elvandil,

mark4man