EasyBCD won't run

oggie

oggie

Active Member
Hi..
I had a look around and there are similar posts but I didn't see effective solutions (maybe there are but couldn't find them).

I downloaded .net 2.0 and installed it followed by .net sp1
Downloaded and installed EasyBCD

When I run it, I get the hourglass next to the mouse pointer for a couple of seconds, then it disappears....what am I doing wrong ?

The drive is partitioned with Vista on a partition and XP on the other...it boots in XP.

In the past I already used EasyBCD without problems...now I just re-installed XP.

Thanks:unamused:
 
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Ok, thanks - was hoping it wouldn't be that because I have no idea where the Vista disc is :shame: and in my condition I have to instruct somebody to look for it :nerd::nerd:
 
Hi oggie, welcome to NeoSmart.

I assume you're running EasyBCD on Windows XP right now and you get the hourglass thing?

Two things to check:
1) In the task manager (ctrl+shift+esc) do you see either "EasyBCD.exe" or "BootGrabber.exe" or "bcdedit.exe" running?
2) In the event viewer (start | run | eventvwr.msc) in the "Windows Logs" -> "Applications" do you see any errors around the same time you launched EasyBCD?

We have downloadable copies of Windows Vista recovery CDs available from here: Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download The NeoSmart Files
 
1) Yes, both EasyBCD and BootGrabber are running (task manager>processes)
2) Can check event viewer this afternoon - here now it's 9:30am and I am on another computer

As regards Vista recovery disc' thanks - will d/load
 
OK, looks like bootgrabber.exe is stuck on your PC :frowning:
Something to do with your hardware configuration, I presume.

Two things to try:
1) Does EasyBCD 2.1 beta do the same? EasyBCD 2.1 Beta Builds - The NeoSmart Forums
2) If it does, can you do start |cmd
cd "\Program Files\NeoSmart Technologies\EasyBCD\bin"
bootgrabber.exe /tlist

And copy and paste the output here in a reply?
 
Good luck.

Where are you located, btw? Just wondering because I'm +2 UTC and you seem to be +1 UTC? Usually get people in a completely different timezone, night & day.
 
I am in Malta - and you ?

Something else : very, very strange....just tried EasyBCD on my other computer (which i am now using) - same problem !

Addendum:

Just tried "bootgrabber.exe /list" - answer was "No active partition detected on disk1" ??
 
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That message is normal, it is only a "warning" and not an error.

But did BootGrabber.exe complete running or did it hang after printing that message?

Addendum:

Oh, and I'm in Jordan.
 
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Ah....that explains why you are online now (Jordan)

The DOS prompt does not come - seems it remains busy but shows no sign of life !
 
Yeah, that's what I feared.

This is the hardest problem to debug with BootGrabber.exe, the last time we had this issue was a year+ ago, and it took a few months to get to the bottom of it :frowning:

I suppose a screenshot of Control Panel | Admin Tool | Computer Management | Disk Management would help.
 
Computer Guru said:
Yeah, that's what I feared.

This is the hardest problem to debug with BootGrabber.exe, the last time we had this issue was a year+ ago, and it took a few months to get to the bottom of it :frowning:
Click to expand...

Oh shit !!

Computer Guru said:
I suppose a screenshot of Control Panel | Admin Tool | Computer Management | Disk Management would help.
Click to expand...

I can't from this computer but will be on other in about 1 hr - is it ok ?
 
Oh wow... That's more drives than even I have!

I'm not surprised something went wrong with that complex a setup.

Did BootGrabber only print that one line? I'll probably have to send you a build with extra logging or something to try and pin down this issue.
 
Don't be impressed by the drives : the computer's drive is 320gB - partitioned in 3 - XP, Vista and data. The others are network drives ; 200gB and 400gB, both partitioned in two in an attempt to make finding something easier....did it work ?...so so..
Yes, that's all it said - not very informative, eh ?

The Tablet I use has only 1 drive, no partitions...but same result...

Addendum:

Something very strange happened : I tried EasyBCD and,as expected, nothing happened. I started Task Manager, found BootGrabber.exe and "End Task" - as soon as I ended the task, EasyBCD asked if I want to load a bootloader. I chose "yes" and when asked where to get it from, I cancelled...next EasyBCD started ! I couldn't do much as apparently my boot.ini is missing.....does this make any sense to you ?

BTW, I tried it again to see if it was a one-off freak accident - it was not ! Any ideas ?
 
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No, that's no accident.

At startup, EasyBCD launches BootGrabber.exe, a super-low-level helper application that retrieves information about the attached drives on your system. BootGrabber.exe and its info are required in order to add a Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3 entry and certain types of Linux entries.

EasyBCD waits for BootGrabber.exe to get this info, report back, and exit. Without this info, you'll be unable to add an XP entry or said Linux entries.

If all you want to do is write the MBR or add a Vista/7 entry, EasyBCD will work in this mode. But seeing as you need some XP-related EasyBCD magic, we're going to need to figure out what's stopping BootGrabber on your system. I'll upload a copy of BG with advanced debug logging soon, and maybe we can find out what is causing these problems.
 
By what i understood, BootGrabber.exe looks for a file with a .BCD extension.....where should that be ? If it should be in root of C:, it's not there - could it be ?

I am not trying to do anything fancy - just dual boot (apart for having Vista for when somebody asks me a Vista related question, it is also very useful when something happens to XP......I just fire up Vista and retreive my important files)
 
No - BootGrabber gets information about the disks, and has nothing to do with the "BCD not found" error which is a whole 'nother issue.

If you have the viewing of hidden and system files enabled, you'll find the BCD file in the \BOOT\ folder on C:\
 
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