Thinkpads Forum

Hi All:
My T520 (all current updates of w7) periodically freezes up during the boot process (this occurs if restarting from hibernate of when completely shutdown). If I hold down the "on/off" button and restart, it will (sometimes after 2-3 tries) finally boot. This all started after a disastrous loading of the 2012 version of my backup s/w Acronis. This caused a BSOD and a fair amount of work to get alive again. I had to remove all vestiges of Acronis 2012 and install my older version of Acronis 2010. Everything works fine now except for this boot problem.

Any suggestions on how to trouble shoot/fix the issue?

TIA,

Harold

Mine does stuff like that, when I set the SATA-properties to "Compatibility", which I needed to when rearranging my partitions with Acronis. When set on "ACPI" everything is fine....may be worth a try?

Terry:

Thanks for the suggestion. However, I have to admit I do not know how to change/set the SATA mode(s). Do you do this in the device manager or the control panel?

hdblair wrote:Terry:

Thanks for the suggestion. However, I have to admit I do not know how to change/set the SATA mode(s). Do you do this in the device manager or the control panel?

It's done in the BIOS setup. Hit F1 or the blue ThinkVantage key at bootup to enter BIOS Setup. Select Config, go down to the word "Serial ATA" and insure it's not set to "Compatibility". If it is, toggle to AHCI mode. If it is already there, you have a different problem.

Thanks again for the info. I checked the BIOS setting and it is set to AHCI, so I guess I have some other issue going on. Wish I could get Acronis to respond...

hdblair wrote:Thanks again for the info. I checked the BIOS setting and it is set to AHCI, so I guess I have some other issue going on. Wish I could get Acronis to respond...

In the dim, distant past I remember having the same problem on a T43 that was solved by removing all traces of Acronis. Something to do with a boot sector offset, but this was at least 2008 or 9 so I'm not sure of the cause but I am sure of what solved the problem.

I know that it can be very difficult to leave behind software that you are very familiar with, but perhaps you might investigate doing a full removal of Acronis and seeing how your machine behaves. And perhaps, just to add a layer of protection, if you have the hardware, do a full backup using Windows own backup tools to at least protect your data and mail, etc.

Good idea. I will give it a go and see what happens. Thanks again for the info....

Yeah Acronis did funny things to my system when I tried it.

I presume you weren't trying to load a backup from a different system.