Ghost 14 fails with "Server threw an exception"

I've been running Ghost 14 successfully for some time.  Then a few weeks ago, my inceremental backup started failing.  I cleared lots of disk space on my backup drive (Western digital 2 tb running raid 1), defrag'ed it, updated to the latest version of Ghost (14.05.34587) and the backup fails after running for several hours with "Server threw an exception".

 

Can anyone help?

By the way, I’m running XP SP3, I have 3gb of main memory, about 180gb to be backed up, and about 280 gb free space available on the backup drive.

Message Edited by jjb94941 on 12-11-2009 08:32 AM
Message Edited by jjb94941 on 12-11-2009 08:33 AM

Hi jjb94941,

 

Welcome to the forum. Are you running 32 or 64 bit Windows? Had you installed any other software around the same time frame that this error started occurring? Did it start after any Windows updates?

 

Do you see anything else besides "server through an exception"? Please include anything and everything which shows up when you get the error. Is this a "Backup my computer" or File and Folder backup? What compression level are you using for the backup?

 

What type of backup drive do you have and is it a local drive or network drive?

 

Thanks

Allen

Hi Allen:

 

Thanks for your prompt response.  My answers in red below.

 

Are you running 32 or 64 bit Windows? 32 bit.  Had you installed any other software around the same time frame that this error started occurring? I don't think so, but I can't be certain since the problem started about a month ago.  Did it start after any Windows updates?  Likewise.  I have noticed a lot of Windows updates lately though.  FYI,the build version of SP3 is 090804-1435.

 

Do you see anything else besides "server through an exception"? No.  Please include anything and everything which shows up when you get the error. When I try to edit the settings of the backup, I get an error "Cannot retrieve backup job properties".  I tried to define a new backup and got the same error message. Is this a "Backup my computer" or File and Folder backup? Backup my computer.  What compression level are you using for the backup? I don't know, since I can't get all the way through the wizard to edit the backup settings.

 

What type of backup drive do you have and is it a local drive or network drive? It's a locally connected (USB2)Western Digital 2 Tb drive running Raid 1.

 

Thanks

Message Edited by jjb94941 on 12-11-2009 09:43 AM

Hi jjb94941,

 

Thanks for the update. Please try the procedure documented here and see if this solves the problem.

 

Please let me know if this works.

 

Allen

Hi Allen:

 

I followed the procedure as documented.  Both servcies were set to automatic and were running.  When I entered the MS-DOS commands as outlined in the procedure, I got the results shown in the attached screenshot.  (The attachment is actually a JPG file, but the forum software wouldn't allow me to post it, so I renamed it to txt.log!!)

 

Please advise.

 

Thanks

Julian

Hi jjb94941,

 

Thanks for the update. So this means that you are still getting the "server threw an exception" error?

 

If so, let's uninstall and reinstall Ghost and see if the problem clears. It is possible that there may be a non Ghost related issue going on but this is the easiest place to start.

+++++++++++++++

 

If this does not resolve the problem, we should again uninstall Ghost followed by running the Norton Removal Tool and then reinstalling Ghost. Below I give the procedure for running the Norton Removal tool, but please note that if you have other Norton or Symantec products the removal tool also removes those so please ensure you have all your Norton product keys ready if you have run the removal tool. If you do run the removal tool, please navigate to the Program Data directory on your C drive and remove the Norton and Norton Installer directories.

 

Further, if you have NIS and use Norton Identity Safe please see this link which explains how to back up your Identity Safe data (passwords, etc) so that it can be restored when you reinstall NIS.

 

Procedure for the removal tool:

 

We need to uninstall Ghost and then run the Norton Removal Tool to ensure that all the entries related to Ghost are completely removed from the system registry. Please NOTE that this removes ALL Symantec products so be sure to have your license keys ready as you will need to reinstall all your Symantec software products.

First uninstall Ghost through the Conventional means through Add/Remove Programs. Once done please download the Norton Removal Tool from Symantec from this link.

Run the Norton Removal Tool and once it is completed, please reboot your computer. Once up please run the Removal Tool one more time and once again reboot.

Then please reinstall all your Symantec products and download all updates to them.

 

Then see if the problem is still present.

 

 I'll look forward to update.

 

Thanks

Allen

Message Edited by AllenM on 12-11-2009 04:35 PM

Hi Allen:

 

I followed your instructions to the letter, the backup ran for several hours and then failed with the error "unable to write to file', error code EBAB03F1.  Just to be sure, I cleared out a lot more disk space (about 600Gb free, for a backup of about 180Gb), defragged the drive and tried again.  Same result!  Ran for about 7 hours and failed with the same error.

 

Any new ideas?

HI jjb94941,

 

Thanks for the update. Just to confirm, you ran the Norton Removal tool, correct? You reported seeing error code EBAB03F1 which you had not mentioned before. Is this a new error or were you indeed seeing this before also? What message is reported along with this error code? This error code has been reported numerous times but there are different messages depending on the exact nature of the problem.

 

You reported earlier an inability to edit backup job settings. Do you still have this problem? Do you still get the error "server threw and exception"?

 

I'd also like to see what is being reported in the Windows Application events so please do the following:

 

Please try to check the Windows application event log as well to see if any errors are noted. Please see:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

Once you bring up the event viewer, try to run Ghost and perform the activity which normally results in the problem. Then double click on Application events. Look for anything near the top which is flagged as an error or warning. If any found double click on the event. This will bring up the event properties window. From there see if anything references Ghost in any way. You can paste the event into this thread by clicking on the symbol which looks like two pieces of paper in the event properties window. Then hit Ctrl+V to paste into the thread. Please NOTE that I only need events which are flagged as error or warning and are near the time you reproduced the error with Ghost.

 

Thanks

Allen

Message Edited by AllenM on 12-12-2009 03:10 PM

Hi Allan:  Answers in red again.

 

Thanks for the update. Just to confirm, you ran the Norton Removal tool, correct? I removed NG using the Control Panel, then ran the Norton Removal tool.  It ran for ages (about 45 minutes) then terminated normallyl.  After the computer restarted, I tried running a backup and it failed after several hours as described in the JPG screenshots that I had to rename to .TXT in order to attach them.  I then deleted a bunch of files from the backup drive, defragged, and retried with the result shown in the third attached screenshot.  You reported seeing error code EBAB03F1 which you had not mentioned before. Is this a new error or were you indeed seeing this before also? What message is reported along with this error code? Please see the attached screenshotsThis error code has been reported numerous times but there are different messages depending on the exact nature of the problem.

 

You reported earlier an inability to edit backup job settings. Do you still have this problem? Do you still get the error "server threw and exception"?No.  I am now able to edit the settings and run the wizard to completion.

 

I'd also like to see what is being reported in the Windows Application events so please do the following:

 

Please try to check the Windows application event log as well to see if any errors are noted. Please see:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

Once you bring up the event viewer, try to run Ghost and perform the activity which normally results in the problem. Then double click on Application events. Look for anything near the top which is flagged as an error or warning. If any found double click on the event. This will bring up the event properties window. From there see if anything references Ghost in any way. You can paste the event into this thread by clicking on the symbol which looks like two pieces of paper in the event properties window. Then hit Ctrl+V to paste into the thread. Please NOTE that I only need events which are flagged as error or warning and are near the time you reproduced the error with Ghost.  There were indeed errors as follows:

 

From the first backup attempt

 

Event Type:    Error
Event Source:    Norton Ghost
Event Category:    High Priority
Event ID:    100
Date:        12/11/2009
Time:        10:31:14 PM
User:        N/A
Computer:    FRANKENSTEIN
Description:
Error EC8F17B7: Cannot create recovery points for job: My Computer Backup. Error E7D1001F: Unable to write to file. Error EBAB03F1: The process cannot access the file because another process has locked a portion of the file.
Details: 0xE7D1001F
Source: Norton Ghost
 

 

From the second attempt

Event Type:    Error
Event Source:    McLogEvent
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    259
Date:        12/12/2009
Time:        1:07:33 PM
User:        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer:    FRANKENSTEIN
Description:
The scan found detections. Scan engine version 5400.1158 DAT version 5829.

 

 Event Type:    Error
Event Source:    Norton Ghost
Event Category:    High Priority
Event ID:    100
Date:        12/12/2009
Time:        1:04:04 PM
User:        N/A
Computer:    FRANKENSTEIN
Description:

 

Error EC8F17B7: Cannot create recovery points for job: My Computer Backup. Error E7D1001F: Unable to write to file. Error EBAB03F1: Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service.
Details: 0xE7D1001F
Source: Norton GhostEvent Type:    Error
Event Source:    McLogEvent
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    259
Date:        12/12/2009
Time:        1:07:33 PM
User:        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer:    FRANKENSTEIN
Description:
The scan found detections. Scan engine version 5400.1158 DAT version 5829

 

Thanks again for the help

 

 

Message Edited by jjb94941 on 12-12-2009 05:24 PM
Message Edited by jjb94941 on 12-12-2009 06:13 PM

Hi jjb94941,

 

Thanks again for the update. It looks like the removal tool helped with one aspect of this so it did accomplish something.

 

Before I move on I wanted to mention one thing. To attach images to the forum you should click on the symbol near the top which looks like a green tree. This will allow you to post JPG's directly and has sizing options for better fit into the thread. I have asked the forum software vendor to provide a more intuitive method so that people will know how to properly attach JPG images. FYI: The reason that the Add Attachments does not allow uploading a JPG is because of security concerns so a moderator must validate the image before it is visible to other users. The reasons are two fold: 1) So that inappropriate images (nudity, etc) are not put into the public forum and more importantly 2) to prevent the possible spread of malware.

 

IE allows renamed JPG images to be viewed based on their content instead of file extension but ONLY if the security settings are set appropriately in IE. I did go ahead and pull up the images you attached but as a rule I am reluctant to do this for the reasons stated above. Setting the security options to allow a renamed JPG (renamed as .txt) to be viewed as an image is risky because an important layer of protection is removed when you do that.

++++++++++

 

Anyway, moving on. :smileyhappy: The events indicate a system resource issue. How much RAM do you have? How many other processes are running and what is your available RAM when you attempt to run the backup?

 

We might need to trim the resources down to see if the backup is able to complete. More on that in a bit.

 

Thanks

Allen

Hi Allen:

 

Thanks for the info re JPG images.  I now see the tree icon in the dialog box!

 

Re system resources:  I have 4 Gb of RAM (I realize that only 3 gb is available to 32-bit XP, but I had visions of upgrading to a 64-bit OS).

 

I made sure that no other programs were running when I ran the backup, but of course the processes in the systray were present.  Here's a screencshot of the systray. Systray

Hi jjb94941,

 

Thanks for the update. I'm still waiting for the image to be validated so I can see it, this usually takes only a few hours.

 

Do you have anything like Mozy on your computer? If you do have Mozy,  then disable this before starting the backup. What Anti Virus software do you have and have you tried disabling this during the backup? Note that while AV is disabled you should disconnect yourself from the Internet for your own protection.

 

If the above does not resolve this, then we need to do a diagnostic startup of Windows to trim down anything else which could be causing a potential conflict with Ghost. To do this please type in msconfig in the Start menu Run box.

 

In the System Configuration window click on the Services tab. At the bottom of the window put a checkmark on Hide all Microsoft services. Then click Disable All, then go back through the list and click on the Norton Ghost entry - there needs to be a checkmark on this one. Next, click the Startup tab and again click Disable All and again go through the list and make sure Norton Ghost has a checkmark on it.

 

Click Apply and OK, Windows will inform you that you need to restart so please do so.

 

After the computer comes back up please try the backup again and let me know how it goes.

 

If the diagnostic startup allows Ghost to work, then we just need to narrow down which of the processes or programs are causing the conflict.

 

I'll look forward to further update.

 

Thanks

Allen

Hi Allen:

 

1.  I'm not using Mozy (or any equivalent).

 

 

 

2.  I disabled all services other than Microsoft services and Norton Ghost, and then disabled all startup items.  I then restarted.

 

 

Ignore the following.  I tried restarting one more time and the backup is now running.  I'll provide details when the backup either completes or fails!

 

3.  I tried running a backup, and within about 15 seconds, the following appeared:

 

 ScreenShot006.jpg

 

and whether I replied 'yes' or 'no', the backup job didn't continue.  It only offered me the "close" option as follows:

 

ScreenShot007.jpg

 

 

Any ideas?

Message Edited by jjb94941 on 12-13-2009 03:34 PM
Message Edited by jjb94941 on 12-13-2009 03:34 PM

HI jjb94941,

 

It looks like you edited the last post and said ignore the following so just want to make sure I understand. Are you still testing this or was your last post still an issue?

 

Thanks

Allen

Hi Allen:

 

I am still testing the backup.  It's now 50% complete and NG estimates another two hours.  I'll provide an update when it's done.

 

Thanks for your help

Julian

Unfortunately, it failed again with the following:

 

ScreenShot008.jpg

 

followed by:

 

ScreenShot009.jpg

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks

Julian

 

P.S.  The last time I checked it was 75% complete

Hi jjb94941,

 

Thanks for the update. Please run chkdsk /r on both the source and target hard drives. I also want to make sure your partitions are OK, so please navigate to your Program Files\Norton Ghost\Utility and run the file called PartInfo.exe. This will create a file called partinfo.txt.

 

Please attach this text file to your post. Since this is a .txt you can use the Add Attachments link at the bottom.

 

Thanks much

Allen

Hi Allen:

 

Chkdsk is still running on the backup drive (and will continue to do so for the few hours, I suspect!), so here's the partinfo output.    It doesn't provide partition info for the backup drive (I don't know whether it would do so under normal circumstances), because chkdsk had to dismount the drive in order to run.

 

I'll provide the chkdsk output when it's done.

 

Thanks

Julian

Message Edited by jjb94941 on 12-14-2009 09:22 AM
Message Edited by jjb94941 on 12-14-2009 09:23 AM

OK.  Here's all the data.  I reran Partinfo after all the chkdsk jobs were complete.

 

Target drive chkdsk:

 

ScreenShot010.jpg

 

 

The source drive had no errors either, and I photographed the screens (since it was done outside the Widnows environment), but I can't add the images right now, since the resolution of the photos is too high and I don;t have time to fix them).  If you want, I can submit the photos later when I've had time to reduce the resolution.

 

Thanks again

Julian