Allen,
Thanks. That really is fascinating.
Just a question on your single core CPU to multi-core CPU on Windows XP Pro. Did that new computer boot? Was the HAL changed by the Repair Install? I haven't read any information on HAL changes by this process.
Hi Brian,
Perfect timing dude! I was just getting ready to walk away from the computer and head off to bed! 
Oh yes, it booted just fine. The absolute only problem was that it ran slower than it should have because it was only allowing use of but one of the 4 CPU cores.
I'm not sure about how the HAL changed though I assume it must have been, what I do know is that the hardware changes have always been resolved properly (with that one minor exception of multi-core CPU).
My experience started with Windows 95, 98, ME, XP Pro and finally Vista Ultimate on various hardware platforms. For each of these upgrades I had a significant hardware upgrade involved as well. FYI: I also had a few Ghost restorals with the SAME OS and just different hardware. This is on top of the typical hard drive failure which I have had a few times, one of which was triggered by a massive power surge which to my chagrin managed to ZAP my hard drive even through what should have been a pretty high end UPS system. 
If you are wondering about all the HD upgrades, do you recall how SLOW IDE drives were in the old days? That is when I first upgraded to Ultra Wide SCSI but finally the cost of replacement for failed HD's caused me to switch to SATA..
Allen
AllenM wrote:
do you recall how SLOW IDE drives were in the old days?
Yes. Especially when they got stuck in PIO mode.
AllenM wrote:Oh yes, it booted just fine. The absolute only problem was that it ran slower than it should have because it was only allowing use of but one of the 4 CPU cores.
Do you think it could have been using the old HAL? I guess we will never know.
My test computer is an old Pentium 4 model. It uses halacpi.dll. If I try halmacpi.dll, it won't boot. My main computer is a dual core Pentium D. I'm pretty sure it will boot with either HAL but I haven't tested to see if it is slow with halacpi.dll. I'll try that.
Edit..... My mistake, the Pentium D wouldn't boot with halacpi.dll.
Hi Brian,
It could well be the HAL but as you said there is no way to know for sure at this point. This was the only case I ran into where a bit of messing around would have been required to get past that last small hurdle. Seems pretty unlikely that a repair upgrade would handle everything so beautifully (at least 6-8 times) unless it was properly dealing with the HAL.
The 'technical' side of me kind of wishes I had solved that one minor mystery on XP before upgrading to Vista but oh well.
Allen
Well, it just has a black screen with the blinking cursor and not a single message. I have not verified the Recovery Point… But Windows CD identifies the restored OS is a valid Windows OS as it tried to repair it…
I'd check your hardware. If it is an IDE HD, are the jumpers correct? If it is SATA, is it plugged into the same SATA port on the motherboard as the failed HD was using?
If your hardware is set up OK, repeat the restore into the current partition and choose...
Verify recovery point before restore
Hey guys,I fixed it! When Brian_K suggested whether I verified the Recovery Point I realized that the system didn’t give me that option. Then I re-read the sequence from AllenM’s post one more time and I found that I missed one important step:
When you boot from the Symantec Recovery CD (SRD), select "Recover my Computer" and then select the appropriate image to restore. Note that you need to select "Filename" from the drop down menu and NOT "Date". If you select "Date" the options below will probably not be presented. When you select FileName your recovery points will probably not be visible so simply hit "Browse" and browse to your recovery point file and select the appropriate image.
Then select the target drive to restore your image to (your new HD) and click "Next".
Check the following options: Verify recovery point before restore - optional and takes longer if checked but a good precaution.
Check for file system errors after recovery - again optional
Resize restored drive - not optional if you want to have the extra HD space available to you after the restore.
Partition type - primary.
Set drive active for booting
Restore original disk signature - see also Chapter 14 in Ghost user guide.Restore MBR - many times optional but should be checked to ensure the MBR is correct. Likely mandatory in Vista.
When I did it everything worked perfectly. Thanks to Brian_K for the idea and to AllenM who wrote this solution. So, guys always FOLLOW instructions.
Great news. Good work.
Hello guys, Here is my problem I scheduled Ghost 14 to back up my PC last Monday. When I woke up I found that my PC crashed at night. Actually its HD broke. I got a replacement HD from WD. I thought I was lucky as I found out that Ghost had backed up my PC before it crashed. The bad part is that after I have “successfully” restored my PC onto the new HD It refused to boot up. I ran Repair process using Windows Vista CD (by the way, I have Windows Vista Ultimate) then I checked HD for errors using Check Hard Disks for Errors. I tried booting from the Windows startup CD and doing the upgrade option, but it doesn’t give me option for Upgrade, only New installation. So far it didn’t work. Any help will be appreciated.