Is there an incompatability between the 'Access

[Hammerhead]

Is there an incompatability between the 'Access IBM' utility, and Norton GoBack? Per my other post (link below) regarding the BSOD when using the Access IBM utility on boot, it occurred to me that because both utilities are looking at the MBR, there might be a clash.

http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/to...TOPIC_ID=31706

Any thoughts on this? If I'm right, what is the recommended solution? Should I disable GoBack? On my drive with about 5MB of recovery space, GoBack is only preserving 3 days of data, anyway.

[fredtwd]

Goback and Access IBM both want to be installed in the MBR. When GoBack is installed, it inserts itself in the MBR and then saves the MBR that was previous there in the goback.bin file. If you want to use Access IBM, then you need to disable Goback. When you disable GoBack, the original MBR is restored and you should be good to go.

I assume you are still getting the GoBack screen at boot time?

It's a bit of a headache, but I continue to use GoBack as it has save my a** several times.

Let me know how it goes.... I've had a GoBack/X41T writeup on my todo list for some time... any additional information would be welcome.

[Hammerhead]

Fred, thanks so much for helping to clarify this matter! I suspected it was something along those lines.

It always peeves me when a company doesn't give you the opportunity to store recovery data on removable media, or at least elsewhere on the drive.

I'm also having trouble using the IBM "Create Recovery Disk" utility to create a backup up the installed software. Can you maybe tell me WTF is going on here?

This is incredibly frustrating.

[fredtwd]

It most likely is related to GoBack. I believe when you make recovery media, it makes the media bootable. It verifies the MBR on the hard drive to make sure that it's the IBM MBR, if it's not it gives you some poorly worded message. My guess is that it want's to copy the MBR to the recovery media (that's why it verifies the MBR first).

Disable GoBack and try to make your recovery disk. After you are done, re-enable it.

[Hammerhead]

CONFIRMED

I disabled GoBack, and after a reboot, was able to successfully access the IBM rescue and recovery partition, and also to launch the recovery disk utility.

This is an interesting development, and I think that someone ought to inform both IBM and Symantec about the incompatability. There's NOTHING on either site relating to the problem. I'd try to contact them myself, but have no contacts at either location anymore.

Thanks for your help!

[Mindfull1]

Great to figure out, especially since Norton has pre-installed programs on most OEM Tablets these days. And the Retore Partitions also seem to be more common... Amazing they wouldn't have researched this more!!

[fredtwd]

Hammerhead,

I'm glad that worked for you. Please let me know if disabling GoBack allows you to create you recovery media (as I assume it will).

I guess you will have to decide if you want to keep GoBack enabled. For me it was a no brainer.... GoBack has saved me over and over, so the inconvenience is a small price to pay.

Let me know how it goes for you and if plan to keep using GoBack (just interested in your thoughts).

Regards.

[Hammerhead]

quote:I disabled GoBack, and after a reboot, was able to successfully access the IBM rescue and recovery partition, and also to launch the recovery disk utility.

Fred, although I don't have an external burner for my X41, prior to disabling GoBack, I wasn't even able to launch the utility. It ended with the typically cryptic message, so I'm sure that this is all related to the incompatability between the two.

Yes, I think I'll continue using GoBack on an ad-hoc basis. Because my habit is to install software in phases, I have no need to track system changes at this time since everything I need is installed. However, the next time I need to install something, I plan to turn on GoBack, install what I need, experiment for a day or two, and if all is well, disable it again when I'm done since both the GoBack polling service and Norton Protection Center (I'm running NSWPRO '06) really make a performance and boot difference when not enabled.

Someone with some connections really ought to contact Symantec and/or IBM and let them know.