‘Sys Mech’ usurps Recovery Console…changes Drive

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mark4man to viking33…come in…!!!

Background:
Purchased a new, high-end Core 2 PC, designed by ADK of Kentucky as a (super-duper) digital audio workststion. The techs at ADK laughed at the notion of any program written by Norton/Symantec installed on a machine assembled by them…so I went out & got iolo’s System Mechanic to replace Norton’s System Works (which I had on my old machine).

Current:
So I install System Mechanic; & I was prompted to then run the program, which I did. After it analyzed my system & performed its fixes, I was prompted for restart, which I did.

Because the install disk was still in the CD-ROM Drive, an iolo recovery console came up, telling me there was a problem w/ my hard drives. I selected my local drive © & let the fix run its full cycle. After completion, the PC rebooted; & this same recovery console cycle began all over again. I finally realized what was going on & removed the installation disk from the drive. Another cycle then took place, this time a completion & reboot of a registry fix; & on it’s 2nd cycle the PC rebooted all the way to desktop.

Trouble is…whatever System Mechanic did to my C Drive, the Windows Hardware Wizard detected the drive as being newly installed; & reinstalled the drivers.

Now…ADK had this machine set up w/ their own recovery console; & by the looks of the way configurations were flashing by & being replaced as the BIOS loaded…I’m thinking that iolo has now taken that over.

What can I do to put my drive & system back the way it was (over the holiday weekend…until I can contact ADK support)?

Thanks,

mark4man

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I’ve used System Mechanic for many years and through many versions. I’ve found it to very reliable but by the sounds of it, you had a major clash with the SM trying to fix a problem that really wasn’t there.

Have you tried to uninstall SM to get it out of the way of the system configuration on boot up?

Once you are back in business you can reinstall it.

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Bob…

It only happened when the installation disk was in the CR-Rom drive at reboot. I’ve since gone back & popped it in again to see exactly what it was (without allowing it to work this time). It’s called ‘Drive Medic Recovery Console’. The splash page reads: “Drive Medic(tm) will repair drives that have become unbootable, inaccessible or otherwise corrupted. It works by performing a series of tests on installed system drives & optionally fixes detected problems.”

My system seems to be running just fine…but the only thing that bothers me is the fact that (the first time) I selected my C Drive…it tested & repaired it (have no idea why)…& when I finally pulled the install/boot disk & got back to the desktop, the Hardware Wizard recognized the drive as newly installed & reinstalled the drivers. So…it did something, that’s for sure.

Thanks,

mark4man

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I guess, it’s all well that ends well?
Have no idea as just what happened but since you seem to be OK now, just kick back and have a mojita or something and enjoy the Holidays!

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UPDATE:

ADK tech support walked me thru a fix today. They had (as a precautionary measure…on all their custom-builds) installed Paragon Drive Backup…& it was the Paragon recovery partition installed at the factory that had been screwed around w/ by System Mechanic’s Drive Medic.

They simply had me delete the original (& corrupted) recovery partition…& I then installed a new one (& configured it for recovery from boot up, w/ a particular hot key).

So I’m all fixed up [&…I really have to get my s_it together here & realize (& appreciate) what I have going w/ this new box, as the mfg. has done a far superior job of protecting it than I have in its everyday operation].

[The remaining problem is System Mechanic…not for the functions it performs (which are numerous & fairly important)…bit in that the help files are weak…there is no manual…& no support forum on the net.]

But my machine is fixed up.

Thanks,

mark4man

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