After spending several hours trying to troubleshoot I have isolated what seems to be the problem but can't find a solution.  ShadowProtects Desktop hangs, with status saying "initializing", when I try to back up the C:. I found that ShadowProtect seems to be very robust in the sense that it always recovers no matter how many times I use Process Explorer to kill ShadowProtectSvc.exe after the application hangs.  I have no problem backing up just the D: and E:.  BUT when I go back to trying to backup the C: (even by itself) the writers fail (according to vssadmin list writers) and ShadowProtect hangs so that I have to kill the program again.  I can then restart the program (without rebooting the computer) edit the backup job and successfully backup the D: / E and the job runs. 

 

Once I see the writers are stable I edit the job and schedule C: to be backed up by itself but up it will not initialize and the "vssadmin list writers" command once again says that the writers have all failed.  I have tried to delete the job and recreate it and at the same time delete all backup files created in the backup folder but no matter what the backup job will not intitialize.  If  I edit the job again and only back up the E: or D: or both I can successfully run the backup.  When I run "vssadmin list writers" I find that the writers are all stable again.

 

I have also tried running MSConfig and disabled everything in my Startup group as well as unneeded services and the problem still exists. 

 

At one time I had Acronis True Image installed.  I removed as much as I could including junk left in the registry and followed steps for removing Acronis SnapAPI drivers.  Also I have an Asus M2N-E motherboard with an NVIDIA NFORCE chipset.

 

I have also deleted existing jobs then created a batch file to run the following commands I found on this forum, then rebooted with the same results.

 

vshadowxp.exe -da (had to download this from the net)
net stop vss
cd %SystemRoot%\system32
regsvr32 /s ole32.dll
regsvr32 /s vss_ps.dll
Vssvc /Register
regsvr32 /s /i swprv.dll
regsvr32 /s /i eventcls.dll
regsvr32 /s es.dll
regsvr32 /s stdprov.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml2.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml3.dll
regsvr32 /s msxml4.dll

 

I also get the error message:  

 

31-Jul-2008 00:24:50    service    302    GetsnapshotName error VSS object not found
31-Jul-2008 00:24:50    service    199    try snapshot by  VSNAP API directly
31-Jul-2008 00:24:50    service    199    all possible methods:  VSNAP API directly VSS API by STC provider and no other alternate methods
31-Jul-2008 00:25:45    service    302    Cannot take snapshot. Error: The semaphore timeout period has expired. 0x80070079(2147942521). Method:  VSNAP API directly. Volumes count: 1.
31-Jul-2008 00:25:45    service    301    Try snapshot without writers
31-Jul-2008 00:26:16    service    302    Cannot take snapshot. Error: The semaphore timeout period has expired. 0x80070079(2147942521). Method:  VSNAP API directly. Volumes count: 1.
31-Jul-2008 00:26:16    service    301    Cannot take snapshot (The semaphore timeout period has expired. 0x80070079(2147942521)) - retry in 30 seconds
31-Jul-2008 00:26:46    service    199    try snapshot by  VSS API by STC provider
31-Jul-2008 00:26:46    service    199    all possible methods:  VSNAP API directly VSS API by STC provider and no other alternate methods
31-Jul-2008 00:26:50    service    150    retrieving snapshot name.
31-Jul-2008 00:26:55    service    302    GetsnapshotName error VSS object not found
31-Jul-2008 00:26:55    service    199    try snapshot by  VSNAP API directly
31-Jul-2008 00:26:55    service    199    all possible methods:  VSNAP API directly VSS API by STC provider and no other alternate methods
31-Jul-2008 00:27:50    service    302    Cannot take snapshot. Error: The semaphore timeout period has expired. 0x80070079(2147942521). Method:  VSNAP API directly. Volumes count: 1.
31-Jul-2008 00:27:50    service    301    Try snapshot without writers
31-Jul-2008 00:28:38    service    302    Cannot take snapshot. Error: The semaphore timeout period has expired. 0x80070079(2147942521). Method:  VSNAP API directly. Volumes count: 1.
31-Jul-2008 00:28:38    service    501    Cannot create snapshots The semaphore timeout period has expired. 0x80070079(2147942521)
 

 

 

 

Okay, I have a few questions for you:

 

1) Which version of ShadowProtect are you using?  3.2?

2) Which operating system (and service pack level) are you using?

3) Did you change the service start values for the Microsoft "Volume Shadow Copy" or "MS Software Shadow Copy Provider" to anything other than "Manual" (they should both be set to "Manual")?  Also, the "StorageCraft Shadow Copy Provider" service's start value should be set to "Automatic."

4) When you attempt to backup C:, do you find any new relevant entries in your system or application event log?

Maybe this is some kind of file-system corruption on C.  Have you tried running a 'chkdsk /f /r' on the C drive to see if any errors are found and/or corrected?  Also, check your System event log for errors or warnings from disk, ftdisk, ntfs, or dmio, (or any other warnings that could be related) as these could indicate a disk problem.

 Thank you Nate for taking the time to respond to my post.  I spent the weekend reinstalling Windows wanting to eliminate the possibility of a corrupt file system but I find that I have the same basic problem. However, I am now noticing that my problem seems to be specific to the type of job that includes both a full & incremental backup.

1.  I am running version 3.2.02

2.  Running Windows XP SP3

3.  After re-installing Windows I did not change any of the settings in connection with the VSS and ShadowCraft services - or any services for that matter.  Just did an out of the box installation of Windows.

4.  I get the following errors in the application log:

 Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Error calling a routine on the Shadow Copy Provider {24602736-bed9-4619-91b0-243447c6409c}. Routine details BeginPrepareSnapshot({b8e61020-84fa-4251-9227-fdc5cecb539a},{965f630a-59ee-4f17-a5e5-89a824e574ab},\\?\Volume{fe35e743-60dc-11dd-b3ca-806d6172696f}\) [hr = 0x8000ffff].

the next entry in the application logs says something similiar

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Error calling a routine on the Shadow Copy Provider {24602736-bed9-4619-91b0-243447c6409c}. Routine details BeginPrepareSnapshot({d6409fbd-b833-4fdd-ae89-b422c28fdef1},{8ded7984-91f5-4bef-8d57-4e6ca32e94da},\\?\Volume{fe35e743-60dc-11dd-b3ca-806d6172696f}\) [hr = 0x8000ffff].

5.   I have found that the problem consistently occurs when I schedule a back up job that includes the C drive and 2 other drives (I can still successfully  back up C,D partitions in one job but not C,D,and E) and includes an incremental backup then the job fails. If I create a second job that is only a full backup of all 3 partitions this job runs fine.

6.  Is it ok to use a shutdown (--s -f -t 05) script to force the OS to close programs (including ShadowProtect) from within ShadowProtect command line?

Note:  During the re-install of Windows I used ShadowProtect to create multiple images for testing: First just an install of Windows with no apps just basic drivers, 2nd an install without ZoneAlarm installed. 3rd a install with all apps installed and configured.

 

Kevin,

1.  I have not run chkdsk yet but I can run it.  These are fairly new drives and the reinstall of Windows and all my other applications went very smooth.  Also there are are no chkdisk files or no other unusual behavior associated with bad sectors one a drive. However, as mentioned above all jobs run fine when a full manual backup is done.

2.  I did check both the application & system event logs for errors or warnings from disk, ftdisk, ntfs, or dmio,  and during the 3 days after the reinstall of Windows both logs are clean except for errors generated just before I have to end task ShadowProtect after it hangs trying to "initialize" the job.  There are also the VSS error included above. Below are the logs when the a hang occurs"

Backup status: failed
Image file: J:\XP Backup with Programs\8-4-08\E_VOL
Log file: C:\Program Files\StorageCraft\ShadowProtect\Logs\{8E5553E3-4F0D-4B3E-B9B0-58F56A0F1CFB}.txt
Start time: 8/5/2008 1:20:02 AM
Module: service

Hanging application ShadowProtect.exe, version 3.2.42.3, hang module hungapp, version 0.0.0.0, hang address 0x00000000.

OK I have done the following and the problem has resurfaced and I can consistently reproduce it.

 

1.  Reinstalled Windows SP_SP3 and installed a basic set of programs like Microsoft Office, Photoshop, AVG and Zone Alarm (which for testing I disabled) and a couple of others.)
2. Ran chkdsk then checked winlogon in the Event log and there were no errors.
3. Deleted the partition and recreated the partition then copied only one small folder to the new partition.  If I don't reboot I can succsesfully do an incremental backup - as many times as I want regardless of the amount of data on the partition.
4. Deleted, then recreated partition, copied a floder to the new partition, immediately rebooted and then tried an incremental backup and ShadowProtect hangs.
5. I carefully checked to make sure my all my motherboard drivers were the most current.
6. I also tried a setting in System Properties - Advanced tab - Performance - Settings - Advanced - and change "Memory usage" to System cache to Programs

Hard drives are to 300GB Seagate SATA drives in a RAID 0 configuration.  Motherboard is an ASUS MN-E.