JeffreyLee Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 After a reformat and reinstall of all software on my hard drive, Retrospect v. 6.0.206 routinely generates an assert.exe error (not giving me any hints of details of the problem). Only message I get is a "Failure Notification" and the statement that there was "An internal consistency check error." The message indicates that a log file "assert_log.utx" was created--but I've never been able to find in on my hard drive. I have repaired my backup file catelog -- all to no avail. I operate on XP Home (all updates installed); the PC is a Dell 4100, 900Mhz with 512 MB RAM. Retrospect was working fine until the reinstall of XP and all the software (including Retrospect, of course). Any thoughts out there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 Hi What is Retrospect doing when the assert occurs? Have you installed driver update version 3.9? Thanks nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyLee Posted August 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 I hadn't installed the driver update version 3.9 (after the reinstall of everything, I hadn't realized that there was an update). I did this, but, unfortunately, the same end result. The error occurs after file matching. The status box says "Preparing to Execute . . ." when the assert.exe failure notification occurs. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 Hi What is your backup device? You may have corrupt configuration files. Remove or rename the following files on your machine: C:\documents and settings\all users\Application data (hidden)\Retrospect\config60.dat and config60.bak This will give you clean Retrospect preferences to work with. Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyLee Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 My backup device is a Maxtor One Touch external hard drive (250GB). I tried deleting the Retrospect folder you suggested twice already (once before installing the driver update version 3.9 and once again just now). Same result. Sorry, I wish this had solved my problem. I appreciate your help. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Hi Are you using a backup set that you created before the format and reinstall of the machine? You might want to try using a new backup set to see if the problem persists. Are you using a disk backup set or file backup set? Make sure to disable system restore on the Maxtor drive. If the drive is formatted as Fat32 you might want to format it as NTFS instead. Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyLee Posted August 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Yes, I've tried creating a new backup set, to no avail. I've tried repairing the catalog with older backup files . . . . same result. I also (at your urging) turned OFF system restore . . . no change. I get the same error whether I use FILE or DISK backups. The storage drive is NTFS. I'm out of the country for all of September (beginning 8/27). If we don't solve this before then, I'll pick up the thread in late Sept. or early October. Thanks for your efforts. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted August 25, 2004 Report Share Posted August 25, 2004 Hi What else is running on this machine? Assert errors often occur because of memory management problems on the machine. There may another application causing problems. Bad physical memory is also a possiblity. Why did you have to do a full resintall of the OS on this machine? Was it acting strange before? Thanks nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyLee Posted August 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2004 I was forced to do a reinstall because of lots of XP instability (repeated system crashes). I can try cutting way back on TSR applications that may be running in background--but I don't have too many because the machine is relatively clean at this point. I can check for bad physical memory . . . I think I know how to do this. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted August 26, 2004 Report Share Posted August 26, 2004 Hi I would run a memory check. You may also want to try removing some memory to see if one of the chips is bad. My guess is that is the problem. Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyLee Posted October 31, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2004 Nate, After a long lag between our last correspondence and today (I've been out of the country), I've finally moved ahead and attempted to check the memory. I removed each of my two 256 memory modules -- one at a time -- I was not able to eliminate the assert error. When running Retrospect with only one and then the other module, I end up with the same problem: Retrospect reports the assert error. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Hi Do you get the same error if you save the backup set on your internal hard drive instead of the Maxtor drive? Is there an SATA controller in this machine? How about a USB flash card reader? Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyLee Posted November 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2004 Nate, I get the same error regardless of where I try to back up: I have two internal hard drives and the one Maxtor. All lead to the assert error. To my knowledge, I do not have a SATA controller. Don't know exactly where to look for this (all of the controller's that I've found reference to do not indicate that they are SATA). I am not using an USB flash card reader. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted November 9, 2004 Report Share Posted November 9, 2004 Hmmmmm Are you backing up the same thing every time? In other words have you tried backing up a different disk or a network share or something? Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyLee Posted November 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2004 I have created a variety of backup sets -- typically of the same set of files on my C drive (Documents and Settings). I've also tried backing up files on a network (including drive C Documents and Settings). I could try backing up a different set of files . . . but I'm more than somewhat skeptical that this will work. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyLee Posted November 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2004 Nate, I did try to back up a directory other than the Documents and Settings directory . . . and the same result. The assert error continues. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted November 16, 2004 Report Share Posted November 16, 2004 Hi The biggest red flag here is that you had to format and reinstall XP because of frequent crashes and stability problems. I think you may have just been lucky before that Retrospect was running at all... Dell likely has some diagnostic utilities you can use to check out your system. Its possible that both memory chips are bad or that there is a problem with the motherboard somewhere. When you reinstalled XP did you use the system restore disks that came with the Dell? Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyLee Posted November 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2004 Nate, The Dell system originally came with Win98 vs. XP -- so I installed from an XP CD that I purchased directly. I tried backing up removing each of the two memory modules, in turn, and still the problem. I'll see what I can do with some Dell diagnostics . . . So . . . guess I'm at the end of my rope. You've done all that you can do!? I greatly appreciate your efforts. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted December 2, 2004 Report Share Posted December 2, 2004 Hi Definitely try the diags. You might also look for a motherboard BIOS update. I wasted a full two weeks on a machine until finally using the dell diags to find the RAM was bad. Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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