Vista - Acronis True Image Rescue Disc Problem

I have purchased a boxed Acronis True Image Home 2009. Installed it on my fairly new PC running on Vista (with all the updates) Home Premium and registered and updated the software with Acronis. I have immersed myself in the Acronis User Manual until I was ready to go.

I used the True Image wizard to create a bootable rescue disc. Placed the disc in my PC's combo DVD/CD Rom/RW drive. There is the usual whirring noise and the Windows Explorer pane opens up showing a restore manager folder containing 7 files (no .exe file) then more 'gravel' noise and after waiting for ten minutes absolute silence and nothing more happened. Assumtion: the disc is not bootable.

I made several more rescue discs and tried to run them several ways including starting up the PC with the disc in the drive. That opens up Windows in the usual way but no disc boot up!

Acronis web support have sent me a link to download an ISO file of the True Image software which I have downloaded and burnt the ISO image file to CD. But this still will not boot up.

Not sure where to go from here? This is the brand-leader in backup/cloning software and a near-new PC. Is there something I have overlooked? Have I got to go 'messing' with my PC's BIOS - not keen on that??

Yes. Go in and check the boot order options and make sure that the cd/dvd drive is set as the first boot device. If itis after the hard drive at all, it will never boot from a cd/dvd (unless you disconnect the hard drive).

Thank you for this, it sounds just the ticket. But do you think you could explain simply how I do this please.

And if I change, do I have to change it back or will it then affect my PC every time I boot up?

If unsure how to get in the bios check your manual and it should tell you what key to hit (probably F2). Once there you want to go to the Boot section to make the changes.

You can change it or leave it, it won't affect anything. The only thing that will happen is it may add a second or two to the boot process as the bios checks the cd/dvd drive for a bootable disk. As long as there isn't one in it (game disks, etc are fine to leave in), the bios will skip over it and boot from the hard drive.

watch the startup screen. on a lot of the new machines it will have a key to hit just for the boot options. On my HP machines it's Esc key. Much easier and safer than mucking about in your BIOS setup screens. I just leave mine on boot CD first. Only time I have to change it is if I want to boot from USB key drive.

I have gone into the setup screen (F12) noted the bootup order removable/HDD/CD Rom/Network and followed the instructions to change CD Rom to boot up first and confirmed this. However I notice that the bootup list stays the same even after several goes - maybe it's just a list and may change has actually happened? But when I start up the PC with any of my Acronis rescue discs in nothing happens ie: Windows boots up as normal.

Is anyone familiar with the Acer Aspire T180 setup screen because so far as I can see I have done nothing wrong?

I've cracked it at last! So far as I can see the bootup list on the F12 Boot Menu for the Acer Aspire is the default list and any change to the bootup order is just for that one time, so has to be changed every time a rescue disc is used. Anyway the rescue disc now works!!!!!!!!!!

It seems to me it would be helpful for some mention of this problem in the Acronis User Manual or site FAQ's, not to mention the very scimpy Acer 'manual!'