I started backing up client systems over the LAN to the disk drive on a Gateway 920 server using Norton Ghost 7.5, which I was running on the server. When I came in the next day the backup of two systems had completed successfully, but the backup of the other two systems had failed. Those latter two systems were displaying an updated timestamp every two minutes and twelve seconds followed by "192.168.0.x:1346 Polling for bound server Andy", with "x" matching the IP address of the client system, e.g. "192.168.0.5:1346" The server, andy, had crashed and was rebooting continually so was no longer available to respond to the polling systems. Rebooting the systems with Ctrl-Alt-Del did not return them to Windows XP, the operating system on them. They remained stuck in the Ghost client virtual boot partition.
14:27:14 192.168.0.5:1346 polling for bad server andy
14:29:26 192.168.0.5:1346 polling for bad server andy
14:31:38 192.168.0.5:1346 polling for bad server andy
To get the system to boot normally into Windows in such a situation, hit
Ctrl-C or Ctrl-X, depending on whether ghost.exe or ngctdos.exe is running
on the client system, to get to a DOS prompt. You should be in the
Ghost directory on the system. If not, issue the command cd
ghost and then type ngctdos -hide to "hide" the Ghost
virtual boot partition and restart the system normally.
References:
-
Recovering From a Stuck Symantec Ghost Virtual Boot Partition
Cliff Under
August 26, 2005
-
Cannot exit from the Ghost Virtual Boot Partition
Symantec
January 5, 2005
