Norton Ghost 2003 boot-up prob

After searching the forum posts, I am unable to find my specific problem so I am pleading my case to the notebook gods...

"I am unable to boot into my WinXP after using Norton Ghost 2003"

I have been using Norton Ghost 2003 on my desktop for years and have had no problems using it. It has helped me out when I have needed it. After receiving my Vostro 1500 - WinXP laptop, I thought I should backup up my Windows drive for piece-of-mind before installing programs. Ghost 2003 installed fine. I ran it to backup my windows drive onto my D: partition image file (Dell factory 20 gb primary, the rest secondary). It ran thru the process of rebooting to run the pc-dos process, but upon boot up it gave me the Norton Ghost screen then hung with an hour-glass. After 5 minutes of no change I rebooted. It gives me the 2 options: 1. Run Norton Ghost Dos Operation and 2. Return to Windows

1. Selecting Run Norton Ghost-> gives me the Norton Ghost screen with a hourglass cursor (no response from mouse or keyboard)
2. Selecting Return to Windows-> leaves me with a blinking dos cursor with no action (no boot into WinXP)
I am, however, able to "Exit to DOS" which gives me the C:\GHOST directory

What the heck happened? Is PC-Dos causing a problem with the hidden Media-Direct partition? Having no floppy drive to run the ghost emergency disks, is there no other way to rescue myself without doing a Dell PC restore? How can a simple ghosting operation hose my system? (Though with my sh***y luck, I am not surprised).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Kevin

 

Upon going into the dos prompt and doing a dir listing, the volume label for c:\ is "VPSGHBOOT".
Has it overwritten everything on my C:\ drive?
I am even unable to get the laptop to boot into the Dell PC Restore screen using <CTRL><F11> do start the restore process.

 

Hi there, I just went through this last week... The problem is not specific to notebooks, but has to do with Norton Ghost not supporting SATA drives, so it seems.
The C:\ drive you see is just a Norton Ghost virtual partition, and your actual one is just hidden and safe.
Here are some helpful links to fix the issue: (not a Symantec one though )

- http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/m-267353/tm.htm
- http://www.jauhari.net/norton-ghost-2003-and-sata.jsp

I used the 2nd solution and just found my actual C:\ drive after a reboot. Such a relief

 

Thanks Zol. I guess its time to look for another backup prog if Ghost 2003 won't work. I had already wiped and re-installed Media Direct and WinXP. The Dell Driver Disc was missing my 1395 network driver, which I got from Dell's website (89mb) , but everything is up and running fine now. Appreciate the information.