System Restore Not working on Ultimate Edition

I have a new install of Vista, but am unable to use system Restore. It does
not create restore points automatically and when I try and create a manual
one the following error is displayed:
"The Restore point could not be created for the following reason:
Windows cannot create a shadow copy due to internal error in other system
components. for more information view the event log. (0x81000109)
Please try again"

The Log shows the following:

Volume Shadow Copy Service warning: ASR writer Error 0x80073bc3. hr =
0x00000000.

Operation:
OnIdentify event
Gathering Writer Data

Context:
Execution Context: ASR Writer
Writer Class Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
Writer Name: ASR Writer
Writer Instance ID: {9a1aabd1-e11f-43b2-8c45-fbd360e3b32c}

I would be grateful if someone could help.

Thanks

We'd like to gather some log files and screenshots from you. Will you
contact me via email? (Remove "online" from my address).

Please send me an email so I can follow up with you offline. Remove "online"
from my address.

Quote: "I am having the same exact problem with Ultimate as well"

(proces = C:\Windows\system32\wbem\wmiprvse.exe; beschrijving = Vista
Manager v1.0.7 System-Restore Point(First Start); Hr = 0x81000109).

We know what the issue is now. There are a couple of buggy BIOSes which
change the disk enumeration order based on the presence of a bootable DVD.
As one customer reported, when he boots with DVD in drive it works, but when
the DVD is not in the drive, System Restore doesn't work.

Is your BIOS up-to-date?

Bios is up2date:
Version ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ACPI BIOS Revision 1303

Volume Shadow Copy-service: ASR writer Error 0x80070015. hr = 0x00000000.
Context:
Uitvoeringscontext: ASR Writer
Klasse-id van schrijver: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
Naam van schrijver: ASR Writer
Instantie-id van schrijver: {1e1c0541-715d-4271-baed-24c3cac50b5d}

Yesterday, my user profile was damaged, but it has restored itself with
reboting, thank God!
Scary moment :-/ ASR would give some more comfort?

Though the error message is the same, we think you're seeing a different
issue. Can you do the following steps and email me the log file?

Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Asr,
create a new key called LogFileSetting

Under LogFileSetting, create a new DWORD value called EnableLogging.
Right-click that value, click Modify, and then enter 00000001 (hexadecimal)
or 1 (decimal)

Under LogFileSetting, create a new String value called LogPathName.
Right-click that value, click Modify, and then enter C:\asr.log

Now, reproduce the problem and send me the resulting asr.log file. When you
are done, delete the registry entry you created.

Also, can you send me a screenshot of your Disk Management screen? Please
use my email address minus "online."

Thank you!

You can add me to the list. I also have this issue.
Config: Ultimate 32bit, Intel D975XBX with latest BIOS.
HDD connected to ICH7R with latest Intel Driver in Raid mode.

Please let me know if you need my LOG file as well.

Found my problem here:
A device called:
Direct Access Device USB Device USB
disabled a working (a)sr.

Digitus DA-70148 USB2.0 to IDE and SATA. Support 1,8"/2,5"/3,5" IDE and
Serial ATA Harddisks

Still interrested in asr.log?

Just to close out this thread, a customer contacted me about 0x81000109
errors when trying to use the Backup program. Turns out he had a
disconnected SCSI drive that was showing up as "Offline" in Disk Management.
Disabling the driver for this drive fixed the problem.

Can you confirm what you mean by "can't backup drive"? What is the specific
error you're seeing? What tool are you using?

[jackiewu85]

Hi there, I have the same problem here. vista ultimate, cant backup drive.

But when i was trying to follow the steps, i couldnt find 'Asr' under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\

i got exactly the same problem and error msg as the other guys.
My Vista ultimate system restore is not working properly. the error msg i got was
"Windows cannot create a shadow copy due to internal error in other system
components. for more information view the event log. (0x81000109)"

" Volume Shadow Copy Service warning: ASR writer Error 0x80073bc3. hr =
0x00000000.
Operation:
OnIdentify event
Gathering Writer Data

Context:
Execution Context: ASR Writer
Writer Class ID: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
Writer Name: ASR Writer
Writer Instance ID: ID: {2bc7a8cd-90af-4faa-910e-f2b41542fabf}"

Im using a ASUS A8N SLi Premium mobo with the lastest BIOS. i dnt think this bios is pheonix awarded.
and i dnt have any external SCSI device. but I do have a RAID 0 setup with the on board silicone raid chip.

problem just got solved.
i just updated my silicon 3114 driver, and install the utility, changed some settings. I made a RAID 0 set of entire 2 hard drives, but seems that the remaining bits (just several kb) formed another RAID 0 set. i dunno was it me or the software itself ( dnt think it was me :p). after deleting the redundant RAID 0 set, everything works fine now. Thanks for the help guys

based on this tread, we may can conclude that, this system restoring failure problem is caused by hardware problem, most likely hardware driver, BIOS or setting. For future reference, if any1 encounters this problem again, the best thing to do is carefully go over your hardware configurations, check if all drivers and BIOS are up to date. Is that right?

I went through the past customers I've helped with this particular error
message and code. One customer in particular stands out--he had a buggy BIOS
version, Phoenix AwardBios v6.00PG. Can you check whether your BIOS is an
Award BIOS? For this customer, System Restore worked only when he booted
with a Vista DVD inserted.

The workaround in this case was to explicitly set the BIOS boot disk
priority. In this customer's case, the second harddisk needed to become the
first in the list. This will cause the disks to get enumerated in the same
order, regardless of whether there is a DVD present.

Another customer had a 0x81000109 error but I'm not sure if the error text
was the same message (he had to translate the error from Polish). He had an
external SCSI driver installed but the drive wasn't present. Removing the
driver fixed the problem.

Let me know if either of these applies to your situation.

[fornetti4]

I have very upsetting experience with System Protection.
Only after several enable-disable and reboots create restore point started working... dont't know what helped. But restore behaves on my system like it was early dev version. First it was logging me out and then hanging indefinitely (i left it overnight), then after reboot it said it did not succeed ("unspecified error", no log data in asr.log), then after dont-know-what-actually-helped it started to get to the point where it rebooted my system, and after that it displayed the same error message. But that only in normal mode, in safe mode it is still hanging up... Previous file versions tab is also working like it was coded by my sister...
May I add that I have my Vista running on SATA disk (or a mirrored set, no difference) connected thru a SiL 3512 PCI controller. I boot from SATA or other ATA disk, no difference.
And now for the most funny/scary part: after first reboot i see that something was restored to the restore point, something not. Like new dirs get deleted as expected, but some old are not restored, and the registry is not restored. This builds up my confidence about Vista. And then during next reboot disk checking initiates and finds some scary errors. This basicly restores the system to the state before trying the "system restore to point".

This makes me sad, because I bought Vista Business not Home, because of "previous file versions" and enhanced firewall (which is also not up to what i expected).

I suggest as the first step to analyze this that you turn off system
restore to clear existing SRP data and then reeenable it. Corruption in the
SR repository is on possible explanation.
It would help of your information was more specific. Why were your trying
to restore? Are there other problems or were you just testing? And what
on earth do you mean by "Previous file versions tab is also working like it
was
coded by my sister...?"

[fuentesse99]

Of course I did turn system restore on and off, that's the first rule dealing with computers, get out and in again :-). I even deleted the SVI dir once.
Why trying? To test. Actually the checkpoint was fresh, with only minimal amount of deliberate changes to files, dirs and registry to evaluate outcome.
I'm sure this is a bug, it might be that this is a bug within the sil 3512 driver (i use ver 1.0.60.0, it is WHCL).
For now I gave up, even though it would help to do a clean install on my hardware to recheck. I'll resort to breaking my mirrored set before operations that i fear migh bring up need to use system restore.
I just hope you guys in MS will fix it in SP1. I think that the system restore should not depend on BIOS or SATA driver in the case where the disk IO works fine (barring lame BIOS boot settings :-). Please also test the previous file versions tabs, that it does not hang. Request more testers, because programmers do net test their code well.

to clarify: breaking mirror and running from single disk does not help, i meant i can use use the second disk as backup

I too am suffering from this problem ( ASR writer Error 0x80073bc3 ) and
cannot determine my next step from here. I have tripped over the event
viewer so see exactly the same as is reported here. When first installed
( clean on a Asus A6KM ) SR worked fine and to some extent I was
greatful for it as it allowed me to clean up things from a bad firewall
app install.

Now, however, cannot get any of the backup options to work so seek
further guidance where I can.

Anyone with any further suggestions ?

Am able to access the event logs if required.