PC utilities forum: Can't load Drive Image 7 -- runtime error msgs

Maybe someone here can help me salvage DI 7. Just as background, my machine is a PIII. Ram = 512. Speed = 999 Mhz. OS = XP PRO, SP 1. I have two internal drives (80GB, 40GB) and one external drive (WD 160GB).

Here is the problem: When I try to load Drive Image 7, I get a msg entitled "V2i Console.exe - Common Language Runtime Debugging Services," It says "Application has generated an exception that could not be handled. Process id=0xbcc(3020), Threat id=0xb00(2816). Click OK to terminate the application. Click CANCEL to debug the application."

(Note: the code and/or id references change from one try to the next.)

When I click Cancel, I get another msg: "2iConsole.exe - No debugger found." The msg says "Registered JIT debugger is not available. An attempt to launch a JIT debugger with the following command resulted in error code of 0x2(2). Please check computer settings. cordbg.exe !a 0x888
Click on Retry to have the process wait while attaching a debugger manually. Click on Cancel to abort the JIT debug request."

I have no idea of what these messages mean or what I'm supposed to to fix the problem. Since Symantec now owns Drive Image 7, I checked their knowledge base. I found a document about Running a Debug Report, followed the instructions, and got nowhere.

Next step: I referred the problem to Symantec, where an online tech told me to download .NET Framework 1.1. Not much help since the installation instructions told me to do that anyway. Needless to say, I installed both .NET Framework and DI7, unstalled both, reinstalled both, uninstalled, etc. Then, I tried it in Safe Mode. Why not? I didn't know what I was doing anyway. The result (the error messages) was always the same. Back to Symantec!

The online Symanetec tech then told me that the .NET Framework was probably corrupted and gave me a url that would repair the file. I followed the instructions at that site as best I could, again with the same result -- that is, the same error msgs. "Maybe," I thought, "I'm doing something wrong." Back to Symantec!

This time, the response was downright funereal: the Symantec tech told me that these runtime errors are hard to correct (NO JOKE!) and that I should try to return the product. I'm having trouble with this advice for 2 reasons.

One is that I thought that .NET Framework was a tool for software developers. (Do I look like a software developer?) If debugging is something that software engineers do, why did Symantec's (or, originally, Powerquest's) developers include .NET in a program marketed to ignorant civilians like me. <sigh> Maybe all my blather simply reflects my ignorance of what software developers do. I really can't expect anyone to explain why DI 7 requires .NET Framework. I just need help to make the program work.

The other, and more important, reason is my own stupidity: I tossed the sales receipt for DI 7, so I cannot return the software. If I could, I certainly would. Of course, I will never, ever, ever toss another software receipt.

The ironic thing is that I wanted to image my drive before I used Partition Magic 8.0 (also now owned by Symantec) to partition it.

That's why I'm on this board begging for help in solving the problem of the error message described above. Can anyone who has followed this dull saga this far help me do what I need to do in order to load and use this software?

Needless to say, I'd be very grateful for a solution.

Thanks, Faith