First, thanks to all of you for replies.
I had used Acronis for the past year, or so, for backups on two computers. Was actually able to restore the desktop with no problems, but when I tried restoring my laptop, kept getting "files corrupted" on the ext HD. Contacted support but got no reply so out of sheer disgust, I used the Acronis "uninstall" and removed it. From reading your forums, some residual Acronis files are indeed left behind, but I'm not sure where to find them . Did the "Start/Run" and 'enter' but no Acronis files appear. Keep in mind, this error message displays almost immediately after initialization/power up and well before Windows starts loading.
Anyway, hate to post something too large but here's my file . . .
Edited --file removed- thread brevity PM
Phil