Server 2003 continually rebooting.....

I was elected to solve a serious issue for our little company, but I am
having serious problems figuring it out.

Our Dell Poweredge SC420 (running Windows SBS 2003) starting rebooting
continually. This was odd as we have a 2 drive RAID 1 built in and I thought
the second drive would take over should the first one fail. (It may well
have....I would not be surprised if the warnings were ignored until both
drives failed.)

Nonetheless, here I am. I have replaced the main hard drive and disconnected
the second drive. I have restored the primary drive's partitions from Acronis
9.1 build 3.718 server edition. The last backup we had was from June 9, 2010.
So, I restored from it, but the new drive and image just kept doing the same
thing. It shows the Dell screen, then the Windows 2003 Server screen, then 3
little squares in the progress bar and it reboots.

Thinking the June 9, 2010 image may be bad, I restored from the June 1, 2010
image and tried again. Same issues. Dell....Windows 2003....3
squares....reboot.....

So, I went back to the May 1, 2010 image and restored from there. Same
issue. I'm thinking that ALL of the images couldn't be bad. The images
themselves do not show any signs of being bad (no red X's or anything).

There is no ASR disk as the original builder did not create one and we
didn't know enough about running a server to make one before this disaster
popped up it's nasty little head.

I tried putting in Disk 1 from the Dell set and rebooting, but it just
installs a second copy of Windows Server automatically. I did not see a time
where I could go into the Recovery Console to muck around with Fixmbr or
Fixboot. (I tried this 3 times, restoring from Acronis after each attempt -
since the attempts all resulted in the attempted install of a new instance of
Windows Server 2003.)

I even ran Spinrite on the old drive but did not see any errors (on level 2
recovery). I guess I could try and run a level 4 maintenance - but that would
take many, many hours and may not pay off either since level 2 recovery did
not find any errors.

What could be the issue? How can I try Fixboot, or Fixmbr if I cannot launch
the Recovery Console? Is there another possible fix that I should try?

We are SOL until I find a way to repair the server. Any suggestions that you
could give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

"squishyalt" <> wrote in message
news:83CB5CFB-309C-4E09-B7A7-...
> I was elected to solve a serious issue for our little company, but I am
> having serious problems figuring it out.
>
> Our Dell Poweredge SC420 (running Windows SBS 2003) starting rebooting
> continually. This was odd as we have a 2 drive RAID 1 built in and I
> thought
> the second drive would take over should the first one fail. (It may well
> have....I would not be surprised if the warnings were ignored until both
> drives failed.)
>
> Nonetheless, here I am. I have replaced the main hard drive and
> disconnected
> the second drive. I have restored the primary drive's partitions from
> Acronis
> 9.1 build 3.718 server edition. The last backup we had was from June 9,
> 2010.
> So, I restored from it, but the new drive and image just kept doing the
> same
> thing. It shows the Dell screen, then the Windows 2003 Server screen, then
> 3
> little squares in the progress bar and it reboots.
>
> Thinking the June 9, 2010 image may be bad, I restored from the June 1,
> 2010
> image and tried again. Same issues. Dell....Windows 2003....3
> squares....reboot.....
>
> So, I went back to the May 1, 2010 image and restored from there. Same
> issue. I'm thinking that ALL of the images couldn't be bad. The images
> themselves do not show any signs of being bad (no red X's or anything).
>
> There is no ASR disk as the original builder did not create one and we
> didn't know enough about running a server to make one before this disaster
> popped up it's nasty little head.
>
> I tried putting in Disk 1 from the Dell set and rebooting, but it just
> installs a second copy of Windows Server automatically. I did not see a
> time
> where I could go into the Recovery Console to muck around with Fixmbr or
> Fixboot. (I tried this 3 times, restoring from Acronis after each
> attempt -
> since the attempts all resulted in the attempted install of a new instance
> of
> Windows Server 2003.)
>
> I even ran Spinrite on the old drive but did not see any errors (on level
> 2
> recovery). I guess I could try and run a level 4 maintenance - but that
> would
> take many, many hours and may not pay off either since level 2 recovery
> did
> not find any errors.
>
> What could be the issue? How can I try Fixboot, or Fixmbr if I cannot
> launch
> the Recovery Console? Is there another possible fix that I should try?
>
> We are SOL until I find a way to repair the server. Any suggestions that
> you
> could give would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks!

Running a machine with a RAID disk will allow it to continue in case one of
its disks fails. However, RAID gives you no protection against file system
corruption, software problems or other hardware failures.

In your case file system corruption or software problems appear unlikely,
which machies "other hardware" problems a prime candidate. One of your RAM
chips might be flawed or the power supply might be flakey. I would start by
removing all non-essential adapters. Playing with your RAM banks might also
be useful.

Have you checked your Power Supply lately ?

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"squishyalt" <> wrote in message
news:83CB5CFB-309C-4E09-B7A7-...
>I was elected to solve a serious issue for our little company, but I am
> having serious problems figuring it out.
>
> Our Dell Poweredge SC420 (running Windows SBS 2003) starting rebooting
> continually. This was odd as we have a 2 drive RAID 1 built in and I thought
> the second drive would take over should the first one fail. (It may well
> have....I would not be surprised if the warnings were ignored until both
> drives failed.)
>
> Nonetheless, here I am. I have replaced the main hard drive and disconnected
> the second drive. I have restored the primary drive's partitions from Acronis
> 9.1 build 3.718 server edition. The last backup we had was from June 9, 2010.
> So, I restored from it, but the new drive and image just kept doing the same
> thing. It shows the Dell screen, then the Windows 2003 Server screen, then 3
> little squares in the progress bar and it reboots.
>
> Thinking the June 9, 2010 image may be bad, I restored from the June 1, 2010
> image and tried again. Same issues. Dell....Windows 2003....3
> squares....reboot.....
>
> So, I went back to the May 1, 2010 image and restored from there. Same
> issue. I'm thinking that ALL of the images couldn't be bad. The images
> themselves do not show any signs of being bad (no red X's or anything).
>
> There is no ASR disk as the original builder did not create one and we
> didn't know enough about running a server to make one before this disaster
> popped up it's nasty little head.
>
> I tried putting in Disk 1 from the Dell set and rebooting, but it just
> installs a second copy of Windows Server automatically. I did not see a time
> where I could go into the Recovery Console to muck around with Fixmbr or
> Fixboot. (I tried this 3 times, restoring from Acronis after each attempt -
> since the attempts all resulted in the attempted install of a new instance of
> Windows Server 2003.)
>
> I even ran Spinrite on the old drive but did not see any errors (on level 2
> recovery). I guess I could try and run a level 4 maintenance - but that would
> take many, many hours and may not pay off either since level 2 recovery did
> not find any errors.
>
> What could be the issue? How can I try Fixboot, or Fixmbr if I cannot launch
> the Recovery Console? Is there another possible fix that I should try?
>
> We are SOL until I find a way to repair the server. Any suggestions that you
> could give would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks!

"Pegasus [MVP]" wrote:

>
>
> "squishyalt" <> wrote in message
> news:83CB5CFB-309C-4E09-B7A7-...
> > I was elected to solve a serious issue for our little company, but I am
> > having serious problems figuring it out.
> >
> > Our Dell Poweredge SC420 (running Windows SBS 2003) starting rebooting
> > continually. This was odd as we have a 2 drive RAID 1 built in and I
> > thought
> > the second drive would take over should the first one fail. (It may well
> > have....I would not be surprised if the warnings were ignored until both
> > drives failed.)
> >
> > Nonetheless, here I am. I have replaced the main hard drive and
> > disconnected
> > the second drive. I have restored the primary drive's partitions from
> > Acronis
> > 9.1 build 3.718 server edition. The last backup we had was from June 9,
> > 2010.
> > So, I restored from it, but the new drive and image just kept doing the
> > same
> > thing. It shows the Dell screen, then the Windows 2003 Server screen, then
> > 3
> > little squares in the progress bar and it reboots.
> >
> > Thinking the June 9, 2010 image may be bad, I restored from the June 1,
> > 2010
> > image and tried again. Same issues. Dell....Windows 2003....3
> > squares....reboot.....
> >
> > So, I went back to the May 1, 2010 image and restored from there. Same
> > issue. I'm thinking that ALL of the images couldn't be bad. The images
> > themselves do not show any signs of being bad (no red X's or anything).
> >
> > There is no ASR disk as the original builder did not create one and we
> > didn't know enough about running a server to make one before this disaster
> > popped up it's nasty little head.
> >
> > I tried putting in Disk 1 from the Dell set and rebooting, but it just
> > installs a second copy of Windows Server automatically. I did not see a
> > time
> > where I could go into the Recovery Console to muck around with Fixmbr or
> > Fixboot. (I tried this 3 times, restoring from Acronis after each
> > attempt -
> > since the attempts all resulted in the attempted install of a new instance
> > of
> > Windows Server 2003.)
> >
> > I even ran Spinrite on the old drive but did not see any errors (on level
> > 2
> > recovery). I guess I could try and run a level 4 maintenance - but that
> > would
> > take many, many hours and may not pay off either since level 2 recovery
> > did
> > not find any errors.
> >
> > What could be the issue? How can I try Fixboot, or Fixmbr if I cannot
> > launch
> > the Recovery Console? Is there another possible fix that I should try?
> >
> > We are SOL until I find a way to repair the server. Any suggestions that
> > you
> > could give would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks!
>
> Running a machine with a RAID disk will allow it to continue in case one of
> its disks fails. However, RAID gives you no protection against file system
> corruption, software problems or other hardware failures.
>
> In your case file system corruption or software problems appear unlikely,
> which machies "other hardware" problems a prime candidate. One of your RAM
> chips might be flawed or the power supply might be flakey. I would start by
> removing all non-essential adapters. Playing with your RAM banks might also
> be useful.
>

Pegasus, thanks for the reply.

I have run Dell's built in hardware tests on the RAM, mother board, etc.,
but I have found no errors.

I have also installed a new installation of SBS 2003 onto the same hard
drive that I used to try and restore the server and it runs with no problem.

If it were a hardware issue, wouldn't the new installation fail too?

Thanks for your post, Peter.

I do not believe it is the power supply as I can install another instance of
the OS and it boots and runs just fine.

I can change it out tomorrow in a few minutes though...just to be sure.


"Peter Foldes" wrote:

> Have you checked your Power Supply lately ?
>
> --
> Peter
>
> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
> http://www.microsoft.com/protect
>
> "squishyalt" <> wrote in message
> news:83CB5CFB-309C-4E09-B7A7-...
> >I was elected to solve a serious issue for our little company, but I am
> > having serious problems figuring it out.
> >
> > Our Dell Poweredge SC420 (running Windows SBS 2003) starting rebooting
> > continually. This was odd as we have a 2 drive RAID 1 built in and I thought
> > the second drive would take over should the first one fail. (It may well
> > have....I would not be surprised if the warnings were ignored until both
> > drives failed.)
> >
> > Nonetheless, here I am. I have replaced the main hard drive and disconnected
> > the second drive. I have restored the primary drive's partitions from Acronis
> > 9.1 build 3.718 server edition. The last backup we had was from June 9, 2010.
> > So, I restored from it, but the new drive and image just kept doing the same
> > thing. It shows the Dell screen, then the Windows 2003 Server screen, then 3
> > little squares in the progress bar and it reboots.
> >
> > Thinking the June 9, 2010 image may be bad, I restored from the June 1, 2010
> > image and tried again. Same issues. Dell....Windows 2003....3
> > squares....reboot.....
> >
> > So, I went back to the May 1, 2010 image and restored from there. Same
> > issue. I'm thinking that ALL of the images couldn't be bad. The images
> > themselves do not show any signs of being bad (no red X's or anything).
> >
> > There is no ASR disk as the original builder did not create one and we
> > didn't know enough about running a server to make one before this disaster
> > popped up it's nasty little head.
> >
> > I tried putting in Disk 1 from the Dell set and rebooting, but it just
> > installs a second copy of Windows Server automatically. I did not see a time
> > where I could go into the Recovery Console to muck around with Fixmbr or
> > Fixboot. (I tried this 3 times, restoring from Acronis after each attempt -
> > since the attempts all resulted in the attempted install of a new instance of
> > Windows Server 2003.)
> >
> > I even ran Spinrite on the old drive but did not see any errors (on level 2
> > recovery). I guess I could try and run a level 4 maintenance - but that would
> > take many, many hours and may not pay off either since level 2 recovery did
> > not find any errors.
> >
> > What could be the issue? How can I try Fixboot, or Fixmbr if I cannot launch
> > the Recovery Console? Is there another possible fix that I should try?
> >
> > We are SOL until I find a way to repair the server. Any suggestions that you
> > could give would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks!
>
> .
>

"squishyalt" wrote:

> I was elected to solve a serious issue for our little company, but I am
> having serious problems figuring it out.
>
> Our Dell Poweredge SC420 (running Windows SBS 2003) starting rebooting
> continually. This was odd as we have a 2 drive RAID 1 built in and I thought
> the second drive would take over should the first one fail. (It may well
> have....I would not be surprised if the warnings were ignored until both
> drives failed.)
>
> Nonetheless, here I am. I have replaced the main hard drive and disconnected
> the second drive. I have restored the primary drive's partitions from Acronis
> 9.1 build 3.718 server edition. The last backup we had was from June 9, 2010.
> So, I restored from it, but the new drive and image just kept doing the same
> thing. It shows the Dell screen, then the Windows 2003 Server screen, then 3
> little squares in the progress bar and it reboots.
>
> Thinking the June 9, 2010 image may be bad, I restored from the June 1, 2010
> image and tried again. Same issues. Dell....Windows 2003....3
> squares....reboot.....
>
> So, I went back to the May 1, 2010 image and restored from there. Same
> issue. I'm thinking that ALL of the images couldn't be bad. The images
> themselves do not show any signs of being bad (no red X's or anything).
>
> There is no ASR disk as the original builder did not create one and we
> didn't know enough about running a server to make one before this disaster
> popped up it's nasty little head.
>
> I tried putting in Disk 1 from the Dell set and rebooting, but it just
> installs a second copy of Windows Server automatically. I did not see a time
> where I could go into the Recovery Console to muck around with Fixmbr or
> Fixboot. (I tried this 3 times, restoring from Acronis after each attempt -
> since the attempts all resulted in the attempted install of a new instance of
> Windows Server 2003.)
>
> I even ran Spinrite on the old drive but did not see any errors (on level 2
> recovery). I guess I could try and run a level 4 maintenance - but that would
> take many, many hours and may not pay off either since level 2 recovery did
> not find any errors.
>
> What could be the issue? How can I try Fixboot, or Fixmbr if I cannot launch
> the Recovery Console? Is there another possible fix that I should try?
>
> We are SOL until I find a way to repair the server. Any suggestions that you
> could give would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks!

UPDATE!!!!

Just fooling around with the BIOS settings, I changed the RAID from
Autodetect to ON and she booted up.

There are still issues. After "Applying computer settings..." (which can
take 2+ minutes) I get "At least one service or driver failed during system
startup. Use Event Viewer to examine the event log for details."

And, the newly imaged drive REQUIRES RAID 1 to be ON. Is there a way to
change the drive to just be a regular SATA drive outside of a RAID array?