server 2003 problems

[p0lish]

I'm running an up to date windows 2003 server in a small office. Nothing major, just virus, AD, DNS, DHCP, file storage ect. It is running on a RAID 1 configuration with 2 drives. They are basic hard drives, not raid specific, using the onboard raid controller. It seems every 3 or 4 days, the system will crash and not start. It stays at the windows loading screen forever. Safemode is hit or miss, and it seems the Raid Array becomes Degraded every 3 or 4 days as well, with one of the drives(not always the same one) becoming detached from the array. I rebuild the array, but that only seems to work for a short time. Everyone in the office works off of files stored on the server, so i dont know if that could be the problem. I was thinking of using a PCI raid card with a hot spare to try to alleviate this problem, but i would have to reinstall everything. Any suggestions?

bill

[MrGuvernment]

i know AD takes a while to boot up, or it does for our exchange server.

You dont have any custom scripts set to run on boot up ?

[pigster]

Look at the event viewer, what kind of errors are showing?

[p0lish]

no custom scripts, its pretty barebone. AD only has about 30 entries. the server is rebuilding the array now, so i will post back with the event viewer info. i was thinking of seperating all of the files that are used on the network onto a seperate hd away from the OS, but im not sure if that would do anything.

[MorfiusX]

Are you using software RAID1? If you are using a hardware controller, then make sure you have the right drivers.

[p0lish]

it's hardware raid. drivers seem correct

[MorfiusX]

You could have a bad controller.

[valkon]

I second the bad controller. I had a server running on built in raid and switching out the motherboard fixed the problem. If you use the same type of motherboard you may not have to re-intall either. The onboard raid controller should detect the existing raid array. *Should*

[p0lish]

alright, well i reloaded it caust it was just being a pain in the ass. i have everything pretty much back to normal, however when trying to browse from computer to computer, it says there are no logon servers availible. i dont remember setting up logon servers in the prior installation. i also switched out the onboard raid for a promise controller, and added a hotspare to help if the system gets degraded.

[SJConsultant]

alright, well i reloaded it caust it was just being a pain in the ass. i have everything pretty much back to normal, however when trying to browse from computer to computer, it says there are no logon servers availible. i dont remember setting up logon servers in the prior installation. i also switched out the onboard raid for a promise controller, and added a hotspare to help if the system gets degraded.


Please explain exactly what you did to the server to "reload" it. There could be a ton of reasons however by explaining your reload process we can better gauge how to fix the problem.

[p0lish]

cleared out everything for a fresh install. Just went through the adding of server roles, entering the same info that i had before. all computers can access the files shared on the server, however going from computer computer isnt working like it did before.

[SJConsultant]

cleared out everything for a fresh install. Just went through the adding of server roles, entering the same info that i had before. all computers can access the files shared on the server, however going from computer computer isnt working like it did before.


Did you rejoin the workstations to the domain? If not that is your problem.

[p0lish]

ya that's what i figured. thanks for your input