Active Directory failure

[ben chi(f4)]

Ok:

Server 2003, when I try to boot up the machine I get a failure along the lines of

Security accounts manager initiliaed failed. Directory service cannot start error code 0xc00002e1.

I have to boot into the Directory Services restore option after pressing F8. I can boot just find. I check out eventvwr and I see that I get event id of 1003 / Source NTDS General. The operating system cannot recover from this error. Operation Terminted w/error -1018(JET_errReadVerityFailure, checksum error)

I tried to recover via command line and I keep getting the same messages. Am I hosed and have to reinstall my Directory?

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Ntdsutil files info

I've checked to see if the ntds.dit file was there and it is. My files are all pointing to c:\windows\ntds

My HD letters are all correct.

[dbwillis]

1st question...is this the only domain controller for this domain?
2nd question...if it is, cant you do a restore from backup to restore 'system state'

[Blackforge]

If there aren't multiple DCs and a backup is unavailable, like dbwillis' asked.

Did you run an integrity check using ntdsutil?

I suggest looking over this article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/258062

If you do have multiple DCs, I would DCPROMO the problem DC and demote it. Then check for any hardware problems. If you don't find anything, you can repromote it (or rebuild and promote it back). Depending on if you run anything else on the server will vary how you should do things of course.