NT4.0 Server crashed!

L

LoStMaTt

2[H]4U
Joined
Feb 26, 2003
Messages
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Well it hasn't completely crashed yet. What this server is doing is the infamous continuous reboot cycle. I do not recieve any error message and the system just reboots.

I am familiar with Server 2000/2003 but NT4.0 is before my time.

Any assistance or starting tips would be helpful.
 
Oh man, not even Microsoft supports NT 4.0 anymore and it has been a long time for me. There might be someone here still running that OS...
 
PHUNBALL said:
Oh man, not even Microsoft supports NT 4.0 anymore and it has been a long time for me. There might be someone here still running that OS...
Click to expand...


yeah, me unfortunately.

edit:


was anything installed that may have caused this?

Have you tried the Last known good configuration?

vga mode?
 
Is it plugged into a UPS?

Did you recently install any mdac upgrades?

Can you boot into safe mode, then use Last Known Good Configuration?
 
Even though it's... err....ages ago....wow. NT 4...heh.

OK, even though it's old, still some of the same principles apply here.

Hardware...check your drives, RAID array? Any warning lights?

Will she boot up fine in safe mode?

Reseat memory, CPU, ribbon cables, molex power cables

Check fans in the case, CPU HSF (heating issue?)

Can she stay up long enough to check even viewer? Does it reboot right away? Before logging in? After logging in? Random times of day or just..immediate reboot?

What service pack is she at? 6a was the latest official service pack for NT 4 (do NOT put on original 6) ...then we has the security rollup fix (nicknamed service pack 7) which was another big patch after 6a

Can still boot from the CD and run repairs and chkdsk with some switches
 
I agree with Stonecat on this one... check all the hardware first. Look at any of the last changes that were made and, if possible, undo them. Some of the more common things I've seen with old boxes is that the CMOS battery dies and resets the bios, causing NT to puke itself wanting all the old settings.

It might be worth evaluating what is on this box. Is it just a file server? Is there any user account info on it? Do you have a (fairly) recent backup of your SAM data?

There are a few tricks you can use, some riskier than others. I think my favorite was installing NT4 to another folder on the same hdd. After booting to the "new" install, swap the bad SAM file (corrupted) with a backup. Been a long time since I've worked with NT though... heck, i used to feel like the cool kid on the block 'cause NT4 workstation was the only thing that really (usefully) used both processors on my dualie 233MMX. ahhh, the old days


Best of luck
 
DarkOne_BW said:
There are a few tricks you can use, some riskier than others. I think my favorite was installing NT4 to another folder on the same hdd. After booting to the "new" install, swap the bad SAM file (corrupted) with a backup.
Click to expand...


Yup...I've done those "Mirror installs" a few times.

Way back when...had an HP Vectra workstation...dual Pentium Pro 150MHz processors (first Pentium Pro...think they were Super Socket 7). Matrox Millenium 2 PCI video with a whopping 8 megs of VRAM..whopping RAM for back then when 2 meg gaming cards were just coming out.
 
Amazingly I fixed it after trying the things listed below.

PowerEdge 2300:

- Flashed BIOS from A04 --> A15 (wowie!)
- Upgraded ESM (had never been updated)

Then finally I tried swapping hard drive positions (drives were mirrored)

SUCCESS!

After I got back into Windows I ran chkdsk on the *failing hard drive and that seemed to make things quite speedy.

So now this thing is running fresh, with a new bios, new esm, working good.
 
Embedded Systems Management Or Embedded Server Management

Something Dell would have asked him to upgrade, along with the BIOS and any other pertinent drivers. RAID controller and so forth. Typically they will require you to make these upgrades before continuing support though I really don't know if they would support NT4 specific errors. Doesn't seem like that would have applied here anyway.
 
Yea I am pretty sure it didn't. What happened was I updated the BIOS, then in the boot-up process it stated the ESM was out of date...so I just went ahead and updated that too.
 
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