2000server trying to die on me - Please Help!

[mhudson]

Here's the situation. I have a 2000 server as Domain Controller running Lotus Domino and also acting as file server. It is not connected to the Internet.
A few weeks ago it began to act flaky (takes forever to bring up Active Directory), then Friday just went beserk. First, it "lost" one of the printers. When running the Add Printer applet, nothing happened. I rebooted the server, but it made no difference.
Today I went in and spent 8 hours trying to troubleshoot the machine. Bootup seems to take forever. I swapped out memory, but no difference. I tried running just one CPU at a time, but no difference. When trying to start a service that wasn't running (any service), it just times out. It won't even let me view the network properties.
I considered reinstalling server over itself, but am unsure as to what I might lose (all my user info in AD, etc.). If any of you guys have any insights as to what the heck could be going on with this crazy thing, I'd sure appreciate it.

 

[peterve]

how many NIC's are in the server ?
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How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?
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I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work
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[mhudson]

There were two, and I pulled the one out that was occasionally used for internet on the sever only. Users get on the net thru the T-1 line, bypassing the server.

 

[mcsebob]

Try booting from the server CD and perform a repair. Before doing so, I would create an emergency repair disk, but do not use it for the repair. If you perform the repair, the next step I would suggest is to reapply all patches and service pack 2. I am sure that performing a repair will not loose any data in AD, I have done this before.

 

[tryangle]

I had to reinstall the the Win2k Server OS because of Nimda back in October of last year. I ended up with a lot of duplicate user directories under Documents and Settings. I didn't loose Active Directory, but I had to completely re-configure DNS. But then, if you're not on the Internet, your DNS would default as the root. So I guess that wouldn't be a big deal for you. Sounds to me like it's "looking" for a DNS root hints update on the non-existant Internet connection. Something might need to be disabled, I'm not sure what. %-) Maybe recursion or round robin. This OS keeps me on the edge of my seat!

 

[mhudson]

I'll try the repair option tonight after all my users leave. Even though they have been able to log on and access files today, AD still acts as though it doesn't exist. Will report results.

 

[mhudson]

I tried to do a System State restore by booting to Safe Mode, but it wouldn't even let me log on to the server using my admin logon and password. Any hints? thanks.