Domain controller computer boot fails 0x0000007B on mirrored drive

[rzward]

Hello,

I have a Compaq Proliant 3000 500Mhz file server w/5 hot-swappable SCSI hard drives. The server is the domain controller for my network. It is running MS Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4.

Disk 4 is a mirror of Disk 0, which is the boot drive. Both 0 and 4 are 4.3GB SCSI drives. The others are 9.1GB SCSI drives.

Unfortunately, when I boot the server, I see the blue screen with the following at the top:

*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0x8132D5A8, 0xC0000010,0x00000000,0x00000000) INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

I read some articles on Microsoft's website such as "Reasons why Windows NT does not boot from a shadow mirror drive" at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q167045/

Following the instructions from Microsoft's website, I created a boot floppy to boot the server to Disk 4 instead of Disk 0. The server boots fine.

The instructions also tell me to break the mirror.

But, I am unable to break the mirror because the Logical Disk Manager won't start. I discovered that the "Logical Disk Administrator Manager" service fails to load even when I try to start it manually from the Services applet.

I'm thinking that the Logical Disk Manager won't start because Disk 0, which used to be the boot disk, has a problem.

When I physically remove Disk 0 and boot to Disk 4, the operating system starts but the MS SQL Server services do not start. When I put Disk 0 back and boot to Disk 4, the operating system starts and the MS SQL Server services start as well.

It seems MS SQL Server and also a part of the operating system want Disk 0 to be around and functional even if the computer boots off of Disk 4.

I would like to be able to break the mirror so I can create a new mirror. Then I will again have 2 disk drives that have the operating system on it. Otherwise, if Disk 4 fails, I'm out of luck -- it would be a drag to install a new operating system and introduce a new domain controller to the network.

If it's not possible for me to break the mirror, is it possible to install a new operating system on a new hard drive and transfer the domain controller information to it so I don't have to update all of the clients?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Richard

 

[dennisbbb]

To resolve 0x0000007B, try putting disk 4 in place of disk 0 by using the cable of disk 0. This will preserve the same controller and the same scsi id, which will allow the server to boot based on partition path specified in the boot.ini file.

As for domain controller information transfer, you will have to build another server to join your current server domain.

 

[rzward]

Thank you for your help.

I shut down the server, took disk 0 out and put disk 4 in its place, updated the boot.ini file on the floppy disk and then booted the server.

The operating system started and the MS SQL Server services started. When I try to start the Disk Management program from the Computer Management applet, it shows the "Connecting to Logical Disk Manager Service..." message for a long time (possibly forever?).

I then tried to manually start the "Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service" from the Services applet and it gives the error "Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion."

It seems booting disk 4 from the disk 0 slot helps MS SQL Server but not the "Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service".

Can I break a mirror from the command line and if so, does that also require the service?

Richard

 

[dennisbbb]

Not sure how you are mirroring the drives... thru SCSI controller or thru Microsoft disk manager. In either case, you should boot the server without using the floppy disk.

Also, you have essentially broken the mirror when you booted from just your old mirrored disk. You can add another disk in and start up another mirroring scheme. If using Microsoft disk manager to mirror, it would have detected that your mirror disk is missing.

 

[rzward]

I mirrored the drives using Microsoft Disk Manager.

The reason I can't boot the server without using the floppy disk is because the drives I used are not identical. Of course I didn't realize this until I read the article "Reasons why Windows NT does not boot from a shadow mirror drive" at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q167045/

When I try to boot the server without using the floppy disk, I see a blinking cursor, which is what the above article talks about. I think the reason is these two hard drives are slightly different - having different firmware versions, for one.

My understanding is when a boot drive is mirrored, all of the information is identical on the mirror drive (although there are some options that can change this). This includes a section that has drive-specific information. So, when I try to boot using the mirror drive, the information on the drive does not match the drive itself (it matches the other drive) and booting fails. Using a floppy disk to boot the system gets around this.

The article discusses ways that make it possible to not use a floppy disk to boot from a mirror drive but these are things one does before mirroring the boot drive and I of course didn't do these.

I don't know if the mirror has been broken or not since the Microsoft Disk Manager program won't start. I'm wondering if there is any diagnostic information that I can find that would tell me why it's not starting?

Thanks again for your help.

Richard

 

[dennisbbb]

Also, mark this old mirror disk as the active partition once you get online. Use the diskpart command if you cannot get into the gui.

:> diskpart
:> select disk 0
:> select partition 1
:> active

 

[dennisbbb]

Ok, the blinking is due to the system not seeing an active partition. In this case, boot up with the floppy so you can get to the desktop, then mark the disk Active using the gui or command line.

 

[rzward]

Thanks for the tip.

I downloaded diskpart from Microsoft's website and am now trying to install it on the machine.

Unfortunately, the Windows Installer hangs, saying "Preparing to install...".

Something is crippling this operating system. I am unable to start the Disk Manager, Windows Installer hangs. I scanned the computer for viruses using Mcafee's product. The event logs do not show anything obviously wrong...

I will continue to try to find a way to get diskpart running on the machine...

Richard

 

[dennisbbb]

Did you get the right one?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/tools/new/diskpart-o.asp

If you absolutely cannot get the diskpart.exe out of this, then you can try the WindowsXP version. The diskpart.exe file on windowsXP is version 5.1 while the Win2K version is 1.0. When using the WinXP version on Win2K, type in diskpart.exe then type list, then Enter. YOu will see a list of commands.

Again type:

:> select disk 0
:> select partition 1
:> active

 

[rzward]

Yes, I tried both versions, Diskpart for Windows 2000 and Diskpart for Windows XP.

I downloaded and installed Diskpart for Windows 2000 on another Windows 2000 machine so I can see how it works.

Since the installation of Diskpart for Windows 2000 hangs on the server, I copied the installed files from the other Windows 2000 machine to the server and tried to run Diskpart. Unfortunately, Diskpart shows the copyright notice, then shows the name of the server machine and then hangs. It hangs before it shows the prompt where I would type "select disk 0". It's possible Diskpart is hanging because I didn't install it.

I then downloaded a number of different anti-virus software packages and scanned the files on the server again for viruses. I was also able to scan the boot sector.

Something is preventing disk-related services and software from running on the server. Could it be related to the active partition? A virus that is not yet known?

The last time the server was shut down before the 0x0000007B blue screen, the server did not show the "you can turn off the computer now" window. Instead, it showed a blank blue screen and the disk drive was not being accessed. After a while, I decided to turn off the power. I'm thinking the primary disk drive failed then. Maybe when the drive failed, it corrupted the system information on the mirrored drive?

Any more ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Richard

 

[dennisbbb]

No.. it's just an exe file. No installation is required. The installation simply unpack the files to the toolkit folder.

Do this. When you are at the prompt showing the computer name, type in LIST, then press Enter. You will get a list of other commands.

The message "you can turn off the computer now" indicates you do not have Advance Power Management feature turned on or that feature is not present on your machine. This is fine, since most older machines did not come with that feature.

 

[rzward]

Thank you for following up.

I wish I could type in LIST. The Diskpart program hangs before it shows me its prompt. I know what prompt it shows because I have run the program on another Windows 2000 machine. I can stop the program by pressing Ctrl-C, though.

The server always showed the "you can turn off the computer now" window except for this one time (before I saw the blue screen error on the next boot). It has resumed showing the message when I shut it down.

I have read that I may be able to change the partition information using Norton's diskedit or some other disk editing program. I'll try this but somehow I don't think changing the active partition is going to help make the operating system healthy again.

Richard

 

[dennisbbb]

Yes you can use some partition editor to change the Active state of the disk. One such editor is FDISK found in the Win98 bootdisk.

But be careful because you can corrupt the partition with those editor.

Back up the entire disk with Ghost or Acronis first before you attempt to take that route.