Exchange Information Store service starting causes server crash

[gavm99]

Hi all,

We have a customers server 'freeze up' and then forced the server off and booted it up again. However it was getting stuck at 'applying computer settings' and no one could access anything on the server.

I found that if I set the Microsoft Information Store service to Manual, the server boots fine and everything works fine.

As soon as I start MIS, the server freezes and you can't access anything.

I've changed the limits on the public and private stores to 20GB and 50GB just as an easy change so that it's not a limit issue.

However when I start MIS, the whole server freezes.

I did see in the Event Viewer it was recovering Exchange and replaying the log files, but I can't get the Information Store running without the server freezing and having to be forced off again.

I suspect some kind of Exchange corruption.

Any ideas of the best route to go down in terms of a fix?

Gavin Moorhouse

http://www.lucidcomputersolutions.co.uk

Follow me on Twitter

http://www.twitter.com/lucidblog

 

[gavm99]

Ok I have a further update:

I found that if I removed the log files from the MDBDATA folder, it allowed the Information Store service to be started, without impacting the server.

However when I attempt to Mount the Information Store I get a message that the database is inconsistent.

I ran eseutil /p on the Public Store and this repaired and allowed me to mount.

However when I run this on the Private Store, it simply crashes the server meaning no one can access files etc. I have to force the server off and reboot to get things working again.

Any ideas what I can do to repair the inconsistent database and get the store mounted?

Thanks.

Gavin Moorhouse

http://www.lucidcomputersolutions.co.uk

Follow me on Twitter

http://www.twitter.com/lucidblog

 

[gavm99]

I'm currently running eseutil from a Windows XP computer and this is repairing the database.

It has been on 'deleting unicode lookup table' for some 12 hours...

Gavin Moorhouse

http://www.lucidcomputersolutions.co.uk

Follow me on Twitter

http://www.twitter.com/lucidblog

 

[gavm99]

The repair completed, I got Exchange online, but then overnight it went down again, I suspect when the defrag ran.

Now looking into options for starting a new Information store.

Gavin Moorhouse

http://www.lucidcomputersolutions.co.uk

Follow me on Twitter

http://www.twitter.com/lucidblog

 

[Zelandakh]

If you can start it and the IS runs for a while but bombs overnight, create a new database and move everyone over.

 

[gavm99]

I did indeed create a new database and moved everyone across.

No problems reported since!

Gavin Moorhouse

http://www.lucidcomputersolutions.co.uk

Follow me on Twitter

http://www.twitter.com/lucidblog

 

[Zelandakh]

It was a cheat but it worked
Now take a full backup!