IBM Netfinity Server Running NT4 Service Pack 6.0

[blairp]

About every week to 10 days our Server shows all the Services (Spooler, DHCP Client etc) as Status Started and Startup Disabled.

e.g.

Service Name Status Startup

Spooler Started Disabled

When you click on the Service and click Start-up the messages returned are:-


a) The system cannot find the path specified
b) The service database is locked.

The Services all continue to run but you cannot stop or restart any of the Sevices. To recify the problem and return Services to Automatic requires a reboot.

What could be causing the problem.???

 

[infojunkie]

First do you mean SP6 or SP6a?
As SP6a was rushed out very quickly to fix a number of issues that SP6 actually caused.
So if you are running SP6 you may wont to investigate going to SP6a.
Hope that may help

 

[blairp]

I mean SP6a. The problem continues.!!!!

 

[neilcresswell]

Sounds like the registry is getting corrupted and the service's path information is incorrect.
When it fails go to
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services

Find one of the Services not working and check the image path key. Does this exist????

What is the value of the start key.

N

 

[blairp]

Thanks I will give it a try early in the New Year as the Server was restarted on Sunday 29th December 2002 and it will disable all the services about 7-10 days after reboot.

Blair

 

[blairp]

When I checked the Registry Key with services enabled the result was: -
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services
the image path for spooler was "%systemroot%\system32\spoolss.exe

Value of the start key 0x00000002(2)

Today with the services showing disabled I cannot access the Services under HKLM as the following error message is displayed.

Error opening Key

X Cannot open Services, error while opening key.

It certainly looks like the Registry is becoming corrupted, but how to fix without rebooting every 7-10 days.???

Blair

 

[neilcresswell]

This is not good...

There is a free Microsoft tool that checks your reg keys and performs repairs if needed. I would install that and run it over the server.

Also, using regedt32, ensure that your permissions are correct under the registry..

N

 

[techer]

What is the name of the Microsoft tool that checks reg keys and performs repairs?

And where do you get it?

 

[Tinners]

I have the same problem - all services disabled about every other day - and have been restarting the server remotely from home every morning before leaving for work. Some of the things I have tried may help.

In order to automate a reboot, I tried the WINAT utility: although the scheduled jobs are listed at the command prompt, they just don't start when they are supposed to!

Next thing I tried was getting the UPS to power off and restart on schedule every morning. It works OK, but it's a bit unsubtle, and APC tell me it will run the battery down.

Next I downloaded the NT4 Resource Kit, which includes the "shutdown" utility; I'm trying out WinCron shareware from DWG Software, which works brilliantly. I wrote a simple batch file reboot.cmd with appropriate switches (shutdown /L /R /Y /C) and have scheduled it to run at 05:00 every morning.

I see this as a short term fix, but it still doesn't tackle the problem of the corrupt registry. Can someone (Neil Cresswell?) please tell me where to find the registry repair tool?

 

[robbiek]

I had the same problem with 2 Dell-servers.
After installing a 3C985B-SC nic booth servers had after about 10 days all services disabled and in the registry i can't access the service-path.

Now, after deinstall and new install the nic one server is runnig since a half year without any problem.

After format and reinstall the other server i have still the same problem.

In my case it could be the nic, but i dont know why.

 

[Tinners]

Is your problem fixed now? Sorry, it's been a while since you first posted this problem, but I've only just solved something similar on my server and thought it may be relevant to your case.

Were you logged on to the server, perhaps as Administrator, when the services become disabled overnight? If so, then next time make sure you log off your NT session in the evening, then check the services again in the morning.

Some of the services were probably scheduled to stop prior to an overnight backup and failed to restart afterwards because they can only run under a System account. The services database becomes locked, but is unlocked when you log off your NT session.

Let me know if this works for you, or if you found another fix!

 

[bfkad]

I have the same problem, although on a Gateway server, but it does have a 3COM NIC.

I am also curious about the registry utility mentioned in this thread.

If someone could post the name I will give it a try.

I exported a copy of the service keys from ControlSet.001
and use that to restore the keys when I find this has occured. Is it necessary to do this? Or is a backup copy restored during boot?

 

[Tinners]

Registry 1st Aid will clear out a lot of unwanted registry entries. You can get it at:

http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/Reg1Aid/

It's free to try (limited functionality) and well worth the small registration fee.

Tinners