NT 4.0 PDC Server - Netlogon services did not start. Can not log in

[hdokes]

Greetings,

I am in desparate need of assitance here. Was attempting a remote Ghost imaging with Symantics Solution Suite 1.0 when it's instructions stated that in order to make an image of a client side drive you must check the box that reads "Remove machine from domain before taking an image" which I promptly did assuming it would reinstate the client to the domain after the image was taken. The image failed and I could not longer get to the client (Server). When I physically addressed the server and attempted to log in directly I found the message "Can not log you in because the netlogon services did not start". At this point I am thinking I am really hosed as the shutdown button is also greyed out and this server is the PDC (Primary Domain Controller) and SQL Server to an entire department.

Any ideas?

 

[hdokes]

Quick addition:

This server is an old HP Netserver LD Pro 6/180 with Raid 0 SCSI drives off of an HP Raid SCSI interface. It is running NT4.0 SP6a. Booting up from CD ROM into some recovery (ex. winternals) package is not an option I am thinking as it would have to have those HP drivers to get to the RAID drive.

 

[hdokes]

Additional information:

With regards to the raid environment.... what we have here are 3 4gb SCSI drives in a RAID0 configuration giving a total of 12gb which is partitioned into 2 partitions, 1 C partition at 1gb and 1 D drive with the remainder. It is the C partition that I need to recover from or access in some fashion to get the netlogon services to start. Everything else on the C drive is starting otherwise. I do have an image of the C partition taken 3 weeks ago (which would restore to where we need do since all dynamic information is kept on the D partition) however there is no boot process to access the the C partition through the HP RAID controller.

I guess what I am hoping for here is some 'back door' method of getting passed the netlogon service so that I could restart the service and 'restore' the unit to it's PDC configuration.

Also, did I overlook something here in understanding that the Symantec Solution Suite required the client to be 'disconnected' from the Domain just to perform an image backup. This is still confusing to me as to why it is even a requirement as it's instructions suggest.

 

[itsp1965]

Under NT 4.0 you had to remove the machine from the domain prior to ghosting it, this is why you are now having an issue. Do you have an available BDC that can be promoted to a PDC? Do you have a tape backup of this server?

If not the only thing I can think of (assuming you have run RDISK on the server in order to backup the registry) is to install an alternate copy of NT (or 2000 for that matter) in a separate directory, boot up to this alternate environment. Go to the old NT install directory and try copying the system and security hive files from the winnt\repair directory to the winnt\system32\config dir. Re-boot the server and cross your fingers. Good luck

 

[dennisbbb]

Try Acronis, it is like Ghost, but better support for Raid and network drivers.

With Acronis, image the C drive out to another disk on the network, then access that drive using win2K or XP. Get your old image out, ghost it to another disk, then use Acronis to image that disk back to your PDC C partition.

 

[hdokes]

Well.. they said it couldn't be done... and I darn near believed 'em. I have succeeded in reserecting the old hog just nearly 24 hrs after the 'incident'.

I was already on the same track you suggested dennisbbb when I got the chance to read your comments.

The last 'capture' of the registry files on this machine (in the repair directory) dated back to 1999.

The machine is set up all SCSI however it does have an IDE port in it that wasn't being used. Sooooo... I took an 8gb drive... loaded NT2k on it.... had drivers that supported the HP NetRaid SCSI which turns out to be an AMI Raid controller... this gave me access to the SCSI drives and I had the forsight to take images (Acronis) nearly 3 weeks ago when I had the server on the bench for the first time as I prepped to 'port' this beast to new equipment. Extracted the entire config directory and pasted it over the top of the existing... removed all IDE devices (drive and CDROM)... reconfigured CMOS... and presto! God! I hate computers! 22 1/2 straight hours to recover this hog. I had completely put behind me just how SLOW 180mhz procs are.

Ok... so... that is fully up and running now. The plan here is (and I am 1/2 the way there) is to take a new P4 2.8ghz with 1024mb RAM and raid(1) IDE drives and load NT2k on it with VMWare. Create a virtual OS environment and pull the image of the old SCSI environment into this VOS. I was complete up to the point of creating an updated 'non compressed' image when the hiccup occured last night. The reason I had chosen Ghost over Acronis for the image was because I can tell Ghost not to compress the image... hoping that by not doing so.... I can 'import' it directly into the VM OS. Does this make sense? VMWare has support for SCSI drives and supports the NT4.0 environmnet however I am not sure that it has support for the specific HP NetRAID type controller... which I would prefer to 'pull' those drivers from the original 'image' as I have both partitions (C and D) imaged already and I figure I can just pull them into the VOS. And if I can 'pull' the SCSI drivers out.. why not just set the 'drive types' to IDE? Funny how one tends to ramble when they haven't seen the sheets since yesterday mornin.

Thanks for all your help guys and anything you can add to the end result here.

 

[hdokes]

Say Dennisbbb,

I am attempting to use the Acronis (with the latest updates) to image a the drives of this old system across the network to the workstation I am remotely initiating this process from through an Acronis agent connection on the 'client' and keep getting permission errors when attempting to point the image to the local drive I am initiating the whole process from. Since you mentioned Acronis, do you have any experience with this and overcoming this issue?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dennisbbb]

I dont know why you have permission errors, but for me I always type in the administrator login and have full access to all the shares on the network.

 

[dennisbbb]

I suggest you create a bootdisk CD of acronis and bootup from the old system, then select a share folder on the network to dump it's image.