Server Hangs Constantly

[helenw]

Over the last two months we have been having serious problems with our main server hanging. It always hangs during the tape backup at night. By hanging I mean there is no way to access anything but I still have mouse control. There are never any entries in the Windows event logs indicating what could be causing the problem. The hangs have now begun to happen several times a day. The only way to get it back is to reboot it. During this time the BIOS has also become corrupted twice cause me to have to reset it. I have also found corrupt data that prior to these lockups had been just fine (they were not system files).

We have an HP Netserver LC 2000 with 512 MB RAM, 36 GB HDD space and running at 600 MHz. We have contacted HP and at this point they have replaced the motherboard, the memory, the CPU, the tape drive and the RAID controller none of which has solved our problem. We have one other server running on our network that only does network authentication and it has never locked up. There was actually one time when the server hung and it hung one of my workstations with it. Once the server was rebooted it released the hang on the workstation. I am at the end of my rope because I have tried everything I can think of. I have seen posts describing this exact problem on other boards but no one has any answers. Any help anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

Helen S. Ward
Computer Operations Manager
Gorrelick, Tievy & Associates, Inc.
Rockville, Maryland

 

[snootalope]

I know how problems like this drag ya down.. I'm actually just recovering from one right now.. (bsod everyday)

Now, once you've experienced these types of problems, you soon realize that an issue like this can't be solved by a single regedit or a frickin file deletion.. (that's always someones first guess, just remove that file and reboot)

What you can do though, is think of what it would take to get that server back to its bare essentials for means of testing..

-The backup software: Can it be fully removed for a day, just for testing? (i know that's risky, but welcome to IT)

-Any uneeded apps on there?
-any strange event logs?
-How longs it been doing it, when did it really start (did it all begin with the backups?)
-can you disconnect your tape drive (internal?, scsi?) for a day?
-I could go on for days..

You'll eventually come to a point of desperation and start doing stuff that your gonna forget you did, and that's when the real damage begins.. take your time, and just dig around and try and find things that are just...weird... and then run with em..

OH! Do you have SP4 on there?? I've had nothing but troubles with that damn thing.. just some advice.. 8)

good luck man..
snooter

"tis better to remain silent and be thought of as a fool..
then open your mouth and remove all doubt" Mark Twain

"I should of been a doctor.." Me

 

[MikeKap]

Hi Helen, after you have tried snooter's recommendations, if you are still having problems go to

http://www.lakesidesoftware.com

and download their SysTrack 3.1 software. It is a 14-day demo that is really the full product. I am not suggesting that you buy the software unless you like it and feel it is necessary. One of the features built into SysTrack is something called the Blackbox Data Recorder (BDR). The BDR is useful when the eventlog is not. The BDR got it's name from the same BDR you would think of as associated with the airline industry. It collects data and writes it to a local Jet db for use in diagnosing problems related to system crashes or slow-downs. If you load the demo of SysTrack, the BDR could help you fix this problem. When you are done, you can remove it if you want to.

Good luck,
Mike
Kapski@yahoo.com