Server hangs on reboot after power outage 3

[cbarrol]

Hello,
We had a plantwide power outage and a Netware 6.0 server is hanging on reboot. It gets ALMOST all the way and hangs, then at that point I cannot ALT-ESC to a console prompt. From what I am seeing as it boots, it appears that the problem is at one of the lines towards the end of AUTOEXEC.NCF:

Here is the sequence where the problem seems to occurr:
LOAD CDROM.NLM - This seems to load with no problems
UCS.NCF - I dont know what this does, but seems to load
STARTX - This does not completely load - GUI never comes up
pserver - This seems to load with no problems
BESTART.NCF - This never loads, possibly because of STARTX?

Anyway, being that the startup procedure runs AUTOEXEC.NCF after power is turned on (I presume from the SERVER.EXE line in my AUTOEXEC.BAT), and never fully finishes to the point at where I can get to a console prompt...How can I get into AUTOEXEC.NCF and rem these lines out so I can troubleshoot? From what I am seeing, the problem is with STARTX or BESTART.NCF
Thanks,
Craig Barroll

 

[marvhuffaker]

If you go to DOS and load the server with SERVER -NA, this will prevent the autoexec from running, and you should be able to edit it.

You should also make the Splash screen disappear so you can watch for errors..so do a SERVER -NA -NL



Marvin Huffaker, MCNE

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[Provogeek]

BESTART.NCF is BackupExec.

When you do get into the Autoexec.ncf, and rem out the StartX command, leave it that way. Don't wasit resources on a GUI you may have never even used.

Oh, and if this doesn;t get you to were you needto be to fix the problem, you may need to do the load stages one by one to find the crash point.

SERVER.EXE -NS -NA will bypass the Startup.ncf and Autoexec.ncf, then execute Startup.ncf manually to load disk drivers, the do loadstage 1 through 5 at the console prompt, after stage 5, execute autoexec and go.

You can also hit F8 when the server tells you you can hit F8 and you can step through every command and every load stage line by line. Recently used this for the first time my self ... by accident, (was trying to get into a RAID config tool, and wasn't paying attention). Was pretty neat-o, like the DOS F8 feature to step through Config.sys and Autoexec.bat. Helpped me fidn the problem wasn't my raid config either.

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Brent Schmidt Certified nut case
Senior Network Engineer

http://www.kiscc.com

http://www.bluegunk.com

 

[iolair]

Have you run VREPAIR to check the disk?

I agree with Mr. Schmidt - I disable STARTX as I don't use the GUI at all. Just wastes resources.

Iolair MacWalter

 

[cbarrol]

I was previously told that vrepair auto runs on bootup on Netware 6 and above after a server crash. Is this correct?

 

[marvhuffaker]

Typically vrepair doesn't apply on netware 6 or higher because you're using NSS volumes. You can't repair an NSS volume with Vrepair.

The only way you'd have traditional volumes is if you intentionally installed the server that way or if you upgraded in place from an earlier version of Netware.

Vrepair does run automatically in some cases if there is problems mounting a traditional volume... but if it runs, you usually know it.

Marvin Huffaker, MCNE

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[LLindsay]

Use the server -na first and note at what load stage it hangs. Does the server also give a hex dump or does it just reboot? We've had this same issue with servers having lost power causing the "servcfg.*" files to become corrupt. Deleting them will cause the server to recreate them correctly.

 

[Provogeek]

the TID and everyone else that gives this suggestion fails to note what the servcfg files are. That is the server registry, yea, Novell uses one as well. What's in it? well, any custom SET commands that were done from the Monitor utility.

If you haven't replicated any custom SET commands from the Monitor input to your STARTUP or AUTOEXEC NCF files, then they will be lost when you delete the servcfg file.

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Brent Schmidt Certified nut case
Senior Network Engineer

http://www.kiscc.com

http://www.bluegunk.com

 

[LLindsay]

Thanks Brent, you're right. Thank you for catching that. I need to be more detailed, I'm new to the forum arena.
I also failed to mention that I get away with such an act because I have an NCF up front in my autoexec.ncf called loadset.ncf that preserves the SET commands that I want.