win2k server won't boot

so here is the story. i have my server in my room about 15 ft from my desk.
it is a stand alone machine with no monitor/keyboard/mouse etc.. i control it through remote desktop. one day i was sitting at my desk and i heard the hard drive start acting up. by acting up i just mean it had alot of activity. i tryed logging on remote desktop and was unable to connect. i tryed connecting to the network drives and again was unable to connect. so i rebooted it with the reset button on the front of the case. again i tryed to connect and was unable. i shut it down and hooked up the needed peripherals to boot it up normally. i started it up again and it will get just past the loading screen and freezes on the default blue background and goes no farther. i tryed booting in safemode and it stops in the same place. i have disconnected all other drives in the machine with the same result.

my server runs serves multiple purposes. it is a fileserver for myself and my roomates. it is a webserver hosting my website, i also host a ventrilo server and was playing around with phpbb. I do know i left a large security hole in phpbb when i installed it so being hacked is a possibility but i tend to think its more of a hardware problem. a virus is another possibility but my AV is set to update and scan daily in the middle of the night.


so now i am unsure what else to do. I'm thinking of pulling the main HD out of the server and installing it in my main machine where i can run an AV scan, checkdick and defrag. if those don't work i'm not sure what else to try. i do have some critical data on the drive that NEEDS to be recovered so if you have any ideas please feel free to offer them up.

i need to get this fixed asap so i will be checking this thread often for responses.


the server hardware is
amdxp2700
512MB pc2700
1x160gb primary hd
2x250gb hd's in mirrored raid array
pci vcard
generic ECS mobo

os is win2k server with all updates as far as i know.




thx

twump

well i tried pulling the main hd out of the server and put it in my main system for testing.. but when ib try to boot up it keeps trying to boot off the server hd and not the desktops hd's.. the desktop has raid 0 and all the bios settings point it to boot from the raid array but its not. so i'm stumped.

Can you try grabbing the data off the server drives and reintalling win2k server?

Have you tried starting it up in boot logging mode (another option in the startup menu) or tried using Last known good configuration?

Boot logging lets you tell it what to start and what not to, first time you can say yes to everything till it stops, then you know what to say no to the next time to see if you can get it to boot.

You can do a lot from the recovery console if you are well versed with the command prompt, you can basically do anything you want. Boot from the install disk and hit R when it srarts to load up the recovery console.

i've tryed boot logging but for whatever reason it ndoesn't work. it still starts up normally. not sure if i have tryed last known good, i'll tryn it again shortly.


recovery console is a good idea. in hope i can still find my win2k disc

If you dont have your win2k disk you should be able to start it from any windows disk.

6ghztofreedom said:

Can you try grabbing the data off the server drives and reintalling win2k server?

Click to expand...

that is one option i am trying to do. but i am unable to access the server drive to recover the data. reinstallation is a last ditch option for me cuz i need to recover the data on the drive.

It is probably booting from the server drive when you put it in because your system will ususally give auto priority to non raided drives if there are 2 bootable ones. You could manually configure the boot.ini file on your desktop to give you a screen so you can choose with the arrow keys which you would like to boot from. You could edit that thru the recovery console.

well i'm in the recovery console and ran a checkdisk. it found some errors and fixed them but it still won't boot. i tryed using the crappy Av that comes on the win2k disc but its not recognizing the command to start it.

ok something odd just happened. i started the server up in safe mode and it finally got to the login screen after about 10 minutes. after i logged in it came up with this error. "The system cannot log you on now because the domain fileserv is not available". after about 3 minutes or so the error went away and left me at the logon screen again. i tryed again to logon and it gave me the same error.


fileserv is the servers network name and i've never had a domain setup.

At the logon screen there should be an options button, click that and see if it gives you a box that says "Log on to" and make sure it says "(COMPUTERNAME) this computer", if it doesnt drop down the list and choose that.

That option will only show up if the computer has been a member of a domain before but its sounding like it is trying to contact a domain controller to authenticate. Make sure you are using local credentials on that machine.

You are sure you have never installed Active directory on it and set it up as a DC or joined it to a domin?

yeah i'm sure its never been connected to a domain and Active directory should not be enabled

Did you try what I suggested?

i was waiting for it to try to boot again.when i click on options all that comes up is a greyed checkbox with logon using dialup connection next to it.


one thing i should point out. it only boots up to he logon screen in safemode and it takes an extremely long time to get that far. somewhere in the range of 3-7 minutes

You using the local administrator account?

yes i am attempting to login as admin. i'm going to try another account now just to see what happens

i get the same error when trying to logon using a different account.

You are still starting up in safe mode right?

Well if its trying to log on to some "domain" then it would have to have network access...try startung up in safe mode with networking just for *****s and see what that does.

yeah i'll do that in a few minutes. i tend to agree that i think the system has been compromised. i did a search on the error and the little info i found leads me to think someone hacked the machine and tryed setting up a vpn... from there i'm not sure what happened. i'll have pics up shortly.


MS has a hotfix for this error but i don't beleive it is for my exact situation.
here is what they list as the symptoms.

"If you log on with cached credentials (for example, you establish a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection to your corporate network) and you try to connect to a network resource, you may receive the following error message and you are continuously prompted for your user name and password:
The system cannot log you on now because the domain DomainName is not available.



and this is the cause according to MS.
"This problem may occur if your user credentials have either expired or have been removed."


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;824302

wing said:

You are still starting up in safe mode right?

Well if its trying to log on to some "domain" then it would have to have network access...try startung up in safe mode with networking just for *****s and see what that does.

Click to expand...

i tried that also and it didn't even get to the logon screen. though it takes so long to get to the logon screen i supose it is possible i did not wait long enough