2 servers randomly crashed, cannot log in, cannot reboot

[captaincrunch00]

I came in this morning and did my normal routine of logging into the servers to check some stuff out and on two of the servers it had that screen that said "Why did the server crash last night?" I just selected "Unexpected" and proceeded to try to log in. The server is stopped at the "Applying settings" screen to log in.

I log into my next server (these are both running 2003, one of them is an exchange, the other is a DC with all of the FSMO roles) and get the exact same message. I select unexpected and try to log in. The same thing happens.
I can't alt+ctrl+delete, I can't get to explorer, when I get to Computer Management of the MMC I can't shut it down remotely because I get error number 15.

I hit the ol' power button on the DC and it rebooted... and then got stuck at "Applying Computer Settings" just like it did last time.

The servers are fully functional, email is working, I can ping the domain controller, I just cant log in remotely or locally to either of the servers.

Anyone have any ideas? Here's the "System Error" from the System Log.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 7/28/2005
Time: 9:10:21 AM
User: N/A
Computer: SERVERNAME
Description:
Error code 1000008e, parameter1 c0000005, parameter2 8059dcac, parameter3 b9e8c5b0, parameter4 00000000.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 31 30 30 30 30 30 38 1000008
0020: 65 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d e Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 63 30 eters c0
0030: 30 30 30 30 30 35 2c 20 000005,
0038: 38 30 35 39 64 63 61 63 8059dcac
0040: 2c 20 62 39 65 38 63 35 , b9e8c5
0048: 62 30 2c 20 30 30 30 30 b0, 0000
0050: 30 30 30 30 0000

 

[captaincrunch00]

Okay, an hour and a half of waiting and ripping out my hair and my email server finally logged in. Everything is running that it should.

Logging off seems to take an hour also, and I'll try to log back in when it finally logs out.

 

[itsp1965]

Per chance have you applied a new group policy lately? I have seen Eventid 1003 being generated by a policy going haywire.

 

[captaincrunch00]

I think I found the problem. When I checked the services I just checked to see if the automatic ones had writing next to them, didn't really pay attention that close.

There is a service that is "Starting" instead of "Started"


I've done my homework and I will disable that service tonight and it it should work better.

 

[Albion]

Just a bit of advice. It is always best practice to stop all Exchange services before you reboot a server with Exchange. Otherwise the server can take an ungodly long time to shutdown.

-Craig