Server Freezing up

[NOnoy]

My DC has been freezing up lately. I come back after a day I see a black screen but no response when I touch the keyboard or mouse. Once in a while I see the screen saver frozen on the screen.
I push the reset button and try to look at the System log. It just says that it ended abnormally but does not tell me what caused it to freeze.
Is there some utility I can use to figure out why it would freeze all of a sudden. I have had this server for over 6 months and it just started to freeze last 2 weeks.


I get a disk error once in a while about a parity bit or disk access. Would that cause the freeze up?

- NOnoy

 

[yizhar]

HI.

Yes, the hard disk (or controller/cable etc..) can freeze the server, mainly if this is an IDE drive with a loose cable (replace disk cables anyway to be sure).
You should check the details of the log to see which exact phisical disk has the problem, and look back to find similar events (use filter to see only red errors).

But there are many other possible causes, try troubleshooting hardware first as it seems like a hardware issue:
* Is the CPU over heating?
* Did you replace memory chips?

You should better disable the screen saver and the screen auto blanking for a while until you find the problem. It won't help much but also won't do any harm...

You should check if the server hangs always at about the same time. Is it when the backup job is running? Another scheduled task?

You can also run performance logging from Administrative Tools or Computer Management. This also won't help much but you might find some info there from the time of the crash.
Beware not to generate a huge log file.

Another possible tip - if you have a software mirror, you can break it now (but keep the second copy not erase it) for several reasons:
* After a crash and then restart, W2K normaly regenrates all mirrors. This might generate intensive disk activity, especially if you have 2 or more mirrored volumes on the same 2 phisical hard disks.
* If the problem is disk related, it might stop after breaking the mirror and this can help troubleshooting.

Other people will tell you that this is a bad idea and that you should not break the mirror because of the important task of it. It is up to you and depends on your specific scenario and decisions.

Bye
Yizhar Hurwitz

http://come.to/yizhar

http://teachers.sivan.co.il/yizhar