I repaired the Windows Server 2003 OS that our Exchange 2007 server is running on by booting off the cd and choosing Repair when Windows found the installation. Now some of the Exchange Services won't start. They say "Could not start the xx service on Local Computer. Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion". It flashes very quickly after the start request. The services are: Anti-spam Update, EdgeSync, File Distribution, Mail Submission, Mailbox Assistants, Replication Service, Search Indexer, Service Host, Transport, Transport Log Search. This was a Windows Server Trial Edition...Windows Server Enterprise 2003 with Exchange Standard 2007 Any ideas? Everything was working fine before the repair except the trial had expired so the server was rebooting every two hours.

Is the DC on the same box? Run exbpa to look for more errors. Also paste the event IDs realted to exchange services?Raj

You will have to reinstall Exchange as well. coz Windows Repair might have replaced some of the updated dll files which is causing this issue. so just reinstall exchange 2007 on top of it.Vinod |CCNA|MCSE 2003 +Messaging|MCTS|ITIL V3|

Will installing Exchange over the top pick up the old settings? It was 32bit. Should I put 32bit back on or go with 64bit...does that matter?

No there is a seperate DC. The DC has Exchange 2003 on it (it's a small business server) but this machine has most of the mailboxes on it. I didn't know what sp level the server was at because I couldn't log into it but the Win2K3 OS I loaded on this server was only at sp1 so I'm running windows update now. Do you think that might be the problem? I'm afraid to run exbpa right now because it's doing the upgrade. Should I post all event id's or just errors?

Not sure because exchange 2007 32 bit is not supported on production. I think you should go for 32 bit reinstall as it was the previous version. Make sure you back up the databse well.Raj

I think I'm going to need to take another route. So far I've installed W2K3 sp2 and restarted. Services still aren't starting and there's nothing error-wise in the event log that says anything more than the services didn't respond in the alloted time. I've inherited this server from another admin and it was originally installed with w2k3 32bit trial and exchange 07 32trial. The challange i'm facing in reloading exchange 07 is that I don't have 32bit media because ms only supplies 64bit now and I'm afraid reinstalling a trial over the top will be a waste of time (BTW exchange ent 07 operates in standard mode after it expires so the real problem is the OS). Perhaps I can get some suggestions...This setup is on a vmware 2.0 server and I have two copies of the virtual machine the original and a backup. The exchange data is stored on a second vm drive for each of these copies so I can attach that as a data disk to a new VM. I was thinking about installing Windows 2003 Ent Server 64bit and also Exchange 2007 64bit, then attach the data drive that has the exchange directories on it as a second disk. I'm a little shakey about issues that I might come up with in using a new installation of Exchange with an older store when it comes to the different versions of exchange (64 and 32). Another option would be to install Windows 2003 ent server 32bit and exchange 07 64bit. I'm thinking this as an option because I'd want to try to pickup settings from AD.

Ok, I got it fixed. I tried a lot of things but this is what worked: General Steps: 1. Backup of the physical disks 2. Reset Domain Account (be careful because once you do this you may not be able to log on 3. Reload a new box using the same name (you may have to build it with another name and change it when ready) 4. Bring os up to the current updates & service packs. 5. Install all the rerequisites to Exchange 07 (I already knew these so it helped. You may want to install it on a test box and determine all the prerequisites first. 5.5 Join back to the domain with the same name (note that my server was not a domain controller) 6. drop to dos and navigate to the folder when exchange's setup.com file is. 7. run setup.com /m:RecoverServer (read Microsoft's warnings about using this...when it works and when it doesn't) At first it wouldn't run then I realized I hadn't rebooted plus hadn't log in to a domain admin account, I was on a local account. 8. wait for it to complete 9. bring the mailbox database by mounting them 10. etc... I still have to work out web access to the server so that solution isn't listed here. Here's some web urls that may help someone else: understanding setup /m:recoverserver http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998656%28printer%29.aspx How to Move an Exchange 2007 Mailbox Server to New Hardware Keeping the Same Server Name http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332341%28printer%29.aspx see shackdaddy's comment: http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1535325&page=10 Hope this helps someone else...this can be a stressful situation if it's your first time :)