I always seem to come back to the Microsoft Forums when I am stumped. I may not be in the right place to post this, but if someone has a better suggestion, please advise; I will be happy to move my request for assistance to a better venue. That being said, has anyone had experience with a system that refuses to run (for any significant period of time) but runs fine in safe mode (yes, I understand that is what safe mode is for)? The problem is to figure out what to disable or repair so that everything runs normally again. I have an IOMEGA NAS box (model 445r) that ran fine for 4+ years. Then last week I came into the office and found that the 4 drives were all showing orange, and that nothing appeared on the monitor (I mean the monitor was black - no signal). I power cycled the box and it came up fine; for several hours; and then it died again. I repeated this a number of times over the next several days, looking at logs, etc., and could find nothing that would give a clue what the problem was. I contacted IOMEGA, but of course the unit is out of warrantee, and old enough that they do not have a system rebuild disk (not even an ISO file) so that I could rebuild the system. Now, here is the rub: it works find in SAFE mode; even safe mode with networking. The anti-virus is current. I have swapped the memory thinking that it might be a memory problem. I would try to rebuild the system (assuming that the problem is a corrupt file problem), but I need to get my hands on the original system disk. I am considering just installing a new OS, but that really doesn’t tell me what the problem was, and I may not have necessary drivers to rebuild in Windows 2008. Any thoughts or suggestions?Todd Williams

According to the manual it looks like there is a hardware problem with the indicated disk drives. http://www.iomega.com/support/manuals/800mseries/main.html Regards, Dave Patrick .... Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft MVP [Windows]

Heloo, You can always run MSCONFIG and turn off all services at startup the try starting them on so see what causes the failure, but if the HD subsystem is corrupted or the unit is defective, as Dave mentioned, then I bet it is some kind of Iomega program or service that's trying to communicate with the NAS and when it can't, it crashes the server like a well written program should NOT do.Miguel Fra / Falcon IT Services Computer & Network Support, Miami, FL Visit our Knowledgebase and Support Sharepoint Site

Dave, Thank you for the suggestion. I managed to find that in the manual. I have run RAID systems (both software and hardware RAID) for some years. And I would jump on that, EXCEPT that all 4 drives go orange at the same time (like someone flipped a switch), AND there is no problem when in safe mode. Still looking for ideas.Todd Williams

Excelent suggestion! I will give it a try and let you know how it works.Todd Williams

Dave, If by chance you have an origional manual, does it say anything about a flashing green power light? I noticed TODAY the the power light (on the front of the system) was flashing from the time i press the power switch to start the system, up to the time windows actually starts. Once windows engages, the power light becomes steady greenTodd Williams

I assumed more disks since you said four and not all. Could also be the disk controller failed. Regards, Dave Patrick .... Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft MVP [Windows]

I don't have it and just looked online. Seems to indicate NAS is busy. Regards, Dave Patrick .... Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft MVP [Windows]

Im sorry, I assumed you realized this device had ONLY 4 drives. They are configured as a soft RAID. I had considered the controller, but cant convince myself because it responds fine in SAFE mode. Does that make any sense to you?Todd Williams

stopped everything on the startup page. problem persists. thought I might try to install SP1. I was able to download in in safe mode, and even got it to start, but it stalls at the point of wanting to backup the registry. I am able to run norton utilities in safe mode. thought I might try to trim down the services to minimal to see if that will allow me to run normally long enought to install SP1 still searchingTodd Williams

Trimming down the services to minimal wasn’t the solution. The system still crashes at about the same time it is ready to run (accept commands from the mouse or keyboard). still searchingTodd Williams

Trimming down the services to minimal wasn’t the solution. The system still crashes at about the same time it is ready to run (accept commands from the mouse or keyboard). still searching Todd Williams More: Trimming down the services made no difference. So I decided to try an install the SP1 (to replace some of the drivers). It is impressive how much of a SP install you can do from the Safe Mode. But it doesnt seem to actually finish. And when I went in from Normal Mode, it stayed up, but once it was ready to take instruction from the mouse or keyboard, it died again. Still searching for a solution. (does anyone happen to have an IOMEGA disk for a 400r (actually a 445rwith a serial number that startes with WPAE....)

Hi, Did you get this sorted? Did MSConfig with diagnostic startup help? Also, does sfc /scannow point to any corruption?Ketan Thakkar | Microsoft Online Community Support

Sorry for not closing this out folks. No, none of the above worked. I did finally get a rebuild disk from the manufacturer - but even that did not work. At one point I found a report in another forum commenting about the apparent failure of components on the system board. The capacitors on my mother board are "swollen" as described. I have replaced the unit and put this unit back on the shelf until I replace the system board. Thanks for all of the suggestions. Again I apologize for not closing this thread.Todd Williams