Hello,

I have a Windows 2008 R2 Core machine in my home lab which is blue screening on each boot and rebooting.  This machine has been working and stable for about 2 years now, most recently the underlying iSCSI storage began to have problems and was replaced.  There were errors on the disk, however I was able to mount the virtual disk on another machine and run a chkdsk which found the errors and repaired them.  After this was done the VM returned to functioning normally until it starting maxing out on memory usage before finally crashing.

Since then it has blue screened and rebooted on each attempt.  I have tried the following:

1.  Mounting the virtual disk and performing another chdsk - no errors found.
2.  Booting in safe mode, last known good --> System Blue screens before completing loading the OS
3.  Booting from the install CD and using recovery console - my only option here appears to be to run another chkdsk, this does not find any errors and does not correct the problem.

No backups exist in this lab however I would like to recover the machine if possible.  It is a 2008 R2 Core machine running DC, DNS, and file server roles.  It is the only DC for my lab.  What other recovery options to I have available to me?

Hi,

As it will need to collect dump for troubleshooting a BSOD issue which will take a long time, it is recommanded to contact online support such as an email or phone support.

You may also analyze them with Debugging Tools by yourself. You can install it and it’s Symbol Packages from the following link:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/Devtools/Debugging/default.mspx

WinDbg will tell you the possible cause. For more information, please read Microsoft KB article below:

How to read the small memory dump files that Windows creates for debugging

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315263

Collect Minidump Files
=================
1. Click "Start", input "SYSDM.CPL" (without quotation marks) in the “Search” bar and press “Enter”.
2. Switch to the "Advanced" tab and click the "Settings" button under "Startup and Recovery".
3. Under "Write debugging information" section, make sure the "Small memory dump (128KB)" option is selected.
4. Make sure "%SystemRoot%\Minidump" is in the "Small dump directory" open box and click “OK”.

If the Blue Screen appears again, please refer to the following steps to collect memory dump files:

1. Click “Start”, type “%SystemRoot%\Minidump" (without quotation marks) in “Search” bar and press “Enter”.
2. Go to your Desktop, right-click on it and create a new folder named "Dump".
3. Copy all the memory dump files (looks like [Mini092008-01.dmp]) in Minidump to this folder.
4. Right-click on the Dump folder, click "Send To", and click "Compressed (zipped) Folder".
5. Please send the ZIP file to us.

If no clue can be found, you may contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) via telephone so that a dedicated Support Professional can assist with your request. To troubleshoot this kind of kernel crash issue, we need to debug the crashed system dump. Unfortunately, debugging is beyond what we can do in the forum. Please be advised that contacting phone support will be a charged call.

To obtain the phone numbers for specific technology request please take a look at the web site listed below:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;OfferProPhone#faq607

 

 

Hello,

I have a technet standard subscription with no free support calls so unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to call in for support on this one, however I have made some progress.  Here's the full update:

1.  As I mentioned, errors on the disk were found and corrected by running chkdsk /F
2.  The machine was running without an issue for about a day until it crashed and has generated a BSD after each reboot.
3.  The server runs Active Directory, DNS and is the only DC (this is a lab environment).
4.  The machine will not boot into Safe mode (BSD) or Last Known Good (BSD).
5.  After taking a screenshot of the BSD I was finally able to see the error before the machine rebooted.  It is:
"Directory Services could not start because of the following error:  A device attached to the system is not functioning.  Error status: 0x0000001.  Please shutdown this system and reboot into Directory Services Restore Mode, check the event log for more detailed information.
6.  I am able to boot into Directory Services Restore mode succssfully and I can see the following errors in the Directory Service log:

Event ID: 1003 - JET_errLogFileCorrupt, Log file is corrupt.

7.  This led me to the following KB article which looks to be EXACTLY what I'm experiencing:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/280364
8.  When I open ntdsutil from directory services restore mode and type files I get the following response:
Could not initialize the jet engine:  Jet error -501.  Failed to open DIT for AD DS/LDS instance NTDS.  Error 2147418113.

From what I can see it seems like my NTDS.DIT file is corrupt.  As I mentioned, this is a lab and there are no backups, so unless I can recover repair the .dit file then I think I may be sunk.  Can anyone off any other avenues of investigation before I start a reinstall of AD?

• Proposed as answer by powernet66 Wednesday, April 30, 2014 6:01 AM
• Unproposed as answer by powernet66 Wednesday, April 30, 2014 6:01 AM

SUCCESS!

Ok guys, here's a recap for anyone else experiencing this issue and steps to fix it.  These steps apply to a 2008 R2 Core machine which is the only domain controller in the domain which had no backups.  The symptoms are the server failed to boot due to a BDS error.  The server has a BSD error indicating "Directory Services could not start because of the following error:  A device attached to the system is not functioning.  Error status: 0x0000001.  Please shutdown this system and reboot into Directory Services Restore Mode, check the event log for more detailed information."  Here are the steps I used to restore the DC.

1.  Restart the server and press F8 key, select Directory Services restore mode.
2.  Log in with the local administrator username and password (hope you remember what you set it to!).
3.  Type cd \windows\system32
4.  type NTDSUTIL
5.  type activate instance NTDS
6.  type files
7.  If you encounter an error stating that the Jet engine could not be initialized exit out of ntdsutil.
8.  type cd\
9.  type md backupad
10. type cd \windows\ntds
11. type copy ntds.dit c:\backupad
12. type cd \windows\system32
13. type esentutl /g c:\windows\ntds\ntds.dit
14. This will perform an integrity check, (the results indicate that the jet database is corrupt)
15. Type esentutl /p   c:\windows\ntds\ntds.dit
16. Agree with the prompt
17. type cd \windows\ntds
18. type move *.log c:\backupad   (or just delete the log files)

This should complete the repair.  To verify that the repair has worked successfully:

1.  type cd \windows\system32
2.  type ntdsutil
3.  type activate instance ntds
3.  type files        (you should no longer get an error when you do this)
4.  type info       (file info should now appear correctly) 

One final step, now sure if it's required:

From the NTDSUTIL command prompt:
1.  type Semantic Database Analysis
2.  type Go

The output will tell you that the Analysis completed successfully.
Type quit and closes the command prompt.

Reboot your server normally.  If your server is still pooched you may just be out of luck, however the steps above worked in my case.  Hope this helps someone.

• Marked as answer by dbutch1976 Tuesday, February 07, 2012 3:28 PM

DButch1976, You are a genious!  I followed this post to the tee, and voila!  My server is back up and running thanks to you.  If this forum had a tip jar, you'd be a few greenbacks richer by now...:)

• Edited by PCNetPro Wednesday, October 17, 2012 4:42 PM

dbutch1976 you are my god! Got me out of Hell. Thanks

Yep, worked for me. Thanks dbutch1976  

This Saved me!

Thank you!

Thanks dbutch1976, this worked a treat, I too am using a lab DC, and Monday morning came into this, did you ever find the root cause?

Looking at my event logs I found a shutdown had been caused by an overheated processor and I am surmising that this just happened at the wrong moment when AD was "Doing" something

Thanks for the post though -  saved my bacon

N

DButch1976, Really Awesome.

Just Followed the steps and it worked like Charm. I got struck with this on a Production DC.

Thanks!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! Was having dreaded reboot loop on SBS2011, turned off automatic restart on failure, then saw I had BSOD 0x00000002, found your solution, and I'm back up and running. THANK YOU!!!!

SUCCESS!

Ok guys, here's a recap for anyone else experiencing this issue and steps to fix it.  These steps apply to a 2008 R2 Core machine which is the only domain controller in the domain which had no backups.  The symptoms are the server failed to boot due to a BDS error.  The server has a BSD error indicating "Directory Services could not start because of the following error:  A device attached to the system is not functioning.  Error status: 0x0000001.  Please shutdown this system and reboot into Directory Services Restore Mode, check the event log for more detailed information."  Here are the steps I used to restore the DC.

1.  Restart the server and press F8 key, select Directory Services restore mode.
2.  Log in with the local administrator username and password (hope you remember what you set it to!).
3.  Type cd \windows\system32
4.  type NTDSUTIL
5.  type activate instance NTDS
6.  type files
7.  If you encounter an error stating that the Jet engine could not be initialized exit out of ntdsutil.
8.  type cd\
9.  type md backupad
10. type cd \windows\ntds
11. type copy ntds.dit c:\backupad
12. type cd \windows\system32
13. type esentutl /g c:\windows\ntds\ntds.dit
14. This will perform an integrity check, (the results indicate that the jet database is corrupt)
15. Type esentutl /p   c:\windows\ntds\ntds.dit
16. Agree with the prompt
17. type cd \windows\ntds
18. type move *.log c:\backupad   (or just delete the log files)

This should complete the repair.  To verify that the repair has worked successfully:

1.  type cd \windows\system32
2.  type ntdsutil
3.  type activate instance ntds
3.  type files        (you should no longer get an error when you do this)
4.  type info       (file info should now appear correctly) 

One final step, now sure if it's required:

From the NTDSUTIL command prompt:
1.  type Semantic Database Analysis
2.  type Go

The output will tell you that the Analysis completed successfully.
Type quit and closes the command prompt.

Reboot your server normally.  If your server is still pooched you may just be out of luck, however the steps above worked in my case.  Hope this helps someone.

Worked 100% to be. Thanks a lot

hi dbutch1976

i have blue screening issues adn i tried your 18 step's but i can't continue instep number 10, I'm stuck.

When i try to type "cd \windows\ntds" it says : "windows cannot find the path section". So i think i cannot go to NTDS in my windows.

Is there any other way to fix this?