Server is a ML370G2  RAID 5 array with 4 36.4 GB drives.  OS is 2K Advanced 
Server.

A technician rebooted the server because of slow system performance.  The 
system failed to boot, displaying a message that NTLDR could not be found. 
I booted to the 2K Setup CD to go into the recovery console.  There was a 
delay of about 40 minutes for the recovery console to prompt for 
administrator password. I restored the NTLDR from the CD and restarted. 
Again, the boot seemed to hang, so I ran a chkdsk from the recovery console. 
After fixing several errors the chkdsk completed.  I discovered that one of 
the phsyical disks in the array was failing. The drive was replaced and the 
array controller rebuilt the volume.

After replacing the drive, we still have a bootup problem. POST completes 
and the server hangs right at the beginning of the boot. The screen is 
blank. After about 20 minutes we see the boot startup screen.

Once the system completes the boot, performance is normal.

Tonight, I am going to do a "fixmbr" from the recovery console. I am a 
little nervous about the warning message, but a KB article states that as 
long as the system is virus free, a fixmbr can be done sucessfully.

Am I on the right track fixing the mbr?

Why are you going to fixmbr? The file system may now be damaged (especially 
if the failed disk was kicked back online). What Event Viewer errors are 
generated?

-- 

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Bryan" wrote:
| Server is a ML370G2  RAID 5 array with 4 36.4 GB drives.  OS is 2K 
Advanced
| Server.
|
| A technician rebooted the server because of slow system performance.  The
| system failed to boot, displaying a message that NTLDR could not be found.
| I booted to the 2K Setup CD to go into the recovery console.  There was a
| delay of about 40 minutes for the recovery console to prompt for
| administrator password. I restored the NTLDR from the CD and restarted.
| Again, the boot seemed to hang, so I ran a chkdsk from the recovery 
console.
| After fixing several errors the chkdsk completed.  I discovered that one 
of
| the phsyical disks in the array was failing. The drive was replaced and 
the
| array controller rebuilt the volume.
|
| After replacing the drive, we still have a bootup problem. POST completes
| and the server hangs right at the beginning of the boot. The screen is
| blank. After about 20 minutes we see the boot startup screen.
|
| Once the system completes the boot, performance is normal.
|
| Tonight, I am going to do a "fixmbr" from the recovery console. I am a
| little nervous about the warning message, but a KB article states that as
| long as the system is virus free, a fixmbr can be done sucessfully.
|
| Am I on the right track fixing the mbr?
|
|

Thanks for the reply.

No event errors are generated. Disk checks show that the file system is in
good shape. The only symptom is the boot takes 20 minutes. This is before
the boot menu is displayed and before the "Windows 2000 is starting up" is
displayed. It just hangs at a blank screen for 20 minutes.




"Dave Patrick"  wrote in message
news:e285ZYISGHA.2088@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Why are you going to fixmbr? The file system may now be damaged
(especially
> if the failed disk was kicked back online). What Event Viewer errors are
> generated?
>
> -- 
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
> Microsoft Certified Professional
> Microsoft MVP [Windows]
> http://www.microsoft.com/protect
>
> "Bryan" wrote:
> | Server is a ML370G2  RAID 5 array with 4 36.4 GB drives.  OS is 2K
> Advanced
> | Server.
> |
> | A technician rebooted the server because of slow system performance.
The
> | system failed to boot, displaying a message that NTLDR could not be
found.
> | I booted to the 2K Setup CD to go into the recovery console.  There was
a
> | delay of about 40 minutes for the recovery console to prompt for
> | administrator password. I restored the NTLDR from the CD and restarted.
> | Again, the boot seemed to hang, so I ran a chkdsk from the recovery
> console.
> | After fixing several errors the chkdsk completed.  I discovered that one
> of
> | the phsyical disks in the array was failing. The drive was replaced and
> the
> | array controller rebuilt the volume.
> |
> | After replacing the drive, we still have a bootup problem. POST
completes
> | and the server hangs right at the beginning of the boot. The screen is
> | blank. After about 20 minutes we see the boot startup screen.
> |
> | Once the system completes the boot, performance is normal.
> |
> | Tonight, I am going to do a "fixmbr" from the recovery console. I am a
> | little nervous about the warning message, but a KB article states that
as
> | long as the system is virus free, a fixmbr can be done sucessfully.
> |
> | Am I on the right track fixing the mbr?
> |
> |
>
>

Previous post was done by Bryan. I was at a different computer and forgot
the name was different.

"Dave Patrick"  wrote in message
news:e285ZYISGHA.2088@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Why are you going to fixmbr? The file system may now be damaged
(especially
> if the failed disk was kicked back online). What Event Viewer errors are
> generated?
>
> -- 
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
> Microsoft Certified Professional
> Microsoft MVP [Windows]
> http://www.microsoft.com/protect
>
> "Bryan" wrote:
> | Server is a ML370G2  RAID 5 array with 4 36.4 GB drives.  OS is 2K
> Advanced
> | Server.
> |
> | A technician rebooted the server because of slow system performance.
The
> | system failed to boot, displaying a message that NTLDR could not be
found.
> | I booted to the 2K Setup CD to go into the recovery console.  There was
a
> | delay of about 40 minutes for the recovery console to prompt for
> | administrator password. I restored the NTLDR from the CD and restarted.
> | Again, the boot seemed to hang, so I ran a chkdsk from the recovery
> console.
> | After fixing several errors the chkdsk completed.  I discovered that one
> of
> | the phsyical disks in the array was failing. The drive was replaced and
> the
> | array controller rebuilt the volume.
> |
> | After replacing the drive, we still have a bootup problem. POST
completes
> | and the server hangs right at the beginning of the boot. The screen is
> | blank. After about 20 minutes we see the boot startup screen.
> |
> | Once the system completes the boot, performance is normal.
> |
> | Tonight, I am going to do a "fixmbr" from the recovery console. I am a
> | little nervous about the warning message, but a KB article states that
as
> | long as the system is virus free, a fixmbr can be done sucessfully.
> |
> | Am I on the right track fixing the mbr?
> |
> |
>
>

I just did the fixmbr and it did not help the problem.  Just to clarify,
after POST, BIOS starts the boot. It goes through the boot order and states
"Attempting to boot from CD-ROM", then the screen displays "Attempting to
boot from drive c:"  This is part of the normal boot process.  Then it hangs
for 20 minutes. After the delay, "Starting Windows" is displayed with the
normal scroll bar. Everything is normal after that.  The part of the boot
process that has the 20 minute delay, normally takes a fraction of a second.

Bryan

"Dave Patrick"  wrote in message
news:e285ZYISGHA.2088@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Why are you going to fixmbr? The file system may now be damaged
(especially
> if the failed disk was kicked back online). What Event Viewer errors are
> generated?
>
> -- 
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
> Microsoft Certified Professional
> Microsoft MVP [Windows]
> http://www.microsoft.com/protect
>
> "Bryan" wrote:
> | Server is a ML370G2  RAID 5 array with 4 36.4 GB drives.  OS is 2K
> Advanced
> | Server.
> |
> | A technician rebooted the server because of slow system performance.
The
> | system failed to boot, displaying a message that NTLDR could not be
found.
> | I booted to the 2K Setup CD to go into the recovery console.  There was
a
> | delay of about 40 minutes for the recovery console to prompt for
> | administrator password. I restored the NTLDR from the CD and restarted.
> | Again, the boot seemed to hang, so I ran a chkdsk from the recovery
> console.
> | After fixing several errors the chkdsk completed.  I discovered that one
> of
> | the phsyical disks in the array was failing. The drive was replaced and
> the
> | array controller rebuilt the volume.
> |
> | After replacing the drive, we still have a bootup problem. POST
completes
> | and the server hangs right at the beginning of the boot. The screen is
> | blank. After about 20 minutes we see the boot startup screen.
> |
> | Once the system completes the boot, performance is normal.
> |
> | Tonight, I am going to do a "fixmbr" from the recovery console. I am a
> | little nervous about the warning message, but a KB article states that
as
> | long as the system is virus free, a fixmbr can be done sucessfully.
> |
> | Am I on the right track fixing the mbr?
> |
> |
>
>

If the event logs are empty then the *.evt files may be corrupt. It is 
sounding more like some hardware failure. Possibly the drive controller or 
mobo or maybe even RAM

-- 

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Bryan" wrote:
|I just did the fixmbr and it did not help the problem.  Just to clarify,
| after POST, BIOS starts the boot. It goes through the boot order and 
states
| "Attempting to boot from CD-ROM", then the screen displays "Attempting to
| boot from drive c:"  This is part of the normal boot process.  Then it 
hangs
| for 20 minutes. After the delay, "Starting Windows" is displayed with the
| normal scroll bar. Everything is normal after that.  The part of the boot
| process that has the 20 minute delay, normally takes a fraction of a 
second.
|
| Bryan

Do you have a UPS and software installed to shut down the server? I can't 
remember off hand which one (others may chip in), but one version of the 
software "expired" and caused massive delays to boot times.

If you do have this software installed, try googling for problems related to 
boot times...

-- 
Regards,
Hank Arnold

"Bryan"  wrote in message 
news:errVESISGHA.4740@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Server is a ML370G2  RAID 5 array with 4 36.4 GB drives.  OS is 2K 
> Advanced Server.
>
> A technician rebooted the server because of slow system performance.  The 
> system failed to boot, displaying a message that NTLDR could not be found. 
> I booted to the 2K Setup CD to go into the recovery console.  There was a 
> delay of about 40 minutes for the recovery console to prompt for 
> administrator password. I restored the NTLDR from the CD and restarted. 
> Again, the boot seemed to hang, so I ran a chkdsk from the recovery 
> console. After fixing several errors the chkdsk completed.  I discovered 
> that one of the phsyical disks in the array was failing. The drive was 
> replaced and the array controller rebuilt the volume.
>
> After replacing the drive, we still have a bootup problem. POST completes 
> and the server hangs right at the beginning of the boot. The screen is 
> blank. After about 20 minutes we see the boot startup screen.
>
> Once the system completes the boot, performance is normal.
>
> Tonight, I am going to do a "fixmbr" from the recovery console. I am a 
> little nervous about the warning message, but a KB article states that as 
> long as the system is virus free, a fixmbr can be done sucessfully.
>
> Am I on the right track fixing the mbr?
>

That'd be these ones.

http://nam-en.apc.com/cgi-bin/nam_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=7202

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555386/


-- 

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Hank Arnold" wrote:
| Do you have a UPS and software installed to shut down the server? I can't
| remember off hand which one (others may chip in), but one version of the
| software "expired" and caused massive delays to boot times.
|
| If you do have this software installed, try googling for problems related 
to
| boot times...
|
| -- 
| Regards,
| Hank Arnold

The event logs are not empty. There are just the normal informational 
messages. For example, there are several entries that appear when windows 
starts, such as the "event log service is started." Those are informational 
messages, are normal, and are not very relevant to a boot problem.  There 
are a few warning errors (the red circle with the white X) however, they are 
related to other services. They might be relevant if for example there were 
a disk controller error. There is a DNS error, for example.  DNS services 
are not loaded until the last step of the boot process, so I doubt this is 
relevant.

I initially thought this was hardware related, and did find that a drive had 
failed. However, we have since replaced the drive and now we can find no 
evidence of a hardware problem. I have talked to HP about this extensively, 
we  have ran their diagnostic software.  There is absolutely no indication 
of a hardware problem.  Also, and here is a big clue: The server runs 
without any problems (except for a DNS error) once it has booted.  If we had 
a motherboard or memory problem, one would think that it would reveal itself 
while the OS is fully loaded. not only during boot.

Anyway, it might help to review how the boot process works in NT and later 
versions of windows:
1. BIOS is directed to a mass storage device and loads the MBR
2. MBR is directed to NTLDR.
3. Boot.ini
4. NTDETECT
5. NTBOOTDD.SYS
6. NTOSKRNL.EXE
7. HAL.DLL
8. Winlogin.exe
9. LSASS.EXE

The event log is not cable of recording errors anytime before step 6, and 
this problem is occuring. before step 4.  I know this because if NTDETECT 
was loading, something would appear on the screen.

Also, note that the same problem occurs when loading the recovery console 
off the CD. The recovery console, as you may know, has to find a valid 
windows installation. The recovery console loads, and while it is searching 
for a valid installation,  we have the 20 minute delay, then it loads and 
works with no problem.  One might be thinking, this clearly looks like a 
controller or drive failure; however, keep in mind that the server runs fine 
with no problems after it boots.  So the question is what is the recovery 
console looking for, does it just have to find NTOSKRNL, or does it examine 
the MBR? The login is the first think displayed in the recovery console 
after the 20 minutes delay, so is it loading the SAM?  If the SAM was 
corrupt, you would think we would have other problems logging in.


"Dave Patrick"  wrote in message 
news:%23kGcVCKSGHA.4956@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> If the event logs are empty then the *.evt files may be corrupt. It is
> sounding more like some hardware failure. Possibly the drive controller or
> mobo or maybe even RAM
>
> -- 
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
> Microsoft Certified Professional
> Microsoft MVP [Windows]
> http://www.microsoft.com/protect
>
> "Bryan" wrote:
> |I just did the fixmbr and it did not help the problem.  Just to clarify,
> | after POST, BIOS starts the boot. It goes through the boot order and
> states
> | "Attempting to boot from CD-ROM", then the screen displays "Attempting 
> to
> | boot from drive c:"  This is part of the normal boot process.  Then it
> hangs
> | for 20 minutes. After the delay, "Starting Windows" is displayed with 
> the
> | normal scroll bar. Everything is normal after that.  The part of the 
> boot
> | process that has the 20 minute delay, normally takes a fraction of a
> second.
> |
> | Bryan
>
>