DC keeps restarting

  • Thread starter Thread starter martin lutaaya
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martin lutaaya

I've just been called up on a job where I'm going to
be working for a trial period of one month after which
my employers will decide whether to keep me on the job
or not.
It's a small network of only one domain and three
segments. Total number of computers is about 100. They
have only one domain controller which also runs the
DNS. The people who have been working here have told
me that they've been having a problem of the Domain
controller restarting every now and then.
This has apparently been going on for a period of
about one month. I've not yet been given
administrative previleges on this network so I haven't
been able to log on to the domain controller myself.
There was a suspicion that this is probably caused by
a virus. The people here tell me that they have run
anti-virus software on the system and no viruses were
detected. The anti-virus software they are usin is
about1 year old but apprently they've been updating it
periodically. I later discovered that two of the most
frequently accessed volumes on the DC's hard disks are
nearly used up.
I would be very glad if any information hinting on the
possible causes of this problem and any possible
solutions is provided. I will be waiting to hear from
you.
Thank you.
 
martin said:
I've just been called up on a job where I'm going to
be working for a trial period of one month after which
my employers will decide whether to keep me on the job
or not.
It's a small network of only one domain and three
segments. Total number of computers is about 100. They
have only one domain controller which also runs the
DNS. The people who have been working here have told
me that they've been having a problem of the Domain
controller restarting every now and then.
This has apparently been going on for a period of
about one month. I've not yet been given
administrative previleges on this network so I haven't
been able to log on to the domain controller myself.
There was a suspicion that this is probably caused by
a virus. The people here tell me that they have run
anti-virus software on the system and no viruses were
detected. The anti-virus software they are usin is
about1 year old but apprently they've been updating it
periodically. I later discovered that two of the most
frequently accessed volumes on the DC's hard disks are
nearly used up.
I would be very glad if any information hinting on the
possible causes of this problem and any possible
solutions is provided. I will be waiting to hear from
you.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Martin,

first of all check the Windows services (Computer Management -> Services
and Applications -> Services). If there is something that seems to have
something to do with restart/reboot, disable it.
Last week I installed an IBM server (eServer xSeries 232) with Windows
2000 Server and I had the same problem: server was rebooting every now
and then. I disabled two IBM Services (they were named something like
"IBM automatic restart") and since that I haven´t had any problems: no
unexpected reboots at all.

The reason was that there was a bug with IBM:s original Server Install
Startup CD, now the bug is fixed and the updated CD is available for a
download in IBM´s website.

Ofcourse; if your server is not a IBM, there might be Compaq or
whatsoever manufacturers own Services installed in a Windows services;
disable them if you have a suspicion that it might be a cause.

Also, remember to update all Windows drivers and servers BIOS, firmwares
and microcodes. Take a look at the manufacturers website, many of them
have good tools for driver/BIOS/firmware/microcode updaters.
This is not a IBM commercial, but they have very good tool to install
all updates: Update Xpress CD. Downloadable from a website, free, checks
the curent compilation and updates first Windows drivers and then boots
from a CD and updates BIOS/firmware/microcodes.

Hope this helps, good luck with a trial period and hope you´ll get the job!

Pls, tell how you managed with the troubleshooting!

-jarno-
 
Smells like msblast to me. Tell them you need to get
rights to the DC. Look up the msblast virus on the net
and familiarize yourself with the many names. See if it
is running on the machine. If it is, get one of the
msblast cleaners from symantec or mcaffee or trend micro
etc... Then apply SP4, run windows update and install all
critical updates. If its on your DC, you bet your bottom
that its probably infected the rest of the network. Good
luck.

-Jack
 
This is a known bug with SP4 (or at least, it was in our case). Microsoft
has a patch, but it has not passed full regression testing yet, so you will
have to call them to obtain it. It apparently patches an octet boundary
error with LSASS. We patched one DC and all of them immediately ceased
spontaneously rebooting (even those that weren't patched with the unreleased
hotfix... go figure). The only other symptom that we saw is that our
DrWatson crash logs were so big they caused DrWatson to crash (they were
10Mb).
Click to expand...

\\ MadDHatteR
 
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