Re: Backup fails suspect VSS problem

Finally progress!!

Looks like it could all be caused by a strange disk drive fault. I have now
mirrored the system to a new disk, booted to that and removed the old one.
Backup now seems to work fine. I haven't yet tried to add the hardware
mirrored drive but will obtain another new disk before adding that and
trying backup again. Will post results when I have tried it.

Thanks for all your help,
Nick


"Kerry Brown" <kerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx*a*m> wrote in message
news:%23akmdy$MHHA.3268@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I think "Waiting for completion" is a wild goose chase. I just tried
"vssadmin list writers" on two SBS servers. Both had some entries with that
message.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Nick" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23dGiU78MHHA.2232@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks for your help Kerry. Anyone else got any ideas?

I have still got this feeling that reinstalling, re-running the service
pack and other fixes followed by restoring from tape again would just
leave me with the same problem, only a few more days wasted.

I agree that the wording of the error "IO failure" is troubling, if fact
I found it quite worrying. However, further investigation suggests that
it is related to all of these VSS writers that are stuck in the 'Waiting
for Completion' state.

Searching the web for the backup errors leads me to believe this is some
sort of strange windows error but no one seems to have a solution yet.

Nick


"Kerry Brown" <kerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx*a*m> wrote in message
news:ufK9C4aMHHA.600@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm out of ideas. One thing I found when troubleshooting VSS problems is
that after a backup failed and I made some changes a reboot was required
before it would work again. I'm still thinking a repair install might be
required. The wording of the error "IO failure" is troubling.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Nick" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uSTzf2XMHHA.1912@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Kerry, thanks for your thoughts on this issue.

Unfortunately last nights backup still failed again, same problems:

EventId: 14 from VolSnap
The shadow copies of volume C: were aborted because of an IO failure on
volume C:.

System state backup errors:
Error: Could not access portions of directory System State\COM+ Class
Registration Database.
Error: Could not access portions of directory System State\Registry.

One other thing that has occured to me, don't know if it is relevent
but after the original crash I ran System file checker (SFC) to ensure
all files were ok. Only thing it found was to a few bad signatures on
files in the Client\MSFax directory.

Moving on to your SQL suggestions; this is SBS standard so fully blown
SQL is not installed. The only SQL present is that which is installed
by default; SBS_Monitoring and Sharepoint. No event log errors from
these so I assume they are working correctly.

Nick


"Kerry Brown" <kerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx*a*m> wrote in message
news:%23gYsatPMHHA.3552@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have seen the symptoms in that article myself. When I saw it, it was
always a SQL problem. Do you have any SQL or MSDE instances other than
the default ones running. If you do try this. Reboot the server. Stop
any SQL or MSDE instances and try a backup. If the backup works then
you know it's a SQL problem.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Nick" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23dre8FPMHHA.3952@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Kerry,

Yep, have re-registered them a couple of times before. Although COM+
seemed fine I have followed the instructions in the article to
reinstall COM+. Will reboot and run a backup tonight and see what
happens.

Nick


"Kerry Brown" <kerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx*a*m> wrote in message
news:eKstNAOMHHA.4888@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Have you tried re-registering the shadow copy dll's?

http://blogs.technet.com/edwalt/archive/2006/02/02/418665.aspx

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=sbs+backup+regsvr32+vssadmin+com%2B&btnG=Search&meta=

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Nick" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Ojbol6LMHHA.5064@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I suspect this has something to do with VSS because after a failed
backup 'VSSAdmin List Writers' shows most writers as 'Waiting for
completion', what is stopping these from reseting themselves? The
only way to reset them seems to be to reboot.

Googling this error shows lots of people with the same problem but
no one with a solution!

Nick


"Nick" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23bkKmCEMHHA.1252@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Anyone got any other ideas???


"Nick" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uZrPdC2LHHA.1044@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It only fails if I backup System State at the same time as
everything else (including Exchange). System State can be
backed-up on its own fine!

Nick


"Kerry Brown" <kerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx*a*m> wrote in message
news:OPOHehvLHHA.1248@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It's up to you. I'd be very concerned about a failing backup.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Nick" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e6yUMkqLHHA.1248@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Something I forgot to mention, it was exactly the same
mothboard, same model even the same revision.

The problem I have now is that the server appears to the
customer to be working fine, apart from the few remaining minor
problems, the staff are now back up and running fine. The
business is still struggling to recover from the downtime
caused by the original server crash. They are going to be
extremely wary of letting me wipe out what they have working in
the hope of fixing what to them is a monor error.

Nick


"Kerry Brown" <kerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx*a*m> wrote in message
news:OT08TNqLHHA.4376@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Even though it sometimes looks like you don't need a repair
install I have found out the hard way that a motherboard swap
almost always requires it. I don't even try to boot after
swapping a motherboard. I boot from the install media and
perform a repair install (in place upgrade), then on the first
boot to Windows go into the device manager, enable the View
hidden devices setting, remove all the old leftover crap
particularly NICs, then reboot. I am sure your problem could
be fixed but I really think you are at the point where it's
going to be better and quicker to rebuild from scratch.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Nick" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OVmtl1oLHHA.3668@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Kerry,

No did not do actually need to do an inplace upgrade, once
update.sys had been replaced with the older version we had a
bootable windows partition so restored over the top of the
existing.

Reinstalling from scratch would leave them offline for an
awfully long time, remembering that there is then also
service pack 1 to install and all the rest that came with
that, not to mention all the other software, configuration
changes and various fixes which have since been applied.

Nick


"Kerry Brown" <kerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx*a*m> wrote in
message news:u9Ng3ynLHHA.536@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
After replacing the motherboard did you do a repair install?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816579/en-us

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Nick" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:etfoidnLHHA.4384@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Since restoring our server after a no-boot total failure,
system state backup fails with the following errors:

Error: Could not access portions of directory System
State\COM+ Class Registration Database.
You may not have permission to open the file, or the
directory may be missing or damaged.
Please contact the owner or administrator.

Error: Could not access portions of directory System
State\Registry.
You may not have permission to open the file, or the
directory may be missing or damaged.
Please contact the owner or administrator.

We also see the following event log errors



Event Type: Error

Event Source: Service Control Manager

Event Category: None

Event ID: 7011

Date: 02/01/2007

Time: 10:03:29

User: N/A

Computer: SERVER

Description:

Timeout (30000 milliseconds) waiting for a transaction
response from the NtFrs service.





Event Type: Error

Event Source: VolSnap

Event Category: None

Event ID: 14

Date: 02/01/2007

Time: 10:03:27

User: N/A

Computer: SERVER

Description:

The shadow copies of volume C: were aborted because of an
IO failure on volume C:.



Anyone suggest how to solve this, before the crash our
backup worked fine?

Thanks,
Nick


In case it is relevant - a brief explanation of the server
crash:
Intermittant lockups and various disk problems with the
hardware mirrored drives.
Complete failure of RAID controller - can still boot
from source disk but not as part of RAID array.
Replaced mothboard with onboard RAID controller.
Server worked fine for about five days.
Server BSOD, pulled power now will not boot, seriously
dead server.
Safe mode and all other recovery modes failed.
Safe mode locks-up after acpitabl.dat
Reset BIOS to factory defaults.
Recovery console now boots.
Copy in older update.sys, this now allows boot but with
large amount of errors.
Recover server, partly from tape, partly by fixing
various individual problems.



























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