Re: Server Frozen

Sounds like the tape drive is dying. We had a Sony SCSI tape drive go bad a few weeks back. Server would freeze completely and need to be powered off. I ran Sony's tape diagnostics tools and support saw the tape drive was dying, so they issued us a replacement drive and the
issue disappeared.

I've been struggling with a strange problem for the past few weeks. It
seems that every few days, my clients' SBS 2003 Standard server
freezes up while running the SBS backup. The only way to bring the
server back online is a hard reset. Because it freezes up, there is
nothing in the logs except for the unexpected shutdown. From looking
at the times, it always happens 1 3/4 hours into the backup. It will
also run fine for days. By looking at the successful backup logs,
this is about the time it finishes the data backup and goes to do the
System State and Exchange Store. I think it has something to do with
one of these.

Server Specs:
HP ML350
4 GB RAM
(2) RAID 1 Mirrors (C: 38GB for OS and D: 146GB for Data) SAS drives
Ultrium 448 SCSI Tape Drive - internal
Other than the tape drive, all equipment was new. The tape drive was
pulled from their other server and was working fine beforehand. The
SCSI termination appears to be okay. The entire setup ran fine for
over 2 months before the problems started.

I updated the driver and firmware for the tape drive but it did not
resolve anything. Today, I plan to install a USB drive temporarily
for the backups to eliminate the tape drive from the equation. I've
seen problems like this before due to heat but I don't think this is
the problem here. It literally happens at the same exact time. It
just doesn't happen every single day. It's about 2-3 times per week.

Has anyone run into a similar situation? We're pulling our hair out
trying to figure this one out.

Jim Magee
Authorinet Consulting, LLC.


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Server Frozen
    ... It seems that every few days, my clients' SBS 2003 Standard server ... freezes up while running the SBS backup. ... it always happens 1 3/4 hours into the backup. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Server Frozen
    ... It seems that every few days, my clients' SBS 2003 Standard server ... freezes up while running the SBS backup. ... it always happens 1 3/4 hours into the backup. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Server Frozen
    ... It seems that every few days, my clients' SBS 2003 Standard server ... freezes up while running the SBS backup. ... it always happens 1 3/4 hours into the backup. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Backup problems with SBS 2003 SP1
    ... When you say native NT Backup, do you mean that, or are you using SBS Backup? ... What time of day do your backups start, and what time does the server stop responding. ... It isn't that the backup freezes, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • RE: SBS Back up Failure
    ... attached the log and report from yesterday's backup also. ... One or more components of Small Business Server Backup failed. ... recommended that you review errors in the Event log related to the service. ... Notifications task in the Server Management Monitoring and Reporting taskpad. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)