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I have a production server (HP ProLiant ML350 G6) running Win 2008 SBS. It was physically moved. Now it will not boot into normal or safe mode. When it tries to boot into safe mode, the last thing that shows is Loaded: \windows\system32\CI.DLL. nothing after that. When booting to normal mode it will just hang on the green progress bar on the Starting Windows screen.

Currently running chkdsk /f /r on the C:

I really do not want to have to rebuild this server if at all possible. Any help is appreciated.

Jason Brown
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  • chkdsk finished and said it repaired some errors. No change in status of server. While in the command prompt for repair, tried to run startrep.exe. It will BSOD every time with same error about 30 seconds after starting. – Jason Brown Oct 18 '14 at 18:05
  • IMHO, this is almost certainly a storage issue. – Katherine Villyard Oct 18 '14 at 18:24

2 Answers2

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I recently had a similar issue with a Dell server running SBS08, so I feel your pain.

  1. Check your RAID integrity. Do any of the drives have amber lights showing? If you go into the RAID utility, does it say your boot drive is healthy? Correct any errors there.
  2. Check your RAID card. Did something get jarred loose when you moved it? Reseat the RAID card and all drives. Make sure all the connections are good.
  3. Boot off your install CD (which I assume you did, since you're running chkdsk on the non-booting server, so if you did skip this step). Verify that the drive is visible. There's also a repair option, which you might need to avail yourself of (and also a restore option that works with Windows Backup, but before you do that...).
  4. If, after all that, it still won't boot: Call HP and get them to send you a new RAID card even if all the previous things claim to be okay. I recently had an issue with a dying RAID card that showed healthy, but the drive was unable to find boot files. I don't know about your warranty, but it might be worth your while to cough up for the warranty just so they'll send you a part and someone to put it in for you. (Yes, you can put it in yourself, but the guy who does this every day is less stressed out than you are right now.) If they give you any attitude, say, "I have four hour gold support [or whatever] and I want a RAID card."

If all that fails, you might need to run a repair off the install CD or restore from backup.

Edited for your comment about repair BSODing--this is almost certainly a storage issue. Even if your RAID claims to be healthy, get a new card and see if that resolves your issue. (It did mine.)

Good luck!

Katherine Villyard
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  • The RAID controller is integrated into the system board of the server. It's not an independent controller. I've run array diags and everything about the controller, battery, and drives all come back ok. – Jason Brown Oct 18 '14 at 19:54
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    Update: I was able to boot into from a Linux USB device. I'm able to read from the drive. I've copied my Exchange folder to a drive. – Jason Brown Oct 18 '14 at 19:55
  • :( You might need a new mobo, then. How's your warranty situation? – Katherine Villyard Oct 18 '14 at 21:41
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Well it was the array. Something got jacked up, had to kill the array and recreate it. UGH! Reinstalling OS now. Thanks for the help.

Jason Brown
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  • :( I'm sorry. Keep an eye out for ongoing errors that might be storage. (Exchange storage group corruption, for example.) If the problem reoccurs, you might need that new mobo. – Katherine Villyard Oct 19 '14 at 00:26