Windows Server 2000 - Missing NTLDR

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I was greeted first thing in the morning yesterday as soon as I got into the office that one of our file servers has gone down.

Well I rushed into the server room to find the old rusty Dell PowerEdge 6650 server running Windows server 2000 with an error message on start up screen "missing NTLDR file".

After taking a deep breath did the usualy clt + alt + del to restart but still faced with the NTLDR missing file issue. I opened the box and ensured all the raid configured hard disk are sitting properly and that there's no loosed scsi cables etc.

I inserted a win 2000 advance server cd and did a recovery console repair and copied NTLDR and NTDETECT respectively. Unfortunately the issue still persisted and made me wonder if these steps ever works in a production or even lab environment.

Microsoft to be blamed here as to be honest states in the document the above may or may not work in resolving the issue. I think that on it's own speaks volume

Comments on the above most welcomed and what if faced with the above the steps you'd have taken or have taken in the past that worked etc.

I was tempted to rebuild the system but that would have taken time as time was of the essence. However if we had cloned a copy of this system would have made life a lot easier.

Do you clone your servers at work i.e. copy of another live image etc, and if you do which software do you use.

Unfortunately we also didn't take an emergency repair disk of this server either. I know a rebuild and backup of the system state data and re-assigning the static ip address would have probably been the way to tackle the above. Please, comment if you would have done this a better or more efficient way etc.

Finally, the above system was connected to a NAS box via a SCSI adapter connected so was a bit of a complicated system.

Well enough said, any relevant and helpful comment most welcomed and thanks in advance

 

First, check there isn't a floppy disk in the drive.

Then, find out if your boot.ini file present and correct?

 

Good point Bluerinse, did all the above but didn't change the situation. The server is over five years old and kind of like a time bomb waiting to go off.

 

It sounds like it just went booooom

 

It does - and did for me earlier this week when I resurrected a server where the boot.ini file had got screwed. It's rescued me on a number of occasions in the past too - though it's often a sign that the disk is on the way out. You DO keep backups of the data on the file server though, right? Run disk/raid diagnostics and see if they report a failed disk(s). Build a new server and restore the data to it from a backup if you can't get the original server back up.

Incidentally, I've got 6 PE6650s in our estate. Actually, I HAD 6 6650s at the beginning of this year - four of them have gone tits-up in the past eight months - usually borked PERC controllers, but also two failed disks in the same array on one server (second one went halfway through rebuilding from parity after the first failure). I hate Dell servers anyway (HP absolutely dump on them) but the 6650 seems to be particularly prone to 'POS syndrome'. Got four 6850s and they're far more reliable (though also being phased out for HPs next year)

 

Spot on Zeb, as that's exactly what we plan to do get the server rebuild and load system state from backup. Unfortunately, it did report a disk failure as well which I managed to resurrect but still it's a candidate for rebuild.

I must admit if I was the one calling the shots would go for new dell blade servers. But we currently have a HP SAN enclosure, two to be precise running server servers.

The reason the dell servers would have been opted for is because of their good customer care handling. If a server has ran out of warranty you still get telephone support with dell but HP is a no no.

 

We do noticed server was acting weird for a few days but as the saying goes why re-invent the wheel. It was almost like a time bomb waiting to explode.

We do use Solar winds network monitoring system and I too for my own side monitoring use spotlight as well stored on a dedicated PC.

 

Yeah! still do, but would get charged if an engineer is sent out for a part replacement. However, telephone support is free and they are very helpful too

 

Unfortunately, it was one of those that you think well still working so hopefully would not give way yet type of scenario's. But hey ho

 

Hi I am Colemancol.
According to my experience, NTLDR is missing message is shown only when, if system is not found NT partition loader.
There is only one way to repair your installation of your windows.

 

Probably teaching you to suck eggs but i use this when i get that message and simply copying the file/s doesnt work

http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm

 

Lemme guess, rub it with ginseng, and point a webcam at it?

 

an axe for the hard drives and hammer for the rest of it is one sure way to sort it out

 

Thanks for the feedback all, as the server has now been rebuilt and data restored to resolve issue. We are now dealing with the aftermath as most users can't gain access to their network drives.

However, a re-map of the network drive has resolved those too. It's been an experience indeed as especially this system being on a production environment.

 

Stress hey, who said IT was easy?