SBS 2008 lockup issues ... any ideas

[GCS]

Ok here is the background.

HP Proliant ml110 G6 Server with 1 250gb HDD (OS Only)
Dell Perc6i RAID 5 card with WD 1TB Enterprise RAID drives


The system hard locks up at least twice a day and the only way to get it back up is to turn it off and then back on again. I get no error messages whatsoever, just locks up to a black screen.

Even worse is that I have been unable to get a backup of the server at all. I managed to copy the data yesterday to an external SATA drive but that took all day long due to crashes and I am not 100% certain I have a good full copy

These problems have been happening since day one.



After discussing this with some local IT folks we have used before they all felt that because I was running a Dell Raid card in an HP server that perhaps they were not getting along and therefore I needed an HP card. Also HP would not provide support for the server because of the Dell card. Dell said since it is in an HP server they would not provide support either.


Work I did this w/e which didn't pan out either.

I bought the proper and recommended HP Raid Card with extra ram and battery backup.

Installed the card and 3 new HDDs.
Setup the array
Partitioned and format the drive letters

Then when I tried to copy the data over (whether it was a simple copy and paste or an actual restore using Shadwoprotect SBS) the system within mins locks up as before.

At the moment I am at a loss and the only thing I can think to do is start over with SBS 2008 and reinstall it.

Looking for any ideas you guys may have.

Thanks

Greg

 

[RebateMonger]

Anything relevant in the Windows System or Application Event Logs?

If Windows is just locking up with no warning events, then it's likely either rmemory or storage issues. Since I'm sure you are using ECC memory, that helps rule out memory errors. Are you sure your boot drive and controller are OK? Can you run the Server without the RAID array?

 

[GCS]

Yep I am running the HP branded and recommended ECC ram 8gb in total (that is the max for the proliant 110)

All logs reflect only issues after reboots with services trying to start up that couldn't but were running fine after the system had fully booted.

I have had IT guys look over the logs and they found nothing there.

I can run the server just w/o the Raid array but then I have no way to test data transfer. If I try to backup just the OS drive using the SBS Windows Backup utility I run into the same lock ups.

Greg

 

[rasczak]

might want to do a hard drive scan to rule out bad sectors.

 

[GCS]

On the raid array or the os drive?

Raid array is 100% clean as that was one of the things I did go through this w/e. I also have no configuration or health errors on the array (either the Dell array or the HP when it was in the server)

At the moment we are still running on the Dell array and drives so that I can have people working

Greg

 

[RebateMonger]

If you have a working ShadowProtect image, you could do a physical-to-virtual restore into Hyper-V or ESXi and run the server from there while you troubleshoot the HP.

 

[GCS]

If you have a working ShadowProtect image, you could do a physical-to-virtual restore into Hyper-V or ESXi and run the server from there while you troubleshoot the HP.

Uhh ok this is over my head though since I have never messed with either.

Greg


I should mention I am running no AV or other 3rd party progs. Only thing installed on the SBS machine is Shadowprotect (trial version) and QuickBooks Database Manager (only because I have to)

 

[rasczak]

if that's the case, the i suggest you leave it to a more experienced admin to troubleshoot if there's critical data on that server.

 

[GCS]

yes it is critical and unfortunately there is no one else but me

Greg