Intermittent Server Hangs

Question

PE2650 - 1.8GHz P4 Xeon, 2GB RAM, PERC 3/Di with RAID-1 36GB drives, PERC 3/DC connected to a PV220 with RAID-5 136GB drives and 1 hot spare. Running Windows 2000 Server with SP-4 and Temrinal Service for Remote Administration (member server), also installed is Dell Open Manage Server Administrator, Arcserve 2000 SP4, Executive Software Undelete 3.0, BMC Patrol, Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 8.1. This is the main file server for my location and hosts home and shared directories for about 240 users. Connected to a Gigabit backbone, and out to a 100BaseT user network. The latest drivers, BIOS, and firmwares are installed.

For the last 3 or 4 weeks we've had a problem where the server will hang and become nonresponsive. No events are being written to the System or Application event logs, and hardware diagnostics do not report any issues. Also when accessing files from a user's PC, there is a significant wait (60+ seconds) when right clicking and viewing Properties, unless the file is marked as Read Only. Right clicking and viewing folder Properties is instant. Two very, very odd ways to force the problem to occur: I have one user who still uses an old Windows 3.1 Cardfile for his persal addresses. He has the executable and his cardfile on ther server. If he opens, then attempts to save the cardfile, the server will hang. Then today my Helpdesk was creating a folder on the D drive of the server using Start-Run and typing in the UNC path to D$. When they right clicked and chose New-Folder, the server hung. When they did it again, the server hung again.

By hanging I mean the server's shares are unavailable but the server can still be pinged. When logging on at the console I will sometimes never get past the plain blue screen after the login dialog goes away. Sometimes the server will be accessible through Terminal Services or Computer Management, sometimes not. The lack of error messages or events is making this extremely difficult to troubleshoot. Anyone have any ideas?

morser · Answer

I have this EXACT PROBLEM with my new Poweredge 1750, quad processor XEON 3Ghz.

I see nothing in the Task Manager that would seem to be making it lock up.

Is there something in Service Pack 4 causing this problem??????????

Charlie Lt · Answer

make sure your virus scanner is not scanning the ntfrs or sysvol. this has caused me the same problem. check the size of the ntfrs folder. the virus scanner will cause errors during replication.

I an using CA etrust 6.0 sp2 anti virus.

martinrobert · Answer

We are experiencing some of the saem issues here. Dell PE1750 with Win2000 SP4 and out of the blue the machine locks up. Nothing in the event logs and a complete mystery.

Have you guys come to some kind of resolution?

Thanks!

srogo · Answer

Hello All, have you had any luck with the dell support team? we have seen -several- dell 1750 server lock ups , freezes, hangs with linux as well. The server load always seems to spike (if ssh allows a connection, the only command that you can run is "uptime" to show the load being > 150). We are running raid 1 with the perc controller.
I suspect some sort of hardware issue, but the dell team always keeps blaming us for the problem, and refuses to help us out. Now that the 1750 is EOL, i dont suspect any more help, but let me know if you have something to add.

-steve

PowerEdge OS Forum

Intermittent Server Hangs

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