I replaced the missing ntldr file and then...

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I replaced the missing ntldr file along with netdetect.com as my server
wouldn't reboot and gave me the missing ntldr message. The server then
rebooted yet would only allow the local admin profile to logon. The other
admin profiles are still on the directory with no apparent loss of data i.e.
documents and settings, but cannot be accessed. I am unable to reset the
passwords to other admin profiles from AD as I have tried and still couldn't
logon. I believe if I can get this issue resolved the additional MS Exchange
server issues will take care of themselves; hopefully.
 
The details are sketchy at best but the drive may have failed. Download and
run a diagnostic utility from the drive manufacturer's web site. Check Event
Viewer for errors and Device Manager for errors and or non-starting devices.


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|I replaced the missing ntldr file along with netdetect.com as my server
| wouldn't reboot and gave me the missing ntldr message. The server then
| rebooted yet would only allow the local admin profile to logon. The other
| admin profiles are still on the directory with no apparent loss of data
i.e.
| documents and settings, but cannot be accessed. I am unable to reset the
| passwords to other admin profiles from AD as I have tried and still
couldn't
| logon. I believe if I can get this issue resolved the additional MS
Exchange
| server issues will take care of themselves; hopefully.
 
You're welcome.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| I'll do that and let you know what I find. Thanks for the quick response.
 
I'm not sure I really understand what the whole issue but here's what I got
from your post - please correct me if I've misunderstood:

- One of your servers wouldn't boot (I think it's your Exchange Server).
- This server was getting ntldr is missing message
- You resolved that issue and can now boot to Windows
- The local admin account can log on but no domain accounts
- You've reset the passwords to domain admin accounts and still they can't
log onto this seerver.
- When you try to log on with a domain account you get the standard
incorrect password window - you do not get a window that mentions anything
about a trust relationship.

If all the above are true then first make sure you are booted into regular
Windows mode and not safe mode. Also if this machine is a Domain Controller
make sure you're not in Active Directory Restore mode.

If you've booted in normal mode then my first question is can these domain
admin accounts log onto your other servers (I'm assuming they can). If so
then I think it's a connectivity issue or AD connectivity issue that's
causing your problem. By AD connectivity issue I mean maybe you can browse
the internet but there's something incorrectly configured preventing you from
contacting a Domain Controller, like using the wrong DNS server. The reason
I feel strongly there's an AD connectivity issue is because no domain
accounts can log on, which provided your not getting a trust error message
generally means there is a problem communicating with a Domain Controller.

Please verify you can log onto other servers with domain accounts and double
check the problem server's DNS settings and let me know the results (if you'd
like more suggestions). Also why were you rebooting the server, had you
installed a patch (if so which ones).

Thanks and hope this helps.

Nick Staff
 
Nick,
You must be psycic; if you decyphered that much detail from that my vague
description; let's just say you said better than I did.. The only question
you really left for me to answer is "Why was I rebooting the server?", my
answer is "windows updates". I'm not sure which ones at this moment, but I've
tried to boot to safe mode and restore to last known good config and no luck.
I'll look hard at the dns and get back to you.
 
Ahh if only I were psychic KB I'd know the answer to your problem (and I'd be
able to warn you about your next one too). Truth of the matter is your post
must have been pretty informative after all =).

A couple of things:

Don't bother with last known good anymore since one you log on last known
good becomes your current state.

There's another person who posted last night saying they lose their internet
connection after installing SP4 - I don't know if it's the same issue but
thought it was interesting.

Can you access the internet from your server? Can you please go to the
command line and type ipconfig /all and paste the results here (if you don't
want to paste them for all the world to see could you email them to me at
(e-mail address removed))?

When/if you do that could you tell me if the DNS servers listed are the ones
hosting the zones for your AD domain?

Out of curiousity, can you ping your Domain controller by IP? How about by
name?

Thanks KB.

Nick
 
I get internet anywhere, i.e. all workstations as well as backup server. I
don't get the internet from machine in question (main svr).

ipconfig /all =
Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : la-hq-s1
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . : LA.loc
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : la.loc
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Advanc
irtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-B0-D0-D1-EC-
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 199.223.150.38
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 199.223.150.2
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 199.223.150.38
199.223.150.39
199.223.150.2
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 199.223.150.38

the 38 ip is the main svr and the 39 ip is the backup server. I believe that
38 hosts the AD.
I also successfully pinged the domain controller both by ip and by name.
 
First thank you for responding so quickly to my questions.

Here's what I don't understand - according to your last post the server
getting the ntldr error is your Domain controller, but you said in your
initial post you could only log onto the machine with a local account and not
a domain account.

The thing is a Domain Controller's local accounts are the domain accounts.
There aren't any accounts on a DC that aren't in the domain. That said,
don't worry about that for now.

some questions:

Is your default gateway (199.223.150.2) the same machine as the server
(199.223.150.38)?

If they are different machines can you ping the gateway? (I don't think you
can). If you can't then try re-installing the drivers for your nic and try
pinging the gateway again (use a different version of the drivers, an older
one if you have to).

If the gateway is not on the same machine as the server then why is ip
routing enabled (and what network are you routing to)?

In my opinion there is only one thing you should be working on right now -
being able to ping any other machine on your network from your server. By
other machine I don't just mean different name but literaly a different
physical computer. Troubleshoot this as a connectivity problem and don't
worry about the other issues, they can not be permanently resolved before
this one.

Nick

- Why is IP Routing enabled on the server (if there's a second NIC card can
I see the ipconfig output for it)?
- your gateway at 199.223.150.2 - is it also a DNS server? If so is it a
caching only server or does it host zones for your AD as well?
 
No the default gateway isn't the same machine as the server. I can ping the
gateway. Ip routing is enabled because workstations all have static IPs? I am
routing the national headquarter's network. We are but a tree in a forest.
199.223.150.2 is not a dns rather a firewall/router.

Nick,
The issue is resolved. There was a dns issue, a typo in a dns suffix but
that was after the fact. What ended up working for me is svr2 was made the
DC,
then swithced the DC back to svr1, rebooted and it's like it never happened.

I can't explain what happened when i rebooted the server, why I got the
missing ntldr message, or that it didn't come back up as the DC when I
brought it back up. Oh well. Maybe you have some ideas; and there wasn't a
floppy disk in the floppy drive when I rebooted or anything like that;
thankfully.

I do believe I was in good hands here and was going in the right direction
the whole way. I have to admit that I was more than just a little relieved
after I read your initial reply, all your questions were right on the money.

If you have anything to add; I'll checkback a few times. Thanks Nick.
 
Thank you very much for letting me know the resolution - I'm very happy you
got it back up and running.

One thing to note that may avoid some future problem is I think the gateway
address was listed as the third DNS server in the list so if it's not set up
for DNS you may want to take the address out. Of course I don't know your
setup so that address may be in there for a reason I just don't understand in
which case nevermind ;)

Thanks, you were a great person to work with.

Nick Staff
 
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