Windows 2000 Server hangs at "preparing networking connections"

[Guest]

Dear Sirs,


We have a ML370 G2 Windows 2000 Server with SP4 that is set up as a domain
controller in a network. This is the only domain controller in this domain
and is also the only DNS server for this domain.

We have ony one additional server in this domain, this is a Windows 2000
terminal server that the client computers connects to.

Yesterday we rebooted the server normally after a problem with some users
connecting to the servers. The reboot was a clean restart and the server went
down with no problems.

Unfortunately, the server now stops/hangs at "preparing network connection"
and the logon window never appear. We tried to wait for a couple of hours,
but nothing happened. The server respons to ping on it's ip-address, I tried
a port scan and the only port that was open was port 139.

Since nothing happened, we tried to reboot the server in to Safe mode
(without network), here the logon windows appear, but when we tried to logon
with any user it hangs here too. The computer does not freez, I can move the
mouse cursor around and so, but it never logs the user on.

I then tried a third time to boot the server into directory recovery mode,
here it booted, the console came up and then a BSOD with the following error:
STOP: c000021a the windows logon process system terminated unexpect...

I tried to start the server several time in normal mode, LKGC mode, safe
mode, safe mode with networking and directory recovery mode and every time
the same thing happened.


Then I thought I could try experimenting with the recovery console, I
inserted my Windows 2000 Server CD and booted it, hit F10, the recovery
console came up, I selected my server installation, logged on as
administrator and tada, so far so good.

This appears to be the only way to gain some access to the system? Anyway,
after hours of googling and trying everything, I think I have read about 200
different posts on every forum on the whole Internet I still haven't found
the answer.

There were a lot of people that have been and maybe still is in the same
situation as I am. Some of the suggestions from these post were to upgrade to
SP3 or later, this would fix a couple of things as something about a netbios
loop or a problem with multiple cpu's on a windows 2000 server that could get
this problem. Well, our server has SP4, so that couldn't be it, even so I
can't access the system nor install any service pack or updates...

Many people says that this relates to DNS problems or NETBIOS, well, I think
I have tried them. Disabling services and drivers for anything I could come
up with that could cause this problem. So no I'm stuck, I have no more ideas,
so please anyone! Help me if you can...

Sorry, but this is a critical server, and if I don't find a solution until
tomorrow I'll have to reinstall the server. I promise, if I find a solution
for this I'll post the answer here.

Until then, wish me luck and if you guys have any ideas, please help me out.



Thank you.

--


With kind regards,
Kurt-E. Karlsen
Norway

 

[Guest]

Thank you very much for a quick answer. Yes, it may be something like this,
but as far as I know I can't change nor see any TCP/IP settings for the
server in recovery console? Is there any other way?

I have thought of booting from a Linux Live CD, there I may copy out some
log files for further analyses, since the recovery console is very strict of
what files I can access. The only problem is that Linux isn't capable of
writing to NTFS partitions?
--


With kind regards,
Kurt-E. Karlsen
Norway

The only time I have ever seen this was when the Server did not point to the
proper DNS in its TCP/IP config. If the DNS is on itself then it should be
pointed to 127.0.0.1 so that it will always find itself even if the regular
TCP/IP stuff (like its regular IP#) is screwed up, because 127.0.0.1 will
always point to itself no matter what. In fact if you leave the DNS option
blank, it will automatically set itself to 127.0.0.1.
There seems to be a argument with some people over using 127.0.0.1 but I
have never had problems with it.

I don't know what you can or can't do in Recovery Console,..I have never
really found it useful for anything.

--
Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Understanding the ISA 2004 Access Rule Processing
http://www.isaserver.org/articles/ISA2004_AccessRules.html

Troubleshooting Client Authentication on Access Rules in ISA Server 2004
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/8/918ed2d3-71d0-40ed-8e6d-fd6eeb6cfa07/ts_rules.doc

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Guidance
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/techinfo/Guidance/2004.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/techinfo/Guidance/2000.asp

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Partners
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/partners/default.asp

Deployment Guidelines for ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/isa/2004/deploy/dgisaserver.mspx
-----------------------------------------------------

Dear Sirs,


We have a ML370 G2 Windows 2000 Server with SP4 that is set up as a domain
controller in a network. This is the only domain controller in this domain
and is also the only DNS server for this domain.

We have ony one additional server in this domain, this is a Windows 2000
terminal server that the client computers connects to.

Yesterday we rebooted the server normally after a problem with some users
connecting to the servers. The reboot was a clean restart and the server went
down with no problems.

Unfortunately, the server now stops/hangs at "preparing network connection"
and the logon window never appear. We tried to wait for a couple of hours,
but nothing happened. The server respons to ping on it's ip-address, I tried
a port scan and the only port that was open was port 139.

Since nothing happened, we tried to reboot the server in to Safe mode
(without network), here the logon windows appear, but when we tried to logon
with any user it hangs here too. The computer does not freez, I can move the
mouse cursor around and so, but it never logs the user on.

I then tried a third time to boot the server into directory recovery mode,
here it booted, the console came up and then a BSOD with the following error:
STOP: c000021a the windows logon process system terminated unexpect...

I tried to start the server several time in normal mode, LKGC mode, safe
mode, safe mode with networking and directory recovery mode and every time
the same thing happened.


Then I thought I could try experimenting with the recovery console, I
inserted my Windows 2000 Server CD and booted it, hit F10, the recovery
console came up, I selected my server installation, logged on as
administrator and tada, so far so good.

This appears to be the only way to gain some access to the system? Anyway,
after hours of googling and trying everything, I think I have read about 200
different posts on every forum on the whole Internet I still haven't found
the answer.

There were a lot of people that have been and maybe still is in the same
situation as I am. Some of the suggestions from these post were to upgrade to
SP3 or later, this would fix a couple of things as something about a netbios
loop or a problem with multiple cpu's on a windows 2000 server that could get
this problem. Well, our server has SP4, so that couldn't be it, even so I
can't access the system nor install any service pack or updates...

Many people says that this relates to DNS problems or NETBIOS, well, I think
I have tried them. Disabling services and drivers for anything I could come
up with that could cause this problem. So no I'm stuck, I have no more ideas,
so please anyone! Help me if you can...

Sorry, but this is a critical server, and if I don't find a solution until
tomorrow I'll have to reinstall the server. I promise, if I find a solution
for this I'll post the answer here.

Until then, wish me luck and if you guys have any ideas, please help me out.



Thank you.

--


With kind regards,
Kurt-E. Karlsen
Norway

 

[John John]

Not a solution but the information here might help:

How to troubleshoot a "STOP 0xC000021A" error
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/156669/?sd=RMVP

An in-place upgrade might be needed.

John

 

[Phillip Windell]

Thank you very much for a quick answer. Yes, it may be something like this,
but as far as I know I can't change nor see any TCP/IP settings for the
server in recovery console? Is there any other way?

I have no idea.

I have thought of booting from a Linux Live CD, there I may copy out some
log files for further analyses, since the recovery console is very strict of
what files I can access. The only problem is that Linux isn't capable of
writing to NTFS partitions?

If it is a single (non RAID) drive,...yank it out, change the jumper to
Slave,...put it in another NT (or newer) machine,...then you can access the
file system of the drive.

--
Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Understanding the ISA 2004 Access Rule Processing
http://www.isaserver.org/articles/ISA2004_AccessRules.html

Troubleshooting Client Authentication on Access Rules in ISA Server 2004
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/8/918ed2d3-71d0-40ed-8e6d-fd6eeb6cfa07/ts_rules.doc

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Guidance
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/techinfo/Guidance/2004.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/techinfo/Guidance/2000.asp

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Partners
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/partners/default.asp

Deployment Guidelines for ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/isa/2004/deploy/dgisaserver.mspx
-----------------------------------------------------

 

[Guest]

Hmm... it's getting late, so I just have to continue tomorrow. Maybe a good
night sleep will help?

The system disks are in raid-1 abd the data disks are in raid-5. If I copy
out the event log files, system and application, is it possible to open them
on another computer? I think I have tried this before, but then they have
been corrput.
--


With kind regards,
Kurt-E. Karlsen
Norway

Thank you very much for a quick answer. Yes, it may be something like this,
but as far as I know I can't change nor see any TCP/IP settings for the
server in recovery console? Is there any other way?

I have no idea.

I have thought of booting from a Linux Live CD, there I may copy out some
log files for further analyses, since the recovery console is very strict of
what files I can access. The only problem is that Linux isn't capable of
writing to NTFS partitions?

If it is a single (non RAID) drive,...yank it out, change the jumper to
Slave,...put it in another NT (or newer) machine,...then you can access the
file system of the drive.

--
Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Understanding the ISA 2004 Access Rule Processing
http://www.isaserver.org/articles/ISA2004_AccessRules.html

Troubleshooting Client Authentication on Access Rules in ISA Server 2004
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/1/8/918ed2d3-71d0-40ed-8e6d-fd6eeb6cfa07/ts_rules.doc

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Guidance
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/techinfo/Guidance/2004.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/techinfo/Guidance/2000.asp

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Partners
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/partners/default.asp

Deployment Guidelines for ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/isa/2004/deploy/dgisaserver.mspx

 

[Guest]

Thank you, but I have already checked it out. If you have any more
suggestions, please don't hesitate


--


With kind regards,
Kurt-E. Karlsen
Norway

 

[Phillip Windell]

The system disks are in raid-1 abd the data disks are in raid-5. If I copy
out the event log files, system and application, is it possible to open them
on another computer? I think I have tried this before, but then they have
been corrput.

Then it will probably screw it all up.