> Do you have Dell OpenManage or Server Administrator installed on the
> server so you can look at the health of the RAID array and/or drives?
>
> --
> Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]
> ============================
>
> "Jeff Teel" sugardog.com> wrote in message
> news:OebUbXGoKHA.5552@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>> Hi Merv
>>
>> This is a RAID 1 config and uses the onboard controller. I've not had
>> much experience with RAID controllers but have some understanding of
>> them. I remember when one of the drives went south in the servers younger
>> years there wasn't anything obvious in the log (on the Windows side of
>> things) that said there was a harddrive problem. At that time Dell
>> support did the diagnosing and repair of the the system. I was present
>> when the support person did the work but that has been a few years now
>> and I've probably forgotten some of the steps that he took when he
>> installed the new drive and got the rebuild started.
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>> "Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" no_spam_hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:%%23eJWFYBoKHA.5696@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>>> Is this Raid 1 (2 drives) or Raid 5 (3 or more drives)? And is there a
>>> hardware Raid card in the server?
>>>
>>> --
>>> Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]
>>> ============================
>>>
>>> "Jeff Teel" sugardog.com> wrote in message
>>> news:OD3qbQ8nKHA.3664@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>>>> Thank you for your input Cliff. This server has not browsed the
>>>> Internet for a good 48 months. I just don't have a habit of doing that.
>>>> If there is an infection I can say for sure that it didn't come from
>>>> that. Unless it sat dormant for that long and then reared it's ugly
>>>> head! I am the only admin for this server. It was used for the family
>>>> business to start with and is now used for family member e-mail and
>>>> Internet access. It does have Microsoft 2000 SQL installed but it isn't
>>>> being used.
>>>>
>>>> I will say that after reading thru the responses from you guys that it
>>>> has brought back some memories of something that happened when with
>>>> this server was younger. If I recall it was when the server had been
>>>> online for close to three years. As I think back it had symptoms
>>>> similar to what it has now and one of the RAID drives was bad. When the
>>>> system was trying to rebuild/synch the bad drive it finally ran out of
>>>> power to get that done and froze. Is that something that would happen
>>>> at a consistent time?
>>>>
>>>> To answer your questions regarding third party-apps.......I haven't
>>>> installed any applications on the server (other than Windows Updates)
>>>> for months. Mainly because I didn't want to use any more disk space and
>>>> because everything was working good.
>>>>
>>>> Again I want to thank you guys for your input. I think I will pursue
>>>> the hard drive area next. If I can determine that one of the drives has
>>>> gone south can I unplug that drive and boot the server and see if it
>>>> does not freeze after an hour or so?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>> Jeff
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Cliff Galiher - MVP" gmail.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:eWAxJ07nKHA.6084@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>>>>>I agree with Merv that this *could* be hardware related, but there is a
>>>>>part of me that is suspicious that the time it takes for the system to
>>>>>lock up seems to be consistently be an hour and a half. Usually
>>>>>hardware failures are intermittent (or constant) enough to happen
>>>>>immediately or strike at random times. Even thermal problems happen
>>>>>under load, not at an hour.
>>>>>
>>>>> So I'm thinking this may be a resource issue. Are there 3rd-party
>>>>> apps installed on the server? Thinks like MySQL or PostGreSQL
>>>>> (Spiceworks has used each of these in different versions, and
>>>>> spiceworks seems to be popular with small IT shops these days) or
>>>>> Java...etc. You could have an app misbehaving, slowly (but
>>>>> methodically) chewing memory, and presto, system lock at a predictable
>>>>> time every time.
>>>>>
>>>>> Also, is it possible that the server has been infected with malware?
>>>>> Specifically the "google hack" that A/V products were not prepared to
>>>>> scan for? Once compromised, A/V is rarely successful at detecting and
>>>>> cleaning an already infected machine. In short, have been browsing on
>>>>> the server * at all?*
>>>>>
>>>>> All of these avenues are worth pursuing, one at a time...
>>>>>
>>>>> -Cliff
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> "JTeel" sugardog.remove.com> wrote in message
>>>>> news:#GTNhi7nKHA.5464@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>>>>>> I am willing to try most anything at this point Merv! I looked in the
>>>>>> system log just after it happened and the only red flags were the
>>>>>> Exchange errors when the Exchange store would not mount which I
>>>>>> believe was because of how I had to "kill" or shutdown the OS. This
>>>>>> server has been running for nearly six years with few problems. It
>>>>>> has 2 GB of RAM so I think that is enough. What do you think?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There are no external drives connected to the server via USB or any
>>>>>> tape drives. When I unplug the LAN side Ethernet as well as the WAN
>>>>>> Ethernet there is no is no change. It will be normal for around an
>>>>>> hour and a half or so and then the desktop seems to freeze.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>> Jeff
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" no_spam_hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:eofjQo6nKHA.1548@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>>>>>>> Have you checked for a hard drive or controller problem? Maybe run
>>>>>>> chkdsk /r ?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Anything in the event logs on the server?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Have you disconnected all external devices (like USB drives and
>>>>>>> maybe even any interior tapes drives), rebooted and then check
>>>>>>> performance?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> When the problem occurs, if you disconnect the Ethernet cable(s),
>>>>>>> does performance improve?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Do you have enough RAM in the server?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]
>>>>>>> ============================
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "Jeff Teel" sugardog.com> wrote in message
>>>>>>> news:uYCpTK6nKHA.1928@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>>>>>>>> I first started noticing problems when I was at a remote location
>>>>>>>> and it took longer than normal to log on to Outlook Web Access
>>>>>>>> (Away from the Server on the WAN side of the network). I was able
>>>>>>>> to a few times during the day but as the day went on I just got the
>>>>>>>> logon screen for OWA but was not able to log in. When I got back to
>>>>>>>> the SBS location I tried to logon to the SBS desktop and the system
>>>>>>>> was not responding to Ctrl Alt Del. I just could not access the
>>>>>>>> server desktop so I held the power button in to power down. I hated
>>>>>>>> to but I didn't know what else to do. After I restarted the server
>>>>>>>> things seemed to work ok other than the Exchange Store would not
>>>>>>>> mount which I expected since I powered down the way I did. Over the
>>>>>>>> past days I have tried doing a backup restore from the day before
>>>>>>>> and a backup restore from three days before this all started and
>>>>>>>> the system still seems to become unresponsive after an hour or two.
>>>>>>>> One thing that I suspect but am just not sure about is that the C:
>>>>>>>> drive may be getting too full. While there is still 1.5GB of space
>>>>>>>> remaining out of a 16GB partition I don't know if that is enough
>>>>>>>> space for the OS to function properly. My Exchange store is on
>>>>>>>> another partition along with the swapfile for the OS. I have ran
>>>>>>>> hardware diagnostics and have not seen any red flags. My Anti Virus
>>>>>>>> definitions have been kept up-to-date and Trend WFB shows not
>>>>>>>> problems. If anyone has more details that would help I am more than
>>>>>>>> happy to give them. It just seems that everything I try ends up
>>>>>>>> with the same result and I didn't want to do a clean install unless
>>>>>>>> it was necessary. If anyone has any ideas I would be more than
>>>>>>>> happy to hear them!
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thanks For Your Time
>>>>>>>> Jeff
>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>
>>>>>>

>>>>
>>>>

>>
>>