Full restore won't work. Help!

I'll try to keep this succinct. I'm no SBS or server expert but I've set up
a SBS Std server for my small office of about 15 PCs and kept it running
fairly well for the past four years. This weekend I found it wouldn't boot
with the error "Windows could not start because the following file is missing
or corrupt: \system32\NTOSKRNL.exe"

After researching and trying to repair from CD and checking the boot.ini
file, chkdsk said there were unrecoverable errors. I do regular full backups
to an external drive so I slapped a new hard drive in the tower and did a
fresh OS install, then followed the instructions I found on restoring from a
backup. After many hours it completed and went to reboot, where I got the
message "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk." I tried
again with another hard drive, then from an older backup file. Same problem
each time. Then I saw in another post that I needed to get the fresh OS up
to the SP2 level I had before so I tried that and still have the same error
at boot.

Clearly I'm doing something wrong. I need to either 1) repair the failed
restore state I have. 2) figure out why my restores don't work and do it
correctly. or 3) reinstall a fresh OS and migrate my user accounts, email,
sharepoint, etc from backup data. All of which, I've never done before.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Larry
Wed May 14 06:59:41 PDT 2008

Hi Dave:

Did you ever boot from the new disk after installing the base o/s and before
restoring from backup?

--
Larry

Please post the resolution to
your issue so that all can benefit.


"Dave" <Dave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5445E531-4FFD-4CF0-A9CA-1857EB1A3D1B@microsoft.com...
> I'll try to keep this succinct. I'm no SBS or server expert but I've set
> up
> a SBS Std server for my small office of about 15 PCs and kept it running
> fairly well for the past four years. This weekend I found it wouldn't
> boot
> with the error "Windows could not start because the following file is
> missing
> or corrupt: \system32\NTOSKRNL.exe"
>
> After researching and trying to repair from CD and checking the boot.ini
> file, chkdsk said there were unrecoverable errors. I do regular full
> backups
> to an external drive so I slapped a new hard drive in the tower and did a
> fresh OS install, then followed the instructions I found on restoring from
> a
> backup. After many hours it completed and went to reboot, where I got the
> message "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
> configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk." I
> tried
> again with another hard drive, then from an older backup file. Same
> problem
> each time. Then I saw in another post that I needed to get the fresh OS
> up
> to the SP2 level I had before so I tried that and still have the same
> error
> at boot.
>
> Clearly I'm doing something wrong. I need to either 1) repair the failed
> restore state I have. 2) figure out why my restores don't work and do it
> correctly. or 3) reinstall a fresh OS and migrate my user accounts, email,
> sharepoint, etc from backup data. All of which, I've never done before.
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Costas
Wed May 14 07:06:32 PDT 2008

I don't know if this is related but the boot.ini file might be pointing to
the wrong location of the O/S. Take a look at he following article
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477 and see if method 1, under
resolution, solves your problem

--
Costas


"Dave" <Dave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5445E531-4FFD-4CF0-A9CA-1857EB1A3D1B@microsoft.com...
> I'll try to keep this succinct. I'm no SBS or server expert but I've set
> up
> a SBS Std server for my small office of about 15 PCs and kept it running
> fairly well for the past four years. This weekend I found it wouldn't
> boot
> with the error "Windows could not start because the following file is
> missing
> or corrupt: \system32\NTOSKRNL.exe"
>
> After researching and trying to repair from CD and checking the boot.ini
> file, chkdsk said there were unrecoverable errors. I do regular full
> backups
> to an external drive so I slapped a new hard drive in the tower and did a
> fresh OS install, then followed the instructions I found on restoring from
> a
> backup. After many hours it completed and went to reboot, where I got the
> message "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
> configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk." I
> tried
> again with another hard drive, then from an older backup file. Same
> problem
> each time. Then I saw in another post that I needed to get the fresh OS
> up
> to the SP2 level I had before so I tried that and still have the same
> error
> at boot.
>
> Clearly I'm doing something wrong. I need to either 1) repair the failed
> restore state I have. 2) figure out why my restores don't work and do it
> correctly. or 3) reinstall a fresh OS and migrate my user accounts, email,
> sharepoint, etc from backup data. All of which, I've never done before.
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Dave
Wed May 14 07:09:00 PDT 2008

Yes, each time I do a fresh install i can boot into the server. It's only
after the restored data and saved state are copied that it won't boot with
and the "computer disk hardware configuration problem" msg appears.

"Larry Struckmeyer [SBS-MVP]" wrote:

> Hi Dave:
>
> Did you ever boot from the new disk after installing the base o/s and before
> restoring from backup?
>
> --
> Larry
>
> Please post the resolution to
> your issue so that all can benefit.
>
>
> "Dave" <Dave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:5445E531-4FFD-4CF0-A9CA-1857EB1A3D1B@microsoft.com...
> > I'll try to keep this succinct. I'm no SBS or server expert but I've set
> > up
> > a SBS Std server for my small office of about 15 PCs and kept it running
> > fairly well for the past four years. This weekend I found it wouldn't
> > boot
> > with the error "Windows could not start because the following file is
> > missing
> > or corrupt: \system32\NTOSKRNL.exe"
> >
> > After researching and trying to repair from CD and checking the boot.ini
> > file, chkdsk said there were unrecoverable errors. I do regular full
> > backups
> > to an external drive so I slapped a new hard drive in the tower and did a
> > fresh OS install, then followed the instructions I found on restoring from
> > a
> > backup. After many hours it completed and went to reboot, where I got the
> > message "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
> > configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk." I
> > tried
> > again with another hard drive, then from an older backup file. Same
> > problem
> > each time. Then I saw in another post that I needed to get the fresh OS
> > up
> > to the SP2 level I had before so I tried that and still have the same
> > error
> > at boot.
> >
> > Clearly I'm doing something wrong. I need to either 1) repair the failed
> > restore state I have. 2) figure out why my restores don't work and do it
> > correctly. or 3) reinstall a fresh OS and migrate my user accounts, email,
> > sharepoint, etc from backup data. All of which, I've never done before.
> >
> > Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave
>
>
>

Les
Wed May 14 07:20:02 PDT 2008

After installing the OS, and before restoring, are you setting up your disk
partitions to match (drive letters at least) the previous partitions?

Following the SBS specific backup_restore document?

--
Les Connor [SBS MVP]
________________________
Get the SBS BPA here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940439/en-us


"Dave" <Dave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:18C0138D-E03C-414D-9047-B7E6755CA89B@microsoft.com...
> Yes, each time I do a fresh install i can boot into the server. It's only
> after the restored data and saved state are copied that it won't boot with
> and the "computer disk hardware configuration problem" msg appears.
>
> "Larry Struckmeyer [SBS-MVP]" wrote:
>
>> Hi Dave:
>>
>> Did you ever boot from the new disk after installing the base o/s and
>> before
>> restoring from backup?
>>
>> --
>> Larry
>>
>> Please post the resolution to
>> your issue so that all can benefit.
>>
>>
>> "Dave" <Dave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:5445E531-4FFD-4CF0-A9CA-1857EB1A3D1B@microsoft.com...
>> > I'll try to keep this succinct. I'm no SBS or server expert but I've
>> > set
>> > up
>> > a SBS Std server for my small office of about 15 PCs and kept it
>> > running
>> > fairly well for the past four years. This weekend I found it wouldn't
>> > boot
>> > with the error "Windows could not start because the following file is
>> > missing
>> > or corrupt: \system32\NTOSKRNL.exe"
>> >
>> > After researching and trying to repair from CD and checking the
>> > boot.ini
>> > file, chkdsk said there were unrecoverable errors. I do regular full
>> > backups
>> > to an external drive so I slapped a new hard drive in the tower and did
>> > a
>> > fresh OS install, then followed the instructions I found on restoring
>> > from
>> > a
>> > backup. After many hours it completed and went to reboot, where I got
>> > the
>> > message "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
>> > configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk." I
>> > tried
>> > again with another hard drive, then from an older backup file. Same
>> > problem
>> > each time. Then I saw in another post that I needed to get the fresh
>> > OS
>> > up
>> > to the SP2 level I had before so I tried that and still have the same
>> > error
>> > at boot.
>> >
>> > Clearly I'm doing something wrong. I need to either 1) repair the
>> > failed
>> > restore state I have. 2) figure out why my restores don't work and do
>> > it
>> > correctly. or 3) reinstall a fresh OS and migrate my user accounts,
>> > email,
>> > sharepoint, etc from backup data. All of which, I've never done
>> > before.
>> >
>> > Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave
>>
>>
>>

Dave
Wed May 14 07:28:02 PDT 2008

Hi Les,

My previous setup had one IDE drive partitioned as C: for OS and D: for data.

My new setup is two drives, and I did make them C: and D:. The restore
copied everything correctly to the two new partitions/drives. I removed them
and put them in an external USB case to look at the contents.

"Les Connor [SBS MVP]" wrote:

> After installing the OS, and before restoring, are you setting up your disk
> partitions to match (drive letters at least) the previous partitions?
>
> Following the SBS specific backup_restore document?
>
> --
> Les Connor [SBS MVP]
> ________________________
> Get the SBS BPA here:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940439/en-us
>
>
> "Dave" <Dave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:18C0138D-E03C-414D-9047-B7E6755CA89B@microsoft.com...
> > Yes, each time I do a fresh install i can boot into the server. It's only
> > after the restored data and saved state are copied that it won't boot with
> > and the "computer disk hardware configuration problem" msg appears.
> >
> > "Larry Struckmeyer [SBS-MVP]" wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Dave:
> >>
> >> Did you ever boot from the new disk after installing the base o/s and
> >> before
> >> restoring from backup?
> >>
> >> --
> >> Larry
> >>
> >> Please post the resolution to
> >> your issue so that all can benefit.
> >>
> >>
> >> "Dave" <Dave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:5445E531-4FFD-4CF0-A9CA-1857EB1A3D1B@microsoft.com...
> >> > I'll try to keep this succinct. I'm no SBS or server expert but I've
> >> > set
> >> > up
> >> > a SBS Std server for my small office of about 15 PCs and kept it
> >> > running
> >> > fairly well for the past four years. This weekend I found it wouldn't
> >> > boot
> >> > with the error "Windows could not start because the following file is
> >> > missing
> >> > or corrupt: \system32\NTOSKRNL.exe"
> >> >
> >> > After researching and trying to repair from CD and checking the
> >> > boot.ini
> >> > file, chkdsk said there were unrecoverable errors. I do regular full
> >> > backups
> >> > to an external drive so I slapped a new hard drive in the tower and did
> >> > a
> >> > fresh OS install, then followed the instructions I found on restoring
> >> > from
> >> > a
> >> > backup. After many hours it completed and went to reboot, where I got
> >> > the
> >> > message "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
> >> > configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk." I
> >> > tried
> >> > again with another hard drive, then from an older backup file. Same
> >> > problem
> >> > each time. Then I saw in another post that I needed to get the fresh
> >> > OS
> >> > up
> >> > to the SP2 level I had before so I tried that and still have the same
> >> > error
> >> > at boot.
> >> >
> >> > Clearly I'm doing something wrong. I need to either 1) repair the
> >> > failed
> >> > restore state I have. 2) figure out why my restores don't work and do
> >> > it
> >> > correctly. or 3) reinstall a fresh OS and migrate my user accounts,
> >> > email,
> >> > sharepoint, etc from backup data. All of which, I've never done
> >> > before.
> >> >
> >> > Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave
> >>
> >>
> >>
>

Al
Wed May 14 09:34:52 PDT 2008

Verify in the BIOS that you are booting from the correct disk. That's
gotten me in the past.

Any differences between the new disk and the old disk -- are they both the
same type and on the same port? (IDE, SATA, SCSI, etc.)

Did you try safe mode (F8) and verify everything under the device manager?

Once you get it running I think its time to put at least a RAID1 in there,
servers should always have redundancy on their disks.

--
Allan Williams



"Dave" <Dave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5445E531-4FFD-4CF0-A9CA-1857EB1A3D1B@microsoft.com...
> I'll try to keep this succinct. I'm no SBS or server expert but I've set
> up
> a SBS Std server for my small office of about 15 PCs and kept it running
> fairly well for the past four years. This weekend I found it wouldn't
> boot
> with the error "Windows could not start because the following file is
> missing
> or corrupt: \system32\NTOSKRNL.exe"
>
> After researching and trying to repair from CD and checking the boot.ini
> file, chkdsk said there were unrecoverable errors. I do regular full
> backups
> to an external drive so I slapped a new hard drive in the tower and did a
> fresh OS install, then followed the instructions I found on restoring from
> a
> backup. After many hours it completed and went to reboot, where I got the
> message "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
> configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk." I
> tried
> again with another hard drive, then from an older backup file. Same
> problem
> each time. Then I saw in another post that I needed to get the fresh OS
> up
> to the SP2 level I had before so I tried that and still have the same
> error
> at boot.
>
> Clearly I'm doing something wrong. I need to either 1) repair the failed
> restore state I have. 2) figure out why my restores don't work and do it
> correctly. or 3) reinstall a fresh OS and migrate my user accounts, email,
> sharepoint, etc from backup data. All of which, I've never done before.
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Dave
Wed May 14 14:53:02 PDT 2008

I am back up and running but still have an issue or two. After a few failed
restores a did another fresh OS install, then restored the system state only
(the other restored files were still in place). After that I managed to boot
using a boot floppy, then edited the boot.ini file and all was good (As far
as booting).

My main issue at the moment is this: email is coming in and is visible
through Outlook Web Access but is not being distributed to the Outlook
clients on the Workstations. Did reboot computers to restablish connections.
Tried reinstalling Exchange SP2 update but didn't help. Will invesigate
event logs and more tomorrow. At least it's progress.

Thanks to all for the suggestions and speedy replies.

"Dave" wrote:

> I'll try to keep this succinct. I'm no SBS or server expert but I've set up
> a SBS Std server for my small office of about 15 PCs and kept it running
> fairly well for the past four years. This weekend I found it wouldn't boot
> with the error "Windows could not start because the following file is missing
> or corrupt: \system32\NTOSKRNL.exe"
>
> After researching and trying to repair from CD and checking the boot.ini
> file, chkdsk said there were unrecoverable errors. I do regular full backups
> to an external drive so I slapped a new hard drive in the tower and did a
> fresh OS install, then followed the instructions I found on restoring from a
> backup. After many hours it completed and went to reboot, where I got the
> message "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
> configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk." I tried
> again with another hard drive, then from an older backup file. Same problem
> each time. Then I saw in another post that I needed to get the fresh OS up
> to the SP2 level I had before so I tried that and still have the same error
> at boot.
>
> Clearly I'm doing something wrong. I need to either 1) repair the failed
> restore state I have. 2) figure out why my restores don't work and do it
> correctly. or 3) reinstall a fresh OS and migrate my user accounts, email,
> sharepoint, etc from backup data. All of which, I've never done before.
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Les
Wed May 14 15:21:17 PDT 2008

Chances are you're using cached mode, and if you restored exchange data then
things are out of whack. You can try disabling cached mode in Outlook, and
if that doesn't work blow away the current mail profile and start fresh.

--
Les Connor [SBS MVP]
________________________
Get the SBS BPA here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940439/en-us


"Dave" <Dave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E0C9F32C-5856-4BBF-AD8C-5FFFA6CEDC26@microsoft.com...
>I am back up and running but still have an issue or two. After a few
>failed
> restores a did another fresh OS install, then restored the system state
> only
> (the other restored files were still in place). After that I managed to
> boot
> using a boot floppy, then edited the boot.ini file and all was good (As
> far
> as booting).
>
> My main issue at the moment is this: email is coming in and is visible
> through Outlook Web Access but is not being distributed to the Outlook
> clients on the Workstations. Did reboot computers to restablish
> connections.
> Tried reinstalling Exchange SP2 update but didn't help. Will invesigate
> event logs and more tomorrow. At least it's progress.
>
> Thanks to all for the suggestions and speedy replies.
>
> "Dave" wrote:
>
>> I'll try to keep this succinct. I'm no SBS or server expert but I've set
>> up
>> a SBS Std server for my small office of about 15 PCs and kept it running
>> fairly well for the past four years. This weekend I found it wouldn't
>> boot
>> with the error "Windows could not start because the following file is
>> missing
>> or corrupt: \system32\NTOSKRNL.exe"
>>
>> After researching and trying to repair from CD and checking the boot.ini
>> file, chkdsk said there were unrecoverable errors. I do regular full
>> backups
>> to an external drive so I slapped a new hard drive in the tower and did a
>> fresh OS install, then followed the instructions I found on restoring
>> from a
>> backup. After many hours it completed and went to reboot, where I got
>> the
>> message "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
>> configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk." I
>> tried
>> again with another hard drive, then from an older backup file. Same
>> problem
>> each time. Then I saw in another post that I needed to get the fresh OS
>> up
>> to the SP2 level I had before so I tried that and still have the same
>> error
>> at boot.
>>
>> Clearly I'm doing something wrong. I need to either 1) repair the failed
>> restore state I have. 2) figure out why my restores don't work and do it
>> correctly. or 3) reinstall a fresh OS and migrate my user accounts,
>> email,
>> sharepoint, etc from backup data. All of which, I've never done before.
>>
>> Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Dave
Wed May 14 17:15:00 PDT 2008

Les, you are my new best friend. I renamed outlook.ost to outlook.old and
everything in outlook was recreated and reloaded properly.

Thanks!

"Les Connor [SBS MVP]" wrote:

> Chances are you're using cached mode, and if you restored exchange data then
> things are out of whack. You can try disabling cached mode in Outlook, and
> if that doesn't work blow away the current mail profile and start fresh.
>
> --
> Les Connor [SBS MVP]
> ________________________
> Get the SBS BPA here:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940439/en-us
>
>
> "Dave" <Dave@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:E0C9F32C-5856-4BBF-AD8C-5FFFA6CEDC26@microsoft.com...
> >I am back up and running but still have an issue or two. After a few
> >failed
> > restores a did another fresh OS install, then restored the system state
> > only
> > (the other restored files were still in place). After that I managed to
> > boot
> > using a boot floppy, then edited the boot.ini file and all was good (As
> > far
> > as booting).
> >
> > My main issue at the moment is this: email is coming in and is visible
> > through Outlook Web Access but is not being distributed to the Outlook
> > clients on the Workstations. Did reboot computers to restablish
> > connections.
> > Tried reinstalling Exchange SP2 update but didn't help. Will invesigate
> > event logs and more tomorrow. At least it's progress.
> >
> > Thanks to all for the suggestions and speedy replies.
> >
> > "Dave" wrote:
> >
> >> I'll try to keep this succinct. I'm no SBS or server expert but I've set
> >> up
> >> a SBS Std server for my small office of about 15 PCs and kept it running
> >> fairly well for the past four years. This weekend I found it wouldn't
> >> boot
> >> with the error "Windows could not start because the following file is
> >> missing
> >> or corrupt: \system32\NTOSKRNL.exe"
> >>
> >> After researching and trying to repair from CD and checking the boot.ini
> >> file, chkdsk said there were unrecoverable errors. I do regular full
> >> backups
> >> to an external drive so I slapped a new hard drive in the tower and did a
> >> fresh OS install, then followed the instructions I found on restoring
> >> from a
> >> backup. After many hours it completed and went to reboot, where I got
> >> the
> >> message "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
> >> configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk." I
> >> tried
> >> again with another hard drive, then from an older backup file. Same
> >> problem
> >> each time. Then I saw in another post that I needed to get the fresh OS
> >> up
> >> to the SP2 level I had before so I tried that and still have the same
> >> error
> >> at boot.
> >>
> >> Clearly I'm doing something wrong. I need to either 1) repair the failed
> >> restore state I have. 2) figure out why my restores don't work and do it
> >> correctly. or 3) reinstall a fresh OS and migrate my user accounts,
> >> email,
> >> sharepoint, etc from backup data. All of which, I've never done before.
> >>
> >> Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave
>