rstuemke
asked on
Win Server 2003 Will Not Boot Up - Hangs at ACPITABL.DAT
Hello,
I have a Win Server 2003, which I use as a kind of administrative server. I booted it last week and now it hangs during windows startup. F8 into safe mode and it hangs after displaying the ACPITABL.DAT message.
Have searched internet for answer nothing seems to fit. Have modified the ACPI settings in BIOS from S3 to S1 and back with no luck. Can anyone help me? Thanks.
Running WinServer 2003 SP1 and is a DC.
I have a Win Server 2003, which I use as a kind of administrative server. I booted it last week and now it hangs during windows startup. F8 into safe mode and it hangs after displaying the ACPITABL.DAT message.
Have searched internet for answer nothing seems to fit. Have modified the ACPI settings in BIOS from S3 to S1 and back with no luck. Can anyone help me? Thanks.
Running WinServer 2003 SP1 and is a DC.
SOLUTION
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ASKER
Hello,
I am trying to boot up with the Win Server 2003 CD. Answer "R" for recovery console,
Setup then goes into :
"Examining 38165 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi....."
And it just stays there. No activity on the disk drive light.
Left it there for over an hour and nothing. Tried again same thing.
Please advise. Thanks.
I am trying to boot up with the Win Server 2003 CD. Answer "R" for recovery console,
Setup then goes into :
"Examining 38165 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi....."
And it just stays there. No activity on the disk drive light.
Left it there for over an hour and nothing. Tried again same thing.
Please advise. Thanks.
ASKER
Point value increased....any ideas?
SOLUTION
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Does it work to boot to the command prompt from the safe mode menu? Maybe then you have a chance to copy the file...
ASKER
Tried to boot up in safe mode and it hangs same place. Tried to install Xandros Linux and resize the Windows partition and it fails also. Then tried to just blow away everything and reinitialize the hard drive and can not even do that.......it hangs. I think there is a problem with the hard drive.
Check in BIOS start options and make sure removable media is disabled or at least set to last in the boot order
I am having this same problem - tried disabling the ACPI service - and it just blue-screened me when I rebooted. I don't think it's the ACPI service.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Yup - that's not it - there's no boot devices for me. Thing is - I left my machine on all night, and came in to the ctl+alt+del screen this morning. It loaded fine - but just after an undetermined amount of time. I believe it is the service that is loading right AFTER acpitabl.dat that is actually causing the delay.
Boot into recovery console and use LISTSVC command to enble/disble services/drivers. Good explanation on how to use can be found here > http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/wxprcons.html
ASKER
The system appears to be toast, can not boot into recovery mode. Can not install new software. Looks like the disk drive went South. Thanks for all the help. Will split points for trying....
There are a couple of PAQ's regarding SBS 2003 failing to startup properly post SP1, and when booting in safe mode fails when loading acpitabl.dat.
Some of the other PAQ's are;
- https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21530046/Win2003-Server-fails-when-loading-acpitabl-dat.html
- https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21649300/HP-Proliant-ML-150-G2-ACPITABL-DAT-in-Safe-Mode.html
I have found an alternate solution after trying almost all of the options suggested in those PAQ's and other forums on the web, but eventually fixed it by copying an older raid controller driver onto the server.
My problem was that the server (with an adaptec 2410sa SATA RAID Controller) was built with a recent controller driver, but the controller firmware was much older.
Trying to update the firmware to a recent version was a losing battle as the whole array had to be recreated which kills the installed OS.
Essentially, I think that the problem has nothing to do with acpitabl (it is just the last thing displayed before the real problem starts), but more a mis-match in controller firmware and the OS driver for the controller. Not sure why it occurred when it did, as I had been running on SP1 (SBS2003) for some time.
I was able to boot to an alternate installation on another disk, in order to copy the older drivers into all locations where they were previously, but using the recovery console could have been an option.
The strong message here is to make sure that your controller firmware and OS driver match or are validated to work together by the vendor.
Hope this helps others !
Some of the other PAQ's are;
- https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21530046/Win2003-Server-fails-when-loading-acpitabl-dat.html
- https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21649300/HP-Proliant-ML-150-G2-ACPITABL-DAT-in-Safe-Mode.html
I have found an alternate solution after trying almost all of the options suggested in those PAQ's and other forums on the web, but eventually fixed it by copying an older raid controller driver onto the server.
My problem was that the server (with an adaptec 2410sa SATA RAID Controller) was built with a recent controller driver, but the controller firmware was much older.
Trying to update the firmware to a recent version was a losing battle as the whole array had to be recreated which kills the installed OS.
Essentially, I think that the problem has nothing to do with acpitabl (it is just the last thing displayed before the real problem starts), but more a mis-match in controller firmware and the OS driver for the controller. Not sure why it occurred when it did, as I had been running on SP1 (SBS2003) for some time.
I was able to boot to an alternate installation on another disk, in order to copy the older drivers into all locations where they were previously, but using the recovery console could have been an option.
The strong message here is to make sure that your controller firmware and OS driver match or are validated to work together by the vendor.
Hope this helps others !
Why are all the accepted solutions bobbins... rarely a real fix...
It seems to be all about kissing each other asses and winning points...
Glad i paid up for that..
It seems to be all about kissing each other asses and winning points...
Glad i paid up for that..
I was having the exact same error, and while I was in the BIOS looking for the place to enable booting to USB devices I noticed that there was a setting to enable ACPI 2.0 features. It had been disabled, so I enabled it and my 2k3 server booted right up.
the Last known Good Configuration worked for me.
FYI
FYI
I ran into the same issue with an HP server (DL380 G4) and it turns out that the RAID is complaining about a bad drive. We ran the ADU report which revealed a bad drive. We were upgrading from Win2k to Win2k3 when this happend. We did not have any amber LEDs prior to the Win2k3 upgrade. After the ghost was complete and the first reboot, we encountered this issue and now see the bad drive. So efforts are being made to recover the drive and attempt the ghost again.
Had the same issue on a Dell PowerEdge and it ended up that an external USB HD that was plugged into the server for shadow copies was somehow causing the OS to lock up on boot. Disabled the USB interfaces via the BIOS (i was remoted in via the DRAC since the server was 40 miles away) and it came up like a champ.
Changing the ACPI setting in bios fixed this for me too.
Got this error on a Windows 2003 server yesterday.
My Working solutions:
1) Replace CMOS battery and set defaults
2) Enable ACPI features in BIOS
3) Remove USB boot option
4) Replace faulty ide/sata cables
5) Remove faulty cd-rom drive
6) Run a chkdsk /r
6 fixed the problem for me yesterday. Booted to recovery console and ran a disk check.
My Working solutions:
1) Replace CMOS battery and set defaults
2) Enable ACPI features in BIOS
3) Remove USB boot option
4) Replace faulty ide/sata cables
5) Remove faulty cd-rom drive
6) Run a chkdsk /r
6 fixed the problem for me yesterday. Booted to recovery console and ran a disk check.
I have the same problem on a Dell PowerEdge 2850 with Server 2003. None of the above has worked so far. It's RAID5 so I have to be careful. Disable Video Driver etc. But can anyone tell me why there is no acpitabl.dat file anywhere on the C drive?????
I have a matching 2850 which boots just fine (thank goodnes) but it doesn't have any files named acpitabl.dat either
I can't find an information on that file on the web as to the size it should be etc.
RTFavara
I have a matching 2850 which boots just fine (thank goodnes) but it doesn't have any files named acpitabl.dat either
I can't find an information on that file on the web as to the size it should be etc.
RTFavara
1)
Disable the file from loading. The listsvc command is a recovery console command that displays the services and drivers.
The system services and drivers can then be enabled and disabled by using the enable command and disable command.
http://www.geocities.com/kilian0072002/recconsole3.html#3
2)
Add System Restore to your server > http://www.msfn.org/win2k3/sysrestore.htm
3)
Recover the registry > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/