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colinasadFlag for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

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How can I re-start my SQL Server 2005 Express Database Engine Service?

I have installed SQL Server 2005 Express on a client's network.
Today I seem to be unable to logon to the database, either using my MS Access "project" application or the SQL Server Management Studio Express program.
When I use the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration program, I see that the SQLEXPRESS Database Engine has stopped even though the "Startup type" is set to "Automatic". When I click on the "Start" button a progess bar appears for about 10 seconds then I'm told the operation has timed out and I need to have administrator privileges to perform that action.

I am logged on to the hosting Server (running Windows Server 2003) using an "Administrator" logon from a Windows XP PC using a Remote Desktop connection. I used this method to install SQL Server on the server in the first place and up until now have been able to run the SQL Server Management Studio Express program to maintain the database.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can re-start my SQL Server Database Engine, and why I now appear to not be recognised as an Administrator?

Many thanks. Colin.
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RiteshShah
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what is your SQL Server service account?

generally you should be able to start service from control panel->administrative tools->services->SQL Server

if you are not able to do so than you MUST not have permission.
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Services.msc
 
Locate MSSQLExpress.....rightclick and restart
Check what account the service is trying to run as. If it's tryimg to Run as administrator then maybe the password has changed (you can check this where RiteshShah suggests). Otherwise check the event logs for a specific error and then do a search on it with google. Also check for other services related to MSSQL in the services tab under administrative services.
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ASKER

Thanks for the prompt responses.

I again logged on to the main server using Remote Desktop and the "Administrator" logon (which I assume has administrator priviliges) and found the SQL Server "services" as suggested.

However I was still unable to re-start the SQL Server service.
The services relating to SQL Server that were listed are :

                                                         Status           Startup Type             Logon As
SQL Server (SQLEXPRESS)               (blank)           Automatic                  Local System
SQL Server Active Directory Helper  (blank)           Disabled                    Network Service
SQL Server Browser                         Started          Automatic                  Local System
SQL Server VSS Writer                     Started          Automatic                  Local System

When I tried to "Start" "(SQLEXPRESS)" I again had a brief "Service Control" progress bar then a failure message at the end, quoting "service-specific error code 3417" and suggesting I review the System Event Log. I assume this is what "boowhup" was suggesting but I don't know how to do this (let alone react to whatever it might reveal).

I had a look at the Active Directory Helper service but couldn't see an option to "enable" it.

I will try to contact the people who look after the server for my client to see if they can shed any light on the problem, but any further suggestions would be appreciated.

I have now found an "Event Viewer" on the main server and have found a few error messages relating to SQLServer.

On 16th June :
Operating system error 23(Data error (cyclic redundancy check).) on file "d:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\DATA\mastlog.ldf" during CheckLogBlockReadComplete.

also :
Cannot recover the master database. SQL Server is unable to run. Restore master from a full backup, repair it, or rebuild it. For more information about how to rebuild the master database, see SQL Server Books Online.

Then no further events relating to SQL Server until today when there are whole list of them, presumably relationg to my multiple attempts to re-start the service.
(This is a "work in progress" and I have been away on holiday since the beginning of June. Things appear to have gone wrong on the 16th June and today is the first time it has been looked at since.)

It looks like there is corruption on the "master" database that needs to be fixed ... somehow.

Any suggestions in how to do this, given that the whole SQL Server service appears to have ground to a halt?
I seem to be in a Catch 22.
It looks like my "master" database file "mastlog.ldf" is corrupted, or sitting on a corrupted area of hard disk. This seems to be preventing the SQL Server service from starting.

I can't even make a copy of this file for safe-keeping because I get a CRC error when I try (although I can rename it).

Any suggestions on how I can recover/repair this file without the SQL Server service running? Unfortunately I don't have a backup of the "master" database files.
Yep Ritesh is right. and failing that you can take a file copy of the mdf and ldf for your databases (whatever they are called). And do an uninstall/reinstall of SQL - but Ritesh's option might be faster.
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colinasad
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