The Mole #4: Technical Answers from Inside Microsoft - Troubleshooting EIDE, NTW Remote Install, Domain Controller

  • Article

March 8, 1999

Editors Note The questions and answers below are from the Inside Microsoft column that appears regularly on the TechNet Web site (https://www.microsoft.com/technet). To find out how to submit questions of your own, see the end of this article or go to https://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/insider/default.mspx.

The TechNet Mole provides expert answers from deep within Microsoft to questions from IT professionals. The fourth installment focuses on these issues:

  • File Corruption Messages on EIDE Drives

  • Network Installation of Windows NT Workstation

  • When Domain Controllers Fail to Communicate over the Network

On This Page

Troubleshooting EIDE File Corruption Messages
NTW Remote Installation Method
Help! My Primary Domain Controller Can't See My Backup Domain Controller on the Network
Got Questions? Mail the Mole

Troubleshooting EIDE File Corruption Messages

Dear Mole,

Not having partaken of Rosemary (the herb) lately, I am stumped by a recurring problem with our EIDE hard disks (WD 1-platter 4.3 GB). Out of the blue (but noticeably more often right after the PC is moved from one Ethernet port/concentrator to another in the building), a PC's HD will 'corrupt', yielding a nice NT4(SP3) BSOD. This occurs on both lightly loaded PCs as well as on heavy-use CAD workstations.

We are able to start up another copy of NT4 kept on a separate partition just for these 'special occasions', and use it to run chkdsk /f /r on the ailing partition. Nine times out of ten, this will 'recover' a corrupted File System, and the PC can be used normally. But...chkdsk always reports it found and marked off bad sectors. Yet if we take one of these HDs (or one of the 1-of-10 non-recoverable) and run WD's utility on it (sacrificing the contents), it reports these HDs as not having any bad sectors at the locations marked off by chkdsk.

The drives are then fully useable as normal (although I don't put them back into critical PCs), and thereafter don't have more instances of the same type of 'corruption' than the other 400+ PCs (statistically). (We run a full chkdsk on all PCs regularly, and now on ALL those being moved right before they're uprooted for transplant.) Your thoughts?

Eddie

Dear Eddie,

First of all, I must tell you that my cousin Rosemary (not the herb) takes exception to your double entendre. On the topic of enhanced mental function, however, I've heard that Ginkoba does wonders for a poorly partitioned cerebellum. Now, about Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE). My quivering whiskers are unable to ascertain the precise origin of your mysterious disk corruption messages. I can help you troubleshoot the issue, though.

  • First, you may need to collect some more information concerning the blue screen error or other related behavior. Once you have the Stop error information from the computer on which the disk corruption occurs, you can search for further information on the error using TechNet or the Support Online Web site: https://support.microsoft.com/support/search/.

  • Next, you can check the Event Viewer System log to see if there are any error messages regarding the disk failures. If you identify an error message in the Event Viewer System log (noted by a yellow or red icon), you can search for further information on the error by using TechNet again or the same Web site: https://support.microsoft.com/support/search/.

  • You may also want to look at the following articles for more information on using EIDE drives with Windows NT:

    152307: Clarification of Enhanced IDE Under Windows NT 4.0

    161563: How Windows NT Handles Drive Translation

    177257: STOP 0x0000000A or Difficulty Recognizing IDE CD-ROM Drives

    Note: To find a specific Knowledge Base article, use the TechNet query tool (Ctrl+F) and type in this string: "number: Q#". Each KB article is assigned a Q#. Typing in only the Q# brings back all the articles that refer to that Q# instead of the one article assigned that number.

  • Finally, if you have the time and resources available, you may want to perform some structured testing to reproduce the behavior you are questioning. Once you have firmly identified the activities (moving the PC, changing the network port) involved in duplicating the symptoms you have noted, you may be able to establish a direct cause and effect relationship between certain activities and the resulting behavior. If the issue can be consistently reproduced, you can then contact Microsoft Technical Support to determine if a software fix is available, or, if a fix is not available, to brainstorm further troubleshooting strategies.

NTW Remote Installation Method

Dear Mole,

Can I create a boot disk to remotely install an NT4.0 Client Workstation from an NT server?

I am building a small NT4.0 based network for our Information Security department and I would like to know if there is any way to take a box with a freshly formatted hard drive and create a single boot floppy disk that will allow me to connect across the ether-LAN to an NT server to run say winnt /b off of the server's CD ROM drive to execute a remote LAN based install of a new NT box from the existing NT server... the only way I know to do this now is to use a Netware netx/vlm boot disk and attach to a Netware server and map to it's CD ROM (we do this routinely to save time and the cost of having to have a CD ROM on every client PC).

Disko Danny

Hey, Danny:

Breathe easy. You can definitely install NTW via LAN, using one tool built into NT Server and another from the NT Resource Kit. There's always 3rd party software available to do the same thing, but the MS Client 3.0 software just happens to come free with NT Server. The price, as they say, is right.

First, format a bootable DOS diskette. Take it to your NT Server. Run the Network Client Administrator from the Administrative Tools menu. Have your NT Server source tree of files (which you copied from the CD) available and shared. Choose to make a network installation startup disk.

Now, choose the NIC that your NT Workstation has and follow the prompts, selecting the network protocol you use. After the diskette is made, modify the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to map a drive to the share point on your network for the NT Workstation source files, wherever WINNT.EXE is. Test your diskette by booting it on one of the new machines where NT Workstation is to be installed.

Go back to the NT Server and run the SETUPMGR.EXE tool from the Resource Kit. This will prompt you to make an Unattended Installation Information file, commonly referred to as UNATTEND.TXT. Modify your diskette's AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include the /u: switch and your unattend.txt file, e.g. z:\NTW\WINNT.EXE /u:UNATTEND.TXT. Make a separate UNATTEND.TXT file for each machine if you wish, or make "Uniqueness Database Files" to cover what is different among the workstations, such as computer name.

If you have a TechNet CD handy, (you do have one, right?) search for references **155197:**Unattended Setup Parameters for Unattend.txt File and **142857:**How to Create a Network Installation Boot Disk for more information.

Now, find some apparently casual way to let your boss know how much time and money you've just saved the company. Just an idea.

Help! My Primary Domain Controller Can't See My Backup Domain Controller on the Network

Hi Mole:

When I connect both a PDC and a BDC via modem, the clients on the BDC can view the clients on the PDC but not the other way around. Why? What am I doing wrong?

Pierre

Bonjour, Pierre:

Okay, here's what comes to the tip of my snout. Your problem arises from either 1) or 2):

  1. The clients on the PDC are not resolving the NetBIOS names of the BDC and others. To resolve this, the PDC's clients need to have a WINS server configured in their TCP/IP parameters, or use the LMHOSTS file that includes a mapping to the BDC, preferably with the #PRE and #DOM keywords properly used. (See KB articles **163949:**Workstation Using LMHosts Fails to Logon if DC Unavailable and **150800:**Domain Browsing with TCP/IP and LMHOSTS Files.)

  2. The server service on the BDC may be hidden. To see if this is the case, type from a command prompt: NET CONFIG SERVER and see if the response indicates that HIDDEN = yes. If so, issue the command NET CONFIG SERVER /hidden:no and then stop and restart the server service, and the computer browser service.

Of course, if neither of these fixes your problem, you can always read the directions. And here they are:

There are two basic ways of connecting two domain controllers using a modem. One is to use the Remote Access Service (RAS). This is generally seen as a one-way connection--that is, you are initiating a conversation with the remote computer and that system will only respond when you prompt for specific information.

If you are attempting to set up two-way communications between a PDC and a BDC, RAS will not provide you with the connectivity required to emulate a standard network connection between the two computers. To do this, you will need to install and configure the Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS). This will provide you with complete two-way, routed communications between the PDC and the BDC. The TechNet CD, my home away from hole, has two RRAS white papers that you should read:

You can also refer to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

  • 189099: RRAS Could Forward IP Fragments Without Filtering

  • 169203: Information on Static Routes in Routing and Remote Access

  • 143168: Routing IP Packets to Network Adapter Rather than RAS

If you already have RRAS installed, you may need to perform some basic network troubleshooting to determine why you are experiencing the behavior noted in your question.

Some things to check:

  • Are you using the TCP/IP protocol?

  • Do you have the ENABLE IP FORWARDING check box selected on the TCP/IP Protocol properties in your network configuration?

  • Can each computer ping the TCP/IP addresses of both the remote network interface and the remote modem connection?

  • Is the domain synchronizing properly between the two domain controllers? Check the Event Viewer System log to see if there are any error messages regarding this. You can also check to see if there are any communication-based errors in the Event Viewer log to insure the two computers are transmitting and receiving the correct information. You may also want to look at the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

    140552: How to Optimize Windows NT to Run Over Slow WAN Links w/TCP/IP

    140422: Domain Synchronization Over a Slow WAN Link

  • If you identify an error message in the Event Viewer System log (noted by a yellow or red icon), you can search for further information on the error using TechNet or the Support Online Web site: https://support.microsoft.com/support/search/.

  • You can also configure RRAS to create multiple log files containing valuable troubleshooting information. To do this, please refer to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

    161426: How to Enable Logging with Routing and Remote Access

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Mole thanks Mark Wheatley (aka Dr. NT) and Keith Van Halle.