SBS 2003 Unexpected shutdown to standby

Question

In the past 24 hours our Windows SBS 2003 server has twice experienced an unexpected shutdown, resulting in the server going into a power off/standby state - not an OS standby.

Upon restart (finger on the power button type), the usual "why did your server unexpectedly shutdown" messages occur; however, the event logs shows no indication of what might have caused this. The events simply stop and restart at the point at which the power is back on. There are no indications of Blue Screening, nothing. The server is in a locked room with limited RDP access.

I realise that I have only supplied limited info but has anyone ever experienced anything like this?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 04 '12 at 12:21

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Is this a domain controller that holds all FSMO ROLES. I know thst SBS2003 will restart or shutdown if you have not moved all the FSMO ROLES to it and have another domain controller holding them on the network.

answered Oct 04 '12 at 12:21

dasko

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We are a small business and this is our only DC. – iWeasel Oct 04 '12 at 16:27

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 03 '12 at 13:09

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I have seen this once before, but i doubt this is the issue. In the past I have had HP servers that have exhibited this behaviour when overheating. But im sure you would have noticed the room being hot.

Other than that it could be, faulty power supplies, faulty power, cables being knocked.

answered Oct 03 '12 at 13:09

Steve

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Thanks for the pointers. The room is at a constant 19 deg C. Fans are all running normally. Cables have been checked. I will consider the PSU and investigate. – iWeasel Oct 03 '12 at 13:12
I so meant to come back and make a further comment on this, but did not get around to this until now. Better late than never, eh? I am going to mark this as the correct answer as it turned out to be a failing PSU. This server had only a single PSU and following replacement, the problem has not re-occurred. – iWeasel Jul 09 '13 at 15:06

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 04 '12 at 10:24

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I've seen this, plenty.

Unfortunately, having experienced this hasn't translated into any idea of why this happens, beyond the usual suspects (power loss, unlogged hardware fault, the helldesk guys messing with me, etc.). Could be a lot of things, and without any useful information in the logs, you'll never be able to say for sure what the cause was, or even have anything better than an educated guess at the possibilities.

answered Oct 04 '12 at 10:24

HopelessN00b

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This is fast becoming my train of thought. – iWeasel Oct 04 '12 at 16:29
Sorry, I marked this as the answer by mistake. – iWeasel Jul 09 '13 at 15:08

SBS 2003 Unexpected shutdown to standby

3 Answers3