Question : Netware 6.5 SP2 Server Freezes Cold w/o Indication of Errors

I'm a novice at Novell, but I've been given the task of taking on old Poweredge 1400 (dual PIII 866Mhz, 1GB RAM, PERC2/DC RAID, dual intel nic, and 4x36GB 10K SCSI drives in RAID 5 and setting it up as a Novell Server.

Fair enough.

I installed the OS and PROD CDs.  Got the SP2 files and loaded them.  So I got everything working.  Then I started noticing a disturbing trend.  

My server freezes cold without recourse other than to powercycle.  This server is pre-production, so I'm not concerned about uptime.  But the problem is completely baffling.  My only ABEND log entries point to SERVER.NLM and AFPTCP.NLM (the apple talk config driver.)  But I updated the AFPTCP and lockups still occur.  

If I reboot the server and just let it be, it will not lock up for upwards of 24 hours, but it will eventually happen.  If I am using the server, it locks up much quicker.  If I try and copy about 1GB of files to it, it freezes almost immediately and without fail.

I thought it might be the PERC Drivers, so I've gotten the latest from Dell (PEDGE3.HAM).  I thought it might be the LAN drivers, but I updated those too.  


Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Keep in mind I'm no expert on the OS.

Answer : Netware 6.5 SP2 Server Freezes Cold w/o Indication of Errors

"how do you think doing a total reinstall would solve the problem?  "

Very good question. And its one of those mysteries of complex operating systems. I've had a system were I installed a base version of NetWare and then tried to apply the latest SP and it just didn't work out right and my system was unstable. But when I installed, on the same hardware, using the OS with the SP already overlaid, it went great - no problems at all.

What I'm thinking is that the base install made some mistake, during the install, that's since been fixed by an SP, but the fix didn't propogate thru your system because it was applied after the install had already done its thing. Exactly what that fix is or where it is I'm not sure, but this is my supposition.

And I've just generally gotten better results doing installs using the OS with the latest SP already overlaid. Just seems to work smoother.

Whether or not the Native File Access support was turned on is, in part, driven by what "personality" or server "template" you chose during your setup. You may recall shortly after the setup program switched to the GUI interface, you were given a set of pre-configured server packages, selectable by radio button. I dunno which one you chose, but NFAP support would be affected by that choice.

I still think a hardware problem is on the table as a possible cause. We have NetWare v6.5 running on a variety of DELL boxes using PERC boards (which I don't like, I think they're a second-rate RAID board when compared to something like the Compaq SmartSCSI Array controllers) and we don't have any issues like this (and we're almost entirely NetWare v6.5)