I was in the process of upgrading PowerPath 5.3 to PowerPath 5.5 on a DL580 G5 running Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V. The cluster service was disabled. I am booting off the internal HP array controller, not the external storage. During the upgrade of PowerPath, the install hung and I could not get the install to run again or complete, so I tried to reboot the server. When the server came back up it just hung, so I removed the fiber from the Emulex adapter and tried again. At that point I got a prompt that I needed to repair the installation, but that only takes me to a command prompt that appears to be mapped to an X: drive that I think only resides in memory. I tried last known good to see if maybe the files were still there, but the registry was damaged, but now I can't even boot into repair without putting the Windows 2008 R2 server CD in and booting from that. I have tried Safe Mode which also attempts to go into repair. Before I go any further how can I verify the cause of the boot issues are related to the PowerPath upgrade and not something else? Is there a way to clean up the boot process though the repair console? I don't think this server should be a loss, but I Windows 2008 R2 has changed the way recovery works to the point where I am not sure what steps I should be following VS what I am use to doing with Server 2003...

Hi, I suggest booting from a Windows 7 64bit disk and preform a Startup Repair. Can you start the computer after that? Since PowerPath is a product manufactured by a company independent of Microsoft, if you would like to upgrade it, please contact its manufacturer for direct assistance. Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

I am not looking for help with PowerPath... I am just trying to figure out how to run the Startup Repair. I come to a option to run a startup repair or start Windows normally, but a Startup repair just seems to reboot and doesn't have any positive effect...

Hi, You can try below: Method 1: =============== 1. Insert the Windows 7 64bit installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer. 2. Press any key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears. 3. Select a language, time, currency, and a keyboard or input method. Then click Next. 4. Click Repair your computer. 5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, choose the drive of your Windows installation and click Next. 6. At the System Recovery Options Dialog Box, click Repair your computer. 7. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next. 8. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Startup Repair. Method 2: =============== 1. Put the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer. 2. Press any key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears. 3. Select a language, time, currency, and a keyboard or another input method. Then click Next. 4. Click Repair your computer. 5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next. 6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt. 7. Type Bootrec /RebuildBcd, and then press ENTER. Method 3: =============== 1. Put the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer. 2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears. 3. Select a language, a time, a currency, and a keyboard or another input method, and then click Next. 4. Click Repair your computer. 5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next. 6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt. 7. Type BOOTREC /FIXMBR, and then press ENTER. 8. Type BOOTREC /FIXBOOT, and then press ENTER. 9. Type Drive:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All, and then press ENTER. Note: In this command, Drive is the drive where the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation media is located. If you still cannot boot the system, I am afraid that you may focus on retrieving your important files. Meanwhile, please confirm whether PowerPath 5.3 is compatible with Windows Server 2008 R2. Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

I will try the above now... One other piece of information. I ran STARTREP.EXE from the recovery directory and it reported that there were no problems. The system still does not boot... I will see what the above options give me...

Method 1 didn't work - Step eight is not an option I am provided... Everything else was as expected... Method 2 didn't work - I was able to run the command, but it acted like it couldn't find the OS. The response was "Total Identified Windows Installations: 0" Method 3 didn't work - The commands run fine, but there is no impact on the booting of the server. We had eight servers in a cluster that was loaded by Microsoft. PowerPath 5.3 was part of that installation because it was the current version at the time. I updated the seven other nodes to PowerPath 5.5 because that is the current recommended version. This was the last node that needed to be updated. As to whether 5.3 is supported, I can't say, but since my goal was to remove it and had done so successfully on seven other systems loaded by the same person, it appears that this situation is unique. What is more of interest to me is that this is the second time I have lost a Server 2008 R2 / Windows 7 class system because of boot issues that were unrepairable. I am a bit determined to go through the pain of trying to fix this one so that I am not telling my customers their server is gone and not coming back because of what is probably a fairly simple boot issue… Any other options I can try before I try hacking and slashing my way through the registry?

I tried looking at the ntbootlog.txt and it does not appear to be helpful. I expected the system to stop at the same point every time, but it doesn't... At this point I am going to make a copy of the system registry and try to remove PowerPath manually... If that works, I would post how I did it... If not... Still stuck...

Hi, Thank you for the rely. Now I suggest trying below: 1. Put the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer. 2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears. 3. Select a language, a time, a currency, and a keyboard or another input method, and then click Next. 4. Click Repair your computer. 5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next. 6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt. 7. Type sfc /scannow, and then press ENTER. If the issue persists, please restart the computer, keep pressing F8 and choose the Last Known Good feature. What’s the result? Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Some how I missed the notice on this... I will try this today.

Any update?

It didn't work. Last known good was tried when I first started out... I can try it again, but I am already on the last known good registry. I tried the sfc /scannow command, but it responds with a message that a repair is in progress that requires a reboot to complete before running the command. No amount of rebooting seems to do the trick. From what I can see, the SFC commmand seems to assume you were able to boot. Am I confused about how this is suppose to work?

Hi, Thank you for the reply. If Last known Good still does not work, I suggest trying Registry to repair the system: 1. Put the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer. 2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears. 3. Select a language, a time, a currency, and a keyboard or another input method, and then click Next. 4. Click Repair your computer. 5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next. 6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt. 7. Type regedit and press Enter. 8. Select the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. 9. Browse into the System key, and then the CurrentControlSet subkey if it’s displayed. 10. Browse into the Services key and look for the likely offending service. Most service keys have a value named Start, with one of the following values: • 0 Boot driver loaded by Ntldr (Boot) • 1 Driver loaded at kernel initialization by Windows Server 2008 R2 (System) • 2 Driver loaded at system startup by Session Manager or Service Controller (Auto Load) • 3 Driver or service loaded manually from Services, Control Panel, and so on (Load onDemand) • 4 Driver or service that is not running or started (Disabled) Services with a Start value of 0 or 1 are used to boot Windows, and you shouldn’t touch them. Services with a Start value of 2 start about the same time as the Login dialog box appears in Windows. If your Windows system boots and then promptly crashes without your help, try setting the Start value of any suspected service(s) to 3 or 4. Be sure to write down the names of the services and their original Start values before you change anything. 11. Exit Regedit. 12. Type exit and press Enter to close the Command Prompt window. 13. Remove the Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD and click Restart to restart your system normally. 14. If your system restarts correctly, you’re finished! You might need to repeat this process a few times, disabling a different service or two each time. If you still cannot boot your computer, I am afraid that you have to reinstall the system. Before reinstalling the system, please backup your important files first. Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

I am kind of past that point. I am trying to work with EMC to find a manual removal procedure. I believe the issue is that the PowerPath drivers have entries in the Control or enum side of the registry that preclude just disabling service to facilitate the repair. I am not ready to give up. If I find a solution and EMC is OK with me posting it I will put it here... This wont be the last time you see this problem. PowerPath has done this to me in the past, but I have been able to use another clustered system to copy the drivers and registry locations that affect drivers. The problem with this cluster node is that it has different hardware in it (DL580 G5 - all my other nodes are DL380 G5) so I can't just slice over parts of the registry from another system...

Hi, How are things going? I have not heard back from you in a few days and wanted to check on the status of the issue. Please let me know how things turned out. Tim Quan TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

i actually have had the same issue on a Dell R710, Win2k8R2, when installing PowerPath 5.5. I have two clusters, on one 5.5 runs fine. One the other, both hosts go into a cycle of just hanging at boot. I noticed if I boot into Safe Mode with Networking first, then reboot, the host will come up. I'm now testing the uninstall of PowerPath 5.5, and then reinstalling PowerPath 5.3 to see if it works. It seems to be hit or miss at this point. Thanks, Marcus

The following worked for me: 1) Boot to Safe Mode 2) From Safe Mode, perform normal reboot, Win2k8r2 loads fine. 3) Logged in, uninstalled PowerPath 5.5, rebooted host. 4) Host came up clean, installed PowerPath 5.3, rebooted host. Both hosts now are issue free, and will boot without problems. However, I have another set of hosts, exact same hardware which run on PowerPath 5.5 with no issues. Thanks Marcus

This didn't work for me... The system will not boot into Safe Mode. What we are really saying is that we lack the understanding to fix this issue. I know it can be fixed, but I found myself in over my head on this one. It looks like everyone got in over there head on this. That seems to be the real answer here... I lack the time to keep playing with it, so I am letting it go... Not sure I won't repent that decision later as I have PowerPath 5.5 all over the place... I suspect I will not be the last to see a total failure like this...

The following work for me : - Press F8 at the boot of server - Choose Last good configuration - Reboot to Windows Server - Uninstall Powerpath 5.5 and reboot host - Your server boot normally, Reinstall powerpath 5.3, rebbot hosts - After all is ok. Regards Victorien

Does the system simply hang at the Windows screen? Have you tried identifying the files installed by the new version of Powerpath in the system32\drivers directory, if any? Maybe try restoring the registry (SOFTWARE) in the CONFIG directory if your backup copy isn't too old? --jp

We are seeing the exact same problem. Trying the SafeMode process now. A very frustrating problem.