Windows Server 2008 Cannot Boot - Safe Mode or Normal

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One of our Windows Server 2008 boxes is stuck in a reboot cycle. It was rebooted after installing updates that Microsoft released on Tuesday.

When I boot into Safe Mode it says "Configuring Updates Stage 3 of 3" and then reboots. In Normal mode it says "Waiting for Windows Module Installer..." then it starts a reboot cycle.

How can I tell Windows to either not install the update that is not working, or somehow convince the server to start?

Last Known Good Configuration from the boot menu did not help.

Selecting the "Disable Automatic Restart after STOP Error" is now showing me a STOP 0x000000F4 error when doing a normal start-up, Safe Mode does not generate a BSOD.

WindowsUpdate.Log - http://pastebin.com/ZV2AjJZA

Thank you.

windows
windows-server-2008
asked on Server Fault Jun 16, 2011 by SnAzBaZ • edited Jun 16, 2011 by SnAzBaZ

2 Answers

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You can convince the server to start by renaming C:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml to C:\windows\winsxs\pending.bak.

This will get your server to boot, but it will also leave it in an unsupported state. If you do this, you should backup your system and rebuild.

If you don't want to do that, maybe you could give us some more details like which updates you installed or maybe a copy of some log files.

answered on Server Fault Jun 16, 2011 by Jason Berg
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C:\err.exe 0x000000F4

#for hex 0xf4 / decimal 244 :
CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION                                   bugcodes.h
# A process or thread crucial to system operation has
# unexpectedly exited or been terminated.

If System Startup Repair is already installed, reboot, F8, Advanced boot options, and select it from the menu. If it's not there...

Put a CD in (or mount if it's a VM), reboot, boot from CD. Try System Startup Repair.

Give that a go and come back to us.

Do you have a recent backup?

answered on Server Fault Jun 16, 2011 by Lewis

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