Sentinel DX4000: An error occurred while setting up your server

WD Legacy Products Sentinel Products
1

Hello, I’ve been working on recovering my clients DX4000. Sunday morning it stopped responding, no ping or RDP. Having little experience with the device since I’ve inherited this clients environment just a couple months ago, I rebooted the device using the power button on the front. A few hours into waiting for Loading OS I called support and explained the situation, they sent me an ISO a little while after that call.

After 6ish hours of waiting around for it to finish Loading OS I finally tried the ISO recovery. It was successful in recovering and allowing me to attempt to re-set up the device. However after agreeing to 2008R2 TOS and specifying the password, it goes to a progress bar and at 6% it fails with the error:

An error occured while setting up your server.
If you installed Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials from the DVD, try to install it again.
If you purchased your server from a hardware manufacture, contact the manufacture for support.
To save the error logs, click Save logs. (which I did)

I’ve tried recovery three times now with the same error. I am able to RDP to the device and im greeted with an Administrator login, however the password I specified doesn’t work.

I spoke with support and my issue is being escalated but since this is the clients primary file server im desperate to get it back up and running as soon as possible.

Any guidance is greatly appreciated!

2

The RDP password is Admin (Big A )
You probably have a bad ISO download. This is from the panam download

C:\Users\Budro\Downloads\PANAM_SvrRecovery_1_7_6_21_.iso:
Verified: Unsigned
File date: 1:53 AM 1/14/2017

    MD5:    32031F2454D3510D7CE2BF5891F7D25D
    SHA1:   EF0E132813182B2202A5FF54180C840BEE44F59E

    SHA256: 6D511FC43FEFBC088E6A069397539B575AA6E81067D0A5BC81E1FEF12CDCD1B1
3

Thanks Gramps, I was hoping id hear from you. I’ve been reading a lot of your posts these last couple of days.

I checked the ISO’s SHA1 using certutil and it matches what you’ve posted.

Running sigcheck with not toggles I get:
C:\Users\chris\Downloads\PANAM_SvrRecovery_1_7_6_21_.iso:
Verified: Unsigned
File date: 10:32 AM 1/30/2017
Publisher: n/a
Company: n/a
Description: n/a
Product: n/a
Prod version: n/a
File version: n/a
MachineType: n/a

Running sigcheck now with -h (Show file hashes), but I could use some pointers on what to use.

Thanks!

4

And almost as soon as I hit Reply I get this:
C:\Users\chris\Downloads\PANAM_SvrRecovery_1_7_6_21_.iso:
Verified: Unsigned
File date: 10:32 AM 1/30/2017
Publisher: n/a
Company: n/a
Description: n/a
Product: n/a
Prod version: n/a
File version: n/a
MachineType: n/a
MD5: 32031F2454D3510D7CE2BF5891F7D25D
SHA1: EF0E132813182B2202A5FF54180C840BEE44F59E
PESHA1: File > 4GB
PE256: File > 4GB
SHA256: 6D511FC43FEFBC088E6A069397539B575AA6E81067D0A5BC81E1FEF12CDCD1B1

    IMP:    n/a
5

well shucks.
What is in the logs?

6

you are selecting do not check for updates in the wizard?
You did verify that the date and time are correct? Especially the date

7

Still searching through the logs, nothing note worthy yet.

I selected Use Recommended Settings… sounds like I should have went with Ask Me Later? Yup, date and time is set correctly.

8

I just ran setup on one and was going to try to stop it at 6% to see what it had done, but it jumped to like 46% in the blink of an eye.
Yes always set it to never check for updates because we ( I ) know that works. No control over what might happen if it downloads something incompatible.

So does your dhcp server hand out open DNS for the DNS setting or is it simply the router ip?
DNS finding a name it does not like or storage is the only thing I can think of. Nothing is in a usb port now is there?

Have you gotten the data you need off of the box yet? You can remote in with the password I gave you and look at storage/diskmanger whatever

What log are you looking at? I could not find one for this. Maybe it only creates it when it fails? Post it here or put it in a dropbox share and I will look at it tomorrow.

9

Ill retry the recovery with Ask Me Later first thing tomorrow morning, haven’t slept since yesterday D:

Im not exactly sure what you mean by open DNS. When the DX was working it was called wdsentinel, as it is called now… this could be a problem as well…?

I did leave the recovery USB plugged in but that’s all.

Backing the files up now.

Whats strange is after I logged in with the password you mentioned, all I can see is that same error message I mentioned before with the Save Logs button. But this time if I click on Save Logs it asks me where to save it. So I opened a folder in a new window and launched explore.exe and it works…ish. At least I can move files around this way. A lazy version of me would share the folders as is.

Here are those log files - Sign in - Google Accounts

I appreciate you Gramps!

10

Well this may not be it and it should not be it, but I think it is having a problem with the servername. If you need to keep the same name I have some ideas, otherwise just try a different name.

PS: I said twice to select never check for updates and you have answered more than once, Ask me Later. Can you not follow instructions :slight_smile:

[6072] 170130.125134.6411: Task: Beginning of task ChangeComputerNameTask
[6072] 170130.125134.8283: TaskManagementDebug: Entering TaskScheduler.ReportStatus().
[6072] 170130.125134.8283: TaskManagementDebug: Entering TaskScheduler.AddStatus().
[6072] 170130.125134.8283: TaskManagementDebug: Exiting TaskScheduler.AddStatus().
[6072] 170130.125134.8283: Task: In Task ChangeComputerName:

[6072] 170130.125134.8283: TaskManagement: In TaskScheduler.ReportStatus(): Task(“ChangeComputerName”) requested the engine stop processing Tasks! Completed=True, Success=False

[6072] 170130.125134.8283: Setup: Task failed. Task name: ChangeComputerName

11

BTW, if you remote in with that password and the setup dialogue is up you can do ALT-F4 to close that window and get your normal server desktop

12

Ill change the name this time around to be sure its not the cause.

I realize you’ve mentioned it twice, I haven’t had a chance to follow the instructions though. Im back in the office now where the device is located. Ill let you know how it goes.

13

The Ask Me Later for updates did the trick, the restore finished. I downloaded the ComputerConnector program, it gets past finding the server, it tells me what the wizard enables me to do and when I click next I get the following error:

Cannot connect the computer to the server because either another software installation is in progress, or, the computer has a restart pending. Either complete the installation process, or, restart the computer and try to connect it again.

Thoughts? Thank you!

14

Forgot to add, I tried to RDP to it in this new state. Im asked to log in, Ive tried Administrator with the password I created, Administrator with Admin as the password. Tried setting no domain with the login, tried using the devices name “SVR-FS0” as the the domain. So not sure how to log into the RDP at this point…

15

In the connector did you get to the part where it asked for the password? If so it is the same you would use for rdp. RDP will now be the password you set and Administrator is the only account you can use

there is no domain. I am actually loging in with my local computer name as the domain

the connector error is here. You tried to connect another desktop?

16

Nope, the connector didn’t ask me for a password. I see it quickly flash that its verifying credentials before the error message.

I’ve tried another Windows PC, and tried to use the software on a Mac but it fails to open.

Do you recommend rebooting the Sentinel?

17

if you cannot rdp to it there is no sense in going forward. It is not right

you tried another pc and got the same error about a pending reboot? Did you run the Microsoft fix-it

You are using English everywhere?

18

here is a video of the flow the connector should take. It says WHS 2011 but your server is the same screens with Server Essentials in the header

19

Guess you just gave up and bought a NAS.
If you ever get around to messing with it again, since your hash file is good but the image is not getting properly laid down, I would suggest getting a new 16gb thumb drive. I have seen them cause problems in the past.

20

Haven’t given up yet. I retried the recovery process again yesterday for the 6th time. The device is at 92% on the Updating and preparing your server since 7:30pm PST yesterday. Support says this process can take a few days…

I can try again with a different USB drive, just hesitant in case support is right about the time frame.

Im starting to wonder if its possible to move the RAID from the device into a server and pull the data off? The client is growing more and more anxious to have access to their data.