Previous System Shutdown was Unexpected?! ID 6008

[Ayman Altounji]

We have a few Proliant 1600 servers as our Lotus Notes servers. Out of 4, 2 of them hang with Event ID Error 6008. They have 256 Meg of RAM, P3 550 with the 221 array controllers running NT4 Server W/SP6a, I see we have 4.60 insight agents on it, not sure which SSD pack. The one I am mainly concerned about was hanging several times a week to alsmost nightly. We have 5 x 9.1 Gig SCSI drives in it, the first 2 are mirrored and the other 3 Raid 5. This problems has been ongoing since we purchased it, 1.5 to 2 years ago. The only Event Log info we get is ID 6008, Previous system shutdown at (whatever time) was unexpected. When I attempt to log onto the server in the morning, it seems fine with the NT Server logo screen moving about on the monitor like normal until I move the mouse then if freezes solid. At this point all I can do is Power it off and back on. It ONLY crashes at night during backups. We originally had a 20/40 Gig DLT connected directly to the onboard SCSI controller using built in NT Backup, it kept crashing. We removed the DLT from the box and set it up on another box and used Backup Exec over the LAN to back it up. The same problem was occuring. I saw another example of an almost identical problem another user in this forum was having, the Compaq Rep says the 221 controller needed a firmware update. I grabbed version 4.48A and flashed it. The server was ok for almost 1 week, I thought I had the problem fixed. This morning, it hung with the SAME error. This is getting brutal and my bosses are not impressed to say the least. Is there a problem with the 221 controller? Should we look into something else? If you require any more info, please feel free to ask. I don't think having a Domino Notes server on this has any relation to our problem but who knows, there are already enough problems with Notes. BTW we have Notes Server version 5.06A on it right now, was just upgraded from 5.01A a month ago. I will look into updating to the latest SSD tonight and maybe 4.8 agents, but I don't think this will help...

[Ayman Altounji]

Dan, What a terrific post!
Whenever I see that a unit has ASR'd (Automatic Server Recovery) during a backup, I have found that the server has a 10/100 card installed and the associated switch is 10/100 negotiable. If the port and the card try to re-negotiate speed during a backup, the system hangs due to the break in the data stream.
Try to set the NIC at Manual 100 mbs full (or whatever is appropriate for your configuration) and set the server's port on the switch at manual also with the same settings. Run a backup and see if the server does not stay up and running this time.