XCON: How to Troubleshoot MTA Starting Failures

 Last reviewed: February 3, 1998
Article ID: Q162384
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Exchange Server, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

This article is intended to be an aide in determining the root cause of failure when the Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent [MTA] fails to start. This article assumes that the other core Microsoft Exchange Services are operational; for example, the System Attendant (SA), Directory service (DS) and Information Store (IS).

Steps

  1. Verify that there is at least 10 megabytes of FREE disk space on the hard disk drive that contains the Exchsrvr\mtadata directory. Inspect the Windows NT Event log for an error similar to the following:

    3/10/9710:08:43 AMMSExchangeMTAErrorField Engineering 9411N/ALAUREL The MTA is terminating because the disk where MTADATA is located has less then 10MB of space, or an error occurred while trying to check for free space on the disk. If disk space is low, free up some disk space and restart the MTA. NT Error code returned: 0 (non-zero indicates an error while checking for free space) [BASE IL MAIN BASE 1] (16) 3

  2. Verify that the files in the MTADATA directory are not read only. To do this:

    a) Start the Windows NT File Manager. b) From the View menu, select All File Details. The attribute field is 

          last.

    The only attribute that should appear is 'A', the archive bit. Inspect the Windows NT Event log for an error similar to the following:

    3/10/9711:41:39 AMMSExchangeMTAErrorField Engineering 9405N/ALAURELAn unexpected error has occurred which may cause the MTA to terminate. Error: Unable to create file EV0.LOG, return code 110. [BASE MAIN BASE 1] (16)

  3. Verify that the Windows NT User Account used to start each Microsoft
Exchange service is correct. To do this: 

   a) Start the Microsoft Exchange Administration program.
   b) Highlight the Configuration object.
   c) From the File menu, select Properties.
   d) Select the Service Account Tab and record the Account name.
   e) From Control Panel - Services, select one of operational services.
   f) Click the Startup button and check the NT User Account used to start
      the service. This should match the entry recorded in step d.
   g) Select the Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent.
   h) Click the Startup button and check the NT User Account used to start
      the service. This account should match the entry recorded in step d.

   This should not be the system account. If there is any doubt or
   Discrepancy, enter the correct service account and enter the password in
   the required dialog boxes.

  • Ensure that the registry entries corresponding to the MTA are set correctly.

    a) Verify and record the Directory Name of the Organization, Site, and 

          Server by selecting the appropriate object in the Microsoft Exchange
      Administrator and from the 'File' menu, selecting 'Properties'.
    b) Start Regedt32.exe for Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0 or Regedit.exe for 

          Windows NT 4.0.
    c) Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM, CurrentControlSet, Services, 

          MSExchangeMTA, and Parameters.
    d) Select X500 DN VALUE. e) Verify that the X500 DN value: 

          o=<organization_name>/ou=<site_name>/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers
      /cn=<server_name>/cn=Microsoft MTA


          is an exact match with the Organization, Site, and Server object
      Directory Name as displayed in Microsoft Exchange Administrator.

    f) Verify that the value for the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM, 

          CurrentControlSet, Services, MSExchangeMTA, Parameters, MTA
      Database path corresponds to the drive location where the DAT files
      are located; typically Exchsrvr\mtadata\.

    g) Verify that the value for the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM, 

          CurrentControlSet, Services, MSExchangeMTA, Parameters, MTA Run
      Directory corresponds to drive location where the MTA core support
      Files are located. These files have the following extensions; aat,
      buf, cat, cfg, env, inp, log, mta, out, sch, tpl, and xv2. These
      files are typically located in the same exchsrvr\mtadata\ directory
      where the DAT files are located. The following is an example of a
      typical Mtadata directory.

    Directory of C:\exchsrvr\MTADATA

    07/15/96 12:30a 41,043 ACSE.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 35,707 ACSE.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 5,894 ADMIN.XV2 03/10/97 11:36a 0 AP0.LOG 03/10/97 11:36a 0 AP1.LOG 03/10/97 11:39a 0 APD.LOG 07/15/96 12:30a 2,219 BASEFILE.OUT 03/10/97 11:36a 0 BF0.LOG 03/10/97 11:36a 0 BF1.LOG 03/10/97 11:36a 0 BFD.LOG 07/15/96 12:30a 7,574 BIND.TPL 03/10/97 11:39a 21,953 CALLS.OUT 07/15/96 12:30a 4,500 COMMON.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 4,415 COMMON.XV2 02/26/97 11:22a 8,192 DB000001.DAT 03/10/97 11:39a 8,192 DB000002.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000003.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000004.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000005.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000006.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000007.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000008.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000009.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00000A.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB00000B.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00000C.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB00000D.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00000E.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00000F.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000010.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000011.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000012.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000013.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000014.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000015.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000016.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000017.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000018.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB000019.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00001A.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00001B.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00001C.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB00001D.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00001E.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 2,048 DB00001F.DAT 03/10/97 11:39a 8,192 DB000020.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000021.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000022.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000023.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 8,192 DB000024.DAT 03/10/97 11:39a 8,192 DB000025.DAT 03/10/97 11:39a 8,192 DB000026.DAT 03/10/97 11:39a 8,192 DB00002B.DAT 03/10/97 11:39a 66,048 DBBITMP.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 10,438 DBFILE.OUT 07/15/96 12:30a 46,865 DBSERVER.SCH 07/15/96 12:30a 160,146 DCPRODS.CAT 07/15/96 12:30a 364 DCTERMF.DAT 07/15/96 12:30a 15,606 DIRECTRY.AAT 07/15/96 12:30a 7,245 DIRECTRY.BUF 07/15/96 12:30a 559 DIRECTRY.OUT 07/15/96 12:30a 88,436 DSADAP.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 91,573 EAI.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 32,862 EDI.XV2 03/10/97 11:39a 348 EV0.LOG 03/10/97 11:36a 0 EV1.LOG 03/10/97 11:36a 0 EV2.LOG 03/10/97 11:36a 0 EVD.LOG 03/10/97 11:36a 193 GWART0.MTA 03/10/97 11:27a 193 GWART1.MTA 07/15/96 12:30a 23,188 INFO4LOG.cfg 07/15/96 12:30a 53,872 INFOBLOG.cfg 07/15/96 12:30a 84,661 INFODLOG.cfg 07/15/96 12:30a 63,093 INFOILOG.cfg 07/15/96 12:30a 91,598 INFOLLOG.cfg 07/15/96 12:30a 129,059 INFOPLOG.cfg 07/15/96 12:30a 16,858 INFORLOG.cfg 07/15/96 12:30a 236,899 INFOTLOG.cfg 07/15/96 12:30a 80,828 INFOXLOG.cfg 03/06/97 11:56a 329 MORFTRAC.OUT 07/15/96 12:30a 18,785 MSGFILE 03/10/97 11:42a <DIR> MTACHECK.OUT 03/10/97 03:01p 0 mtadata.txt 07/15/96 12:30a 33,864 MTAFILE.OUT 07/15/96 12:30a 65,365 OXZBOOT.env 07/15/96 12:30a 18,814 P1.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 19,100 P1.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 36,294 P2.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 48,444 P2.xv2 07/15/96 12:30a 24,020 P3.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 27,161 P3.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 45,751 P7.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 55,958 P7.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 37,895 P772.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 8,872 P772.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 2,043 P7EDI.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 13,841 P7IM.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 24,761 PLATFILE.OUT 07/15/96 12:30a 6,310 POP4FILE.OUT 03/10/97 11:36a 262,158 RAMDUMP0.LOG 03/10/97 11:36a 262,158 RAMDUMP1.LOG 03/10/97 11:36a 262,158 RAMDUMP2.LOG 03/10/97 11:36a 262,158 RAMDUMP3.LOG 07/15/96 12:30a 1,732 RANDFILE.OUT 07/15/96 12:30a 23,230 RDI.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 22,937 RDI.XV2 03/10/97 02:34p 31,744 REPLAY.exe 07/15/96 12:30a 10,808 ROSE.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 5,193 ROSE.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 1,760 RTSE.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 3,960 SCT.INP 03/10/97 11:36a 53,413 TERM.LOG 07/15/96 12:30a 7,176 TRCEFILE 07/15/96 12:30a 9,256 TRCEFILE.cfg 07/15/96 12:30a 24,525 WIRE.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 24,124 X400COM.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 28,815 X400COM.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 2,143 X500.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 4,100 X500.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 12,164 X500ATTR.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 7,336 X500AUTH.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 7,470 X500AUTH.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 7,263 X500BDCP.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 31,462 X500DAP.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 3,525 X500DSP.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 7,383 X500DSP.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 22,339 X500DSP2.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 2,705 X500INFO.TPL 07/15/96 12:30a 9,673 X500INFO.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 956 X500LCLP.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 2,419 X500MDUP.XV2 07/15/96 12:30a 22,965 XAPIFILE 07/15/96 12:30a 19,185 XAPIFILE.OUT 07/15/96 12:30a 16,875 XV2FILE.OUT

    1. If the previous steps do not reveal the error, check for possible corruption in the core support files required to start the Microsoft Exchange MTA Services.

      a) Copy new core support files to the MTADATA directory by selecting the 

            core support files from the Microsoft Exchange Server compact disk or
      Microsoft Exchange Server installation point. From the Microsoft
      Exchange Server compact disk or installation point, copy all the
      files except the DAT files from the \setup\<processor type>\mtadata
      directory to the <drive>\exchsrvr\mtadata directory for the
      production Server.

    2. If the problem persists, the core DAT files may be corrupt or missing. Locate the directory that contains the DAT files. By default, it is the same directory as your directory which has the core support files; exchsrvr\mtadata\. The location may vary depending on the locations selected if and when the Microsoft Exchange Performance Optimizer was executed. View the contents of the MTADATA directory and verify that Db000001.dat through Db000026.dat files exist. 

          - If these files are present, run the MTACHECK utility. For information
      on how to run this utility, refer the the following article in the
      Microsoft Knowledge Base:


               ARTICLE-ID: Q149017
         TITLE: XCON: MTACHECK Event IDs and Command Line Syntax

      If this does not resolve the problem, proceed to step 7.

    3. If the MTA fails to start after completing all the above steps, contact Microsoft Technical Support for assistance.

    CAUSE

    The Microsoft Exchange MTA checks the registry, static files, and DAT files located in the MTADATA directory during initialization and start up.

    MORE INFORMATION

    For more troubleshooting about the MTA not starting, please refer to the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

       ARTICLE-ID: Q147704
   TITLE: XCON: Troubleshooting Tips for Exchange MTA Not Starting

    • Additional query words: kbfaq
    Keywords : XCON kbtshoot
    Version : 4.0
    Platform : WINDOWS

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    Last reviewed: February 3, 1998
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