Fault Tolerant Recovery Does Not Reoccur After Shut Down

• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When using Windows NT disk mirroring (RAID-1) or Stripe set with parity (RAID-5), and the system is not shut down properly (for example, during a power outage) or an FT member is replaced after a failure, Ftdisk.sys recovers the fault tolerant sets by performing a resynchronization function.

If a normal shutdown of the Windows NT system begins before the completion of the resynchronization function, Ftdisk.sys does not begin a recovery again when the Windows NT system restarts.

CAUSE

Ftdisk.sys does not set a flag for a shutdown in the Windows NT registry information key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\DISK.

Ftdisk.sys should set a Regenerating flag in the proper DISK_PARTITION structure in the Windows NT registry before the system is shut down. The flag tells Ftdisk.sys to start the resynchronization when the system is restarted.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the following fix or wait for the next Windows NT service pack.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 4.0. A supported fix is now available, but has not been fully regression tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Service Pack that contains this fix. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for more information.