Win2003 and Remote Desktop closing on connect

[danilocelic]

Hey folks,

I'm wondering if anyone has seen this with Windows 2003 servers and remote desktop connections. When I connect from RDC using the proper IP, upsername and password, the window opens up and I can see the log in process happen, that is the processing/logging in dialogs flash for a moment, I see a gray screen and then the window closes immediately.

If I try the command line access using:
mstsc -v:<ip> /console
then the username password dialog comes up, and I enter in the proper values, and click OK, the screen goes gray and just sits there, I can't see anything and can't interact with the server as I was able to previously.

I've tried several reboots and still the same. The web sites I have on the server respond fine, and I can access my web admin for MailEnable Pro that I have installed.

Has anyone seen this, and is there something I can do on my end to get into my server?

[danilocelic]

So no suggestions about RDC window crashing?

[knightfoo]

Sounds similar to the issue described in this article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/891511/en-us

Seems kind of odd that it would affect an SB server, as the latest service packs are normally installed before it goes online. Do you have any kind of firewall software installed on your server or local machine? If so, try disabling or uninstalling it to see if the problem goes away. If you can not login to your server at all, you may need to have someone from SB disable the firewall from console.

[chavez]

This has been pretty common over the last few weeks (less recently). In many cases, it has been due to a corrupt Event Viewer log. Console login is still possible, and once a new log is created, remote login starts working, at least temporarily.

If this continues to be a problem, I recommend you submit a support request so we can try to enable remote logins. Once you have access again, you should check the server for any sign of OS or filesystem problems, as well as virus infection or other compromise.

Good luck!

[row118]

This happened to me. When I first had problem, my password kept being revoked. I sent a ticket for SB to reset. I was able to log in once but when I logged in afterwards I was logged out with the same symptoms you are seeing. SB diagnosed that corrupt log was a problem. Fixed it. I still couldn't log in. At the end of the day, A malicious rootkit had been installed and several viruses found. Not sure if they are related. I had to have O/S reloaded. Wasn't pleasant. SB did say this had happened frequently over the past several weeks.

I hope this is not your issue.

[danilocelic]

Sorry been out of town for a few days.

Thanks for the responses. While I was out of town I was able to log into the server a couple of times and install an update to MailEnable Pro that I have a license for, but today I'm still having the issue with immediate crashes of the RDC window. I tried using logging in via the console and I saw a message that one or more services didn't start and to check out the event log, so perhaps that is the issue. This only occurred once as other attempts didn't show that message.

I've tried to reboot the server several times via the serverbeach admin panel and it seems to never go down, as loading web pages or pinging the server always respond as if the server were up. So I guess I'll need to contact support to see what I they can do for me.

[knightfoo]

If you were able to login while you were out of town, but you can't login now, that would seem to indicate some issue with your local network or computer .. not the server.

[hotshot]

If you were able to login while you were out of town, but you can't login now, that would seem to indicate some issue with your local network or computer .. not the server.

Have you tried to connect with a regular Remote Desktop connection without connecting to the console?

We had issues like this and it was due to bad sectors on the hard drive and corruption in files. Have you checked your event log for disk errors?

[danilocelic]

knightfoo: Unfortunately local network issues is not the case. Rapid reboot didn't work even doing the reboot through the support ticket interface didn't work (seems like they are the same thing to me), and the reboot only happened when I had to submit a support ticket to get it rebooted manually. When it was rebooted, I was able to connect with RDC again. However, it seems that it is having the same issue again, and the RDC window closes immediately after doing the log on attempt.

hotshot: I've tried both regular and console access for RDC. Regular access closes it's window immediately when it processes the log on, and the console just sits there with a gray screen. If I can get in again, I'll check if I know where to look to see if that is the case. If it is corrupted disk sectors, then can I get ServerBeach to replace the drive?


As rapid reboot doesn't actually reboot the server, I'd really rather not spend $15 to buy a support ticket to do a reboot, especially if it's going to happen every few days.

[hotshot]

You should be able to submit a ticket to see if they can login to the console locally using a crash cart to view the screen.

[danilocelic]

I mentioned this thread when I requested the reboot via a support ticket, and the resolution to the ticket was the machine rebooted and was accessible via RDC again, which it was, for only a day or so. Looks like I'll have to buy another support ticket.

[devilspgd]

I mentioned this thread when I requested the reboot via a support ticket, and the resolution to the ticket was the machine rebooted and was accessible via RDC again, which it was, for only a day or so. Looks like I'll have to buy another support ticket.

To me, that sounds like the same issue, I'd re-open the same ticket.

[danilocelic]

devilspgd: Unfortunately it is marked closed likely because it was a couple of days before it started happening again (rather before I noticed it happening).