Question : Is there an easy way to tell why a server rebooted unexpectedly?

Hi Guys,

Is there an easy or straightforward way to tell why a Windows Server 2008 Server running Exchange rebooted or shutdown unexpectedly?. There is no minidump recorded so am I right in saying it is unlikely to be a bluescreen?. Also, there are no obvious event log entries in the moments prior to the flow of 'Server Startup' events, only that the previous shutdown or restart was unexpected.

Thanks in advance.

Answer : Is there an easy way to tell why a server rebooted unexpectedly?

Not really an 'easy' way.  Sudden reboots can be caused by nearly anything.  Make sure your OS is set not to Automatically Reboot to see if it does get a blue screen.  Make sure the system is getting proper airflow and not overheating, check and make sure none of the fans have stopped and the heatsinks are not clogged.  If possible, try another power supply.  Check the motherboard and any addon cards including video card, hard drive controllers, etc. for any possible bulging capacitors.  Type 'bulging capacitors' in Google for pictures of bad caps.  Unplug any devices that you can do without such as a printer, scanner, network and so forth.  Try downloading memtest from memtest.org and run it off a floppy/usb/cd drive.  You can try running chkdsk on the hard drives.  I'm assuming your running the server on a good UPS with a good battery, unplugging the UPS while its running from the wall is a basic way of testing it.