Microsoft KB Archive/911845

= It takes a long time for the SQL Server service to start on a Windows Server 2003-based computer =

Article ID: 911845

Article Last Modified on 1/25/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)

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Bug #: 469714 (SQL Server 8.0)



SYMPTOMS
Consider the following scenario. You are running Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 1 (SP1), Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP2), or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3) on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer. You try to start the SQL Server service. In this scenario, it takes a long time for the service to start. Typically, this time may be 10 to 15 minutes or more depending on the configuration of the server. Additionally, the following error messages may be written to the SQL Server error log:

21:09:37.10 server Server Process ID is 3724.

21:09:37.10 server Logging SQL Server messages in file 'h:\MSSQL\log\ERRORLOG'.

21:09:37.12 server SQL Server is starting at priority class 'normal'(12 CPUs detected).

21:09:37.15 server Address Windowing Extensions enabled.

21:18:15.25 server SQL Server configured for thread mode processing.

21:18:15.26 server Using dynamic lock allocation. [2500] Lock Blocks, [5000] Lock Owner Blocks.

21:18:15.45 server Attempting to initialize Distributed Transaction Coordinator.

21:18:15.70 server Failed to obtain TransactionDispenserInterface: Result Code = 0x8004d01b

21:18:15.70 spid3 Starting up database 'master'.

Note You do not experience this behavior in SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4).



CAUSE
This issue occurs because the SQL Server service is an Address Windowing Extensions (AWE)-enabled SQL Server service.



Service pack information
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SQL Server 2000. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

290211 How to obtain the latest SQL Server 2000 service pack



MORE INFORMATION
In the SQL Server error log, note the time that occurs in initialization routines after you receive the &quot;Address Windowing Extensions enabled&quot; error message. After the message is written to the SQL Server error log, all the AWE memory that you have configured is initialized. You configure this AWE memory by setting the sp_configure max server memory option. On a Windows Server 2003-based computer, this process may take a long time, depending on the specific amount of memory that you configure to be initialized. This issue only occurs if the configured sp_configure max server memory value is an exact power of 2. For example, a server that has an sp_configure max server memory value value of 8,191 MB or 8,193 MB initializes very quickly. However, a server that has an sp_configure max server memory value of 8,192 MB takes several minutes to initialize.

If you experience this issue in SQL Server 2000 SP3 or in an earlier service pack of SQL Server 2000, you can configure the amount of memory to be several megabytes more or less than the number that is an exact power of 2. This change will not create performance problems.

