What to do when server is unresponsive?

[ctviggen]

Hi All, I could not access my server over my wired or wireless network via the web access or windows explorer, so I tried logging in at the server and using "powerdown".  That said it was powering down (on the screen I have at the server), but nothing happened.  So, I then briefly pressed the power button, and that also caused an "I'm powering down" message (not the exact wording) on the screen, but nothing happened.  So, I pressed the power button until the power went off.  The server came back up normally after pressing the power button again.

 

What should I have done in this circumstance?  (It's so rare that this happens -- only 3 times maybe in the last 10 years or so).

[burtjr]

I'm not sure how long you waited for the server to power down, but in my experience it could take hours for it to properly power down because of what ever went rouge to slow down or lock it up. Other than patience and tailing the log to see what caused the server to get to that point I can see that you could have done anything different.

[Frank1940]

You will have to tell what version you are running.  And the next time it happens, when you log in, type diagnostics on the command line.  That will write the diagnostics file to the logs directory of your flash drive.  Then upload that file with your next post.