XCON: Troubleshooting Tips for: Exchange MTA Not Starting
ID: Q147704
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The information in this article applies to:
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Microsoft Exchange Server, version 4.0
SUMMARY
The troubleshooting tips given below will be helpful in situations where
the Microsoft Exchange message transfer agent (MTA) service fails to start
and reports an error in the event log.
MORE INFORMATION
The Microsoft Exchange MTA can fail to start due to three basic reasons as
listed below:
- Not enough available hard disk space.
- The Microsoft Exchange MTA depends on another service which failed to
start.
- Microsoft Exchange MTA database has corrupted data.
Each of these reasons and the work-around or fix is discussed below:
1. Not Enough Available Hard Disk Space
When the Microsoft Exchange MTA database disk has less than 10 megabyte
(MB) remaining to be available, the MTA will shut down and a Field
Engineering Event 9411 is added to the event log.
This problem may be solved in one of two ways:
- Stop all Microsoft Exchange Server services and free disk space on the
hard disk used by the Microsoft Exchange MTA by deleting other files or
moving them to another location. Restart the Exchange Server services
afterwards.
-or-
- Move the Microsoft Exchange MTA database to a location with more disk
space by using the Microsoft Exchange Performance Optimizer (run it with
the -v option and you can skip the step of analyzing the hard disks).
After restarting the Microsoft Exchange MTA, monitor its work queue. The
work queue should go down; if it does not, use either the Microsoft
Exchange Administrator program or Performance Monitor to find out which
queue is backing up. Take whatever troubleshooting steps are necessary to
correct the backed up queue.
2. Microsoft Exchange MTA Depends on Another Service Which Failed to Start
The Microsoft Exchange MTA depends on the Microsoft Exchange Directory
service and the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service. These two
services must run for the Microsoft Exchange MTA service to start. If one
of these services is not able to start, follow the troubleshooting steps to
start them up.
3. Microsoft Exchange MTA Database Has Corrupted Data
If there is corruption in the Exchange MTA database then the Microsoft
Exchange MTA service will not start. A fatal event will be logged in the
Windows NT Event log by the Exchange MTA service. To fix the corruption in
the Microsoft Exchange MTA database use the MTACHECK.EXE utility that
exists in the \EXHSRVR\BIN sub-directory. To run the MTACHECK.EXE utility
refer to the Utilities For Troubleshooting section in Chapter 17 of the
Microsoft Exchange Administrator's Guide or the on-line Help in the
Microsoft Exchange Administrator program.
Additional query words:
4.00 MTACHECK crash faq exfaqcon
Keywords : kbenv XCON
Version : winnt:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type :
Last Reviewed: March 19, 1999