Category: Troubleshooting

A greyed-out Agent node and a stopped Agent service are two different faults, and the sp_configure fix only cures one. One query tells them apart, then the Agent’s own log gives the reason.

A database comes back from a restart marked SUSPECT and error 926 refuses every connection. The real sequence: confirm the state, read the error log, then choose between EMERGENCY repair and the restore.

Error 1418 says the server network address cannot be reached and never says why. The error log names the fault, and then there are five checks in the order that finds it.

SQL Server at 100 percent CPU describes four different problems. The five checks that separate them, in the order that finds the fault fastest, each handing off to the script that does the work.

A network-related or instance-specific error, error 53, error 40, error 26: which one you have decides where to look. The connection checks in the order that finds the fault, each one linking to the full fix.

A log backup fails with Msg 4214 when a FULL recovery database has no log chain yet. One check finds it and one full backup fixes it.

A backup you have never restored is a hypothesis. What coverage checks prove, what they do not, and how to run a restore drill that measures your real recovery time.

Four questions in order: what is this, what is it supposed to do, what is it short of, and what is unprotected. The order matters more than the speed, and nothing gets changed.

A linked server that works on the server and fails from your desktop is the double hop. The query that proves it, the four login mappings and what each one fails with, plus error 7391 and MS DTC.

SQL Server Agent jobs queued with message [398]: how to see what is waiting for a thread right now, which of 3 similarly named limits you hit, and the Windows desktop heap value that cleared it on a clustered distributor.