I opened my console for the first time in quite a while today to discover my computer has not been backed up in 65 days! I'm kinda freaking out, so any help will be more than appreciated. I had apparently disabled the notification at some point.

The computer being backed up is running 64bit Windows 7
The server is an EX470 running the 3.0 software. Upgraded CPU and 2GB ram.

I can't think of any changes I made 65 days ago...but that WAS two months ago. There were no problems with backups before that time, unless of course I had the computer turned off during the designated backup time. I tried doing a manual backup, the box pops up asking me what I would like to name this manual backup - I hit enter and nothing happens.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Connector Software, but no change.

Anything else?...

Don't know if it matters or not but the computer icon IS lit up when I look at the computer backup tab of the console, so it does recognize that this is the computer associated with that backup.

Thanks in advance for any advice whatsoever.

*Update* A while back my remote access stopped working too, I can't say for sure that it was the same time. If I try to remote access the same computer in question everything is business as usual up until I enter my password for the computer and hit enter, at which point the Windows 7 circle (hourglass replacement) spins for a couple of seconds and then the screen freezes up until a timeout. I don't know if these two problems are related, I just thought it might be a clue. I've learned to live without remote access, but the backups are a must.

Thanks.

Couple of questions to help in troubleshooting. First, what is the health status of the server? Critical, or Warning? The active alerts should help shed some light on the subject...is WHS reporting that any critical services such as the WHS Backup Service or WHS Storage Manager service aren't running? If any of those very critical services aren't running, backups won't happen. Period.

Next, is the Server Storage tab showing all disks present and accounted for? If there's an absent disk, the Backup Service will go into a "not running" state and your server health will be critical. You can also install Home Server SMART @ http://www.dojonorthsoftware.net/Freebi ... SMART.aspx -- this tool can let you know if any drives are in ill health.

Lastly, if you go to the Computers and Backups tab, right-click on the computer in question and select View Backups. This will show all backup attempts, whether or not they were ultimately successful. They will show successful, failed or incomplete. If the status is failed or incomplete, double-click the backup, and this will show you which drive(s) on the client computer generated errors. Sometimes it's a problem on the client, not the Server. I have a desktop that had bad sectors developing on a disk, which prevented the backup from creating a VSS snapshot, and thus the backup of that particular client disk failed, causing the entire backup to be considered incomplete.

Another item that can trigger an incomplete backup is if you configured the backup on the client, originally, and you had more disks attached than you do now (for example, a USB disk). If you've since removed that USB disk, the backup will see this disk as "missing" and thus cause an incomplete backup. The way to fix this is, on the server, to right-click the client and select Configure. You'll then be able to select/re-select which disk(s) to back up.

_________________
Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups

First of all I greatly appreciate your help. I had to wait til I got home from work to check all these things out, but here goes:

The status is critical, but the only warning is that the computer hasn't been backed up in 100 years. As I mentioned in my first post I had clicked "ignore this warning" at some point, probably just assuming the backup hadn't been done because of the computer being powered down.

There are no warnings about services.

All drives are healthy and accounted for and there is plenty of storage space left.

The last backup showing was 10/17/11 and all of the backups that did take place look fine.

I do have an external drive that I always carry with me. I clicked Configure and the box popped up saying Collecting Information, but the progress bar never started moving. Odd. OK, a box finally popped up that says Home PC is unresponsive. Maybe we're getting somewhere.

I rarely restart the PC in question, but I did notice that a couple out of the last five times or so it ran a checkdisk. I hate Win 7 logs, but I'll run a checkdisk and see if I can figure out what it says.

I'll post the outcome, but feel free to go ahead and let me know what the next step is if you have one.

Thanks again.

The thing that stood out most in your reply was the part about the home PC being unresponsive. This sounds like a case where the server and client have stopped communicating with one another.

On the client PC, the WHS icon should be one of four colors: green, red, yellow or grey. Green means there are no active alerts (errors or warnings); red means there are active errors, yellow means there are active warnings and grey means the WHS Connector thinks the Server is offline.

If the icon is grey, try running C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server\Discovery.exe and reestablishing the client Connector to the Server.

When you're in the Computers and Backup tab in the WHS Console, is the client PC in question showing as being offline? Its name and attributes (i.e. OS, comments) will be dimmed (light grey) in color; a machine showing as online will show in black text.

I'm hoping that running Discovery.exe will remedy the problem.

_________________
Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups

I posted one more reply, but I don't see it so I guess something went wrong - this could be a repost but:

The server icon is showing up red due to the current not backing up situation.

I have been having a problem for a while (unsure how long) with the PC in question occasionally not listing the server in the list of network connected PCs. It still lists all the other PCs in the house just not the server. Yet all the other PCs in the house can still see both this PC and the server. So I think you're right about a communication problem.

I tried Discovery.exe just for the sake of trying and there was no change.

I downloaded and ran a S.M.A.R.T. disk checker and it displayed warnings about my C: drive so I'm going to assume the drive is failing. The PC is currently able to see the server so I am going to begin copying files over while I can. Once everything is backed up for sure I will restart and do a disk check.

After backing everything up I did a disk check, but when I went to view the log I got some kind of crazy error. I'm assuming that the drive is crashing and that in the process it is corrupting windows. I used this as an excuse to order my first SSD. After ordering the SSD I discovered that surprisingly the crashing hard drive was still under warranty. I'm going to order a replacement and let that new drive take the place of the smallest drive in my server.

It probably should have occurred to me that all the random errors and problems I was having was adding up to something, but I've been working so much that 2+2 wasn't equaling 4.

Thanks again for your help msawyer. As soon as I have the SSD in the problem PC I'll post whether or not the hard drive was the problem.

Ok. New SSD has replaced the old hard drive in the problem PC and backups are successful. I guess the bad sectors were messing something up.

I appreciate you helping me through this one msawyer91.

I'm going to attempt a remote access from work tomorrow, hopefully getting rid of the bad drive fixed all the random problems I was having. This SSD is swift, boot time is half what it was and oddly enough shut down time is a quarter of what it was. Maybe one day I'll get brave enough to stick an SSD in the server itself.