XADM: System Attendant Says Started and Cannot be Stopped (175353)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0
This article was previously published under Q175353
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

Manually starting the Microsoft Exchange Server system attendant may return a pop-up dialog box with the following error:

Could not start the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service on \\Server.
2186: The service is not responding to the control function.
When you check Control Panel, Services, you may find the system attendant as started, but the Start and Stop buttons are unavailable. If you look in the Event Viewer application log, nothing is logged.

CAUSE

This will happen if the system attendant cannot access the application event log because the data type or log path is incorrect.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, perform the following steps:

  1. Start the Windows NT Registry Editor, Regedt32.exe.
WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it.

  1. Verify that the following registry is correctly pointing to the event log application: 
       HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog
   \Application\File
  2. Verify that the data type is REG_EXPAND_SZ.
  3. Also verify that the path to the AppEvent.Evt file is correct. By default this value is: 
       %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\AppEvent.Evt
    If the value is incorrect, follow these steps to correct it:

    1. On the Edit menu, click Add value.
    2. In the Key name field, enter:

      File

      leave the class blank, and click OK.
    3. In the Value field, enter the following: 
           %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\AppEvent.Evt
    4. In the Data Type field, select REG_EXPAND_SZ.
    5. Click OK.
    6. Verify the correctness of the entered value.
  4. Select the incorrect value and on the Edit menu, click Delete.
  5. Close Regedt32.exe
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:4/28/2005
Keywords:kbprb KB175353
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