Information store corruption: ' Error 4294966746...' in Exchange Server 5.5

Information store is the core data storage repository for Microsoft Exchange Server. It constitutes both mailbox store and public folder store data. At times, the information store in Exchange Server may get corrupt or inaccessible. The corruption may be caused by a variety of reasons including sudden or unexpected loss of power, faulty hardware which has written information to the disk incorrectly, and others. In order to make it accessible and continue normal operations, it becomes important to troubleshoot the problem by using appropriate Exchange Recovery solutions. If no concrete solution seems working, an administrator can go for professional tools.

As an administrator, you may experience the following problems with Exchange Server 5.5:

1.You cannot start MS Exchange Server Information Store service
2.The information store cannot be stopped
3.The CPU usage level remains 100 per cent even when the information store has stopped responding
4.Even after restarting the information store, clients are unable to send or receive e-mails
5.And, when you restore the Exchange Server databases from an offline backup and run the Isinteg utility, you receive the following error:

'Error 4294966746: JET_errDatabaseInconsistent'

Cause

The error surfaces when the information store becomes corrupt. Corruption involves either Priv.edb or Pub.edb files.

Resolution

In order to recover the public and private information stores, you must consider the following Exchange recovery steps:

1.Make a backup copy of the Pub.edb and Priv.edb files
2.Now start the information store and note any error message or event ID which erupts
3.Check the consistency of the information store databases, run Eseutil.exe command by using following commands:
c:\exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /mh ..\mdbdata\priv.edb
c:\exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /mh ..\mdbdata\pub.edb
4.If both the Pub.edb and Priv.edb files are consistent (Output: Clean Shutdown), then move to step 8. If not then try to perform soft recovery of the files to see if you have the copies of the log files that are stored in the Mdbdata folder. You can use the following commands:
c:\exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /r /ispriv
c:\exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /r /ispub
5.If eseutil / r does not send databases to consistent state, then use the following commands to perform hard repair
c:\exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /p /ispriv
c:\exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /p /ispub
6.Delete all .log and .chk files and Temp.edb in the ExchSrvr\Mdbdata folder
7.Check if the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is running. If it starts successfully, stop the process.
8.Now defragment the database which you just repaired by using the following commands:
c:\exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /d /ispriv
c:\exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /d /ispub
9.Use the Isinteg.exe utility to repair Pub.edb and Priv.edb, using the following commands:
c:\exchsrvr\bin>isinteg -pri -fix -test alltests
c:\exchsrvr\bin>isinteg -pub -fix -test alltests
10.Restart the information store

In case, you are still not able to isolate corruption or overcome the problem, download an advanced Exchange Server recovery application from the Internet.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is a powerful yet safe application which repairs corrupt .edb files and restores the mailboxes as individual PSTs. The Exchange recovery tool supports Exchange Server 5.5, 2000, 2003, and 2007.