HELP - SQL AGENT won't run

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HELP - SQL AGENT won't run

snikpoh

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January 13, 2003 at 3:30 am

#58664

SQL Server agent has been running under the system account for several months but has recently failed with an event id of 103. When I try and start the service it says that:
'Could not start the service. The service did not return an error. THis could be an internal Windows error or an internal service error. IF the problem persists, contact your system administrator.'
The event log says:
'SQL SERVER AGENT could not be started (reason: Unable to connect to server '(local)'.
Can anyone help???

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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devereauxj Hall of Fame Points: 3263 More actions · Answer 1

Look at the responses to 'devereauxj'. I just posted the same question.

Joe

snikpoh SSCommitted Points: 1873 More actions · Answer 2

After much soul searching it transpires that I hadn't set up the a/c which was running the agent with sysadmin rights.

Thanks for your help ...

Lee Dise SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4384 More actions · Answer 3

I notice this thread is several months old, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to post any solutions...

I am having very similar problems on one of my servers. I cannot start SQLServerAgent.

The message I get back is:

quote:
"Microsoft Management Console
"! Could not start the SQLSERVERAGENT service on Local Computer. The service did not return an error. This could be an internal Windows error or an internal service error. If the problem persists, contact your system administrator."

Some in this and other threads advise bouncing the server: done that, no dice. Others advocate ensuring that sufficient permissions are granted to the user in question. That should not be an issue here, as I am using a domain administrator id, but there is some slight bit of uncertainty here, as I am not in control of my own destiny in regard to networks, domains, and permissions on such. But I certainly ought to have those permissions, and I have seen no other signs to indicate I am missing them.

The domain id, in this case, is powerful enough to run the MSSQLSERVER service on the same box. I'm having no trouble with that one, and can connect to the database from command-line isql.

This all started when I was prompted this morning to change the password for the domain id in question. I don't know why everything else on this network would be smart enough to accept the change in password, but SQLSERVERAGENT isn't. Maybe it's unrelated to the password change. But it seems terribly coincidental.

Could anyone enlighten me? Why would a domain id be sufficient to start up MSSQLSERVER -- the actual database engine -- but not sufficient to start up SQLSERVERAGENT? What can I do to get SQLSERVERAGENT to run again?

Thanks in advance!

snikpoh SSCommitted Points: 1873 More actions · Answer 4

Hello,

I did find my own solution...

I had deleted tht builtin/administrators group from sql server logins and that is where my trouble had started - although I didn't original make the link.

If you do this you have to run sql server under an account that has sa privileges. You can do this under a local or domain account.

This solved my problem and I had exactly the same error message as you.

elaine

Lee Dise SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4384 More actions · Answer 5

quote:
If you do this you have to run sql server under an account that has sa privileges. You can do this under a local or domain account.

Thanks for replying. Your solution didn't work for me; I tried running several all-powerful admin logins as the owner of the SQL processes, got the same bad result each time.

I wound up reinstalling the SQL Server 2000 software and reattaching the databases. Pain in the butt. But it works now.

Mkumari Hall of Fame Points: 3498 More actions · Answer 6

Hi all,

I ran into the same problem and further investigating i found out that SQl server agentservices are configured to run with standard sql server account(though you see that in the services it's running with NT account this is the best place to check) using Enterprise Manager.

If the password of this account is changed /some permission changed you get this problem.

Check this out.

Lee Dise SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4384 More actions · Answer 7

quote:
If the password of this account is changed /some permission changed you get this problem.

I guess I don't follow. The password did change, and apparently this was the problem. It was the fixing of the problem I was stuck on. Changing the password back did me no good at all.