Troubleshooting Error 8908 in a damaged MS SQL Server MDF file

At times, the MS SQL Server 2000 MDF file on which you are working gets damaged due to various issues such as power outages, corruption in the database header definitions, etc. Because of the MDF file corruption, you are unable to carry out important tasks on it or it may become totally inaccessible. In such cases, one should look to address the corruption issues. If the error remains unsolved, then I would recommend you to use a professional MDF repair software to repair MDF file.

Let us take a scenario in which you get the following error message while working on the MS SQL Server 2000 database:

“Table error: Database Id DB_ID, object Id O_ID, index Id I_ID. Chain linkage mismatch. P_ID1->next = P_ID2, but P_ID2->prev = P_ID3.”

Cause:

Such behavior is caused by corruption in the header definitions of the database.

In this case, the next page pointer of P_ID1 page points correctly to the P_ID2 page. However, the previous page pointer of the P_ID2 page is pointing to P_ID3 page instead of the P_ID1 page, which is incorrect.

Resolution:

To overcome such database corruption scenario, you should repair MDF file using the following methods:

• Rectify hardware corruption issues: Most of the MDF corruption issues are caused due to faulty hardware parts. You can resolve them by performing the following tasks:

  • Running hardware diagnostics: You should run hardware diagnostics and try to eliminate the errors by fixing them.

  • Analyzing error logs: You should check the error logs and see if any error has occurred because of problems in the hardware components. Try to fix them, if any.

  • Checking for enabled write-caching: You should check if the hard disks are enabled for write-caching. If yes, then contact your local hard disk vendor to replace the hard disk.

  • Reinstalling operating system: If nothing else works out, then you should format the hard disk and install the operating system.

• Restore from backup: You should restore the database from its backup, if it is updated and clean.

• Run DBCC CHECKDB: Run the DBCC CHECKDB tool with the suggested repair clause to repair SQL database.

After using these MDF file repair methods, try to reproduce the steps that caused the error last time around. It would not appear if the MDF file is repaired properly. In case, you are still getting the error then you should get the services of a third-party .MDF repair software. These tools repair SQL database without causing any damage to the already corrupted MDF file by using totally non-destructive scanning mechanisms.