What should you do when CHECKTABLE ends abruptly resulting in Error 8921 in MS SQL Server

In MS SQL Server 2000, there are various tools to check the integrity of the database pages. One of these tools is CHECKTABLE that checks various types of pages including data, index, text, ntext, and image of the selected table. However, at times this tool is unable to run and ends abruptly because of corruption in the MDF (Master Database File) file. On such occasions, you should use suitable methods to repair SQL database. If none of the methods works in this scenario, then I would recommend you to use a third-party SQL repair software to repair SQL database.

Consider a scenario wherein you are using the CHECKTABLE tool when you get the following error message in MS SQL Server 2000 database:

“CHECKTABLE terminated. A failure was detected while collecting facts. Possibly tempdb out of space or a system table is inconsistent. Check previous errors.”

Cause:

The CHECKTABLE tool abruptly ended because of encountering some error because of corruption issues in a system table.

Resolution:

To overcome this problem, you should look for ways to repair MDF file. For this, the following methods can be performed:

• Addressing hardware corruption issues: As is seen in such cases, most instances occur because of corruption in the hardware parts. To overcome hardware corruption, you can adopt following measures:

  • Running hardware diagnostics and fixing any error that you find

  • Checking error logs and check if any error has occurred because of faulty hardware components

  • Swapping the hardware components to narrow down to find out the exact error

  • Formatting the hard drives and reinstalling the operating system

• Using database backup: If the hardware parts are alright, then use the database backup if it is updated and clean.

• Running DBCC CHECKDB: If the database backup does not provide solution, then run the DBCC CHECKDB tool with the suggested repair clause.

Now, try to run the CHECKTABLE tool again. If the problem does not appear, then it means that the MDF file is repaired. However, if the problem persists then there is a need to use a third-party MDF file repair software. Non-destructive repair techniques and simple yet interactive interface are some of the advantages of using these MS SQL repair tools.