What to do when DBCC CHECKDB is unable to recover Error 5242 in MS SQL Server 2008

Inconsistencies in MS SQL Server databases cause serious problems like making the database inaccessible, which could further result in data loss. Such problems can appear because of sundry reasons but the most prominent ones could be infected from viruses, unplanned system shutdown while the database is open, database header corruption, etc. Such problems could be solved using various methods. But, if nothing works out then the use of third-party master database file recovery tools is advised to recover SQL database.

One such scenario appears when you receive the following error message while working on an MS SQL Server 2008 database:

“An inconsistency was detected during an internal operation in database '%.*ls'(ID:%d) on page %S_PGID. Please contact technical support. Reference number %ld.”

Cause:

Such mentioned problems are encountered when there is some sort of inconsistency in the structure of the database page. The same is reflected in the error message itself.

Resolution:

In such situations, the following methods are recommended to recover SQL database:

• Address hardware related problems: You should check the hardware components to see whether this problem is because of any problem with the hardware. Some of these measures could be:

  • Running hardware diagnostics and checking the error logs.

  • Interchanging the hardware components to zero-in on the actual reason of database corruption.

  • Formatting the hard drive and installing the operating system again.

• Restore from backup: If the hardware components are alright, then examine the backup status. If the backup is updated, then replace it with the problem database.

• Use DBCC CHECKDB: If both of the previous methods do not work, then you should use the DBCC CHECKDB command, first without repair clause to know the extent of corruption. Then, you should use it with the recommended repair clause.

If these solutions do not provide MDF file recovery, then you require a third-party master database file recovery software to recover SQL database. These SQL recovery tools are read-only in nature that use highly refined mechanisms to safely extract data from the corrupted databases.