Last Known Good Config

I had a situation yesterday where a 2003 server was acting up. The database that was on there was no longer accessible and other programs on there would not work as well. So, I rebooted it. Then the fun began. The server rebooted and came back up fine... and then froze about 20 seconds later after it was replying. I had to cut the power and wait a few seconds (usually 10 is a good amount) and then power back on. I kept pressing F8 and then I was prompted how I wanted to start windows. I chose Last Known Good Configuration and that fixed it.

It is a good idea to do this right away instead of trying it after multiple reboots. If you don't, it might see the last boot up as the last known good configuration when it still wasn't fixed. Then you are out of luck for that option.