An SQL 2005 database can become marked suspect for several reasons. Possible causes include:

1. Denial of access to a database resource by the operating system

2. Anti-virus/3rd party software blocking access

3. The hardware/network issue or corruption of database file(s)

Prior to resetting the status, the database file issue should be resolved; one way of resolution: create an empty database, copy over the damaged database files and restart the server.

The recovery methods below are last resort only. At minimum the server should be rebooted (Windows restart - hardboot), if possible at all, a database copy should be created. If backup files exist, point-in-time recovery is preferred to emergency repair.

The following script resets the status of the database and checks the database for integrity.

-- SQL Server 2000/2005/2008

USE master;

GO

EXEC sp_resetstatus 'CopyOfAdventureWorks2008';

GO

USE CopyOfAdventureWorks2008;

DBCC CHECKDB WITH NO_INFOMSGS;

GO

The latest marked suspect recovery process:

-- SQL Server 2005/2008

USE master;

GO

ALTER DATABASE CopyOfAdventureWorks2008 SET EMERGENCY

GO

ALTER DATABASE CopyOfAdventureWorks2008 SET SINGLE_USER

GO

DBCC CHECKDB (CopyOfAdventureWorks2008, REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS) WITH NO_INFOMSGS;

GO

USE CopyOfAdventureWorks2008;

DBCC CHECKDB WITH NO_INFOMSGS;

GO

In both cases save as much data as possible into a clean database. Perform troubleshooting to locate the problem source.