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I had a NetWare 6.0 server with a Master replica on it - let's call this Server A.
I installed a second NetWare 6.0 server - let's call it Server B.
I installed the eDirectory/NDS onto Server B from Server A through NWCONFIG.
It worked perfectly and I set Server B to Master.

Four days past...

DSREPAIR showed no errors on either server A nor B.

I built a third NetWare 6.0 server, let's call it Server C.
I attempted to install eDirectory on Server C from Server B (which holds the Master replica).

NWCONFIG gave the following error (pink message):

An internal error has occurred. DSI cannot add a partition replica. Error description: unknown error -631 (fffffd89 hex) - (DSI-5.00-32)

I tried many things, checking the server time, DSREPAIR again... etc. I couldn't find anything helpful on the Novell Support site, only telling me I should be logged in as Admin, which I was of course.

Then I decided to make the situation as it was before, when I'd installed eDirectory from Server A to B.

I set Server A as Master.
On Server C I ran NWCONFIG
Directory Options | Install Directory Services onto this server | Install into existing tree over IP (Non Discovered addresses)
I entered the Tree and IP address of Server A (which is now set to Master).

It installed without the -631 error!!! After, I set the Master back to Server B and all was still well. I ran DSREPAIR on Server C and all is normal.

This shows that if you get the -631 error when trying to install eDirectory, think about where the replica came from that you are currently trying to build from. Perhaps, even if it is the Master, it was not the original eDirectory server - try setting that server to Master and installing eDirectory from it.

Disclaimer: As with everything else at Cool Solutions, this content is definitely not supported by Novell (so don't even think of calling Support if you try something and it blows up).

It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test, test, test before you do anything drastic with it.