Clearing SharePoint Configuration Cache

If you receive HTTP 401 404 response from your SharePoint connection without finding any errors in the system or ULS logs. You should try and clear the SharePoint configuration cache from the non-responding systems.

1. Stop the OWSTIMER service on the problem SharePoint WFE server in the farm. net stop “SharePoint 2010 Timer”
2. On the problem server, navigate to: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\GUID
3. Delete all the XML files in the directory. NOTE: ONLY THE XML FILES, NOT THE INI FILE
4. Open the cache.ini file in NOTEPAD and reset the number to 1. Save and close the file.
5. Start the OWSTIMER service on the server and wait for XML files to begin to reappear in the directory. net start “SharePoint 2010 Timer”
6. Perform an IIS reset from a command prompt. IISRESET

This error will sometimes happen when you restore a content database to the farm under a different name and remove the current content database.