Re: Weird Network Connectivity Problem
- From: "Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]" <gwdibble@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 12:15:01 -0500
I would immediately replace the cable between the workstation and the wall, and also the one between the patch panel and the switch. At the same time, choose a different switch port than the one you've been using. I would also make sure your NIC driver on the workstation is current, and run the NIC diagnostic app if one exists. If the app fails the diagnostic, or if the problem comes back after having replaced the cables and trying a different switch port, I'd replace the NIC.
Based on your description of an issue that happens rarely, and that also seems to spontaneously fix itself, this is almost certainly hardware related. You don't have a setting that's changing itself every few months, then changing itself back. There's obviously no guarantee that replacing the cable and the NIC will fix this, but it seems like doing so would cover almost all of the bases at a low cost. In the absence of a solid diagnosis that leads you to the contrary, please resist the temptation to mess with settings that are working almost all of the time.
<carl.sawyer@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:6bb922b2-b825-4076-bcdd-7ad85f961083@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have a very weird problem that I have been fighting for many, many
months
and I'm looking for any hint, any idea, any possible lead. Here's
the
situation.
● Small network - Windows SBS 2003 server and 15-18 client PCs, all
XP. We
also have a Terminal Services server and a Unix box. All workstations
have
static IPs.
● One machine, \\x199, has an odd and intermittent problem. Every
few
months it will spontaneously and seemingly randomly drop off the
network. It
also will randomly reconnect. This may happen for three or four days
in a
row and then not happen again for two or three months. It just
happened a
few minutes ago and I'll use this incident to illustrate:
1. User "fred" is working away, connected to Outlook, using shares and
apps
on the server, no problems.
2. Suddenly Outlook says it cannot connect. Shared drives are
unavailable.
Shortcuts to server apps are dead.
3. I log into the SBS server (remote).
ping x199 returns "request timed out".
ping 192.168.1.110 returns "request timed out"
When this has happened before I have tried:
ping -a 192.168.1.110 resolves the hostname but returns "request timed
out"
nslookup x199 resolves correctly
arp -a returns correct information
...and from the workstation a ping to the server times out but the
workstation
can ping any other machine in the place, it can see the gateway, and
it can
browse the Internet except that the SBS server also provides DNS. If
we give
it another DNS server or browse to an IP it works fine.
4. I log into our Unix box and ping 192.168.1.110 and it replies w/no
problems.
5. I log into the Terminal Services server and I can ping the
workstation by
name or IP and I can even log into it using Remote Desktop.
6. While this is going on someone on site is setting up another
machine
(\\x116) for fred to work on. Part of this process is to make fred's
domain
account a member of the local Administrators group. At the instant
that they
clicked on "Check Name" on \\x116 fred's Outlook client on \\x199
connected
to the server and my ping -t from the SBS server began responding.
Really.
Once before the workstation was experiencing this problem and fred
logged on
to the machine at the next desk and at the same moment \\x199 started
responding; we thought it was coincidence.
In this case \\x199 dropped off while in use. In other cases the user
tries
to log in at the beginning of the day and discovers that the machine
is
offline.
One of the frustrating aspects of this problem is that it won't stay
broke!
I might be in the middle of testing and suddenly it just starts
working.
Before I discovered that the connectivity issue was only with the SBS
server
we have been through all the usual stuff to diagnose this problem:
different
cable, different NIC, change ports on the switch, etc. To me the
confounding
issue is that the problem is only between the SBS server and this
single
workstation. It would take hours for me to go back through my old
notes and
develop a comprehensive list of everything we've done but if I recall
correctly the problem is not just related to fred's account. When
diagnosing
this problem we have logged on to \\x199 as administrator while it
was
offline and it made no difference.
I have considered stuff like reloading the machine, removing the
computer
account in the domain and recreating it, or driving a wooden stake
through
the machine and burying it at a crossroads but I would prefer to have
some
idea as to what's wrong before I spend time just shooting in the
dark. Any
ideas? Suggestions? Incantations or exorcism ceremonies I can try???
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Weird Network Connectivity Problem
- From: carl . sawyer
- Re: Weird Network Connectivity Problem
- References:
- Weird Network Connectivity Problem
- From: carl . sawyer
- Weird Network Connectivity Problem
- Prev by Date: RE: SUS to WSUS gone astray...
- Next by Date: Email domain name
- Previous by thread: Weird Network Connectivity Problem
- Next by thread: Re: Weird Network Connectivity Problem
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
