Clients slow to crawl when old server is disconnected network

[Danny F]

I have an issue that has been driving me insane. I have 4 Windows XP Pro SP3
workstations. All the Accounting Dept PC’s. I also have an old Windows 2000
SP4 Server that I want to take offline and decommission. The problem is as
soon as I disconnect this server or shut it down. The 4 workstations slow to
a crawl. Not just on the network but performance as well. Here is the
scenario:
Workstation 1 connected to network and Server Old connected to network.
Everything works great, PC’s screaming fast.
Unplug network cable of ServerOld, workstation1 slows to a crawl.
Open command prompt and type notepad to open notepad 60 seconds before
notepad opens. (I use notepad as a test but all other commands take forever
just to initiate as well including running IE or doing anything on the
network, but apps run slow as hell to)
Plug Serverold network cable back in. Type notepad in command prompt,
instantly opens.
If I unplug ServerOld network cable again, type notepad, 60 seconds before
it opens. But if I then unplug Worksation1 network cable so it is no longer
on network, notepad comes up instantly.
These workstations have some connection to ServerOld that cannot be broken.
I run netstat –a on workstation1 and it shows a connection to Server Old :
TCP Workstation1:1725 192.168.1.11:netbios-ssn ESTABLISHED
I run TCPView and get:
[System Process]:0 TCP workstation1:1758 ServerOld:netbios-ssn TIME_WAIT

ServerOld used to be have shares on it that these workstations mapped drives
to but I deleted the drive mappings. I even disjoined the workstation1 from
domain and it still had slow although not as slow when ServerOld was
disconnected. Then when it was reconnected it ran fine. Rejoined it to the
domain and same issue as before.
Is there some hidden mapping or connection that could be causing this? What
is the System Process 0 connection on netbios-ssn and Microsoft-ds
connections for?

Any help as I would like to take this old server offline but I can’t because
it kills the entire accounting departments workstations.
Thanks,
D

 

[Anteaus]

Try typing NET USE at a cmd prompt to see if there are still connections to
it. This problem usually arises because ALL driveletters are scanned every
time Explorer opens a file-select window. Defunct ones cause a very long
delay.

 

[Doug Ross]

I had the same problem. My solution was in checking the path command. It
had an entry referring to the removed server - at the beginning of the path.

Try typing NET USE at a cmd prompt to see if there are still connections to
it. This problem usually arises because ALL driveletters are scanned every
time Explorer opens a file-select window. Defunct ones cause a very long
delay.

I have an issue that has been driving me insane. I have 4 Windows XP Pro SP3
workstations. All the Accounting Dept PC’s. I also have an old Windows 2000
SP4 Server that I want to take offline and decommission. The problem is as
soon as I disconnect this server or shut it down. The 4 workstations slow to
a crawl. Not just on the network but performance as well. Here is the
scenario:
Workstation 1 connected to network and Server Old connected to network.
Everything works great, PC’s screaming fast.
Unplug network cable of ServerOld, workstation1 slows to a crawl.
Open command prompt and type notepad to open notepad 60 seconds before
notepad opens. (I use notepad as a test but all other commands take forever
just to initiate as well including running IE or doing anything on the
network, but apps run slow as hell to)
Plug Serverold network cable back in. Type notepad in command prompt,
instantly opens.
If I unplug ServerOld network cable again, type notepad, 60 seconds before
it opens. But if I then unplug Worksation1 network cable so it is no longer
on network, notepad comes up instantly.
These workstations have some connection to ServerOld that cannot be broken.
I run netstat –a on workstation1 and it shows a connection to Server Old :
TCP Workstation1:1725 192.168.1.11:netbios-ssn ESTABLISHED
I run TCPView and get:
[System Process]:0 TCP workstation1:1758 ServerOld:netbios-ssn TIME_WAIT

ServerOld used to be have shares on it that these workstations mapped drives
to but I deleted the drive mappings. I even disjoined the workstation1 from
domain and it still had slow although not as slow when ServerOld was
disconnected. Then when it was reconnected it ran fine. Rejoined it to the
domain and same issue as before.
Is there some hidden mapping or connection that could be causing this? What
is the System Process 0 connection on netbios-ssn and Microsoft-ds
connections for?

Any help as I would like to take this old server offline but I can’t because
it kills the entire accounting departments workstations.
Thanks,
D