Linksys BEFSR41 Router, Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Problem

B

Bob Felton

Almost consistently, whenever I connect to a remote machine using RDT,
the connection will break after a minute or so. If I try to connect
to a different computer at the same IP address after the first
connection was broken, I get a message back saying "This computer
can't connect to the remote computer." If I wait about 15 minutes, I
can again connect to either computer and the situation then repeats
itself. One computer is running Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2, the other
is running Windows XP Professional SP2. My computer is running
Windows XP Professional SP2.

I connect using IP:portx, with a different port for each computer at
the remote location. The router has port redirection set up for each
portx to route the connection to the proper computer using the
standard RDT port of 3389.

I can connect to either computer, but when one breaks, they both
break. During the time RDT will not connect, I can connect to an FTP
server, send email through an email server, and administer the email
server at the same IP address, using the respective ports for the
functions. And, I can connect to a computer at an entirely different
IP address using RDT. The FTP, email administration, and RDT
connection to the other IP address never break. Thus, I think I can
rule out anything at my end including my router and my ISP. It would
seem to me the problem lies in the router at the location of the
computers to which the RDT connection is breaking: Linksys BEFSR41.

The remote location IP addresses are static and the individual
computer IP addresses at the respective locations are static.

Can anyone provide any assistance with this matter? Thank you.
 
S

Sooner Al [MVP]

Bob Felton said:
Almost consistently, whenever I connect to a remote machine using RDT,
the connection will break after a minute or so. If I try to connect
to a different computer at the same IP address after the first
connection was broken, I get a message back saying "This computer
can't connect to the remote computer." If I wait about 15 minutes, I
can again connect to either computer and the situation then repeats
itself. One computer is running Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2, the other
is running Windows XP Professional SP2. My computer is running
Windows XP Professional SP2.

I connect using IP:portx, with a different port for each computer at
the remote location. The router has port redirection set up for each
portx to route the connection to the proper computer using the
standard RDT port of 3389.

I can connect to either computer, but when one breaks, they both
break. During the time RDT will not connect, I can connect to an FTP
server, send email through an email server, and administer the email
server at the same IP address, using the respective ports for the
functions. And, I can connect to a computer at an entirely different
IP address using RDT. The FTP, email administration, and RDT
connection to the other IP address never break. Thus, I think I can
rule out anything at my end including my router and my ISP. It would
seem to me the problem lies in the router at the location of the
computers to which the RDT connection is breaking: Linksys BEFSR41.

The remote location IP addresses are static and the individual
computer IP addresses at the respective locations are static.

Can anyone provide any assistance with this matter? Thank you.
Click to expand...

I would...

1. Make sure the router firmware is the latest available.
2. Reflash the firmware to see if that help.
3. Try port forwarding versus port redirection to see if the router is
having a problem with redirection. See option 1...

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/RemoteDesktop/Multiple_PC_RD.html

IMO, the best solution would be to setup a VPN or SSH tunnel and access all
the PCs through one hole versus multiple holes in the router.

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375
 
B

Bob Felton

I have determined the router's firmware is not at latest version. I
will update it as soon as I can.

uPNP port forwarding in the router is being used. It allows an
incoming port to be forwarded to a specific LAN IP and a specific
(same or different) port.

RDP is being used as it was easy to implement with no extra equipment
or software required. It worked fine when the server was a Windows
2000 Server based server. As best as I can recall, the problem only
started once the server was changed to a Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2
based server (new platform as well). So, there may be something
different about how remote access worked under Windows 2000 Server
versus how it works under Windows Server 2003 as well. It could very
well not be a router issue at all.
 
S

Sooner Al [MVP]

Bob Felton said:
I have determined the router's firmware is not at latest version. I
will update it as soon as I can.

uPNP port forwarding in the router is being used. It allows an
incoming port to be forwarded to a specific LAN IP and a specific
(same or different) port.

RDP is being used as it was easy to implement with no extra equipment
or software required. It worked fine when the server was a Windows
2000 Server based server. As best as I can recall, the problem only
started once the server was changed to a Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2
based server (new platform as well). So, there may be something
different about how remote access worked under Windows 2000 Server
versus how it works under Windows Server 2003 as well. It could very
well not be a router issue at all.
Click to expand...
What version of the Remote Desktop Client are you running, ie. the new RDP 6
client or older?

Are you running Terminal Server on the W2K3 server box?

You might consider posting this to the
microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services or
microsoft.public.windows.server.networking news groups.

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375
 
B

Bob Felton

The RDP client is whatever the latest is via Windows Update. No,
Terminal Services is not the target at the server. I am using RDP at
the server.

If I won't get chewed out for cross-posting, I will post to another
group if you think that would be advisable.
 
S

Sooner Al [MVP]

Bob Felton said:
The RDP client is whatever the latest is via Windows Update. No,
Terminal Services is not the target at the server. I am using RDP at
the server.

If I won't get chewed out for cross-posting, I will post to another
group if you think that would be advisable.
Click to expand...


Other than looking at the logs on both the client and host I think your only
recourse is to post to those other groups...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375
 
B

Bob Felton

I have not posted to the other site as yet.

Even after updating the router firmware, the problem still exists.
However, I now believe it is related to a screensaver timeout.

The problem happens when I use RDP to log into the Windows Server 2003
R2 SP2 as Administrator when the console is logged in as another user
(Backup). For console logins, the screensaver timeout is set to 1
minunte for user Administrator and 3 minutes for user Backup. The RDP
connection is dropped after about 3 minutes - strangely close to the
screensaver timeout of the user logged in on the console. Why the RDP
drop out affects RDP into a completely different machine is still an
unknown.
 
B

Bob Felton

I resolved the issue by using the fix shown in
http://terminal.servebeer.com/php/flaky_connections.php (which was
provided to me by Coraleigh Miller in the server/general forum). That
fix along with reverting to the version 5 RDP client resolved my
connection issues. Even with the fixes shown in the article,
connection dropouts still happened when using the version 6 RDP
client.
 

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