Lost default gateway

  • Thread starter Thread starter ikkemij
  • Start date Start date
I

ikkemij

Something strange is happening on a few new Windows XP (embedded) SP2
machines we recently placed.

All of a sudden the machine will appear to stop working. At first we
thought it was a coincidence, but all the machines (7) will stop at
random. Today we found out the machine loses its default gateway.

When we check the properties of the NIC, a default gateway is
configured. However, when we do a ipconfig there is no default gateay.
The only way to get the default gateway working again, is a reboot, or
disabling and enabling the NIC.

The machine has two NIC's, but the second NIC has no cable attached.

Has anyone ever seen this before?


Ikke
 
Have a look in event viewer in computer management. See if there is an error
code listed. Repost with the info.

Glen P
 
There are no events in the event viewer. However, I just found out that
a new system administrator added a default gateway to the second NIC,
so that we have two default gateways.

Could it be that this NIC (Local Area connection 2) takes precedence
over the first NIC (Local Area connection 4), even though the media is
disconnected?


Ikke
 
Try disabling the nic and see what happens. My understading is you only need
one deafult gateway but I am not a networking expert. Logic would say one
default setting of any kind is all thats needed because a default setting is
the like the primary setting. Two default settings of any kind would seem to
be wrong. I do know if the nic is not being used you can disable it in
device manager without problem. Why did the other guy set up another default
gateway on a nic that wasn't even being used.

Glen P
 
Try disabling the nic and see what happens. My understading is you only need
one deafult gateway but I am not a networking expert. Logic would say one
default setting of any kind is all thats needed because a default setting is
the like the primary setting. Two default settings of any kind would seem to
be wrong.
Click to expand...

You should not use two default gateways, because the TCP/IP stack won't
know which one to use. So I always use one default gateway, and if
different routes are necessary, I add static routes.

But the thing I'm wondering about, is that when two default gateways
are configured, will Windows XP delete one from its "running
configuration", even though the seond NIC is disconnected.
I do know if the nic is not being used you can disable it in
device manager without problem.
Click to expand...

Ik know, but the software developers aren't sure that "something might
break down". Now I have a two hour meeting scheduled to discuss the
necessity of diabling the second NIC...

Why did the other guy set up another default
gateway on a nic that wasn't even being used.
Click to expand...

Your guess is as good as mine. He claims he "always used to do it like
this", but he can;t tell me why.


Ikke
 
I have the same issue yet, each of the computers I have are only using 1
default gateway and there are no second NIC's. Any ideas? If i do an ipconfig
/release followed by a /renew it picks back up.
 
Tovy have a look in event ,manager and see if there is an error listed that
relates to the network.

Glen P.
 
I did find 2 different DHCP errors on one machine but I am not sure if it is
the same result on others. My company has 4 locations and it is only
happening here at one location. However with that said, the DHCP for each
location is local with the DNS being central. Our DHCP and DNS run on Netware
5.1 servers.

I have screenshots but I dont know how to post them.

One says ... your computer was not able to renew its adress from the network
for the network card with address .....The following error occured. The
semaphore timeout period has expired. Your computer will continue to try and
obtain an address on its own from the network DHCP server.

The second says ..... the same general thing but the error in the middle
this time is "An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket.

I havent checked the other computers to see if there are the same errors or
not yet.
 
This is why you are losing your network settings.
The machine is intermittently failing in it's DHCP renewals.

These errors in particular:

'An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket. '
and
'The semaphore timeout period has expired.'

strongly suggest winsock / LSP corruption.

Winsock / LSP corruption often occours if spyware has been on the machine,
and been removed. Installation and removal of other badly-written programs
which insert themselves into the TCP/IP stack ( eg Anti-Virus, Firewall )
can also cause this.

If the machine is XP-SP2, then try this:
Go to a command prompt, and issue the command:

netsh winsock reset catalog

then re-boot.

There are a couple of other programs that can help, too.
To save on my typing, I'll direct you to Chuck's note on this here:
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/problems-with-lsp-winsock-layer-in.html
 
I have tried the winsock reset as well as TCP/IP reset and I still have the
same problem. If I havent mentioned it before, I do run the Novell Client
4.90sp2 on these Win XP SP2 machines. Out of a total of 400 computers, this
is happening to roughly 5.
 
I'm experiencing the same problem with my exchange box.

I have two network cards in the PC, both with assigned gateways.

NIC 1 : Private IP for internal use
NIC 2 : Public IP

The machine keeps losing the default gateway on NIC2. No error messages in
event log.

Ideas?
 
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