network drop out

[Tim Brown]

I have a user who uses Windows XP professional. Intermittently, her PC will
drop off the network and she will get a 'Disconnected from (servername)' and
she is unable to access any network drives. This can only be overcome by
restarting the PC. She still has connectivity to the network when this
happens (Can ping the network).

So far, I have changed:

The wiring at both ends including the hubs their plugged into.
Checked her DHCP and DNS settings.
Checked her Event Viewer (nothing pertinent)
Swapped her PC for a 'known good' PC.
Put her onto another subnet.

Could someone explain to me how this works? i.e. Does the OS constantly poll
the network? What process tells the workstation that it is no longer
connected to the network? etc?

 

[Eric Shen [MSFT]]

Hi Tim,

According to my experience, this kind of issue may be caused if this
computer has a problematic application installed and this prevents it from
accessing the domain correctly. Could you explain the symptoms in more
details so I can fully understand this issue and find out why this issue
occurs? Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Please check the following:

1. It appears that there will be a message to indicate the disconnection.
Is this correct? What's the exact error message and do you know which
application is reporting this error? Sometimes, this message may be
reported by another application instead of system. We need to check this
message and event log to make sure the situation.

It is better to capture the screen of this error and then send to me at
(e-mail address removed)

2. When this computer is prompted to be disconnected, if you try to ping
the server, can you get positive response? Also, can this computer visit
the Web sites in this domain network?

3. Does this happen to this computer only? Could you please send the event
logs to me as email attachment?

4. If you try to boot this computer under "Safe Mode with Network", will
this issue occur? You can press F8 on the boot menu to select "Safe Mode
with Network" for startup.

Please check the above information so we can try to find which application
is reporting this error and why this issue occurs. I look forward to
hearing from you.

Regards,

Eric Shen
Product Support Services
Microsoft Corporation

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