RDP keeps dropping

[M$]

As soon as we went from W2k to W2K3 Terminal Servers (clean install NOT
upgrades), some of the clients started to drop the RDP connection with the
following error:

"Remote Desktop Disconnected Because of a protocol error, this session will
be disconnected. Please try connecting to the remote computer again."

It seams to be XP pro Clients that have this issue while W2k pro clients
seam to be ok. We have the TS Licensing server in place as well.

I have searched the MS KB, but haven't found anything that has made a
difference or it just did not apply.

Any ideas?

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

Anything in the EventLog on the server?

_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
*----------- Please reply in newsgroup -------------*

 

[M$]

No, there is nothing in the event logs. From what I can see it is the client
that is dropping the connection. What bothers me though is that it all
started when we went from W2k TS to W2k3 TS without changing any of the
clients. Also, the problem seams to be more pronounced with certain
clients. i.e. in one branch out of about 18 client PCs, the problem seams
to occur almost exclusively on 2 client PCs while the rest don't have that
issue. In another location the problem seams to be more random as far as the
client PCs that are dropping the RDP connection. On the server side the
connection remains active in a disconnected state and when the user signs
back on, it grabs the disconnected session again and everything works fine
until the next time the RDP drops.

Thanks.

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

Mmm, there are a couple of issues which come to mind, but nothing
feels completely right.

Assuming that you run SP1, you could test the workaround (changing
the MTU size) as described here:
Installing security update MS05-019 or Windows Server 2003 Service
Pack 1 may cause network connectivity between clients and servers
to fail
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=898060

How to test for the maximum MTU size is described in the FAQ, under
connectivity:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/community/centers/termin
al/terminal_faq.mspx

but I have got the impression that this issue produces an error
about "network error", not "protocol error".

There have been a number of issues which give a "protocol error",
all of them are fixed by deleting 2 certificate entries from the
registry, but those usually produce an Event in the EventLog:

323497 - "The RDP Protocol Component "DATA ENCRYPTION" Detected an
Error..." error message
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=323497

_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
___ please respond in newsgroup, NOT by private email ___

 

[M$]

Ok, I have narrowed it down to the following: Win XP running of a Dell
Dimension 4600. This only happens on those specific PC with XP.

If I put W2k on that same machine it works fine and also works ok on all
other brands and other Dell models with XP.

Has anyone heard of such a problem?
Thanks.

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

I've no idea what is causing this. Have you considered calling Dell
Support?
_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
___ please respond in newsgroup, NOT by private email ___