Windows XP drops network

[Guest]

Hello,

I've deployed about 100 PCs and I have about 300 more to go. Unfortunately,
I am noticing something that never appeared during our testing.

Periodicially, throughout the day, the newly imaged XP PCs drop their
network connection, breifly, only for a few moments, 5 to 30 seconds in
length. Long enough for them to drop a connection with Word or Adobe
acrobat, but not so long that simply double clicking usually restores it.

Certain applications do need to be restarted, and this is a major problem
for everyone that is affected. When this happens, it tends to only happen to
about 5-6 people, and it does tend to happen to a group of people all at the
same time. It is usually a different group of people throughout the day.

* I have disabled Windows Firewall and that seems to have minimized some of
the problems, but not all of them. The same PCs are still affected.

* I have disabled the power management for the network card on a test PC,
thinking that may have played into it. Unfortunately, it still times out.

* I have removed QoS on a few PCs to see if that makes any change, so far it
has not.


I'm really banging my head against the wall. Any thoughts would be greatly
appreciated. All of the clients are Dell's I don't know if that matters.

I have

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Can you be a bit more specific than "drop their connection"? Does the
system tray show a disconnected media alert, or do the clients simply stop
being able to reach some network resource or another?

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Guest]

Thank you for asking Richard, I really appreciate your interest.

I've only actually witnessed this occur once. It lasted less than 15
seconds. I've been told that sometimes, you will see the LAN connection
icon appear with a red x, so yes, sometimes you do see a disconnected media
alert. But that is rare, as the network connection drops only for 5-10
seconds and that is seldom fast enough to display an icon in the system tray.


Since we have disabled the Windows Firewall, I have noticed that the PCs no
longer are receiving APIPA addresses which were happening more frequently,
which made me think that this was happening only when the Windows XP machines
were requesting a lease from the DHCP server for the first time. Keep in
mind, these were all Windows 2000 machines, and the back end (the DHCP, WINS,
and DC) have not changed at all.

Can you be a bit more specific than "drop their connection"? Does the
system tray show a disconnected media alert, or do the clients simply stop
being able to reach some network resource or another?

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Hello,

I've deployed about 100 PCs and I have about 300 more to go.
Unfortunately,
I am noticing something that never appeared during our testing.

Periodicially, throughout the day, the newly imaged XP PCs drop their
network connection, breifly, only for a few moments, 5 to 30 seconds in
length. Long enough for them to drop a connection with Word or Adobe
acrobat, but not so long that simply double clicking usually restores it.

Certain applications do need to be restarted, and this is a major
problem
for everyone that is affected. When this happens, it tends to only happen
to
about 5-6 people, and it does tend to happen to a group of people all at
the
same time. It is usually a different group of people throughout the day.

* I have disabled Windows Firewall and that seems to have minimized some
of
the problems, but not all of them. The same PCs are still affected.

* I have disabled the power management for the network card on a test PC,
thinking that may have played into it. Unfortunately, it still times out.

* I have removed QoS on a few PCs to see if that makes any change, so far
it
has not.


I'm really banging my head against the wall. Any thoughts would be
greatly
appreciated. All of the clients are Dell's I don't know if that matters.

I have

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Yep, that sounds like a loss of physical link problem rather than a logical
network or configuration issue.

Probably the first thing to do is hit the event logs on the computers that
are having this problem and see what you can see. If you see log entries
that the network connection has dropped and then been re-established then I
would start looking for network hardware (switch, router, hub, wiring)
problems as the first likely culprit. It could be something as exotic as a
switch or other network device occasionally rebooting or dropping out of the
network or a cable somewhere that's being stressed and intermittently
dropping the connection.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Thank you for asking Richard, I really appreciate your interest.

I've only actually witnessed this occur once. It lasted less than 15
seconds. I've been told that sometimes, you will see the LAN connection
icon appear with a red x, so yes, sometimes you do see a disconnected
media
alert. But that is rare, as the network connection drops only for 5-10
seconds and that is seldom fast enough to display an icon in the system
tray.


Since we have disabled the Windows Firewall, I have noticed that the PCs
no
longer are receiving APIPA addresses which were happening more frequently,
which made me think that this was happening only when the Windows XP
machines
were requesting a lease from the DHCP server for the first time. Keep in
mind, these were all Windows 2000 machines, and the back end (the DHCP,
WINS,
and DC) have not changed at all.

Can you be a bit more specific than "drop their connection"? Does the
system tray show a disconnected media alert, or do the clients simply
stop
being able to reach some network resource or another?

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Hello,

I've deployed about 100 PCs and I have about 300 more to go.
Unfortunately,
I am noticing something that never appeared during our testing.

Periodicially, throughout the day, the newly imaged XP PCs drop their
network connection, breifly, only for a few moments, 5 to 30 seconds in
length. Long enough for them to drop a connection with Word or Adobe
acrobat, but not so long that simply double clicking usually restores
it.

Certain applications do need to be restarted, and this is a major
problem
for everyone that is affected. When this happens, it tends to only
happen
to
about 5-6 people, and it does tend to happen to a group of people all
at
the
same time. It is usually a different group of people throughout the
day.

* I have disabled Windows Firewall and that seems to have minimized
some
of
the problems, but not all of them. The same PCs are still affected.

* I have disabled the power management for the network card on a test
PC,
thinking that may have played into it. Unfortunately, it still times
out.

* I have removed QoS on a few PCs to see if that makes any change, so
far
it
has not.


I'm really banging my head against the wall. Any thoughts would be
greatly
appreciated. All of the clients are Dell's I don't know if that
matters.

I have

 

[Guest]

Thank you Richard once again for your replay. Unfortunately, all these PCs
were running perfectly under Windows 2000. It wasn't until I put Windows XP
out there that the network dropping occurred, so I am convinced I have a
problem with my image. Can you think of any possible patches or network
settings or services that could cause intermittent network time out issues?

Yep, that sounds like a loss of physical link problem rather than a logical
network or configuration issue.

Probably the first thing to do is hit the event logs on the computers that
are having this problem and see what you can see. If you see log entries
that the network connection has dropped and then been re-established then I
would start looking for network hardware (switch, router, hub, wiring)
problems as the first likely culprit. It could be something as exotic as a
switch or other network device occasionally rebooting or dropping out of the
network or a cable somewhere that's being stressed and intermittently
dropping the connection.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Thank you for asking Richard, I really appreciate your interest.

I've only actually witnessed this occur once. It lasted less than 15
seconds. I've been told that sometimes, you will see the LAN connection
icon appear with a red x, so yes, sometimes you do see a disconnected
media
alert. But that is rare, as the network connection drops only for 5-10
seconds and that is seldom fast enough to display an icon in the system
tray.


Since we have disabled the Windows Firewall, I have noticed that the PCs
no
longer are receiving APIPA addresses which were happening more frequently,
which made me think that this was happening only when the Windows XP
machines
were requesting a lease from the DHCP server for the first time. Keep in
mind, these were all Windows 2000 machines, and the back end (the DHCP,
WINS,
and DC) have not changed at all.

Can you be a bit more specific than "drop their connection"? Does the
system tray show a disconnected media alert, or do the clients simply
stop
being able to reach some network resource or another?

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


Hello,

I've deployed about 100 PCs and I have about 300 more to go.
Unfortunately,
I am noticing something that never appeared during our testing.

Periodicially, throughout the day, the newly imaged XP PCs drop their
network connection, breifly, only for a few moments, 5 to 30 seconds in
length. Long enough for them to drop a connection with Word or Adobe
acrobat, but not so long that simply double clicking usually restores
it.

Certain applications do need to be restarted, and this is a major
problem
for everyone that is affected. When this happens, it tends to only
happen
to
about 5-6 people, and it does tend to happen to a group of people all
at
the
same time. It is usually a different group of people throughout the
day.

* I have disabled Windows Firewall and that seems to have minimized
some
of
the problems, but not all of them. The same PCs are still affected.

* I have disabled the power management for the network card on a test
PC,
thinking that may have played into it. Unfortunately, it still times
out.

* I have removed QoS on a few PCs to see if that makes any change, so
far
it
has not.


I'm really banging my head against the wall. Any thoughts would be
greatly
appreciated. All of the clients are Dell's I don't know if that
matters.

I have

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Unless you've done something really silly, like putting "almost right"
network drivers into your image, I can't think of a logical (as opposed to
physical) reason this should be happening. Perhaps one of the other
regulars here will have a thought.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Thank you Richard once again for your replay. Unfortunately, all these
PCs
were running perfectly under Windows 2000. It wasn't until I put Windows
XP
out there that the network dropping occurred, so I am convinced I have a
problem with my image. Can you think of any possible patches or network
settings or services that could cause intermittent network time out
issues?

Yep, that sounds like a loss of physical link problem rather than a
logical
network or configuration issue.

Probably the first thing to do is hit the event logs on the computers
that
are having this problem and see what you can see. If you see log entries
that the network connection has dropped and then been re-established then
I
would start looking for network hardware (switch, router, hub, wiring)
problems as the first likely culprit. It could be something as exotic as
a
switch or other network device occasionally rebooting or dropping out of
the
network or a cable somewhere that's being stressed and intermittently
dropping the connection.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Thank you for asking Richard, I really appreciate your interest.

I've only actually witnessed this occur once. It lasted less than 15
seconds. I've been told that sometimes, you will see the LAN
connection
icon appear with a red x, so yes, sometimes you do see a disconnected
media
alert. But that is rare, as the network connection drops only for 5-10
seconds and that is seldom fast enough to display an icon in the system
tray.


Since we have disabled the Windows Firewall, I have noticed that the
PCs
no
longer are receiving APIPA addresses which were happening more
frequently,
which made me think that this was happening only when the Windows XP
machines
were requesting a lease from the DHCP server for the first time. Keep
in
mind, these were all Windows 2000 machines, and the back end (the DHCP,
WINS,
and DC) have not changed at all.



:

Can you be a bit more specific than "drop their connection"? Does the
system tray show a disconnected media alert, or do the clients simply
stop
being able to reach some network resource or another?

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


Hello,

I've deployed about 100 PCs and I have about 300 more to go.
Unfortunately,
I am noticing something that never appeared during our testing.

Periodicially, throughout the day, the newly imaged XP PCs drop
their
network connection, breifly, only for a few moments, 5 to 30 seconds
in
length. Long enough for them to drop a connection with Word or
Adobe
acrobat, but not so long that simply double clicking usually
restores
it.

Certain applications do need to be restarted, and this is a major
problem
for everyone that is affected. When this happens, it tends to only
happen
to
about 5-6 people, and it does tend to happen to a group of people
all
at
the
same time. It is usually a different group of people throughout the
day.

* I have disabled Windows Firewall and that seems to have minimized
some
of
the problems, but not all of them. The same PCs are still affected.

* I have disabled the power management for the network card on a
test
PC,
thinking that may have played into it. Unfortunately, it still
times
out.

* I have removed QoS on a few PCs to see if that makes any change,
so
far
it
has not.


I'm really banging my head against the wall. Any thoughts would be
greatly
appreciated. All of the clients are Dell's I don't know if that
matters.

I have