Access to Mapped network dirves

[RoryJMcKenna]

This is my situation... In a windows 2000 Domain 15 workstations and one File server / Exchange Server (Also running GoldMine) when users are trying to save to network dirves... they select the drop down list from word... It takes anywhere from 2-10 minutes to see any locations to save to. FYI this is a New install on the Server.. Windows 2000 SBS. I had the same issue before the fresh install. It was good for about a month after the rebuild. It was running SAV 8.1 Corp. I found that running this from the server has created problems in the past so I removed it from the server and installed it on a print server box. and we were good for about a week... Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Also oddly enough, when they are having the problem saving to the network, web pages will not pull up without the http:// in front. The problem comes and goes throughout the day :S

Thanks in advance for your input!

Rory

 

[RoryJMcKenna]

Anyone???

 

[ricpinto]

Have you check the task manager what program or services that consuming the CPU resources when this event happens?

 

[RoryJMcKenna]

Yes... of course I have checked that... the strange thing is ... CPU, Memory everything is fine. even when I log in via Terminal services, there is a lag, it's like it is hung for a minute. then all is fine.

 

[ricpinto]

Check for any suspicious program/services that appears on the task manager, also check for viruses. When I'm a newbie, I have a 16 bit game that I played while waiting to finish my back up, then I'll experience your problem. There's a service/program called wowexec that will appear on the task manager, if I stop this then it become normal again. Right now I surf the net instead of playing .

 

[Goose241]

Has anyone else experienced this problem? I have seen similar things on my win2k server. I think it may be a network related problem, but I am not really sure how to prove this.

 

[ReddLefty]

May be two different problems.. for the network slowness, you could have browser issues.

See faq96-3728 .



"In space, nobody can hear you click..."

 

[RoryJMcKenna]

Thanks for for your input! but there are no browser elections happening on the network... There is only one server. I first thought maybe it was a network traffic problem... I installed MRTG on the network to monitor it, this was not a problem either. Goose 241... Have you noticed when it is happening that you cannot surf the web without http:// in front of the URL??

 

[airbourne]

We got hit with W32.Welchia.Worm, and this is the bahavior that we experienced. It took many hours to clean and protect EVERY windows 2000/XP computer on our network.

Also, we had cisco switches, that needed memory and OS updates. Not to mention that we were instructed by a Cisco tech to change all the switches to 100/FULL because we were running a full 100 MBit LAN. Running them all at Auto caused delays from 3 minutes to 183 minutes (long ass waits)in network traffic when browsing to shares.

Do you have any DNS or WINS servers? How is the transfer speed from PC to PC? How many hops are between the desk and the server? Are you using hubs or switches? Do your switches connect to each other via gigabit ports or 100 MBit ports?

I would start looking for that virus, then I would look at it like a network problem, if only to ensure the problem is on the server, and not on the network by transferring files to other computers. I'd look at topology, where do the wires go, etc.

 

[RoryJMcKenna]

One Hop from desk to Server... I use a cisco Catlsyt 2600 switch... maybe I should upgrade the IOS on it??

Transfer is good between workstations...

I run Norton Corp 8.1 ... There are no Viruses on the network.

Thanks,

Rory

 

[RoryJMcKenna]

Even transfering from server to workstation is Ok.. it is just the initial delay... But it is sproatic... I just transfered a 16MB file from server to workstation in like 5 Seconds... thats pretty Ok.

 

[airbourne]

It might be the port settings on the Cisco. If you can, set the port that the server is connected to at 100/FULL, then set the port that the PC is connected to at 100/FULL, then set each computers NIC settings to 100/FULL as opposed to Auto. Test the transfer speed then. Maybe an IOS upgrade is needed, but I thought our company was the only ones with 5 year old IOS that was the cause of many headaches and we never thought to look there until we hired somebody.

I recently reformatted my computer at home, and about 30 minutes to 1 hour later it started to lock up for a few seconds after every click. I would click something, it would wait. Click wait, Click wait, Click wait, didn't matter what it was I clicked or right-clicked on. Start Menu, everything.

I thought it was driver related, or hardware related, but it turned out to be that virus I mentioned. If you have no anti-virus on your server, you could have it. Welchia can install itself on ANY windows 2000 computer. I know you said there were problems with running that SAV CE 8.1 software on the server so you moved it, but I'll be honest if it's not that virus, based on your description, I'd say look here:

Virus
Programs Running in Background
Server Settings
Bad Hardware or Drivers (including software like ATI HotKey Poller, Printer Software, or anything that is not needed, but yet installs with drivers into the SYSTRAY)

 

[ReddLefty]

Unless you turned off all the Computer Browsers in your domain, then there WILL be an election somewhere... better make sure it's your server. Here are the symptoms:

- Pull down when doing a "Save As" in any Office application takes forever

- Browsing the network when using Network Neighborhood will cause errors like: Domain not found or missing computers in the list and usually a very long delay time for them to appear

- Not being able to connect to a computer with it's name, yet you can with the IP.

- Opening "My Computer" will stall for a long time when it tries to display the network resources.

To be safe, you should make sure your DC is the Master Browser. It only takes a minute to see if you have the registry key set properly. If it is, you can ignore all my posts

The only other thing I've seen take forever is unavailable DFS links also. It had almost the same symptoms as the browsing issues, minus the "SAVE AS" issues.





"In space, nobody can hear you click..."

 

[RoryJMcKenna]

ReddLefty Said...

"To be safe, you should make sure your DC is the Master Browser. It only takes a minute to see if you have the registry key set properly. If it is, you can ignore all my posts"

thanks... I checked the reg. key... It was set to "FALSE"
:S I changed it to "TRUE" hopefully that will solve my problem. I guess I will not know until Monday morning when the users log in and start to use the system... I will repost to let you know if that did it!

Thanks to all for your input!

 

[RoryJMcKenna]

Hi, the problem is still the same... I also ran the fix for the previous mentioned worm... It was not found as I suspected.

More info that may be helpful... When I log users on to the Computers localy, the problem goes away.

anymore suggestions???

 

[ReddLefty]

You must restart the Computer Browser on your server (or reboot)



"In space, nobody can hear you click..."

 

[ReddLefty]

You must also make sure it's the only master browser by checking the registry of other servers (especially any other domain controller) and using the Browser Monitor (Resource Kit) to locate all your other possible Master Browsers so you can kill them (set to FALSE).

You may want to take another look at that FAQ.... You won't believe the amount of hair ripping it's saved me when I would go to clients that had all these odd networking issues.



"In space, nobody can hear you click..."

 

[Javy1]

I had a similar problem in the past and it was due to corrupted user profiles. I renamed the user(s) profiles and created new one and the problem disappeared. Your problem may be totally differenet though.