I.P. problem

[shannanl]

I have a computer at work that has 2 nics in it. One is set up for the LAN and the other is set up for a small network of printers and other stuff. They are on different subnets, etc. Everything works fine with this arrangement except for one thing. Every now and then the computer's lan connection stops working. The i.p., gateway and dns, etc. are all in there and can be viewed by ipconfig. All the settings seem fine but it will not connect to the LAN. Simply changing the i.p. address to another and changing it back to its original will cause the connection to start working again. There seems to be no pattern as to when it stops. It is completely random.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Shannan

 

[flavor4real2]

- release ip
- flushdns
- renew (IP)

- DHCP ?

 

[shannanl]

I will try this. I am not running DHCP. All are static.

Shannan

 

[TheLad]

Are any errors reported in the Event Viewer? Could also be hardware related (NIC, cabling, switch port etc..)

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"Insert funny comment in here!"
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[flavor4real2]

check drivers on nic

 

[shannanl]

I have checked the event viewer and it throws no errors when this happens. I even uninstalled and installed a completely different nic with new drivers and it still happens with these. I have not checked the cabling or the wall port. The switch is in the server room and it has lots of other computers plugged into it and none of them are having the problem. I could try a different port on the switch though.

 

[paintballer]

Could also be an IP conflict with another machine on the network that is only there once in a while, or it could also be that the IP used on this machine is one that is commonly tried for new PC's that are added. (If you're not the only one that adds pc's that is.)
If you change it to a new IP and leave it there I would wonder if you still run into this issue.
Good luck,
Paintballer

 

[shannanl]

I have actually used two different i.p. addresses and it still does it on both. I could try another and see what happens.

Thanks,

Shannan

 

[bcastner]

Have you tried using manual instead of automatic metrics on each adapter?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;299540

See a parallel example/discussion:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/cableguy/cg0405.mspx

 

[shannanl]

So far this week I have ran a new cable run to the machine from the server room. This cable run plugs into a different switch. It dropped again today, so I am going to rule out the cables, switches, and wall plates.

I hae not used manual instead of autometrics on the adapter. I am not sure how to do that. I will Google it.

Thanks,

Shannan

 

[bcastner]

See:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;889320

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=288801?scid=kb;en-us;889320

 

[bcastner]

You might benefit by making definitive and persistent route additions.

See a similar case to yours:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/cableguy/cg0405.mspx

 

[shannanl]

I will check this also and let you know how it goes.

Thanks!

Shannan

 

[stduc]

Change the NIC.

 

[shannanl]

I even uninstalled and installed a completely different nic with new drivers and it still happens with these.

 

[tlcscousin]

Are you running a DHCP server as well?
Do you have a lease time (it should not make a difference but if you have a DHCP server and it has a lease time set does the loss of connectivity correspond to the lease times)?
Have you shut off power management on the NIC (allow windows to shut off this device to save power)?

 

[stduc]

In addition to tlcscousin's suggestion - Some PC's don't recover full network functionality after returning from hibernation or sleep mode either.

So,

Check power saving on the NIC is off as per suggestion above.
Check hibernate is off.
Check Sleep is off.

The only thing I can think to suggest at the moment as this issue is being so tricky to fix is to put a packet sniffer on the line. If you don't have a packet sniffer you can leave in place for days, but you have a spare PC handy and a small hub, you can do this easily using Etherial (which is free). Just leave it running and then examine the trace around the time connection was lost.

 

[NoBigDeal]

What IP are you choosing for the static entry? If it's the next in line after the last is given out by the DHCP server, then the DHCP server could be giving yours out after a lease runs out, thus overriding your entry. The first thing I would do is set it up for DHCP, since you have a DHCP server on the same subnet. If there is some other reason for having a static IP, then either choose one in the middle of the subnet (IE, 192.168.0.111), or one that is nowhere close to any others on the network, or configure the DHCP server to exclude your static address. What happens if you switch the 2 nics, like the one you have for your printers with the one you have for the network---or try uninstalling the printers nic just to see if maybe there's a conflict there (like in the BIOS, even). Also, before it drops the connection, are you actually able to communicate with other computers on the lan? What kind of router is being used?

 

[haljung]

I am having the exact same problem with Win 2003 server, I have 2 nics in the box, and radomly 1 nic will lockup. Sometimes all it takes is shaking the mouse, other times an IIS restart or once a reboot. No idea why its locking up 1 nic, I even tried different nics made no difference. It can run for a day or so then lockup for a few hours then back online then lockup. Seems to be able to come back all on its own also. When it locks up

IIS works
The Router is online and working can be accessed
Router will route info to all other nics
The NIC hardware reports are 100% fine, no event logs NOTHING no trace of any problems in software, no logs just out of nowhere for no apparent reason. All I know is with one nic this server ran perfectly for months, as soon as another nic went in BOOM random lockups.

Both are static IPs

192.168.0.105
255.255.255.0

On router 1

10.1.1.106
255.255.252.0

on router 2

So dif ips, dif routers, dif subnets all working fine - random locks

Any ideas on what can cause 1 of 2 nics to lockup. Both CAN work together happily for hours even a day.

 

[bcastner]

255.255.252.0

on router 2

. This should technicly have a subnet mask of 255.0.0.0, as it is a Class A network. More importantly check to make sure your router is capable of supporting this subnetting; many will accept only a Class C definition of 255.255.255.0.

. Using Device Manager, check to make sure your network adapter is not allowed to hibernate:

Start, Run, devmgmt.msc
Expand Network Adapters
Right click your adapter, Properties
Clear all checkboxes under the Power Management tab