pc timeouts

[cygnul]

hi

we have pc's getting a timeout when trying to get a new lease from DHCP. this only happens with pc's using os version below win2k. short term solution has been to increase lease time. is this a config problem with the backbone switches. this has been suggested.

any help in the right direction would be great
cheers

 

[angG]

When using DHCP you need to enable portfast on the ports of the switch that are directly connection to the workstations otherwise it will timeout.

 

[mavos]

We ran into the same problem, telling people to wait 1 minute helped but wasn't real acceptable. It is spanning tree shutting down the port that causes this, Windows (pre-2k) isn't smart enough to wait until the nic can see the network before bringing up the sign-on screen and users try signing on too early. Unless you have control over what and who plugs into your switches I would avoid portfast, either have the users wait or upgrade.