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Struggling with NIC connectivity on PowerEdge T300 ...

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mrdom

MIS
Oct 5, 2005
333
US
Hi everybody:

I recently did a fresh install of Windows 2008 Server R2 on our PowerEdge T300 server. We have the dual Broadcom 5722 chipset NIC's onboard. When I boot the server up and it stops at the login screen, I can ping the server for about 15 seconds. Then, all of a sudden, it becomes unresponsive - cannot ping by hostname or IP address. When I log in, the "limited availability" icon is displayed.

Here's what I've tried thus far:

1. I tried switching from one NIC to another. No help.

2. I tried having only one NIC enabled (other is disabled). No help.

3. I updated the drivers for the Broadcom chipset. No help.

4. I disabled the power management functions on both adapters. No help.

4. I installed the Broadcom utilities, and teamed the two adapters up to work as a virtual adapter. No help.

5. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers. No help.

6. I had Symantec Endpoint client installed on the server (antivirus and spyware only). Thinking that might be a problem, I uninstalled that. No help (Symantec Endpoint Manager is still running, however)

7. Tried a different network interface cable. No help

The only way I can correct the problem is to go into the network adapters, disable them and re-enable them. Then, they work fine until the server needs to restart again. Then, the problem starts all over again.

If I look at the back of the server, the NICS are both blinking rapid amber when I'm having trouble with connectivity. After disabling and re-enabling, they blink intermittently as is normal.

I don't think the NIC's are bad. I could see perhaps one being bad, but because the behavior is happening on both of them, that tells me that there's most likely another cause. Under Windows Server 2003, we didn't seem to have any problems.

Has anyone come across this issue or might be able to suggest a fix? I'm stumped as to what to try next.

Thanks everyone!
 
Perhaps try a different network switch or setting both ends of the connection (auto negotiate or manually set them to full duplex 1000mb or try 100mb for a test)

Norm
 
Is windows firewall turned on? I've seen some flakiness on servers before (under 2008, but not 2008 R2) with Windows Firewall enabled, even with defined exceptions. Same symptoms, a few packets get through, then nothing.
 
Off hours have you tested with a direct cable to another machine ? removing the switch from the loop

Do you have an Intel card to swap in for the Broad-crap interface? Dell has so many issue with the
Broadcom interface, I keep wondering how much they save using it.

Do you have a managed switch? If so check all the ports for errors.

jkupski points out one of my favorites.


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Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, 1949
 
Hi everyone - Thanks very much for the diagnostic information ... I'm really grateful! It ended up being a firmware issue! The driver I was using was too old to support the older firmware that was onboard. I flashed the firmware to the latest version, and they both began behaving as normally. Pings and responses are now as expected. I should have thought of that! :)

Appreciate your help!
 
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