Desktop

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Intermittent Disconnects

0 helpful
15 replies

by klh456

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

I am posting this two places because I'm not sure which category it fits best in.

This has been driving us crazy for several weeks. We have a user, NT 4.0 connecting to a 4.0 Domain with several servers. Periodically throughout the day she will lose connection to one or more servers. We have tried everything we can think of, changed all cables, moved to a different port in the office as well as a different port on the switch, changed NICs, changed PC completely. Nothing has helped. She'll call us about a problem, can't log on to SAP, not getting mail, not able to print. Then maybe a half hour later she will call back and say it is now working. This happens two or three times during the day.

Any help would be appreciated.

15 replies

by shanghai sam

I'm asking this because you don't mention it.
Has anyone attempted to log on to the network using her computer (when she is having the connection problem) using a different user account? Can anyone else recreate the behavior?
Are there any error messages showing up in the Event Viewer?

If you have ruled out out everything physical, to include giving her a completely different computer (and noone else is experiencing the problem), it is either a problem with her user account or it is a problem of user training.

Has anyone watched her go through the process of attempting to log on (while she is having the problem)? Does she always call back in about 30 min.? Is by chance your Account Lockout Policy by chance set to 30 min.? Her definition of losing a connection may actually be that the machine is locking after a period of inactivity (do you have this set as a policy?) and she is locking herself out through bad log-on attempts.

Hope I've given you some other things to check out. Good Luck!

by klh456

Others have logged in to her computer when the problem is there and have had the same problem. We have recreated the behavior on the machine as well as the second machine that was placed there. It isn't always 30 minutes until she calls back. Sometimes more sometimes less. Sometimes rebooting will solve the problem. Our lockout policy is not set to 30 minutes. When she has the problem she will lose her connections to the SAP system, or she will receive an error message in Outlook signifying that the connection to that server has been lost. Or, she will try to print and can't print. When we check she cannot access the print server or even ping it.

It is a real puzzle.

by timwalsh

I'm asking this because you don't mention it.
Has anyone attempted to log on to the network using her computer (when she is having the connection problem) using a different user account? Can anyone else recreate the behavior?
Are there any errormessages showing up in the Event Viewer?

If you have ruled out out everything physical, to include giving her a completely different computer (and noone else is experiencing the problem), it is either a problem with her user account or it is a problem of user training.

Has anyone watched her go through the process of attempting to log on (while she is having the problem)? Does she always call back in about 30 min.? Is by chance your Account Lockout Policy by chance set to 30 min.? Her definition of losing a connection may actually be that the machine is locking after a period of inactivity (do you have this set as a policy?) and she is locking herself out through bad log-on attempts.

Hope I've given you some other things to check out. Good Luck!

by timwalsh

This is obviously a repost of the first answer. I hate it when the system loses your alias info when you take your time forming an answer!

by grimreality

I know the question has been posted as answered but I did not see anyone state if you have checked the cabling. I do not mean is there anything wrong with the cables. What I mean is does the cable run along any type of power source that can cause the afore mentioned issue, such as floresence balast boxes, or other electrical equipment. I apologize for the spelling, guess University was not that good in the literacy department.

by klh456

Thanks, and no the question hasn't been answered. The cable that is running to this computer is fiber. Should not be affected by an electrical equipment.

by timwalsh

I'll try this again since the system seems to have lost my answer.
Since you seem to have ruled out most physical causes, I would surmise that the problem may be one of user education or communication.

Are any other users having similar problems?

Has anyone attempted to use her computer to log-on using a different user (or administrator) account at the time she is having connection problems?

Has anyone watched her attempt to access network resources while she is having the connection problems?

Does the problem always appear to clear up in half an hour?

Do you by chance have your account lockout policy set to reset a users account after being locked out for 30 min.?

Do you have a security policy set to automatically lock workstations after a period of inactivity (requiring a user to relog-on)? If so, was this policy implemented recently?

If the last few questions are true, it could very well be possible that the user is seeing the Workstation Locked screen, thinks this means that her connection has dropped, and in an attempt to get "reconnected", locks herself out of her user account.

I hope I've given you a few more things to look at/investigate. Good Luck!

by timwalsh

Sorry for all the reposts. Every time I come back and look, I get Question Status Unanswered.
I even got an email message saying the answer had been rated.

by klh456

Tim, all of the questions are things that we have already tried. Usually what happens is that she will be disconnected from SAP. Other times she will get an X.400 error signifying that the connection to the mail server has been lost. Other times shecan't print because the connection to the print server is gone.

by cttech

Assumeing you indeed have ruled out the NIC by replaceing it. Have you confirmed the NIC's speed matches the switch's, I have had trouble in the past leaving the Switch and Card on AUTO. Try setting the speed hard and possibly set the IP hard and reserving the IP on the Switch end to the MAC if you havn't already done so. It sounds like a communitcation issue for sure as she only sees the problem connecting to one of your servers. Good luck.

by klh456

I just emailed the technician who has been working most on this problem. He is in charge of the Xylan switches so my guess is that he has checked this. I know this has been a problem in other areas. I thought they had all been changed but I may be wrong.

by ann777

Have you moved this machine to another location and see if the problm re-occurs?

If no, then the problem is something with the location or cabling. Fibre IS sentitive to bends/breaks and changing the ports but using the same cable in the wall,will not help (I'm assuming that you have only changed the cable from the computer--> wall, or from the Switch --> patch panel).

If the problem occurs with this user or computer at another location, then I'd suggest narrowning down the parameters as to whther the cause is user training or computer hardware itself.

by klh456

This was my last suggestion to the technician before leaving last week. I don't think he has had a chance to try it yet. Everything has been changed except the fiber in the wall. We are going to have that tested this week. We manufacture cable including fiber cable so have some experts on staff. They are going to run some tests on the fiber in the wall.

This discussion is closed to new replies.