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Laptop "falls off" the network.

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11 replies

by cuziyq 2 views

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Equipment: HP OmniBook 4150, 128MB RAM, 3Com XJack CardBus NIC, Win2K Pro.

I have seen this problem pop up before with other computers on our network, but this is the first time I have been able to consistently reproduce it. It is really weird.

User has a laptop that mysteriously "falls off" the network when copying files from any other computer. The amount of data that produces the problem varies from day to day. But while copying files, the user will get one of two error messages:
1) Cannot copy file. The path is too deep
--OR--
2) Cannot copy file. The network name is no longer available.

When it happens, network access becomes VERY slow, and the user must reboot to get normal access back again.

If I set up a continuous ping of the machine (i.e ping -t) it will time out on about 19 out of every 20 packets. But the 20th packet goes through just fine in less than 10ms. User still has a valid IP address, and it appears to him as if he is still conected -- justincredibly slowly. I can even relase and renew the IP address without problems.

The problem occurs whether the remote machine is in the same domain or not, and whether it is on the same segment or not. 100MBit LAN, or 128K WAN connection makes no difference. It'll happen regardless if you're copying a few large files, or hundreds of small ones. The computer gets it into it's head that it's only gonna copy 50 megs or so and that's it; no matter how long it takes to transfer that 50 megs (it varies from day to day).

Can anyone tell me what is causing this to happen? Although it's consistent on this particulat laptop, I've seen it happen a couple times before during my tenure at this company on different equipment. But in those cases, the problem went away by itself.

11 replies

by nagazaki

I also had the same kind of problems with the connection to a W2K exchange server ina mixed (NT4.0 & 5.0) environment.

The only working solution I found was to modify the hosts file (\winnt\system32\drivers\etc) and add the IP & name of the involved server.

I also distributed this hosts with the logon script for the modification to be done on every computer which logs on the LAN.

i think it is a name resolution problem which happens but didn't really find it's origin.

Hope it helps

by bphammer

On the same lines, I had a cluster set up and every once in a wile, I would notice in the event log that NodeA would lose communications with NodeB. I pinned it down, to the same area that you are talking about. When ever a user would syncronize their folders with the server, I would get that error. And after reviewing the client log, they would have errors generated by the netwoork failure
In the short of it, I changed the NICs on the servers to 3coms and have never seen this error again.You might want to update the NIC drivers or try a different manufacturer for the NIC

HTH,
Brian

by syke

Hello. This is not new to me at all. I have seen this many times as a network integrator. I'm going to take a stab in the dark, but I'm guessing that some of the other machines you've had this issue with are using 3Com NIC's, or you have 3Com or Intel switche(s) on your network. Here in a nutshell is what was discovered:

3Com 59x, or 905 NIC's do not work well with Intel devices (HUBS, SWITCHES, or Server NIC's), and I have seen them have problems with the HP4000 switches that have become so popular. Also, seeing as this is to do with laptops, I agree with another answer that you should change out that 3COM NIC for something cheap like a Zircom or Linksys, mainly because I found the the connectors where bad, or the cable that came with them was faulty. Swapping out for another NIC (and disabling any internal NIC) should see the problem go away.

3Com works well with 3Com. A good low end NIC comes with the realtek chipset, and I have very few problems with those for normal workstations, for servers I mainly use Intel Pro's, and for laptops either Linksys or Zircom NIC's - my problem days like yours are over!

Syke

by klundy

I've seen this with laptops and workstations. In my case, the solution was to remove "auto-detect" on the NIC speed and duplex. Hard code the parameters. On one combination, I needed to hard code the parameters on both sides - the NIC and the switch.

by david.stolz

We are experiencing the same type problem. IBM laptop, WIN98 with 3COM NIC with latest driver, W2K servers with INTEL NICS and latest drivers. Laptop could access network share immediatley after a reboot, but some minutes later(it varied), whetherfiles were transferred or not, share became unavailable, user could not reconnect, and PC was very slow. Only regained normal speed after a reboot, and the process began again.
This particular problem was solved by correcting WINS settings on the server hosting the share. For some reason, the WINS settings were missing.

A similar problem exists with IBM laptops running W2k, with Xircom NIC. Connections drop off, but can be re-established by dbl clicking the connection. No slowness noticed, WINS correction did not fix this problem.

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