Help with Client Disconnects

I have an issue I have been trying to solve for the better part of about 4
months with a client. They have SBS 2003, SP2, Exchange SP2 all other
windows updates applied. The machine had Symantec Endpoint Server on it but
I removed it. The issue is that clients continue to experience disconnects,
very short duration, just enough to bump them from the network and foul out
the database connections to the server.

Anyway I removed symantec MR2 SP1 because I was thinking this was causing
the issue but it is still happening. Also, there was another DC on the
network which was having replication issues so I demoted that DC now there is
only the SBS box that is a DC on the network.

That said I am spinning my wheels on what could be causing these
disconnects, they are only for like 10 seconds but they still kick them from
the database and its very annoying for them. The disconnects happen so fast
that there is no way to really know if they are getting disconnected from
just the local subnet or from the internet as well. There are about 15
clients all running XP and most of them are having this same issue. The
clients are not getting disconnected when they are idle, they can be working
in a database and all of a sudden the network drops off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Merv
Fri Jun 27 11:34:14 PDT 2008

Nothing but questions Ted...

When did this start?
Wired or wireless connections?
Anything in the event logs on the SBS server or the workstations?
Have you replaced the switch or hub (in case it has gone bad)?
Power to switch or hub being interrupted? (may need an electrician)
Have you replaced the Ethernet cable attached to the SBS LAN NIC leading to
the switch or hub?
Server UPS is functioning properly (may want to plug server directly into
power outlet to bypass UPS)?
Server (components) overheating? (Fans functioning properly)?

The SBS LAN NIC could be bad.
Could even be a power glitch (intermittent server power supply or other
electrical component).

--
Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]
============================

"Ted" <Ted@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:66E0FBAA-B2F4-4BD5-9CEB-86BF9F4A628B@microsoft.com...
>I have an issue I have been trying to solve for the better part of about 4
> months with a client. They have SBS 2003, SP2, Exchange SP2 all other
> windows updates applied. The machine had Symantec Endpoint Server on it
> but
> I removed it. The issue is that clients continue to experience
> disconnects,
> very short duration, just enough to bump them from the network and foul
> out
> the database connections to the server.
>
> Anyway I removed symantec MR2 SP1 because I was thinking this was causing
> the issue but it is still happening. Also, there was another DC on the
> network which was having replication issues so I demoted that DC now there
> is
> only the SBS box that is a DC on the network.
>
> That said I am spinning my wheels on what could be causing these
> disconnects, they are only for like 10 seconds but they still kick them
> from
> the database and its very annoying for them. The disconnects happen so
> fast
> that there is no way to really know if they are getting disconnected from
> just the local subnet or from the internet as well. There are about 15
> clients all running XP and most of them are having this same issue. The
> clients are not getting disconnected when they are idle, they can be
> working
> in a database and all of a sudden the network drops off.
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ted
Fri Jun 27 12:06:04 PDT 2008

Hi Merv

Thank you for your help

The server and infrastructure has been installed for almost 2 years, we
havent had any issues until around this past February which was about 5
months ago, close time frame of the symantec being installed, that was why i
removed symantec to take it out of the equation.

These connections are all wired through 2 - 10/100 DLINK 24 port switches.
There are no messages in the event log of the server but there are
application errors when the client disconnects and there are messages in the
client application log about a faulting application which is due to the
network disconnect. I have not replaced either of the switches but that is
my next step.

I havent disconnected the UPS but I will next visit, also will change the
patch cable as well and swap out one of the switches. The server there are
no alarms or anything, the Dell server manager and the perfmon monitoring all
show events as normal. I am going to swap out some patch cables and at
least one of the switches when i am onsite again.

Thank you for your help

Ted


"Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" wrote:

> Nothing but questions Ted...
>
> When did this start?
> Wired or wireless connections?
> Anything in the event logs on the SBS server or the workstations?
> Have you replaced the switch or hub (in case it has gone bad)?
> Power to switch or hub being interrupted? (may need an electrician)
> Have you replaced the Ethernet cable attached to the SBS LAN NIC leading to
> the switch or hub?
> Server UPS is functioning properly (may want to plug server directly into
> power outlet to bypass UPS)?
> Server (components) overheating? (Fans functioning properly)?
>
> The SBS LAN NIC could be bad.
> Could even be a power glitch (intermittent server power supply or other
> electrical component).
>
> --
> Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]
> ============================
>
> "Ted" <Ted@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:66E0FBAA-B2F4-4BD5-9CEB-86BF9F4A628B@microsoft.com...
> >I have an issue I have been trying to solve for the better part of about 4
> > months with a client. They have SBS 2003, SP2, Exchange SP2 all other
> > windows updates applied. The machine had Symantec Endpoint Server on it
> > but
> > I removed it. The issue is that clients continue to experience
> > disconnects,
> > very short duration, just enough to bump them from the network and foul
> > out
> > the database connections to the server.
> >
> > Anyway I removed symantec MR2 SP1 because I was thinking this was causing
> > the issue but it is still happening. Also, there was another DC on the
> > network which was having replication issues so I demoted that DC now there
> > is
> > only the SBS box that is a DC on the network.
> >
> > That said I am spinning my wheels on what could be causing these
> > disconnects, they are only for like 10 seconds but they still kick them
> > from
> > the database and its very annoying for them. The disconnects happen so
> > fast
> > that there is no way to really know if they are getting disconnected from
> > just the local subnet or from the internet as well. There are about 15
> > clients all running XP and most of them are having this same issue. The
> > clients are not getting disconnected when they are idle, they can be
> > working
> > in a database and all of a sudden the network drops off.
> >
> > Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
>
>

Al
Fri Jun 27 14:00:18 PDT 2008

When you removed Symantec, did you use their removal tool? I vaguely
remembered them having one because Add/Remove didn't always get it all and
sure enough... (never use Symantec myself)

http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

I'd also run the SBS BPA on your server to make sure you NIC drivers have
all the right settings, especially if you have Windows server SP2:

http://www.sbsbpa.com/

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555912


--
Allan Williams



"Ted" <Ted@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:66E0FBAA-B2F4-4BD5-9CEB-86BF9F4A628B@microsoft.com...
>I have an issue I have been trying to solve for the better part of about 4
> months with a client. They have SBS 2003, SP2, Exchange SP2 all other
> windows updates applied. The machine had Symantec Endpoint Server on it
> but
> I removed it. The issue is that clients continue to experience
> disconnects,
> very short duration, just enough to bump them from the network and foul
> out
> the database connections to the server.
>
> Anyway I removed symantec MR2 SP1 because I was thinking this was causing
> the issue but it is still happening. Also, there was another DC on the
> network which was having replication issues so I demoted that DC now there
> is
> only the SBS box that is a DC on the network.
>
> That said I am spinning my wheels on what could be causing these
> disconnects, they are only for like 10 seconds but they still kick them
> from
> the database and its very annoying for them. The disconnects happen so
> fast
> that there is no way to really know if they are getting disconnected from
> just the local subnet or from the internet as well. There are about 15
> clients all running XP and most of them are having this same issue. The
> clients are not getting disconnected when they are idle, they can be
> working
> in a database and all of a sudden the network drops off.
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ted
Mon Jun 30 15:36:02 PDT 2008

I didn't use the symantec removal tool no, but maybe I should next time I am
there. I ran the BPA it didn't complain about the NIC at all but it did say
I need to put SP2 for exchange on. I will do that next time I am there. I
am kinda narrowing it down to a cabling or switch issue so I am going to
replace the switch. I have not had this issue on my other servers before
with symantec so I am ruling that out. I will post more when I know more.
Weird thing about this, there is a terminal server 2003 on the same network
that I demoted from a DC. Logon to that machine as domain admin and to a run
\\server1 and it asks for credentials having user@domain.com as the default
logon value. I searched through the registry for user@domain.com and
couldn't find it. weird issues

Thanks for all of your help

Ted

"Al Williams" wrote:

> When you removed Symantec, did you use their removal tool? I vaguely
> remembered them having one because Add/Remove didn't always get it all and
> sure enough... (never use Symantec myself)
>
> http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039
>
> I'd also run the SBS BPA on your server to make sure you NIC drivers have
> all the right settings, especially if you have Windows server SP2:
>
> http://www.sbsbpa.com/
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555912
>
>
> --
> Allan Williams
>
>
>
> "Ted" <Ted@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:66E0FBAA-B2F4-4BD5-9CEB-86BF9F4A628B@microsoft.com...
> >I have an issue I have been trying to solve for the better part of about 4
> > months with a client. They have SBS 2003, SP2, Exchange SP2 all other
> > windows updates applied. The machine had Symantec Endpoint Server on it
> > but
> > I removed it. The issue is that clients continue to experience
> > disconnects,
> > very short duration, just enough to bump them from the network and foul
> > out
> > the database connections to the server.
> >
> > Anyway I removed symantec MR2 SP1 because I was thinking this was causing
> > the issue but it is still happening. Also, there was another DC on the
> > network which was having replication issues so I demoted that DC now there
> > is
> > only the SBS box that is a DC on the network.
> >
> > That said I am spinning my wheels on what could be causing these
> > disconnects, they are only for like 10 seconds but they still kick them
> > from
> > the database and its very annoying for them. The disconnects happen so
> > fast
> > that there is no way to really know if they are getting disconnected from
> > just the local subnet or from the internet as well. There are about 15
> > clients all running XP and most of them are having this same issue. The
> > clients are not getting disconnected when they are idle, they can be
> > working
> > in a database and all of a sudden the network drops off.
> >
> > Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
>
>