As of last week, all Windows 7 workstations in office have sporadic connectivity to Windows Server 2003 R2
All the Windows 7 machines in the office have started to struggle to connect to Windows Server 2003 R2. Specifics:
- On any of the Windows 7 machines, I'll connect to the LAN via wireless or Ethernet and attempt to access the server via Windows Explorer and get nothing. Efforts to ping the server or connect via RD fail as well.
- Then, for no rhyme or reason, connectivity comes back. When connectivity comes back, it comes back for Windows Explorer, ping, and RD.
- The connectivity issue is exclusively between Windows 7 clients and the Windows 2003 Server. The Windows 7 clients connection to the Windows 2000 server and other client workstations is uninterrupted. Similarly, the Windows XP clients connection to the Windows 2003 server is uninterrupted.
- I've been perusing the updates on both the Windows 7 clients and the Windows 2003 Server. While nothing jumps out at me, it's certainly possible that an update on either side is the source of my misery.
- I've also been perusing the event logs. Nothing jumps out at me, but I'm not an Event Log expert by any stretch.
- On any of the Windows 7 machines, I'll connect to the LAN via wireless or Ethernet and attempt to access the server via Windows Explorer and get nothing. Efforts to ping the server or connect via RD fail as well.
- Then, for no rhyme or reason, connectivity comes back. When connectivity comes back, it comes back for Windows Explorer, ping, and RD.
- The connectivity issue is exclusively between Windows 7 clients and the Windows 2003 Server. The Windows 7 clients connection to the Windows 2000 server and other client workstations is uninterrupted. Similarly, the Windows XP clients connection to the Windows 2003 server is uninterrupted.
- I've been perusing the updates on both the Windows 7 clients and the Windows 2003 Server. While nothing jumps out at me, it's certainly possible that an update on either side is the source of my misery.
- I've also been perusing the event logs. Nothing jumps out at me, but I'm not an Event Log expert by any stretch.
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ASKER
ded9,
Can you boot the win 7 computer in safe mode with networking and then check whether there are any connectivity issues.
Same behavior in Safe Mode with Networking.
Chief IT
First off, let's define what routed or routing protocol is intermittent. When you say you can't ping, do you mean by netbios name, DNS resolution, or IP address?
Pings (and other attempts at connectivity via RD or Windows Explorer) are purely by IP. No effort at name resolution (which seems fine, by the way.)
If you are having problems with IP address or ARP resolution, this is imtermittent between an IP and MAC address. This is when you start getting into a problem with routed protocols. This could come from a multihomed server, multihomed computer, IPversion6 on a network that only supports IPv4... The symtpoms you will see is intermittent problems with ping by IP address, errors that say can't find domain controller, probably not many event log errors, etc...
No multihoned servers or computers I've disabled IP v6 on test Windows 7 machine (including edit in registry).
Windows 7 machine A is currently successfully pinging the server. Windows 7 machine B is currently not successfully pinging the server. Here's the key point: When I run arp -a on the machine A, it returns the correct MAC address of the server. When I run arp -a on machine B, it returns an incorrect MAC address. It actually returns the MAC address of the gateway. Awesome! I've got something to work on! Thank you! Thank you!
e_adams, Lastly, I would look at your switch to see if it is going out. Most switches, depending on models, can have several ports go bad and still function efficiently.
I spent a lot of time trying to isolate the two switches between the Windows 7 clients and the server. (They were fine.) Good suggestion, however.
Can you boot the win 7 computer in safe mode with networking and then check whether there are any connectivity issues.
Same behavior in Safe Mode with Networking.
Chief IT
First off, let's define what routed or routing protocol is intermittent. When you say you can't ping, do you mean by netbios name, DNS resolution, or IP address?
Pings (and other attempts at connectivity via RD or Windows Explorer) are purely by IP. No effort at name resolution (which seems fine, by the way.)
If you are having problems with IP address or ARP resolution, this is imtermittent between an IP and MAC address. This is when you start getting into a problem with routed protocols. This could come from a multihomed server, multihomed computer, IPversion6 on a network that only supports IPv4... The symtpoms you will see is intermittent problems with ping by IP address, errors that say can't find domain controller, probably not many event log errors, etc...
No multihoned servers or computers I've disabled IP v6 on test Windows 7 machine (including edit in registry).
Windows 7 machine A is currently successfully pinging the server. Windows 7 machine B is currently not successfully pinging the server. Here's the key point: When I run arp -a on the machine A, it returns the correct MAC address of the server. When I run arp -a on machine B, it returns an incorrect MAC address. It actually returns the MAC address of the gateway. Awesome! I've got something to work on! Thank you! Thank you!
e_adams, Lastly, I would look at your switch to see if it is going out. Most switches, depending on models, can have several ports go bad and still function efficiently.
I spent a lot of time trying to isolate the two switches between the Windows 7 clients and the server. (They were fine.) Good suggestion, however.
Was this resolved, or are you just going off of the additional information??
ASKER
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