Microsoft Windows XP Pro (SP3) Workstations Losing Connection to Windows Server 2008 Standard

There are only three workstations, all loss their connection to the server. I will try updating the SEP and also scan all the workstations.

Also the problem will sometimes resolve itself, that is to say at times computer may lose their connections to the server and will then be able to access the server again later on.

When there is no connection, look in the systray for the Offline Files Synchronization Manager, and see if it says"server availalable for reconnect", or similar.... It would be a little screen icon, with a blue "i" on it....

And can you ping the server by name when this happens?

Can you ping it by IP when this happens?

Johnb6767 is probably on to something here.

I would check DNS and WINS (if configured).  If there is no reason to have WINS configured, then i would recommend using DNS only.  If WINS is configured, be sure to configure WINS and DNS to update eachother.

The fact that it can resolve itself says one of two things:

Okey so yesterday I went in and checked on the network, remarkably it has a unique ability of never stuffing up when I'm there but i have LogMeIn installed on all 3 workstations as well as the server so it should be fine. I went into the DHCP and found that only one computer had an assigned IP Address, but the other computer which didnt have an assigned IP Address was still able to access network drives without issues. I'm new to Windows Server 2008, as this is the first business i have looked after so i was wondering how to get the DHCP to assign an IP Address, the computer does however appear in the network from the network display (Start Menu- Network).

It might be something simple but like i said I'm new to Server setup and DHCP so i appreciate the help.

Forgot i opening the DNS on the server (Windows Server Standard 2008) and found that there was one warning coming up every now and again it dosent correlate with the times when workstations were unable to connect but i could find help online about it. The error is below.

The DNS server is waiting for Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) to signal that the initial synchronization of the directory has been completed. The DNS server service cannot start until the initial synchronization is complete because critical DNS data might not yet be replicated onto this domain controller. If events in the AD DS event log indicate that there is a problem with DNS name resolution, consider adding the IP address of another DNS server for this domain to the DNS server list in the Internet Protocol properties of this computer. This event will be logged every two minutes until AD Ds has signaled that the inital synchronization has successfully completed.

That warning only comes up onces at any point in time the next item is just an informational which says The DNS server has started.

I would respond to both of the last expert comments in the thread up, about 4 up..... Would be good information to have....

"I went into the DHCP and found that only one computer had an assigned IP Address, but the other computer which didnt have an assigned IP Address was still able to access network drives without issues."

Think that you might have Sattic Ip Addressing on the clients perhaps.....

As for static IP,if somebody else on the network has the same IP ,yes you would get a disconnect..

You should see an error in the event viewer on the DHCP server if that's the case.

I updated Symantec Endpoint Protection to 12.1 the latest version, and everything seems to have went back to normal after doing that, but ill leave this question open for another day, just to see if it plays up.

About the DNS you guys are right im pretty sure the issue was with a static IP address, guess it was just lucky that there wasnt a problem earlier, so I think ill just make sure all the workstations are assigned dynamic rather than static IP addresses.

Unless you have more than one server,that error is just cosmetic.

Just make sure:

Your DNS provider is the 2008 servers IP address

You're just forwarding the DNS lookups to your ISP from the server.

You're not using the ISP's DNS in the DHCP scope.

To pqm554, I'm sorry to be a bother but would you be able to provide a link to a walkthrough or something, I'm not very good with network diagostics becuase this is the first time ive encounted a small business with a server, all the small businesses i have previously supported used a network setup similar to a home network.

I really appreciate your help, sorry I'm abit of a lost case but like i said this is the first time ive ever troubleshooted server problems.

Something to note, not sure if its important, is that firstly the issue has started again, and ive been keeping the customers happy by restarting the server when required. Sometimes its fine for afew days and sometimes it will last a day before I need to restart it again.

In the DHCP when i go to the address leases section its empty but there are two computers which are on and access the network drives. Is that normal or is something seriously wrong, I thought i should see both computers since I would except that they would be given leases.

Sound like you have another dhcp server on the subnet.

no the network only has one server and three workstations and nothing else, so im not sure how it's been set up. Any ideas on what to try, becuase ive looking in the logs of the server and there are no warnings or errors at any of the times when workstations have lost connectivity.

Download the SBS 2003 best practices analyzer.and post the results.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940439

Is there a Windows Server 2008 Standard edition best practices analyser tool, the link you posted is for small business server 2003, im not sure why they didnt pruchase small business server but im stuck using what they already have.

Try the 2008 sbs analyzer ,it still may give you some insight