Network disconnects.

[noka]

LC2000 w/RAID-1M card, (5) 18GB hotswap drives (RAID-5 config), Win2K SP2 and also following security patches and hot-fixes (w2ksrp1.exe, Q314147.exe).

Switch is ProCurve 2324 (J4818A, unmanaged). All PC's set to "auto-detect (LC2000)" or "hardware default" (VL400) for speed and duplex setting, to create 100Mbps/full-duplex environment.

Problem: Application crashes (usually returns to Win2K desktop but sometimes hangs). Inspection of Win2K System Event log shows Event ID=4202,4201, source Tcpip sometimes one or two entries, sometimes numerous entries. Text is something like:

"The system detected that network adapter Connection was disconnected from the network, and the adapter's network configuration has been released. If the network adapter was not disconnected, this may indicate that it has malfunctioned. Please contact your vendor for updated drivers."

Not sure what driver we use (probably taken automatically from Win2K CD).

Strange thing is that clients (Vectra VL400) also exhibit same symptom sometimes.

Any idea?

[Arimo Laine_2 · Accepted solution]

Hi.

First of all, try to update your switch firmware. Current version is F.05.14, that can be downloaded from www.hp.com/rnd/software/switches.htm.

The upgrade instructions are in switch Management and Configuration Guide, Appendix A, File Transfers. The only available way is to use a console connection and XModem. Manual download page is www.hp.com/rnd/support/manuals/index.htm.

Another thing, get rid of Microsoft drivers and use the appropriate HP drivers for your server.

HTH,
Arimo

[noka]

Forgot one thing. Two ProCurve hubs (J3295A) are plugged into the switch (each to separate switch port) and VL400's are connected to hubs via patch panels. I know hubs only run at half-duplex but system should work, I think.

About f/w download to ProCurve switch:
1) How doyou check latest f/w rev?
2) How do you get X-modem connection and what cable is used?

[Arimo Laine_2]

Whoh.

As for the hubs, yes, the system should work. But if it's possible, maybe you could set the Vectra NICs to 10HDx (or 100HDx, cannot remember whether the hubs are 10 or 10/100 devices...) instead of default.

As for the FW update:

For console connection you need a null-modem cable between the switch and PC COM port. You can use Hyperterminal as a console client, but actually I'd advise to check out Tera Term Pro (http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.html),
that one works with HP switches with default settings.

Once you have the console connection, you can use command show version to find out the current firmware.

HTH,
TAL

[noka]

Thanks. The HP hub manual says:

"These hubs are autosensing and autonegotiating devices that provide the flexibility of adjusting to different network connection speed settings. The hub ports
always operate at half-duplex."

Seems to me that server set to "auto-detect" should play w/switch. Switch should play w/hubs, and client PC's set to "hardware default" should play w/hubs.
No?

By the way, anyone know what setting of hardware default means for VL400 PC?
- Media Type choices are:
100Base TX
10Base TX
Auto Select
Hardware Default (using this one)
- Duplex Mode Choices are:
Full Duplex
Half Duplex
Hardware Default (using this one)

[Arimo Laine_2]

I've no clue what's the HW default on vectra NIC :-) If VL400 is even relatively modern, it's most propably 100FDx.

If you're connecting them to the hubs, I'd anyhow check if setting them to 10HDx solves the problem with the vectras.

TAL

[OLARU Dan]

Are you still having problems with your network disconnects?

[noka]

Yes, it is still a problem but for reasons too complicated to go into here, we did not try a switch firmware upgrade. We will do that soon. If that does not work, maybe we do some network monitoring, to try and trap some event, etc. Curious, do you have some theory we could test?

[OLARU Dan]

Noka,

1. You can chech the firmware revision of swt 2324 (J4818A) after you connect to it (via serial port) and choose something like "Status and Counters" and then "General System Information" (this is the case for 4000M - which I have)

2. The only version of the firmware (OS) for this swt is F.05.14, which HP did not change since 26 September 2002. It is available for download from http://www.hp.com/rnd/software/switches.htm - but you might already have this version installed in your swt (check it on the swt before downloading it)

3. If you can't connect to the swt from the first attempt, adjust the Baud Rate of transmission on the terminal emulator to minimum of 1200 baud and then try again. But do not try to transfer the firmware from your PC to the swt at this speed, since it will take ages (the OS has ~1.54 MB).

4. Let's say you have the latest OS on your swt.

4.1 Check the HUB-to-SWT uplinks are correct (you use cross-over cables if you don't have a special uplink port on each hub)

4.2. If all PCs that connect to one J3295A (let's say HUB1) have the symptoms you describe AND when you replace the hub with another one the symptoms dissapear, then HUB1 is broken and should be forwarded to HP for repairs.

4.3. If you can't blame any particular hub (many PCs connected to any hub, and PC that directly connect to the swt have the symptoms), then the swt might be faulty and may need repair.

5. On one of your PCs set the Media Type to 100BaseTX and Duplex Mode to Half Duplex. If the PC still has the symptoms, try 10BaseTX. Auto-negotiation on switches doesn't always work as advertised.

6. To see if the PCs have the correct NIC drivers and the networking is OK on PCs, connect 2 PCs through a good cross-over cable (without passing through the swt or hubs) and check if the two computers can see each other.

[noka]

Hi, thanks for the response. A few comments (sorry it is so long):

1/2. J4818A - yes, we can check f/w. I am reasonably sure it is less than F.05.14 but need to verify. J4818A switch is unmanaged and 9-pin d-sub connector is 'download port' (e.g. for f/w upgrade). I am not sure if it will respond to other commands you mentioned but can check.

3. I had some trouble connecting to switch in my lab (not system in question) but was able to successfully connect after adjusting a few parameters (e.g. error correction type).

4. Hub was replaced by switch - same problem. Patch cables were checked for correct type - replaced - same problem. Switch had already been replaced (unsure of f/w rev when that was done, however) - same problem.

5. We can try some other duplex/speed settings but HP doc specifically states that connection of any device to unmanaged switch (J4818A) requires "auto" setting, otherwise duplex mismatch occurs and will cause more comm problems. We have other systems working successfully with same h/w - but again, not sure about switch f/w rev.

6. Computers can see each other and same NIC drivers are used successfully on other similar systems we have installed elsewhere.

NOTE: We did find on HP web that F.05.14 switch f/w solves buffer overrun problem in switch due to network connects/disconnect transitions. System has some "moveable" PC's on carts. Users supposed to shutdown and move client to another room, reconnect, power up and reboot. We don't know if they shutdown completely, although they are advised to. In any case, we wonder if these shutdown/restart transitions might be causing switch buffer overrun because:

1. Just before server/system problem, we notice Event 4201 and 4202 in Win2000 System Event log (i.e. NIC connects and disconnects). This occurs maybe 10 sec before the problem. We theorize the buffer overrun causes switch to reset/reboot, which causes our server to lose DB connection, since it is done over network layer. This would cause our application to fail on the server with resultant application crash on clients. We not also that the PC's are sometimes found at the Win2000 desktop on all PC's, so it doesn't appear to crash the OS.

2. The problem is intermittent but seems to occur approx every 9-12 days.

So maybe the switch f/w upgrade will help, we will see.