I have a PC at work running Server 2003 R2 that acts as a file server. We have a workgroup environment and about 15 users. For the last week or so, I've been experiencing network problems with the server at random times throughout the day. The problem is that although I'm pretty good with computers, I don't know much about the Server OS. I'm not an IT guy, but I can tackle anything else that crops up, but the Server OS is still new to me. The computer was functioning flawlessly for the last year and a half. Now, for some reason, it will become unresponsive to certain types of network traffic. It uses a static IP address outside of the normal DHCP range. I am using 192.168.1.55 for the server address. When it becomes unresponsive, I am still able to RDC into the server and can access shares from within the server. But all incoming requests from clients go unanswered. Additionally, I am able to ping the server but other than that, it will answer no outside requests. I have checked the event log and can find nothing out of the ordinary. A reboot solves the problem until it decides to become unresponsive again. Sometimes it a couple hours and other times it's a couple days. I have tried resetting the TCP/IP stack with the netsh command, which didn't work. I have also tried swapping out to the other NIC just in case there was a driver or hardware issue with the NIC that was in use. One unusual thing I noticed today was the number of open files from some of the users. Mainly this server is used to host the backend of our Access database. It's a custom designed / written LIMS system (Laboratory Information Management System). Typically, you'll see the users accessing the .mdb and .ldb database files. For some reason, the sessions screen will show that the user has 300+ files open, but when you look at the list of open files, it will only show those two files. I wonder if that has something to do with the problem? I'm at a loss here and taking a lot of crap at work for the problems. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

How much ram in the server? What switch is all connecting to? What do the workstations point to for dns? What does the server point to for dns? Is the server running dns server? What folder are all the files open in? This folder related to the database? last but not least how many server CALs are loaded on the server?

-The server has 4GB of 667Mhz ECC Unbuffered RAM. -The server connects to a HP ProCurve 2650 Switch. DHCP for the other computers is handled by a DLink DI-804HV VPN Router. It used to connect through a Linksys EFAH05W Hub, because I didn't have enough wall jacks in my room, but as a troubleshooting step, I made up a new cable and ran it down the hall to the main switch. -As for the DNS, I'm guessing you mean the way the computers see each other? Sorry for my ignorance. The workstations all point to the servers IP address, which is \\192.168.1.55\ -The server has mapped drives to the workstations because there are specific files throughout the building that I need to back up. They are all resolved using the client PC name, such as \\XRay\XLabPro. The drives mapped through the server still function after all clients are unable to access their shares. -The structure is setup like this. The PC has two partitions, the C:\ Partition holds the OS and the D:\ Partition is where all the shares are located. Within the D:\Data_Storage folder is about 18 other folders each with it's own level of user access. Most of the users are in the \\192.168.1.55\Data_Storage\LIMS folder using the Access database. We purchased a copy of Server 2008 Standard and used our downgrade option. Along with the copy of Server 2008, I purchased 20 2008 CAL's and 1 Terminal Services CAL. I was told I needed the Terminal Services CAL for my RDC sessions. The odd thing is that when I set up the computer as a File Server, I never had to provide my Authorization or License Agreement Number. I read on Microsoft's website that it wasn't necessary. Thanks for your time. EDIT -> I also wanted to let you know that I tried the net config server /autodisconnect:-1 command this morning when I brought it back up. I read that had helped some people in the past, so I thought I would give it a try.

Cals are good Config appears to be good Go to the server and a cmd prompt. Type ipconfig /all and post the results here please. sorry the salesguy lied to you about the TS license. You can have two RDP connections to the server with no TS cal by default. Can you ping the server by name from a workstation? I ask because you are using its ip address not the server name for the share link. That procurve switch is a managed switch. Did you configure it for access by assigning it a ip address not in the dhcp scope? If so its a great tool for troubleshooting. I would be curious to the port stats/errors on the port the server is connected to.

Bummer on the TS CAL. Oh well, I guess we have one if I ever need to use it. I can ping the server from a workstation using it's name, but it is up right now. It hasn't crashed since this morning, so I an unable to check it's response following a crash. Here is the output: Pinging server [192.168.1.55] with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 192.168.1.55: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 192.168.1.55: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 192.168.1.55: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 192.168.1.55: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Ping statistics for 192.168.1.55: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms Also, here are the results of the ipconfig /all. I have two NIC's but I disabled the other one when I switched. Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : server Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Server Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1B-21-14-01-CF DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.55 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 I honestly don't know anything about the ProCurve switch. When we moved into this building, it was sold to us and set up by the company that we purchased our T1 line from. I haven't touched it since. I just assumed it was a normal switch and didn't require any user interface. Is there any way I can find out how to talk to it and pull up the stats for you? I see that it has a serial cable interface on the front, but I've never done anything with it before. Thanks again wanderer! I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to help me with my problem. EDIT -> Alright, I was able to use an IP scanner and find the switch. It's at 192.168.1.2 and I can initiate a TelNet session with the switch, but I don't know any of the commands for the information you would need. Can you tell me what you are looking for and I'll see if I can find out how to get it for you?

Please post an ipconfig /all from a workstation. This entry on the server is wrong "DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1" Server needs to point to itself for name resolution Correct entry should be DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.55 You change this in tcp/ip properties Also at the bottom of an ipconfig /all on the server there should be a netbios entry. Is netbios enabled over tcp/ip? It needs to be. Server can't resolve itself which causes problems

Here is the ipconfig /all from my workstation. Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : XRAY Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-0C-01-4D-40 Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.104 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 146.145.XX.2 146.145.XX.3 192.168.1.1 I threw the "X" in there just in case. I know people normally block out their external IP address, but I didn't know about the DNS servers. I would assume it doesn't matter, but I did it just to be sure. The server was not set to enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, so I changed it like you suggested. I also changed the DNS server entry to 192.168.1.55, but when I did that, I lost internet access from the server, so I put it back. After enabling NetBIOS, I reran the ipconfig /all on the server and got the exact same thing. There is still no NetBIOS name at the bottom of the output. Perhaps I have to reboot after doing that? I wasn't given a prompt and I checked again and it's still enabled. I can't reboot until this evening when everyone goes home. I was also able to login to the ProCurve switch and poke around. The only thing I see is that the time and date is wrong and one of my ports, # 39 was showing a bunch of errors from about 10 days ago. I was never given the password for the Administrator mode and according to the event log, I'm logging in as operator so I can't change anything. Port # 39 used to be a laptop that had a failing NIC that we ended up replacing. So there have been no errors since that time according to the log. Here are some entries in the event log. I'm assuming it's not the cause since the server has locked since I replaced the laptop. FFI: port 39-Excessive jabbering. See Help FFI: port 39-Excessive CRC/alignment errors See Help. Ports: port 39 is now offline Ports: port 39 is Blocked by LACP Ports: port 39 is now on-line I was l looking around in the "Status and Counters - Port Counters" section and see different stats for each port. Port 2 is showing "Errors Rx = 1" and Drops Rx = 0 Port 21 is showing "Errors Rx = 3" and Drops Rx = 0 Port 27 is showing "Errors Rx = 2" and Drops Rx = 0 Port 38 is showing "Errors Rx = 1" and Drops Rx = 0 Port 39 is showing "Errors Rx = 34,155 and drops Rx = 0 All other ports show Errors = 0 and Drops = 0 System Up time is 41 days and I haven't seen any additional errors for Port 39 since yesterday when I figured out how to log onto the switch, so it looks like the old laptop was the cause of the errors. I'm assuming the couple errors on the other ports isn't a problem? I wish I knew how to export this log so you could see everything. Oh, and on a side note, the server used to be on port # 1, but when I ran a new cable yesterday to bypass my Linksys hub, it's now on port # 47.