[Preacherpj]

Hey everybody -

I'm struggling with a network problem and am hopeful someone can possibly shed some light for me.

The players:
Dell Latitude D630 Laptop (Client) running XP Service Pack 3
Server running Server2008R2
Cisco Catalyst 2960 switch

I came in this morning and the user couldn't connect to the network using his laptop, I looked at the switch and the port he was connected had been err-disabled. This was actually expected as I have port-security on and we had moved his laptop to a different location.

I cleared the err-disable on the switch and the port read 1/0/4 is up (connected) exactly what it should read. But the user couldn't connect to the domain. No other computers on the network have any trouble, all configured the same way and hooked up into the same switch.

So I logged in locally, checked the IP address, DNS address and Default gateway - all configured correctly. I disabled, re-enabled the adapter, changed his IP address, restarted the machine and re-loaded the latest drivers. None of these would allow me to see the network, even though the device says its working and the switch says its connected.

I took the computer off the domain, joined it to a workgroup and then attempted to re-join it to the domain with a different PC name, it won't let me - I get an error stating that the DNS server isn't available. I connected the PC to a different port on the switch - but I still get the same result.

If I right click on the network adapter and select status - it says that its connected and sending packets - but not recieving any....

Anybody have any ideas - I'm starting to get frustrated haha.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[Preacherpj]

Just to update this problem - I've turned off the Windows firewall.

All of our comptuers use static IP addresses, but we have a DHCP service running on the server. I configured the network adapter to obtain an address automatically, and it did that without any issue. The DHCP server leased the client machine an IP address, but I still can't join the domain or ping any computers on the network. I'm baffled.

 

[Wand3r3r]

post the results of a ipconfig /all from the laptop to review

 

[Preacherpj]

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\Documents and Settings\xAdministrator>ipconfig /all
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : mcconnell
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : CSDS12.mil
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : CSDS12.mil
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-21-70-BB-D7-6D
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.11
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, January 26, 2012 2:40:07 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, February 03, 2012 2:40:07 PM
C:\Documents and Settings\xAdministrator>

 

[Wand3r3r]

do a nslookup 192.168.1.2 and post the results

 

[Preacherpj]

C:\Documents and Settings\xAdministrator>nslookup 192.168.1.2
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.1.2: Timed out
*** Default servers are not available
Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.1.2
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Request to UnKnown timed-out
C:\Documents and Settings\xAdministrator>


**Again I really appreciate the help and time**

 

[Wand3r3r]

Clearly the dhcp settings can't be right.

What is the ip address of the dns server? Doesn't appear that 192.168.1.2 is the dns server.

Can you ping 192.168.1.2?

 

[Preacherpj]

192.168.1.2 is the DNS server and I can ping that from other computers on the network. Just not the one client thats giving me issues.

This is from a different client on the network. This client is hooked into the same switch also using XP SP3.

C:\Documents and Settings\administrator>ping 192.168.1.2
Pinging 192.168.1.2 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.2: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.2: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.2:
Packets: Sent = 2, Received = 2, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 1ms
Control-C
^C
C:\Documents and Settings\administrator>ipconfig /all
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : vostro
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : CSDS12.mil
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : CSDS12.mil
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) 82562V-2 10/100 Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-09-91-D5-08
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.65
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
C:\Documents and Settings\administrator>nslookup 192.168.1.2
Server: dc1.csds12.mil
Address: 192.168.1.2
Name: dc1.csds12.mil
Address: 192.168.1.2

C:\Documents and Settings\administrator>

 

[Wand3r3r]

if you assign this laptop a static ip of 192.168.1.11 with gateway and dns at 192.168.1.1 and plug it direct to the router do you get internet and can you successfully do a nslookup yahoo.com?

question is where is it being filtered. In the switch or at the server. this test bypasses both.

additionally look at the network port on the laptop for any bent/crimped wires.

 

[Preacherpj]

We are a cut-off network, we don't have any connection to the outside world - be it the internet or other networks. We only have about 25 clients, so we have one server acting as the DHCP, DNS ect...ect... - it seems strange to me that the client seems to connect to the DHCP server, but not the DNS server - when they are the same machine.

 

[Wand3r3r]

Strange indeed.

If you are cutoff then why is there a gateway entry?

Next thing to try is pull that vostro off the network and assign this problem laptop the same ip info and see if it can connect using the vostro's wired connection.

Can you successfully do a nslookup of the server?

 

[Preacherpj]

I'm learning as I go with the network - I used the IP address of my switch as the gateway - I wasn't sure if I needed something there or not.

I did as you suggested, and hooked up the laptop to the vostro's connection and configured the problem laptop to use the same IP address as the vostro. Still nothing, the connection dies, but no issues when I plug the vostro back in.

Definately something with this particular computer - and the DNS server. Really strange though, it hasn't crashed lately, or had any new software installed. I'm not sure what else to try.

 

[Wand3r3r]

I would say its just with that laptop and I suspect a failing nic.

if you have a usb wired dongle or a wired pcmcia card you might try that to confirm its the nic.

Since the rest have no issues with the dns server its not the problem.

 

[Preacherpj]

Yea, it very well could be the NIC card. I think I've spent too much time on this problem and I'm going to move on.

I appreciate the help very much.

We can close this.