Network error

[pinniger]

For some reason I am not able to transfer large files to my Windows Home Server (home build). The file will start to transfer then just stop and error out.

The error message says Network Error: There is a problem accessing \\server\folder.

This is on a wired connection so I dont know why it would just be dropping the connection. I can still surf the internet fine during this time.

Realtek RTL8169/8100 network cart, cat5e cable, 10/100 netgear 24 port unmanaged switch, WRT54GL router(tomato firmware). NICs are set to auto negotiate.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

I attached a screen shot of the error message and network monitor.

 

[Iomegaman]

Out of curiosity, rather than "pushing" the file from your computer to yoru server. Log into the server and try pulling the file from your workstation.

This will rule out several things!

Tom

 

[pinniger]

Ok, this is weird. I'm on the server "pulling" the files. It does *almost* the same thing.

It will sit at the "file copy dialog box" that says 5 min remaining for like 7-8 minutes. Then will start transferring for a few seconds, then stop again, the do the same thing over and over. It never gives me an error message though, like when I was on the windows 7 machine.

Another thing to note. I have transferred files fine using my windows xp laptop over a wireless connection. I mean, it took a while, but it was wireless, so i was expecting it.

Also, my WHS backups never fail either, and I believe that is transferring quite a bit of data.

 

[Iomegaman]

Are you running a software firewall on either your WHS machine or your Windows 7 one? If so try temporarily disabling these and see if this makes any difference. It's certainly a strange problem I will give you that!

How big are the files that you are trying to transfer?

Tom

 

[Iomegaman]

Something else to possibly try is to:

- Share the folder containing the file you want to transfer from your Windows 7 machine.

- Mount this share as a drive using WHS (give the share a dedicated drive letter).

- Try transfering the file from this network drive, and if that fails,
- Try to copy the file via the command line.

A little long winded I know but if any of this works, it may help to get a little bit closer to the ultimate solution to your problem.

Tom

 

[pinniger]

The only firewall I'm running is the one with windows 7. Disabling this was the first thing that I tried, didn't help though.

I'm also running Microsoft Security Essentials, I can't find an easy way to disable this, so I guess I'll try uninstalling it.

The windows home server is the default install with the exception of Whiis add-on and 2-1tb external usb 2.0 hard drives added.

I'm try to transfer an audio book. A folder of about 135 mp3s and they are all about 7.5 mb, so nothing to huge

 

[Iomegaman]

I'm by no means an expert at WHS so hopefully somebody else may be willing to advise you further if a problem with this is causing your copying issue.

I'll be interested to hear if MSE makes any difference once you have uninstalled it.

Are all of your network drivers etc up to date. Can't seem to figure this one out - really strange problem!

Tom

 

[pinniger]

ok, I tried copying the files via command line, from my win7 machine(pushing), and after a while it said, "The specified domain is no longer available".

 

[Iomegaman]

I would suggest a DNS error, but then one would think that once a file has started copying accross the network the DNS resolution is completed.

I don't know ANYTHING about Tomato firmware routers but could this be the issue? Try turning it off and on again - and yes, I hate myself for saying that

 

[pinniger]

I had updated all nic drivers, my pc has two nic cards, and I've tried both ports as well. I uninstalled MSE, rebooted my router.

still getting the "The specified domain is no longer available" via command line.

It must be the DNS I guess. I have both the WHS and win7 machine set as static IPs though.

 

[Iomegaman]

Can the Tomato firmware router act as a DHCP server? It may be enabled and shouldn't be.

I would leave a static IP on the WHS server, and install the DHCP service onto it. Then let your Windows 7 machine pick up it's IP address from your server.

I'm assuming here that WHS can act as a DHCP server - but as I said, It's not really my strongpoint at all!

 

[pinniger]

I have tried playing with pretty much all of my network settings, nothing seems to help. The log below was created with a program called "Performance Pinging". Its copying a 5Mbyte file to my WHS over and over. Does this help at all?

Oct27, 09:10:47, 463ms, 86.39 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:10:57, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:11:07, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:11:17, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:11:27, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:11:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:11:47, 521ms, 76.78 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:11:57, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:12:07, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:12:17, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:12:27, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:12:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:12:47, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:12:57, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:13:07, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:13:17, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:13:27, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:13:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:13:47, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:13:57, 532ms, 75.19 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:14:07, 563ms, 71.05 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:14:17, 579ms, 69.08 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:14:27, 23126ms, 1.73 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:14:51, 607ms, 65.9 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:14:57, 561ms, 71.3 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:15:07, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:15:17, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:15:27, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:15:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:15:47, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:15:57, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:16:07, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:16:17, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:16:27, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:16:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:16:47, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:16:57, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:17:07, 532ms, 75.19 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:17:17, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:17:27, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:17:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:17:47, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:17:57, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:18:07, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:18:17, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:18:27, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:18:37, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:18:47, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:18:57, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:19:07, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:19:17, 521ms, 76.78 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:19:27, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:19:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:19:47, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:19:57, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:20:07, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:20:17, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:20:27, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:20:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:20:47, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:20:57, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:21:07, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:21:17, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:21:27, 537ms, 74.49 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:21:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:21:47, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:21:57, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:22:07, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:22:17, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:22:27, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:22:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:22:47, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:22:57, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:23:07, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:23:17, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:23:27, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:23:37, 528ms, 75.76 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:23:47, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:23:57, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:24:07, 460ms, 86.96 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:24:17, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:24:27, 460ms, 86.96 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:24:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:24:47, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:24:57, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:25:07, 460ms, 86.96 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:25:17, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:25:27, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:25:37, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:25:47, 535ms, 74.77 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:25:57, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:26:07, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:26:17, 460ms, 86.96 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:26:27, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:26:37, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:26:47, 458ms, 87.34 MBit/s
Oct27, 09:26:57, 459ms, 87.15 MBit/s

 

[pinniger]

Ok, so I just figured out that I can copy a 3 gig file with no problems from the WHS to the client machine. But when I try to copy the same file from the client machine to the WHS, it errors.

 

[pinniger]

I replaced the NIC in the server last night. I'm still having the same problem. When I watch the the transfer with a packet sniffer (wireshark) it says there is a tcp offload error?

 

[pinniger]

For any Googlers out there, it was the switch.

 

[edg8]

Same issues here.... was it the switch hardware or the switch's firmware?

Please let me know,
James

 

[pinniger]

I dont know, I'm having the same problem again. I've tried everything. Next step is replacing the primary hard drive in the WHS. But I havent had time to replace it yet.

 

[CommonTater]

I dont know, I'm having the same problem again. I've tried everything. Next step is replacing the primary hard drive in the WHS. But I havent had time to replace it yet.

Couple of things....

Yes, the Linksys WRT54G V5 Really Is a Lousy Router

A year and a half back I ended up replacing several of these, at my own expense, just to put an end to the mess they were making of people's home networks.


In your registry for every Win7 machine...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\currentcontrolset\services\lanmanserver\parameters

Set "Size" = 3

Otherwise there's some kind of bizarro cap on network file sizes... You wouldn't believe the havoc this caused with downloads, backups etc, until someone else tweaked me on to it.

 

[CarlTR6]

Yes, the Linksys WRT54G V5 Really Is a Lousy Router

Interesting read. Thanks for the link.

 

[CommonTater]

Yes, the Linksys WRT54G V5 Really Is a Lousy Router

Interesting read. Thanks for the link.

I was put onto it by a friend who's a ham radio operator... He tore one apart and found it to be totally unshielded with absolutely no rf bypassing anywhere. Thing was wiping him completely off the 2 meter local chat band... He was causing it to reboot every time he keyed his transmitter ... and no, they were not in the same house!

Tom's hardware panned it. This Small Network guy panned it.

Yet there are literally thousands of them in this area... thanks to big box stores selling them at $29.95 just before Christmas.