Can't ping Windows 2003 Ent SP1 R2 server after R2 Upgrade

Hi all, hope you are all well.

We have just upgraded our 2 servers from 2003 Enterprise to 2003 Enterprise
SP1 + R2. All went fine and initially all seemed well post-reboot. However,
one of the servers (the older of the 2) doesnt respond to ping requests
anymore. The other server (new Dell server) does absolutely fine.

You can access the server via RDP, UNC shares and AD replicates between the
2. (apologies, both are DC's). You just can't ping them. Because of this its
also giving us lots of election errors as the new server can't seem to see
that the other is the master browser on the lan. Very Bizarre. No users are
complaining as access still is fine, literally just not ping.

So far I've:

Ensured all Firewall (MS and 3rd party - even though there is isnt any) is
disabled via services.
Ensured there is no packet/port blocking on the NIC specifically.
Rebooted the server a few times.
Disabled/Removed all AV software.
Changed cables and different sockets on our (unmanaged) switch.

Things I havent tried:

Updating network card drivers since SP1 + R2. It could be that simple I
suppose
Swap the NIC out for another one.

However I have noticed that when I run a constant ping (ping -t) on the
newer of the 2 servers to the older one, as it reboots it responds to pings
for a short while. At first I thought "ah ha.. its ok now" but then as it
carries on loading (final stages before Ctrl-alt-Del to logon) the pings then
time out. Its as if something is eventually loading that is blocking it, but
it is definitely not a 3rd party app.

Ive just KB Base and tried a few downloadable hotfixes and reg key changes
but to no avail. Just wondered (and hope) if someone else has come across
this and fixed it or if anyone has some ideas to resolve it.

The server is just running Ex2003 SP2 (yes I know its on a DC but it can't
be helped right now) and some basic file/print sharing.

Thats about it really. Thanks as always in advance...

All the best

Andy

Go into the firewall settings and make sure that ICMP echo is enabled.

Andy Hudson wrote:
> Hi all, hope you are all well.
>
> We have just upgraded our 2 servers from 2003 Enterprise to 2003
> Enterprise SP1 + R2. All went fine and initially all seemed well
> post-reboot. However, one of the servers (the older of the 2) doesnt
> respond to ping requests anymore. The other server (new Dell server)
> does absolutely fine.
>
> You can access the server via RDP, UNC shares and AD replicates
> between the
> 2. (apologies, both are DC's). You just can't ping them. Because of
> this its also giving us lots of election errors as the new server
> can't seem to see that the other is the master browser on the lan.
> Very Bizarre. No users are complaining as access still is fine,
> literally just not ping.
>
> So far I've:
>
> Ensured all Firewall (MS and 3rd party - even though there is isnt
> any) is disabled via services.
> Ensured there is no packet/port blocking on the NIC specifically.
> Rebooted the server a few times.
> Disabled/Removed all AV software.
> Changed cables and different sockets on our (unmanaged) switch.
>
> Things I havent tried:
>
> Updating network card drivers since SP1 + R2. It could be that simple
> I suppose
> Swap the NIC out for another one.
>
> However I have noticed that when I run a constant ping (ping -t) on
> the newer of the 2 servers to the older one, as it reboots it
> responds to pings for a short while. At first I thought "ah ha.. its
> ok now" but then as it carries on loading (final stages before
> Ctrl-alt-Del to logon) the pings then time out. Its as if something
> is eventually loading that is blocking it, but it is definitely not a
> 3rd party app.
>
> Ive just KB Base and tried a few downloadable hotfixes and reg key
> changes but to no avail. Just wondered (and hope) if someone else has
> come across this and fixed it or if anyone has some ideas to resolve
> it.
>
> The server is just running Ex2003 SP2 (yes I know its on a DC but it
> can't be helped right now) and some basic file/print sharing.
>
> Thats about it really. Thanks as always in advance...
>
> All the best
>
> Andy

Bill,

Does this still hold true even if the Windows Firewall is completely
disabled (via Services) ? Because it is completely disabled at the moment.

Thanks

Andy

"Bill Grant" wrote:

> Go into the firewall settings and make sure that ICMP echo is enabled.
>
> Andy Hudson wrote:
> > Hi all, hope you are all well.
> >
> > We have just upgraded our 2 servers from 2003 Enterprise to 2003
> > Enterprise SP1 + R2. All went fine and initially all seemed well
> > post-reboot. However, one of the servers (the older of the 2) doesnt
> > respond to ping requests anymore. The other server (new Dell server)
> > does absolutely fine.
> >
> > You can access the server via RDP, UNC shares and AD replicates
> > between the
> > 2. (apologies, both are DC's). You just can't ping them. Because of
> > this its also giving us lots of election errors as the new server
> > can't seem to see that the other is the master browser on the lan.
> > Very Bizarre. No users are complaining as access still is fine,
> > literally just not ping.
> >
> > So far I've:
> >
> > Ensured all Firewall (MS and 3rd party - even though there is isnt
> > any) is disabled via services.
> > Ensured there is no packet/port blocking on the NIC specifically.
> > Rebooted the server a few times.
> > Disabled/Removed all AV software.
> > Changed cables and different sockets on our (unmanaged) switch.
> >
> > Things I havent tried:
> >
> > Updating network card drivers since SP1 + R2. It could be that simple
> > I suppose
> > Swap the NIC out for another one.
> >
> > However I have noticed that when I run a constant ping (ping -t) on
> > the newer of the 2 servers to the older one, as it reboots it
> > responds to pings for a short while. At first I thought "ah ha.. its
> > ok now" but then as it carries on loading (final stages before
> > Ctrl-alt-Del to logon) the pings then time out. Its as if something
> > is eventually loading that is blocking it, but it is definitely not a
> > 3rd party app.
> >
> > Ive just KB Base and tried a few downloadable hotfixes and reg key
> > changes but to no avail. Just wondered (and hope) if someone else has
> > come across this and fixed it or if anyone has some ideas to resolve
> > it.
> >
> > The server is just running Ex2003 SP2 (yes I know its on a DC but it
> > can't be helped right now) and some basic file/print sharing.
> >
> > Thats about it really. Thanks as always in advance...
> >
> > All the best
> >
> > Andy
>
>
>

On re-reading your original post I see that you are having browser
problems. This has nothing to do with ping. Ping is a tcp/ip utility and the
browser service is a Netbios app. Is the machine you cannot ping multihomed
or acting as a remote access server? This all looks like a multiple address
problem.

The fact that you can ping it while it is booting but not afterwards
suggests to me that something in the OS is blocking ping. That is why I
suspected the Windows firewall.

Andy Hudson wrote:
> Bill,
>
> Does this still hold true even if the Windows Firewall is completely
> disabled (via Services) ? Because it is completely disabled at the
> moment.
>
> Thanks
>
> Andy
>
> "Bill Grant" wrote:
>
>> Go into the firewall settings and make sure that ICMP echo is
>> enabled.
>>
>> Andy Hudson wrote:
>>> Hi all, hope you are all well.
>>>
>>> We have just upgraded our 2 servers from 2003 Enterprise to 2003
>>> Enterprise SP1 + R2. All went fine and initially all seemed well
>>> post-reboot. However, one of the servers (the older of the 2) doesnt
>>> respond to ping requests anymore. The other server (new Dell server)
>>> does absolutely fine.
>>>
>>> You can access the server via RDP, UNC shares and AD replicates
>>> between the
>>> 2. (apologies, both are DC's). You just can't ping them. Because of
>>> this its also giving us lots of election errors as the new server
>>> can't seem to see that the other is the master browser on the lan.
>>> Very Bizarre. No users are complaining as access still is fine,
>>> literally just not ping.
>>>
>>> So far I've:
>>>
>>> Ensured all Firewall (MS and 3rd party - even though there is isnt
>>> any) is disabled via services.
>>> Ensured there is no packet/port blocking on the NIC specifically.
>>> Rebooted the server a few times.
>>> Disabled/Removed all AV software.
>>> Changed cables and different sockets on our (unmanaged) switch.
>>>
>>> Things I havent tried:
>>>
>>> Updating network card drivers since SP1 + R2. It could be that
>>> simple I suppose
>>> Swap the NIC out for another one.
>>>
>>> However I have noticed that when I run a constant ping (ping -t) on
>>> the newer of the 2 servers to the older one, as it reboots it
>>> responds to pings for a short while. At first I thought "ah ha.. its
>>> ok now" but then as it carries on loading (final stages before
>>> Ctrl-alt-Del to logon) the pings then time out. Its as if something
>>> is eventually loading that is blocking it, but it is definitely not
>>> a 3rd party app.
>>>
>>> Ive just KB Base and tried a few downloadable hotfixes and reg key
>>> changes but to no avail. Just wondered (and hope) if someone else
>>> has come across this and fixed it or if anyone has some ideas to
>>> resolve it.
>>>
>>> The server is just running Ex2003 SP2 (yes I know its on a DC but it
>>> can't be helped right now) and some basic file/print sharing.
>>>
>>> Thats about it really. Thanks as always in advance...
>>>
>>> All the best
>>>
>>> Andy