Random (seemingly) network disconnects - authentication issue?

1 2003 Small business server with AD. 6 XP machines connected, 2 wirelessly,
4 wired. Seemingly randomly machines at some point (usually late afternoon)
will lose connectivity to the server. Not all machines happen at the same
time but it has occured at one point or another to every machine. Happens
pretty much daily. I can still ping the server IP adress from the affected
machine. IP address seems fine on affected machine (and server). DHCP lease
is or a week and shows as being from that morning and valid for a week - so
it has not lost it's IP. Logoff/logon alwaysrestores connection - solves the
problem. Occasionally while using the machine while not accessing the
network will get a pop-up message saying "connected restored" indicating that
it lost the connection but restored it. So I think it is a windows
authentication issue. But I am not sure how to proceed to troubleshooting
from here.

Someone said it could be a time server issue and to ensure all machines
point to a time server - i will do that on Monday. 2 main errors in server
error log are POP3 connection errors 1019, 1023, 1035. And W3SVC-WP errors
2268, 2214. Nothing else of note I can see.
Any ideas on how best to narrow this problem down now? Agree with my
assessment that it is a windows authentication issue given that I still have
physical connectivity, valid IP addresses, and logoff/logon fixes?

Help of course appreciated!

GizmoFish

Do you have ONLY the Internal DNS server IP in the client's TCP/IP
properties?

Your server should also have ONLY the Internal DNS server IP in the TCP/IP
properties. If it is a DC itself, it should point to itself for DNS. (and
other Internal DNS servers for redundancy, if you like)

Specifically, an ISP DNS server should not appear in the Internal LAN
machine's TCP/IP properties.

Is all that true?

-Frank

"GizmoFish" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:AF7F94CD-0A3E-40B7-88B6-(E-Mail Removed)...
>1 2003 Small business server with AD. 6 XP machines connected, 2
>wirelessly,
> 4 wired. Seemingly randomly machines at some point (usually late
> afternoon)
> will lose connectivity to the server. Not all machines happen at the same
> time but it has occured at one point or another to every machine. Happens
> pretty much daily. I can still ping the server IP adress from the
> affected
> machine. IP address seems fine on affected machine (and server). DHCP
> lease
> is or a week and shows as being from that morning and valid for a week -
> so
> it has not lost it's IP. Logoff/logon alwaysrestores connection - solves
> the
> problem. Occasionally while using the machine while not accessing the
> network will get a pop-up message saying "connected restored" indicating
> that
> it lost the connection but restored it. So I think it is a windows
> authentication issue. But I am not sure how to proceed to troubleshooting
> from here.
>
> Someone said it could be a time server issue and to ensure all machines
> point to a time server - i will do that on Monday. 2 main errors in
> server
> error log are POP3 connection errors 1019, 1023, 1035. And W3SVC-WP
> errors
> 2268, 2214. Nothing else of note I can see.
> Any ideas on how best to narrow this problem down now? Agree with my
> assessment that it is a windows authentication issue given that I still
> have
> physical connectivity, valid IP addresses, and logoff/logon fixes?
>
> Help of course appreciated!
>
> GizmoFish

Frankster,

I will check that when I go in this morning. But 1 question - where does
the translation between the DNS server internal to the network and the real
DNS server at my ISP happen? So I mean if the server points to itself as the
DNS server then where does the pointing the the outside world DNS server
happen? Have not configured DNS on a server myself yet. Thanks!

"Frankster" wrote:

> Do you have ONLY the Internal DNS server IP in the client's TCP/IP
> properties?
>
> Your server should also have ONLY the Internal DNS server IP in the TCP/IP
> properties. If it is a DC itself, it should point to itself for DNS. (and
> other Internal DNS servers for redundancy, if you like)
>
> Specifically, an ISP DNS server should not appear in the Internal LAN
> machine's TCP/IP properties.
>
> Is all that true?
>
> -Frank
>
> "GizmoFish" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:AF7F94CD-0A3E-40B7-88B6-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >1 2003 Small business server with AD. 6 XP machines connected, 2
> >wirelessly,
> > 4 wired. Seemingly randomly machines at some point (usually late
> > afternoon)
> > will lose connectivity to the server. Not all machines happen at the same
> > time but it has occured at one point or another to every machine. Happens
> > pretty much daily. I can still ping the server IP adress from the
> > affected
> > machine. IP address seems fine on affected machine (and server). DHCP
> > lease
> > is or a week and shows as being from that morning and valid for a week -
> > so
> > it has not lost it's IP. Logoff/logon alwaysrestores connection - solves
> > the
> > problem. Occasionally while using the machine while not accessing the
> > network will get a pop-up message saying "connected restored" indicating
> > that
> > it lost the connection but restored it. So I think it is a windows
> > authentication issue. But I am not sure how to proceed to troubleshooting
> > from here.
> >
> > Someone said it could be a time server issue and to ensure all machines
> > point to a time server - i will do that on Monday. 2 main errors in
> > server
> > error log are POP3 connection errors 1019, 1023, 1035. And W3SVC-WP
> > errors
> > 2268, 2214. Nothing else of note I can see.
> > Any ideas on how best to narrow this problem down now? Agree with my
> > assessment that it is a windows authentication issue given that I still
> > have
> > physical connectivity, valid IP addresses, and logoff/logon fixes?
> >
> > Help of course appreciated!
> >
> > GizmoFish
>
>
>

You should configure your internal DNS server with *forwarders*. You put
your router's IP in your DNS forwarder config. This way, any requests not
answered by your internal DNS will be forwarded to your router, which will
send them to your ISP provided public DNS servers.

-Frank

"GizmoFish" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news167B324-BAAC-4B96-8BB1-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Frankster,
>
> I will check that when I go in this morning. But 1 question - where does
> the translation between the DNS server internal to the network and the
> real
> DNS server at my ISP happen? So I mean if the server points to itself as
> the
> DNS server then where does the pointing the the outside world DNS server
> happen? Have not configured DNS on a server myself yet. Thanks!
>
> "Frankster" wrote:
>
>> Do you have ONLY the Internal DNS server IP in the client's TCP/IP
>> properties?
>>
>> Your server should also have ONLY the Internal DNS server IP in the
>> TCP/IP
>> properties. If it is a DC itself, it should point to itself for DNS. (and
>> other Internal DNS servers for redundancy, if you like)
>>
>> Specifically, an ISP DNS server should not appear in the Internal LAN
>> machine's TCP/IP properties.
>>
>> Is all that true?
>>
>> -Frank
>>
>> "GizmoFish" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:AF7F94CD-0A3E-40B7-88B6-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >1 2003 Small business server with AD. 6 XP machines connected, 2
>> >wirelessly,
>> > 4 wired. Seemingly randomly machines at some point (usually late
>> > afternoon)
>> > will lose connectivity to the server. Not all machines happen at the
>> > same
>> > time but it has occured at one point or another to every machine.
>> > Happens
>> > pretty much daily. I can still ping the server IP adress from the
>> > affected
>> > machine. IP address seems fine on affected machine (and server). DHCP
>> > lease
>> > is or a week and shows as being from that morning and valid for a
>> > week -
>> > so
>> > it has not lost it's IP. Logoff/logon alwaysrestores connection -
>> > solves
>> > the
>> > problem. Occasionally while using the machine while not accessing the
>> > network will get a pop-up message saying "connected restored"
>> > indicating
>> > that
>> > it lost the connection but restored it. So I think it is a windows
>> > authentication issue. But I am not sure how to proceed to
>> > troubleshooting
>> > from here.
>> >
>> > Someone said it could be a time server issue and to ensure all
>> > machines
>> > point to a time server - i will do that on Monday. 2 main errors in
>> > server
>> > error log are POP3 connection errors 1019, 1023, 1035. And W3SVC-WP
>> > errors
>> > 2268, 2214. Nothing else of note I can see.
>> > Any ideas on how best to narrow this problem down now? Agree with my
>> > assessment that it is a windows authentication issue given that I still
>> > have
>> > physical connectivity, valid IP addresses, and logoff/logon fixes?
>> >
>> > Help of course appreciated!
>> >
>> > GizmoFish
>>
>>
>>