From: "Glenn Meadows" 

Great suggestions, I'll check it.  For some reason, I doubt that all 3 dock
nics would go OPPS at once, but as we all know, anything is possible,  and
his "path" to the server is really only common when it leaves the
firewall, and goes to the server (third port on a Nokia firewall
appliance).  When home, or in NY, he connects through those networks, via a
CheckPoint Secure Remote VPN-1 software link into the firewall, and then
straight over to the mail server, not even touching our internal lan.
.

--

Glenn M.
"Chris"  wrote in message
news:421b84b6$1{at}w3.nls.net...
> 1) Make sure you have the latest NIC drivers loaded.
> 2) Try connecting through the laptop's NIC and through the Docking
> Station's NIC.  See whether both fail.  If one fails and the other
> doesn't, then it's that particular NIC, I would think.
> 3) If that doesn't work, change patch cables.
> 4) If his computer gets this far on the list, then try fixing his port
> connection speed at 100MBps Full Duplex and keep trying it.
>
> We are using Foundry EIF4802CF switches here and have had issues with some
> people having complete intermitten network connectivity loss.  The NIC
> drivers is the first thing to try and then we will try fixing the speed.
> Interestingly enough, it helps in many cases.  Leaving the equipment at
> AutoDetect generates more traffic anyway, so I'm told, because it rechecks
> what speed to run at every so often (few secs?).
> Upgrading the Switch's operating system also can make a difference.  It
> is one of the solutions we've been implementing.
>
> /Chris
>
>
>
> Glenn Meadows wrote:
>> His connection is solid to the network, nothing else goes away.
>>
>> The mail server is in a DMZ off of our firewall, and everyone goes
>> through the same connection to get there, both internal, and external
>> when using the VPN, or the public mail address.  What's strange, is that
>> nobody else is having connection problems to the server, just him.  There
>> are about 30 of us "hitting" the mail server, and it's
internally on a
>> 100mb network, even through the firewall.
>>
>> Since it happens from any location he connects through,  (home, hotel, NY
>> office, Nashville office), I doubt it's a connection issue, unless it's
>> the Ethernet in his laptop going funky.
>>
>> I think I'll turn on the systray indicator, and see if the network
>> disconnected warning pops up at times.  He's got a Dell Latitude 600 (I
>> think that's the model number), and uses docking stations at all 3
>> locations.  Each of the Dell Docks has a NIC built in to the dock, and
>> it's not a port replicaiton, because it's a totally separate connection
>> number, depending on if he's got the network cable plugged directly into
>> the laptop, or into the dock.  First time he used the dock, it did the
>> "New Hardware Detected" wizard.  Here in Nashville, he's
got the big
>> dock, that includes a SCSI controller, as well as 2 extra PCI slots in
>> it, while the one at home and in NY is the small doc, that just has the
>> same connections that are on the laptop.  Here, we hooked up a high speed
>> SCSI scanner to replace the HP all in one gizmo, as well as a USB2 PCI
>> card, so he can have his iPod connected and load music at the higher
>> speed.  The laptop comes with a USB 1 port.  Nice Docks.  Bought them on
>> eBay for about 25.00 each, list new is hundreds of dollars. .
>>

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