XP Pro Switch/Hub problem 1

[glucy]

I am net admin of approximately 50 Workstation environment using dos, win9x, win2kpro, and winxp pro as workstations. The servers we are using are redhat 9.0 (smb interface)and netware 3.12. We have a Cicso 2900 switch, Dell PowerConnect 3024 switch, linksys 10/100 hub and 3 dlink 10 hubs.

My problem is: Some of the XP Pro machines when plugged into either switch will not reconnect to network drives on boot. In My Computer they have Red X on them, but if I double click on the drive they navigate fine and do not lose connections until a reboot. If I move the machines connection to the lynksys or dlink hubs, no problem. Is there a setting I am missing in XP pro or do they just have a problem with switches?

I understand that this can be an issue for WinXP Home, but have not heard of the same problem for WinXP Pro.

I have been beating my head on this for some time now and any help appreciated would be appreciated.

 

[bcastner]

1. Autosensing failure between switch and workstation NIC; you can use this matrix for some hints as to how to force the workstation nic settings:
[tt]
Workstation Switch Result

Forced Half Forced Half Works
Forced Full Forced Full Works
Auto Auto Maybe
Forced Full Auto NO
Auto Forced Full NO
Forced Half Forced Full NO
Forced Full Forced Half NO
[/tt]

2. Some of this is considered "normal" behavior if the drive requires alternate credentials. " During the logon process, attempts are made to restore only the mapped network drives that do not require any credentials to be provided by the user."

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;283492&Product=winxp

3. The best workaround is not to use persistant drive mappings.

The logon script should include:

net use * /Delete
net use /Persistent:No
....
followed by a series of net use commands to map the drives to shares as wanted.

 

[glucy]

Thanks bcastner. I was able to resolve this problem by looking at the switch instead of the XP machines for the problem. By Enabling the PORT FAST option on the Cisco Switch, it reconnects the drives right away without fail.

PORT FAST immediately brings a port from the blocking state into the forwarding state by eliminating the forwarding delay (the amount of time a port waits before changing from its Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP) learning and listening states to the forwarding state).

 

[bcastner]

Great news,

Thanks for the update. I am sure it will help someone else who visits the forum.

It is little appreciated how much more touchy XP as client is than earlier Windows client OS versions.

In my FAQ when I suggested to look to basic connectivity issues first for domain issues faq779-4017

One of the first responses I received was that I did not know my backside from a hole in the ground. If it was possible to rate my FAQ -100 this reader would have.

My kids reassure me that this opinion is likely true. But no matter how strongly a network Admin believes his cable plant to be perfect, I check all issues with it as a first step.

Merry Christmas,
Bill Castner