Computers on Freesco network loose IP

[bcvanbell]

Situation:
1 Freesco router / firewall
1 Hub
6 XP / Win2k computers

All is fine, except several times a week the NIC's in the computers become unhinged. Looking at the event viewer the NIC shuts down and gets back up again after 30 minutes or so. This happens with all the computers at irregular intervals.

I suspect that the interval has something to do with the lease time on the IP address from the Freesco router, but why are the NICs failing?

Insight vastly appreciated.

[Six Eyed Smily]

check that the NICs are not allowed to be turned off (device manager->nic->properties->power management)

also, are the NICs the same make/model?

[bcvanbell]

check that the NICs are not allowed to be turned off (device manager->nic->properties->power management)

also, are the NICs the same make/model?

I will check this and report back. They are all the same (Intel onboard on Compaq's)

Thanks!

[bcvanbell]

I will check this and report back. They are all the same (Intel onboard on Compaq's)

Thanks!

Somehow I don't think preventing the NICs from shutting down will solve this. On a more thorough investigation of the event viewer I noticed that most of the problems on most of the computers are preceded by this:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Dhcp
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1003
Date: 10/28/2004
Time: 11:43:08 AM
User: N/A
Computer: ASCLTW2

Description:
Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 0002A559B4DD. The following error occured:
The semaphore timeout period has expired. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.

Why it cannot renew its address is beyond me.

[Six Eyed Smily]

sounds like a problem on the router to be honest. you could just assign static ips for each computer - for 6 pcs this wouldnt take too long.

alternatively check for firmware updates for the router - also check dhcp settings and have a look at the log on the router itself.