- Sep 12, 2016
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Hello all!
I have the dubious prestige of being the sort-of admin for a computer lab in a school. I'm... Significantly over my head right now.
Problem: after a minimum of 10-15 minutes of light internet activity (and potential maximum of 2 hours), the wired Ethernet connection drops (the icon shows the little yellow warning sign with an exclamation point), and it states that the 'internet is not available.' It is nearly always resolved through simply restarting the computer - but that is unacceptable in a school environment for multiple reasons.
Test: I use a long Youtube video playing in the background to test ongoing connectivity status.
At first (15-30 minutes), 22/28 were down, then the other ones keep on going down slowly. At this point, there is only 1 single computer not down from the original testing batch. That all took less than 2 hours.
Seeking: a means to keep the connection alive without having to restart the computer. A list of possible problem points and how to test them.
Details - Computers:
- 28 computers
- All are Bootcamp-ed Macs, set to load Windows 8.1 Enterprise
- The drivers for the Windows side of things were provided by an automated downloaded package from the Bootcamp app, and apart from the NIC, are all working fine... Finally.
- This is the only location on the campus with this problem, and is the newest computer lab.
Hardware Details - Computers:
- Intel i3 CPU 540 @ 3.07GHz
- 4 GB RAM
- NIC: Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet.
- NIC driver: 2013-03-22, 15.6.1.3, Broadcom sourced.
- (I don't know off-hand how to check the Mac hardware/OS details... )
Currently available testing methods and assumptions:
- Ethernet cable testers *should* prove the cables are working fine.
- There are two routers in sight in class (wired near the ceiling, mass of cables extending to the tracking that leads to all the computers) that both look on, active and functional.
- Multiple experiments with drivers (removal, replace, upgrade, different versions, etc) have been tried.
- I can get access to the school's patch panel and switches if needed. (Or just communicate such to the actually experienced admins...)
- Another set of computers from two years ago, using the same sort of Windows-on-Mac setup, work fine without this issue. I *believe* those drivers have been tested on one or two computers in this lab without any success. (See 'many driver experiments'...)
- I have admin/root access to the computers.
- Device manager doesn't list any problems (no warnings, unassigned/unknown devices, etc)
- Not attempted yet: the same sort of online-video-playing-in-background test while in the Mac OS. (It could be interesting to see if the same issue happens or not. If it *does* happen, it means the issue is not the computer but something else. If it doesn't happen, it means the issue is in the Windows OS... Somewhere... Hmm...) EDIT: a senior admin said that the issue was on the Windows side only.
~M.
EDIT 1:
Yeah, I'm in the middle of testing that right now.
A working/stable setup in the library here uses 17.2.0.0. I got approval to pull/test 17.2.0.2 (the nearest version) off of the Broadcom site and install it on a single test computer.
However, the sheer fact that Broadcom drivers before 16.2 don't work with Win 8.1 is really promising...
So far it has been 10 minutes stable. Once it hits the 15, 30, 2 hours and so on I'll know better for sure.
I have the dubious prestige of being the sort-of admin for a computer lab in a school. I'm... Significantly over my head right now.
Problem: after a minimum of 10-15 minutes of light internet activity (and potential maximum of 2 hours), the wired Ethernet connection drops (the icon shows the little yellow warning sign with an exclamation point), and it states that the 'internet is not available.' It is nearly always resolved through simply restarting the computer - but that is unacceptable in a school environment for multiple reasons.
Test: I use a long Youtube video playing in the background to test ongoing connectivity status.
At first (15-30 minutes), 22/28 were down, then the other ones keep on going down slowly. At this point, there is only 1 single computer not down from the original testing batch. That all took less than 2 hours.
Seeking: a means to keep the connection alive without having to restart the computer. A list of possible problem points and how to test them.
Details - Computers:
- 28 computers
- All are Bootcamp-ed Macs, set to load Windows 8.1 Enterprise
- The drivers for the Windows side of things were provided by an automated downloaded package from the Bootcamp app, and apart from the NIC, are all working fine... Finally.
- This is the only location on the campus with this problem, and is the newest computer lab.
Hardware Details - Computers:
- Intel i3 CPU 540 @ 3.07GHz
- 4 GB RAM
- NIC: Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet.
- NIC driver: 2013-03-22, 15.6.1.3, Broadcom sourced.
- (I don't know off-hand how to check the Mac hardware/OS details... )
Currently available testing methods and assumptions:
- Ethernet cable testers *should* prove the cables are working fine.
- There are two routers in sight in class (wired near the ceiling, mass of cables extending to the tracking that leads to all the computers) that both look on, active and functional.
- Multiple experiments with drivers (removal, replace, upgrade, different versions, etc) have been tried.
- I can get access to the school's patch panel and switches if needed. (Or just communicate such to the actually experienced admins...)
- Another set of computers from two years ago, using the same sort of Windows-on-Mac setup, work fine without this issue. I *believe* those drivers have been tested on one or two computers in this lab without any success. (See 'many driver experiments'...)
- I have admin/root access to the computers.
- Device manager doesn't list any problems (no warnings, unassigned/unknown devices, etc)
- Not attempted yet: the same sort of online-video-playing-in-background test while in the Mac OS. (It could be interesting to see if the same issue happens or not. If it *does* happen, it means the issue is not the computer but something else. If it doesn't happen, it means the issue is in the Windows OS... Somewhere... Hmm...) EDIT: a senior admin said that the issue was on the Windows side only.
~M.
EDIT 1:
Yeah, I'm in the middle of testing that right now.
A working/stable setup in the library here uses 17.2.0.0. I got approval to pull/test 17.2.0.2 (the nearest version) off of the Broadcom site and install it on a single test computer.
However, the sheer fact that Broadcom drivers before 16.2 don't work with Win 8.1 is really promising...
So far it has been 10 minutes stable. Once it hits the 15, 30, 2 hours and so on I'll know better for sure.
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