Packet loss only in one direction.

[Hansoon]

Packet loss only in one direction.

Customer with a rather large network (120 nodes) is facing problems with only one out of three of our MFP's. Often the machine (static IP, all unused protocols and DHCP turned off) is not accessible, massive packet loss when pinged. When I disconnect the MFP and use its patch cable connection to hook up my laptop (substituting the MFP with my Laptop I mean) than there's the same situation with identical massive packet losses when I try to ping my laptop (not the same IP address as the MFP before) from any other node. However when I ping with my laptop any node in the network I have pings replying without losses at all and a response of <2ms. In the opposite direction, any node to laptop, the losses are again there. The switch has been replaced several weeks ago for unrelated reasons but the previous one did exactly the same. Tried several different trunk lines from the switch to the room where the MFP stands. All show the same behavior. Firewall is not having any restrictions for the concerned IP addresses.

Any idea where to look?

Hans

PS Replaced controller + nic twice already although knowing that the fault is somewhere else to find but I wanted to show the customer that "I care"

[Cipher]

I had a similar issue the other week.

Packet loss, slow print spooling speeds, scanning intermittently timing out when doing muiltable documents.

Tried the normal things, updated the firmware, tried a different patch cable and we even tried routing the MFD through a different network switch.

So I ordered down and fitted a new controller (as it had the NIC intergrated) but that didn't fix the problem.

To my surprise it actually turned out to be the harddrive.

It was a suprise as they was no warning signs at all that pointed to the HDD.
It sounded normal, there was no HDD related service codes logged, no please wait hang and I had formatted it without a problem previously.

Never the less after replacing the HDD everything was back to normal speeds and no more packet loss.

[KonicaNet]

Will another device plugged into the same NIC drop work correctly? Also, are they running IPV6?

[TheOwl]

If you have one, try putting a sequencer on the line and make sure there are no broken pairs in the line. And just for argument sake, try moving the machine to another network outlet and try that.

[tmaged]

When it drops off their network can you hook up with a crossover and get in with no problem. I had a machine in the field start doing this after being at the customers almost 2 years. When it dropped of their network, I could get right in crossed over with my laptop. Stuck a $20 switch in between & the problem was solved. Not sure why, but it worked.

[hoganape]

Do you have any idea if these machines have ever worked properly? Is the length of the drop excessive? Is there a DHCP server in the network? If so does it hand out IPs in the range of your static IPs? Is DHCP turned on somewhere else in the network? The IT guys really should have control over these kind of things, but we all know how that goes.

[unisys12]

Packet loss only in one direction.

When I disconnect the MFP and use its patch cable connection to hook up my laptop (substituting the MFP with my Laptop I mean) than there's the same situation with identical massive packet losses when I try to ping my laptop (not the same IP address as the MFP before) from any other node.

This right here leads me to believe it's not a MFP issue, but a network issue. You removed the MFP from the situation and still have the same issue. This tells me that it's not your MFP that is the cause.

I would check the wall outlet... since you said that you have run new lines into the room and the switch has been changed, this rules out most everything on the network except the outlet.

[Vulkor]

Agree with Unisys

[TTL]

I'm with TheOwl and unisys12 It's a problem in the network, the more easy way to show that is not a machine problem is connect her in another place and check if is everything OK.

Normally this is a cable problem, and only work to one side, because the cable use two wires to transmit and two wires to receive,and the other two only operate in gigabyte Ethernet.
If one of the wires in the cable to receive is broken or make bad contact it gives this issue.

But if you want to be sure about this, connect the laptop directly to the switch with another cable, and check if you have losses in the ping. If you have some losses, is because is not that cable. If you have no losses the problem is the cable.

I hope this helps.

[Hansoon]

Seems the problem have been solved by putting a switch inbetween as suggested above by tmaged.

Many thanks for your input guys.

Hans

[Vulkor]

Only thing I can think of is the Switch Acts as a Booster. IE the length of cable from the WALL jack to the network closet is too long or receiving some sort of interference.