Trying to find the cause of dropped connections on local network

[hoorah]

Hey guys,

For fun I tried setting up a Zombie Panic Source server (an older game based on the source engine, so I'm using SRCDS). It got halfway popular but I've been running into some connectivity issues.

Every once in awhile (a few times per day), everyone will lag out of the server. I thought bad ISP, but I realized that its also dropping connections to computers connected via LAN as well, so I don't think its the ISP. Its something internal to the network.

If it drops the connection, I can reconnect immediately and it will appear as if nothing is wrong. To my knowledge, there is no other symptoms of disconnections on the server. I'm not usually 'on' the server, so I don't see any notices that the ethernet connection malfunctions or anything like that. I can leave RDP connected for long periods and it never drops, but I'm not sure if the recovery time is longer for RDP.

Where should I start looking to troubleshoot this? Is there a way I can look for momentary network disruptions?

Relevant data: Router is a Cisco E-3000, hardwired to a TrendNet gigabit switch, hardwired to the server. Server is an older socket939 build with built in gigabit ethernet, possibly an Nforce network controller (will check on that to be sure). Server is running windows2008 server.

My next troubleshooting step is to add in an older NetGear 10/100 PCI card and see if the interruptions continue, but beyond that, I don't know where else to look.

Edit: Yes, device manager shows Nvidia Nforce networking controller

 

[Lithium381]

So you're playing over the lan with people AND playing over the internet with others? Gigabit is more than enough for this purpose.... is it consistent? Like it's happening every 10 minutes, or at a certain time of day? Is there anything revealing in the windows server logs?

 

[Danimal1209]

So, everyone in the game will get booted but can immediately rejoin?

 

[hoorah]

So you're playing over the lan with people AND playing over the internet with others? Gigabit is more than enough for this purpose.... is it consistent? Like it's happening every 10 minutes, or at a certain time of day? Is there anything revealing in the windows server logs?

Yes, the server is open to the internet and random people connect. I connect via the LAN IP. We all play together.

I'm not sure what you mean about gigabit being consistent. Obviously its not, because the connection drops. If you mean do I get consistently good speeds transferring files in windows, then yes. It happens several times per day at completely random times. When it does happen - it happens to everyone, LAN side and internet side (so I know its not a problem with my desktop computer).

I don't see anything in the event viewer if thats what you mean, but I'm not really sure how to interpret whats in there.

 

[hoorah]

So, everyone in the game will get booted but can immediately rejoin?

Yes.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I would suspect the E3000 is overheating. A quick search shows several overheating complaints, so it's quite possible.

EDIT >> There's a few ghetto solutions on the official Linksys forums. Dropping wired and wireless connections is common when overheated.

EDIT 2 >> LOL!

 

[hoorah]

Hmm, thats interesting. It does seem to be a commonly reported problem. Odd though, because while it can happen at anytime randomly, it doesn't seem to be correlated to when the router sees the heaviest usage (for example when I'm running a bunch of bittorrents). Also, I never get this kind of problem when I'm playing a game hosted somewhere else when I'm on my desktop.

When they overheat, do they do a restart (similar to a power loss) or do they just momentarily drop connection?

I'm still thinking its related to the actual server box but I will do some more testing and find out. After I swap in a separate network card I will see if I can flash on a firmware that lets me see temperature stats. I've been meaning to put tomato on the thing anyway.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

The easiest way to test it is to open it up and/or put a fan blowing directly on it. Play as usual and see if anyone gets dropped.

It's a common problem when overheating to drop connections or lockup, but restarting isn't common. In fact, I've never known one to restart due to overheating.

One user did suggest that simply installing DD-WRT helped.