RE: Broadcom NIC problems? (Revisited)

[Michael B. Smith]

I talk about the new drivers here:

http://theessentialexchange.com/blogs/michael/archive/2007/12/24/patches-for
-your-holiday-maintenance-window.aspx

and turning off chimney here:

http://theessentialexchange.com/blogs/michael/archive/2008/01/03/more-issues
-with-the-windows-server-2003-scalable-networking-pack.aspx

However, there is significant reason at this time to believe that SNP is
just broken. Even with the updated drivers, the servers will probably still
misbehave. Because it doesn't happen with just Broadcomm NICs.

Regards,

Michael B. Smith
MCSE/Exchange MVP
http://TheEssentialExchange.com


-Original Message-
From: Bob Fronk [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 1:13 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems? (Revisited)

I continue to run into this problem... Two clients with Dell servers in
the last week. Both were SBS2K3 servers that seemed to crawl.
Fortunately (unfortunately) I had run in to the issue here at work, so I
did the RSS stuff first and all problems disappeared.

Also in my "main job", I thought I had fixed all the servers, but found
another one last night that users were complaining about slow response.

I read somewhere that Broadcom had updated drivers on their site, but I
have not looked yet.

Bob Fronk




-Original Message-
From: David Lum [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 12:19 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems? (Revisited)

Yes this is an old thread but does this do the same thing as the reg
hack, except no reboot required?
http://blogs.msdn.com/jamesche/archive/2007/12/19/having-network-problem
s-on-win2003-sp2.aspx

Dave Lum  - Systems Engineer 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - (971)-222-1025
"When you step on the brakes your life is in your foot's hands" 

-Original Message-
From: Miller Bonnie L. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 6:42 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?

Good news!  I must say, I don't know that I would have even looked
closely at SNP and "cleaning the chimney" in the first place though if I
hadn't seen several threads here posted or answered by Bob Fronk.  Big
thanks to Bob and others for the pains they went through in finding the
resolution in the first place!

I sure hope the vendors can get together and fix these remaining
problems.  It feels like such a waste having to turn off new features
that could be beneficial.

-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 1:29 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: Broadcom NIC problems?

Wow!

I just had a chance to reboot the server after making these changes (I
found that all three were enabled in the registry - I'm not sure why I
thought TOE was disabled) and it's a night and day difference.
Immensely
faster.

Thank you!!


- Original Message -
From: "Miller Bonnie L." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "NT System Admin Issues" 
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 1:21 PM
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?


This sounds a LOT like the strange issue we had with our 2950 running
E2k7
(can't just wipe and install x32) where Outlook would "hiccup" and lose
connections to the server.  Server appeared hung, but once logged on,
was
fine and users could reconnect.  Updated firmware, drivers, Windows,
Exchange patches, etc, and could not find a source.  On the verge of
calling PSS, but tried the chimney stuff first, and voila, haven't seen
the problem since.  We've turned it off for now on all of our 2900s and
2950s, and have seen great improvements in several servers where we
probably didn't realize there were issues.

On ours, I'm importing a reg file with the following
-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
"EnableTCPA"=dword:
"EnableRSS"=dword:
"EnableTCPChimney"=dword:
-

And, I'm also setting RSS to disabled in the advanced properties of the
Broadcom NIC (in device manager).  A reboot after that and it's all off.
Will probably try turning things back on one at a time when this issue
seems to settle down more, but at this point, it still appears to be a
problem for us on the latest drivers, etc.

BTW--we have one 2900 server that was so bad we had to stuff an Intel
NIC
in the box after it continued to BSOD on Broadcom drivers and Dell had
replaced all the hardware (we changed cables, ports, etc first).  Has
worked flawlessly since--hoping to try removing that NIC with the
chimney
off soon, but need to wait until mid-winter break when the kids are gone
in case it doesn't work.  Point being, it seems to rear its ugly head
for
us with the Broadcom NICs.  YMMV

-Bonnie

-Original Message

RE: Broadcom NIC problems? (Revisited)

[Bob Fronk]

I continue to run into this problem... Two clients with Dell servers in
the last week. Both were SBS2K3 servers that seemed to crawl.
Fortunately (unfortunately) I had run in to the issue here at work, so I
did the RSS stuff first and all problems disappeared.

Also in my "main job", I thought I had fixed all the servers, but found
another one last night that users were complaining about slow response.

I read somewhere that Broadcom had updated drivers on their site, but I
have not looked yet.

Bob Fronk




-Original Message-
From: David Lum [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 12:19 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems? (Revisited)

Yes this is an old thread but does this do the same thing as the reg
hack, except no reboot required?
http://blogs.msdn.com/jamesche/archive/2007/12/19/having-network-problem
s-on-win2003-sp2.aspx

Dave Lum  - Systems Engineer 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - (971)-222-1025
"When you step on the brakes your life is in your foot's hands" 

-Original Message-
From: Miller Bonnie L. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 6:42 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?

Good news!  I must say, I don't know that I would have even looked
closely at SNP and "cleaning the chimney" in the first place though if I
hadn't seen several threads here posted or answered by Bob Fronk.  Big
thanks to Bob and others for the pains they went through in finding the
resolution in the first place!

I sure hope the vendors can get together and fix these remaining
problems.  It feels like such a waste having to turn off new features
that could be beneficial.

-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 1:29 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: Broadcom NIC problems?

Wow!

I just had a chance to reboot the server after making these changes (I
found that all three were enabled in the registry - I'm not sure why I
thought TOE was disabled) and it's a night and day difference.
Immensely
faster.

Thank you!!


- Original Message -
From: "Miller Bonnie L." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "NT System Admin Issues" 
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 1:21 PM
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?


This sounds a LOT like the strange issue we had with our 2950 running
E2k7
(can't just wipe and install x32) where Outlook would "hiccup" and lose
connections to the server.  Server appeared hung, but once logged on,
was
fine and users could reconnect.  Updated firmware, drivers, Windows,
Exchange patches, etc, and could not find a source.  On the verge of
calling PSS, but tried the chimney stuff first, and voila, haven't seen
the problem since.  We've turned it off for now on all of our 2900s and
2950s, and have seen great improvements in several servers where we
probably didn't realize there were issues.

On ours, I'm importing a reg file with the following
-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
"EnableTCPA"=dword:
"EnableRSS"=dword:
"EnableTCPChimney"=dword:
-

And, I'm also setting RSS to disabled in the advanced properties of the
Broadcom NIC (in device manager).  A reboot after that and it's all off.
Will probably try turning things back on one at a time when this issue
seems to settle down more, but at this point, it still appears to be a
problem for us on the latest drivers, etc.

BTW--we have one 2900 server that was so bad we had to stuff an Intel
NIC
in the box after it continued to BSOD on Broadcom drivers and Dell had
replaced all the hardware (we changed cables, ports, etc first).  Has
worked flawlessly since--hoping to try removing that NIC with the
chimney
off soon, but need to wait until mid-winter break when the kids are gone
in case it doesn't work.  Point being, it seems to rear its ugly head
for
us with the Broadcom NICs.  YMMV

-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 11:03 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Broadcom NIC problems?

In the IP Chimney thread there was a link to an article that alluded to
more general issues with Broadcom drivers in Win2k3.

I'm seeing some issues with a Dell PE2950 that we recently put into
service as a web server.  I first set the sysetem up using Windows
Server
2003 x64 and had serious network throughput problems.  Even on the local
network (100 Mbps switch) I was seeing no better than about 130 kbps
throughput.  This was (and still is) without the TOE enabled.  I farked
around with it, trying different drivers until I finally gave up and
installed Win2k3 32-bit.  Much better network speeds.

But what I'm seeing is now is an occasional

RE: Broadcom NIC problems? (Revisited)

[David Lum]

Yes this is an old thread but does this do the same thing as the reg
hack, except no reboot required?
http://blogs.msdn.com/jamesche/archive/2007/12/19/having-network-problem
s-on-win2003-sp2.aspx

Dave Lum  - Systems Engineer 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - (971)-222-1025
"When you step on the brakes your life is in your foot's hands" 

-Original Message-
From: Miller Bonnie L. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 6:42 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?

Good news!  I must say, I don't know that I would have even looked
closely at SNP and "cleaning the chimney" in the first place though if I
hadn't seen several threads here posted or answered by Bob Fronk.  Big
thanks to Bob and others for the pains they went through in finding the
resolution in the first place!

I sure hope the vendors can get together and fix these remaining
problems.  It feels like such a waste having to turn off new features
that could be beneficial.

-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 1:29 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: Broadcom NIC problems?

Wow!

I just had a chance to reboot the server after making these changes (I
found that all three were enabled in the registry - I'm not sure why I
thought TOE was disabled) and it's a night and day difference.
Immensely
faster.

Thank you!!


- Original Message -
From: "Miller Bonnie L." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "NT System Admin Issues" 
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 1:21 PM
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?


This sounds a LOT like the strange issue we had with our 2950 running
E2k7
(can't just wipe and install x32) where Outlook would "hiccup" and lose
connections to the server.  Server appeared hung, but once logged on,
was
fine and users could reconnect.  Updated firmware, drivers, Windows,
Exchange patches, etc, and could not find a source.  On the verge of
calling PSS, but tried the chimney stuff first, and voila, haven't seen
the problem since.  We've turned it off for now on all of our 2900s and
2950s, and have seen great improvements in several servers where we
probably didn't realize there were issues.

On ours, I'm importing a reg file with the following
-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
"EnableTCPA"=dword:
"EnableRSS"=dword:
"EnableTCPChimney"=dword:
-

And, I'm also setting RSS to disabled in the advanced properties of the
Broadcom NIC (in device manager).  A reboot after that and it's all off.
Will probably try turning things back on one at a time when this issue
seems to settle down more, but at this point, it still appears to be a
problem for us on the latest drivers, etc.

BTW--we have one 2900 server that was so bad we had to stuff an Intel
NIC
in the box after it continued to BSOD on Broadcom drivers and Dell had
replaced all the hardware (we changed cables, ports, etc first).  Has
worked flawlessly since--hoping to try removing that NIC with the
chimney
off soon, but need to wait until mid-winter break when the kids are gone
in case it doesn't work.  Point being, it seems to rear its ugly head
for
us with the Broadcom NICs.  YMMV

-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 11:03 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Broadcom NIC problems?

In the IP Chimney thread there was a link to an article that alluded to
more general issues with Broadcom drivers in Win2k3.

I'm seeing some issues with a Dell PE2950 that we recently put into
service as a web server.  I first set the sysetem up using Windows
Server
2003 x64 and had serious network throughput problems.  Even on the local
network (100 Mbps switch) I was seeing no better than about 130 kbps
throughput.  This was (and still is) without the TOE enabled.  I farked
around with it, trying different drivers until I finally gave up and
installed Win2k3 32-bit.  Much better network speeds.

But what I'm seeing is now is an occasional hiccup where a web page
appears to take several seconds to load.  This is actually a little
reminiscent of the original problem, as it would appear that the network
would experience varying speeds, with short periods of a couple seconds
that were extremely slow.

Looking at the page generation speeds, it's not the web or application
server, as the pages take just a fraction of a second to generate.
Everything points to continued networking problems.  Web sites from
other
servers in the same web farm don't display this behavior, so it would
seem
to be something with the PE2950 and not the network itself.  Anyone else
seeing something similar?  Suggestions for either a fix, or where to

RE: Broadcom NIC problems?

[Miller Bonnie L .]

Good news!  I must say, I don't know that I would have even looked closely at 
SNP and "cleaning the chimney" in the first place though if I hadn't seen 
several threads here posted or answered by Bob Fronk.  Big thanks to Bob and 
others for the pains they went through in finding the resolution in the first 
place!

I sure hope the vendors can get together and fix these remaining problems.  It 
feels like such a waste having to turn off new features that could be 
beneficial.

-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 1:29 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: Broadcom NIC problems?

Wow!

I just had a chance to reboot the server after making these changes (I
found that all three were enabled in the registry - I'm not sure why I
thought TOE was disabled) and it's a night and day difference.  Immensely
faster.

Thank you!!


- Original Message -
From: "Miller Bonnie L." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "NT System Admin Issues" 
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 1:21 PM
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?


This sounds a LOT like the strange issue we had with our 2950 running E2k7
(can't just wipe and install x32) where Outlook would "hiccup" and lose
connections to the server.  Server appeared hung, but once logged on, was
fine and users could reconnect.  Updated firmware, drivers, Windows,
Exchange patches, etc, and could not find a source.  On the verge of
calling PSS, but tried the chimney stuff first, and voila, haven't seen
the problem since.  We've turned it off for now on all of our 2900s and
2950s, and have seen great improvements in several servers where we
probably didn't realize there were issues.

On ours, I'm importing a reg file with the following
-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
"EnableTCPA"=dword:
"EnableRSS"=dword:
"EnableTCPChimney"=dword:
-

And, I'm also setting RSS to disabled in the advanced properties of the
Broadcom NIC (in device manager).  A reboot after that and it's all off.
Will probably try turning things back on one at a time when this issue
seems to settle down more, but at this point, it still appears to be a
problem for us on the latest drivers, etc.

BTW--we have one 2900 server that was so bad we had to stuff an Intel NIC
in the box after it continued to BSOD on Broadcom drivers and Dell had
replaced all the hardware (we changed cables, ports, etc first).  Has
worked flawlessly since--hoping to try removing that NIC with the chimney
off soon, but need to wait until mid-winter break when the kids are gone
in case it doesn't work.  Point being, it seems to rear its ugly head for
us with the Broadcom NICs.  YMMV

-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 11:03 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Broadcom NIC problems?

In the IP Chimney thread there was a link to an article that alluded to
more general issues with Broadcom drivers in Win2k3.

I'm seeing some issues with a Dell PE2950 that we recently put into
service as a web server.  I first set the sysetem up using Windows Server
2003 x64 and had serious network throughput problems.  Even on the local
network (100 Mbps switch) I was seeing no better than about 130 kbps
throughput.  This was (and still is) without the TOE enabled.  I farked
around with it, trying different drivers until I finally gave up and
installed Win2k3 32-bit.  Much better network speeds.

But what I'm seeing is now is an occasional hiccup where a web page
appears to take several seconds to load.  This is actually a little
reminiscent of the original problem, as it would appear that the network
would experience varying speeds, with short periods of a couple seconds
that were extremely slow.

Looking at the page generation speeds, it's not the web or application
server, as the pages take just a fraction of a second to generate.
Everything points to continued networking problems.  Web sites from other
servers in the same web farm don't display this behavior, so it would seem
to be something with the PE2950 and not the network itself.  Anyone else
seeing something similar?  Suggestions for either a fix, or where to begin
troubleshooting would be appreciated.


~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~
~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm>  ~

Re: Broadcom NIC problems?

[Jim McAtee]

Wow!

I just had a chance to reboot the server after making these changes (I 
found that all three were enabled in the registry - I'm not sure why I 
thought TOE was disabled) and it's a night and day difference.  Immensely 
faster.


Thank you!!


- Original Message - 
From: "Miller Bonnie L." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

To: "NT System Admin Issues" 
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 1:21 PM
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?


This sounds a LOT like the strange issue we had with our 2950 running E2k7 
(can't just wipe and install x32) where Outlook would "hiccup" and lose 
connections to the server.  Server appeared hung, but once logged on, was 
fine and users could reconnect.  Updated firmware, drivers, Windows, 
Exchange patches, etc, and could not find a source.  On the verge of 
calling PSS, but tried the chimney stuff first, and voila, haven't seen 
the problem since.  We've turned it off for now on all of our 2900s and 
2950s, and have seen great improvements in several servers where we 
probably didn't realize there were issues.


On ours, I'm importing a reg file with the following
-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
"EnableTCPA"=dword:
"EnableRSS"=dword:
"EnableTCPChimney"=dword:
-

And, I'm also setting RSS to disabled in the advanced properties of the 
Broadcom NIC (in device manager).  A reboot after that and it's all off. 
Will probably try turning things back on one at a time when this issue 
seems to settle down more, but at this point, it still appears to be a 
problem for us on the latest drivers, etc.


BTW--we have one 2900 server that was so bad we had to stuff an Intel NIC 
in the box after it continued to BSOD on Broadcom drivers and Dell had 
replaced all the hardware (we changed cables, ports, etc first).  Has 
worked flawlessly since--hoping to try removing that NIC with the chimney 
off soon, but need to wait until mid-winter break when the kids are gone 
in case it doesn't work.  Point being, it seems to rear its ugly head for 
us with the Broadcom NICs.  YMMV


-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 11:03 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Broadcom NIC problems?

In the IP Chimney thread there was a link to an article that alluded to
more general issues with Broadcom drivers in Win2k3.

I'm seeing some issues with a Dell PE2950 that we recently put into
service as a web server.  I first set the sysetem up using Windows Server
2003 x64 and had serious network throughput problems.  Even on the local
network (100 Mbps switch) I was seeing no better than about 130 kbps
throughput.  This was (and still is) without the TOE enabled.  I farked
around with it, trying different drivers until I finally gave up and
installed Win2k3 32-bit.  Much better network speeds.

But what I'm seeing is now is an occasional hiccup where a web page
appears to take several seconds to load.  This is actually a little
reminiscent of the original problem, as it would appear that the network
would experience varying speeds, with short periods of a couple seconds
that were extremely slow.

Looking at the page generation speeds, it's not the web or application
server, as the pages take just a fraction of a second to generate.
Everything points to continued networking problems.  Web sites from other
servers in the same web farm don't display this behavior, so it would seem
to be something with the PE2950 and not the network itself.  Anyone else
seeing something similar?  Suggestions for either a fix, or where to begin
troubleshooting would be appreciated.


~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~
~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm>  ~ 



~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~
~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm>  ~

Re: Broadcom NIC problems?

[Micheal Espinola Jr]

Broadcom NICs - the 3Com of the 21st century.


-- 
ME2

~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja!~
~   ~

Re: Broadcom NIC problems?

[Devin Meade]

Our 2900 has the same history as Bonnie's.  SP2 caused rare
intermittent problems (once a week or so).  Win 2003 SP2 included the
scalable network pack which was a seperate option which we never installed.
I did the same thing as Bonnie (reghacks and GUI disable of receive side
scaling, or RSS).  We never replaced the MB but we did update the
bios/firmware/bmc and nic drivers.  We have a 1900 w/ brodcomm nics that I
did the same thing to, but it never had problems.
-Devin



On Jan 29, 2008 8:34 AM, Miller Bonnie L. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

> On ours, the 2900 ran just fine from the previous summer ('06) until SP2
> was installed for WS03 last spring.  Immediately after that, we started
> experiencing failures with the NIC.  Everything was up-to-date, hardware
> tested fine, etc.  Even with the Mb replaced (among other things--that was
> the last thing tried), it continued to fail and we finally installed a PCI
> Intel NIC that our Dell sales rep helped to get sent to us to resolve this
> case--It runs fine on that.
>
> Last time I tried setting it back to use one of the Broadcoms was around
> September when there were newer drivers, and there have been more newer
> drivers released since then, so I'd like to try again, just need to catch a
> window where it won't cause downtime for the kids if it starts crashing
> again.  We also have a nearly identical 2900 box running at our other high
> school that does NOT have the same problems.  Much more to that story, but
> I'll leave it at that for now.
>
> The Exchange server is a 2950 though, and the settings below have helped
> that one big time.  We applied the changes to all 2950 and 2900 servers (all
> of our gen 9+ Dells) and things have been much better.
>
> -Bonnie
>
> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 2:22 PM
> To: NT System Admin Issues
> Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?
>
> When one of our 2900s was delivered last year one of the on-board
> Broadcom NICs seemed largely dead, ended up needing a motherboard
> replacement.  I'll think about mirroring the settings you're using
> below, though.  Thanks for the tips.
>
> David
>
> -Original Message-----
> From: Miller Bonnie L. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 12:22 PM
> To: NT System Admin Issues
> Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?
>
> This sounds a LOT like the strange issue we had with our 2950 running
> E2k7 (can't just wipe and install x32) where Outlook would "hiccup" and
> lose connections to the server.  Server appeared hung, but once logged
> on, was fine and users could reconnect.  Updated firmware, drivers,
> Windows, Exchange patches, etc, and could not find a source.  On the
> verge of calling PSS, but tried the chimney stuff first, and voila,
> haven't seen the problem since.  We've turned it off for now on all of
> our 2900s and 2950s, and have seen great improvements in several servers
> where we probably didn't realize there were issues.
>
> On ours, I'm importing a reg file with the following
> -
> Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
>
> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
> "EnableTCPA"=dword:
> "EnableRSS"=dword:
> "EnableTCPChimney"=dword:
> -
>
> And, I'm also setting RSS to disabled in the advanced properties of the
> Broadcom NIC (in device manager).  A reboot after that and it's all off.
> Will probably try turning things back on one at a time when this issue
> seems to settle down more, but at this point, it still appears to be a
> problem for us on the latest drivers, etc.
>
> BTW--we have one 2900 server that was so bad we had to stuff an Intel
> NIC in the box after it continued to BSOD on Broadcom drivers and Dell
> had replaced all the hardware (we changed cables, ports, etc first).
> Has worked flawlessly since--hoping to try removing that NIC with the
> chimney off soon, but need to wait until mid-winter break when the kids
> are gone in case it doesn't work.  Point being, it seems to rear its
> ugly head for us with the Broadcom NICs.  YMMV
>
> -Bonnie
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 11:03 AM
> To: NT System Admin Issues
> Subject: Broadcom NIC problems?
>
> In the IP Chimney thread there was a link to an article that alluded to
> more general issues with Broadcom drivers in Win2k3.
>
> I'm seeing some issues with a Dell PE2950 that we recently put into
> service as a web server.  I first set the sysetem up using Wind

RE: Broadcom NIC problems?

[Miller Bonnie L .]

On ours, the 2900 ran just fine from the previous summer ('06) until SP2 was 
installed for WS03 last spring.  Immediately after that, we started 
experiencing failures with the NIC.  Everything was up-to-date, hardware tested 
fine, etc.  Even with the Mb replaced (among other things--that was the last 
thing tried), it continued to fail and we finally installed a PCI Intel NIC 
that our Dell sales rep helped to get sent to us to resolve this case--It runs 
fine on that.

Last time I tried setting it back to use one of the Broadcoms was around 
September when there were newer drivers, and there have been more newer drivers 
released since then, so I'd like to try again, just need to catch a window 
where it won't cause downtime for the kids if it starts crashing again.  We 
also have a nearly identical 2900 box running at our other high school that 
does NOT have the same problems.  Much more to that story, but I'll leave it at 
that for now.

The Exchange server is a 2950 though, and the settings below have helped that 
one big time.  We applied the changes to all 2950 and 2900 servers (all of our 
gen 9+ Dells) and things have been much better.

-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 2:22 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?

When one of our 2900s was delivered last year one of the on-board
Broadcom NICs seemed largely dead, ended up needing a motherboard
replacement.  I'll think about mirroring the settings you're using
below, though.  Thanks for the tips.

David

-Original Message-
From: Miller Bonnie L. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 12:22 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?

This sounds a LOT like the strange issue we had with our 2950 running
E2k7 (can't just wipe and install x32) where Outlook would "hiccup" and
lose connections to the server.  Server appeared hung, but once logged
on, was fine and users could reconnect.  Updated firmware, drivers,
Windows, Exchange patches, etc, and could not find a source.  On the
verge of calling PSS, but tried the chimney stuff first, and voila,
haven't seen the problem since.  We've turned it off for now on all of
our 2900s and 2950s, and have seen great improvements in several servers
where we probably didn't realize there were issues.

On ours, I'm importing a reg file with the following
-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
"EnableTCPA"=dword:
"EnableRSS"=dword:
"EnableTCPChimney"=dword:
-

And, I'm also setting RSS to disabled in the advanced properties of the
Broadcom NIC (in device manager).  A reboot after that and it's all off.
Will probably try turning things back on one at a time when this issue
seems to settle down more, but at this point, it still appears to be a
problem for us on the latest drivers, etc.

BTW--we have one 2900 server that was so bad we had to stuff an Intel
NIC in the box after it continued to BSOD on Broadcom drivers and Dell
had replaced all the hardware (we changed cables, ports, etc first).
Has worked flawlessly since--hoping to try removing that NIC with the
chimney off soon, but need to wait until mid-winter break when the kids
are gone in case it doesn't work.  Point being, it seems to rear its
ugly head for us with the Broadcom NICs.  YMMV

-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 11:03 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Broadcom NIC problems?

In the IP Chimney thread there was a link to an article that alluded to
more general issues with Broadcom drivers in Win2k3.

I'm seeing some issues with a Dell PE2950 that we recently put into
service as a web server.  I first set the sysetem up using Windows
Server
2003 x64 and had serious network throughput problems.  Even on the local
network (100 Mbps switch) I was seeing no better than about 130 kbps
throughput.  This was (and still is) without the TOE enabled.  I farked
around with it, trying different drivers until I finally gave up and
installed Win2k3 32-bit.  Much better network speeds.

But what I'm seeing is now is an occasional hiccup where a web page
appears to take several seconds to load.  This is actually a little
reminiscent of the original problem, as it would appear that the network
would experience varying speeds, with short periods of a couple seconds
that were extremely slow.

Looking at the page generation speeds, it's not the web or application
server, as the pages take just a fraction of a second to generate.
Everything points to continued networking problems.  Web sites from
other servers in the same web farm don't display this behavior, so it
would seem to be some

RE: Broadcom NIC problems?

[Dflorea]

When one of our 2900s was delivered last year one of the on-board
Broadcom NICs seemed largely dead, ended up needing a motherboard
replacement.  I'll think about mirroring the settings you're using
below, though.  Thanks for the tips.

David

-Original Message-
From: Miller Bonnie L. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 12:22 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: Broadcom NIC problems?

This sounds a LOT like the strange issue we had with our 2950 running
E2k7 (can't just wipe and install x32) where Outlook would "hiccup" and
lose connections to the server.  Server appeared hung, but once logged
on, was fine and users could reconnect.  Updated firmware, drivers,
Windows, Exchange patches, etc, and could not find a source.  On the
verge of calling PSS, but tried the chimney stuff first, and voila,
haven't seen the problem since.  We've turned it off for now on all of
our 2900s and 2950s, and have seen great improvements in several servers
where we probably didn't realize there were issues.

On ours, I'm importing a reg file with the following
-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
"EnableTCPA"=dword:
"EnableRSS"=dword:
"EnableTCPChimney"=dword:
-

And, I'm also setting RSS to disabled in the advanced properties of the
Broadcom NIC (in device manager).  A reboot after that and it's all off.
Will probably try turning things back on one at a time when this issue
seems to settle down more, but at this point, it still appears to be a
problem for us on the latest drivers, etc.

BTW--we have one 2900 server that was so bad we had to stuff an Intel
NIC in the box after it continued to BSOD on Broadcom drivers and Dell
had replaced all the hardware (we changed cables, ports, etc first).
Has worked flawlessly since--hoping to try removing that NIC with the
chimney off soon, but need to wait until mid-winter break when the kids
are gone in case it doesn't work.  Point being, it seems to rear its
ugly head for us with the Broadcom NICs.  YMMV

-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 11:03 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Broadcom NIC problems?

In the IP Chimney thread there was a link to an article that alluded to
more general issues with Broadcom drivers in Win2k3.

I'm seeing some issues with a Dell PE2950 that we recently put into
service as a web server.  I first set the sysetem up using Windows
Server
2003 x64 and had serious network throughput problems.  Even on the local
network (100 Mbps switch) I was seeing no better than about 130 kbps
throughput.  This was (and still is) without the TOE enabled.  I farked
around with it, trying different drivers until I finally gave up and
installed Win2k3 32-bit.  Much better network speeds.

But what I'm seeing is now is an occasional hiccup where a web page
appears to take several seconds to load.  This is actually a little
reminiscent of the original problem, as it would appear that the network
would experience varying speeds, with short periods of a couple seconds
that were extremely slow.

Looking at the page generation speeds, it's not the web or application
server, as the pages take just a fraction of a second to generate.
Everything points to continued networking problems.  Web sites from
other servers in the same web farm don't display this behavior, so it
would seem to be something with the PE2950 and not the network itself.
Anyone else seeing something similar?  Suggestions for either a fix, or
where to begin troubleshooting would be appreciated.


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RE: Broadcom NIC problems?

[Miller Bonnie L .]

This sounds a LOT like the strange issue we had with our 2950 running E2k7 
(can't just wipe and install x32) where Outlook would "hiccup" and lose 
connections to the server.  Server appeared hung, but once logged on, was fine 
and users could reconnect.  Updated firmware, drivers, Windows, Exchange 
patches, etc, and could not find a source.  On the verge of calling PSS, but 
tried the chimney stuff first, and voila, haven't seen the problem since.  
We've turned it off for now on all of our 2900s and 2950s, and have seen great 
improvements in several servers where we probably didn't realize there were 
issues.

On ours, I'm importing a reg file with the following
-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
"EnableTCPA"=dword:
"EnableRSS"=dword:
"EnableTCPChimney"=dword:
-

And, I'm also setting RSS to disabled in the advanced properties of the 
Broadcom NIC (in device manager).  A reboot after that and it's all off.  Will 
probably try turning things back on one at a time when this issue seems to 
settle down more, but at this point, it still appears to be a problem for us on 
the latest drivers, etc.

BTW--we have one 2900 server that was so bad we had to stuff an Intel NIC in 
the box after it continued to BSOD on Broadcom drivers and Dell had replaced 
all the hardware (we changed cables, ports, etc first).  Has worked flawlessly 
since--hoping to try removing that NIC with the chimney off soon, but need to 
wait until mid-winter break when the kids are gone in case it doesn't work.  
Point being, it seems to rear its ugly head for us with the Broadcom NICs.  YMMV

-Bonnie

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 11:03 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Broadcom NIC problems?

In the IP Chimney thread there was a link to an article that alluded to
more general issues with Broadcom drivers in Win2k3.

I'm seeing some issues with a Dell PE2950 that we recently put into
service as a web server.  I first set the sysetem up using Windows Server
2003 x64 and had serious network throughput problems.  Even on the local
network (100 Mbps switch) I was seeing no better than about 130 kbps
throughput.  This was (and still is) without the TOE enabled.  I farked
around with it, trying different drivers until I finally gave up and
installed Win2k3 32-bit.  Much better network speeds.

But what I'm seeing is now is an occasional hiccup where a web page
appears to take several seconds to load.  This is actually a little
reminiscent of the original problem, as it would appear that the network
would experience varying speeds, with short periods of a couple seconds
that were extremely slow.

Looking at the page generation speeds, it's not the web or application
server, as the pages take just a fraction of a second to generate.
Everything points to continued networking problems.  Web sites from other
servers in the same web farm don't display this behavior, so it would seem
to be something with the PE2950 and not the network itself.  Anyone else
seeing something similar?  Suggestions for either a fix, or where to begin
troubleshooting would be appreciated.


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Re: Broadcom NIC problems?

[Eric E Eskam]

"Jim McAtee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote on 01/28/2008 02:03:25 PM:

> Suggestions for either a fix, or 
> where to begin 
> troubleshooting would be appreciated.

Slip in a different network card and see if the issue goes away.

I've not been much of a fan of the broadcom NIC's - seem to have lots of 
continual driver issues :(

Eric Eskam
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RE: Broadcom NIC problems?

[Michael B. Smith]

This sounds suspiciously like a mismatched duplex issue, not a SNP issue.

Are there errors occurring on the interface?

Regards,

Michael B. Smith
MCSE/Exchange MVP
http://TheEssentialExchange.com

-Original Message-
From: Jim McAtee [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 2:03 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Broadcom NIC problems?

In the IP Chimney thread there was a link to an article that alluded to 
more general issues with Broadcom drivers in Win2k3.

I'm seeing some issues with a Dell PE2950 that we recently put into 
service as a web server.  I first set the sysetem up using Windows Server 
2003 x64 and had serious network throughput problems.  Even on the local 
network (100 Mbps switch) I was seeing no better than about 130 kbps 
throughput.  This was (and still is) without the TOE enabled.  I farked 
around with it, trying different drivers until I finally gave up and 
installed Win2k3 32-bit.  Much better network speeds.

But what I'm seeing is now is an occasional hiccup where a web page 
appears to take several seconds to load.  This is actually a little 
reminiscent of the original problem, as it would appear that the network 
would experience varying speeds, with short periods of a couple seconds 
that were extremely slow.

Looking at the page generation speeds, it's not the web or application 
server, as the pages take just a fraction of a second to generate. 
Everything points to continued networking problems.  Web sites from other 
servers in the same web farm don't display this behavior, so it would seem 
to be something with the PE2950 and not the network itself.  Anyone else 
seeing something similar?  Suggestions for either a fix, or where to begin 
troubleshooting would be appreciated.


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