Vista - Network Inteface moving to 'local only' when transferring files

Hi,

I have a problem when transferring files across my LAN. I have a Windows Vista Premium 32-bit PC connected to a D-Link DIR-655 router. The router then connects to my ISP.

I also have a network storage device (Drobo with Droboshare).

I am attempting to transfer files too and from my PC to the Drobo. At times the PC network connection is freezing, usually mid-file transfer. I can reproduce this also when transferring files to another PC. It can be triggered either when sending a large file (2gb) or when sending many small to medium size files (i.e. a photo collection).

The network interface on the PC shows as 'Local only'. In the IP settings it still shows that it is assigned an IP from the router. If I try to repair the connection it fails. I cannot disable the connection. I cannot ping any other PC or network device, nor ping or connect to the router. I have to reboot the PC at which point it works as normal. If I test using my laptop (Windows XP) when this issue occurs it can connect to other PC's, the network devices and the internet perfectly.

The router shows no errors in it's log, from the router point of view the connection is available.

Any advice on how to fix this or even how to progress on diagnosing it? This is so frustrating as I bought a network storage device and right now it is useless and I cannot transfer files to/from it successfully.

Thanks,
Dave.

Since you can repro, you're already 90% of the way there.

Try booting the Vista machine to [safe mode + net] and attempting the same file transfer from there. Either way, the outcome is significant.

Hi,

I am only getting back to this as I was on holiday.

I had the same problem today. I booted into Safe mode plus networking and attempted the same 'move' operation from my hard disk to the networked storage.

The move operation failed part of the way in. I was attempting to move 2 large folders, 22Gb for one and 14Gb for the other. Partially moved folders were left on the network storage, around 3Gb each in them.

There was no error message to indicate the move operation had failed. The network is still operational which is a change I guess.

Thanks,
David.

Sounds to me like the NIC and/or NIC driver may be simply cactus. It's theoreticaly possible that the connection is being knocked out by a low-level filter driver (3rd-party firewall, anti-virus, intrusion detection software... that sort of thing), but it's also possible that the NIC circuitry suffers a heart attack of some sort under sustained load. Either way, not easy to diagnose without a bit of trial-and-error.

If you can borrow a different NIC, preferably a completely different make & model, it would be interesting to see what happens when that is used instead.

I am using a different NIC from the one I originally had this issue on (the NIC on the motherboard).

It is still happening hence this request for help

I tried again under 'safe mode', this time the transfer went further, but towards the end the link went to 'local only'.

What trial and error do you suggest? This looks to me like it must be caused by something in the OS.. but I cannot see where to start trying to trace the problem.

Thanks for your help,
David.

Two NICs, totally different types, same issue... OK, so it's not the NIC hardware.

How about firewalls and AV? If you uninstall those, does the issue still happen? (Merely disabling them isn't sufficient.) I know it's a pain in the rear, but it's a lot faster than intricate troubleshooting. Just uninstall all the AV, 3rd-party firewalls, and any intrusion detection/security stuff you may have onboard, reboot, and test again.

Technically, if it was the OS itself we'd all have the same issue. We don't, so there's something "environmental" about your symptom, in the sense that it's specific to your machine.