Why does it take so long for Vista to connect to my LAN?

[gsandan]

Once I login into Vista, it takes a while to get an IP from my DHCP. I have a login script to map network drives so, without an IP I can't map those drives.

• The network icon in the system tray shows the LAN cable is disconnected but, after a few moments, it shows the network is connected and the globe icon shows.
  
• I even set my IP to static still Vista shows the network is disconnected but, then after a few moments Vista shows the network is connected.
  

I'm wondering if anybody else has this problem. Any ideas?

[Mr Snrub]

Is this every logon, not just the first one after booting up?

If it is just the first one after powering on, is it a reboot, or a return from sleep mode?

Is this a wireless LAN by any chance?

[cluberti]

RE: the logon script - I have some Vista machines with broadcom NICs that do just this after coming back from sleep or first boot, and I use a vbscript to ping a known server until the machine is pingable for 5 seconds (network is up), and then move on with the logon script. If it times out after 60 seconds, I log an event to the event log and skip the rest.

Just a thought.

[gamehead200]

Once I login into Vista, it takes a while to get an IP from my DHCP. I have a login script to map network drives so, without an IP I can't map those drives.

• The network icon in the system tray shows the LAN cable is disconnected but, after a few moments, it shows the network is connected and the globe icon shows.
  
• I even set my IP to static still Vista shows the network is disconnected but, then after a few moments Vista shows the network is connected.
  

I'm wondering if anybody else has this problem. Any ideas?

Just curious, but are you on a gigabit connection? I've noticed that on a few machines I've worked with, it would take a while for them to get an IP after plugging them into a gigabit switch/router.

[gsandan]

It only really seems to happen upon a cold boot. My switch shows that it does have a connection.

RE: the logon script - I have some Vista machines with broadcom NICs that do just this after coming back from sleep or first boot, and I use a vbscript to ping a known server until the machine is pingable for 5 seconds (network is up), and then move on with the logon script. If it times out after 60 seconds, I log an event to the event log and skip the rest.

Just a thought.

Good thought!

Wondering if you could provide me with that script. I just want to compare my script to yours.

Just curious, but are you on a gigabit connection? I've noticed that on a few machines I've worked with, it would take a while for them to get an IP after plugging them into a gigabit switch/router.

In fact, it is on a gigabit connection. The computer is connected to a gigabit switch and the onboard gigabit NIC is Marvell/Intel branded.

[cluberti]

Ohh, watch out for media autosense with Marvell chipsets on gigabit. I've found that forcing to 100 or 1000Mbits solves a lot of problems.

As to the script, here it is (vbscript):

Dim sTestPath
Dim intCount

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objVolatileEnv = objShell.Environment("VOLATILE")

' An UNC path here that will be available when network connection is in place
sTestPath = "\\server\share"
intCount = 1

' test on volatile environment variable to avoid running logon script
' if the user has already run the logon script.
If Not objVolatileEnv("LogonScript") = "Done" Then

   Do Until objFSO.FolderExists(sTestPath)
	' sleep 5 seconds
	 WScript.Sleep 5000
	 intCount = intCount + 1
	 If intCount = 24 Then
	MsgBox "Unable to connect to network share for 2 minutes.  Please notify your network administrator."
	Exit Do
	 End If
   Loop

   ' share/folder available on server now, so continue

End If

[gsandan]

After all efforts I finally tried group policy.

I forced Vista to wait for the network before login. Work perfectly (finally)!

[anonymous_user]

For me, I found the Vista DHCP Broadcast Fix Tool to do the trick.