[Help] - Synchronization issues!

[qpshelp]

Okay, (sorry, meant to add [HELP] to this topic....)

I have a client who has synchronization setup on his laptop. He is synchronizing about 5GB of data over our network. We completed a network upgrade from static to DHCP a couple of months ago, and his PC has had problems ever since. Because of the problems, I built a new laptop for him from scratch, but now he's still getting some of the same errors as before...

I completed a full synchronization before I left his office, and verified the data was available offline before I left.

Not too long after, While connected to the network, he stated he was getting errors that read "H:\data\data" (H: being his home drive) refers top a location that is unavailable. Check to make sure that the disk is properly inserted, or that you are connected to the internet or your network, and then try again. If it still cannot be located, the information might have been moved to a different location.

Now, he is able to continuously click on the folder (and click ok for the error message, sometimes 3-6 times more) before it finally openes up for him.

The kicker is, when I pull the laptop offline and start browsing his offline files, these errors no longer occur. So this is only happening when he is connected to the network.

I'm wondering if there is something not configured correctly in synchronization? I'm really stuck here as I've gone as far as to building a completly new machine for him, but only get the same results.

I'm thinking hard about it now, and I'm wondering if him pulling the laptop offline, and then putting it back online without logging out or anything would have something to do with this. I'm not sure if he's done this or not. (i.e, the PC is confused as to which version to look at, the one on the network or the one on the local machine)

*******************

---update ----- I spoke with the client and he stated that when he is pulling his machine offline, he is completly shutting down the machine, undocking it, and then turning it back on to access his files offline....He turns the machine off to go back onto the network also....So correct me if I'm wrong, windows should be picking up that there is a drive mapped to a network location, and it should be using that copy first.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Title Edited - Please follow new posting rules from now on.

--Zxian

Edited December 29, 2005 by Zxian

[IcemanND]

check the power management settings of the network card in the device manager. I've seen this kind of behavior where Windows turns the card off to save power and then is very slow or forgets entierly to turn it bakc on when it is needed.

[qpshelp]

This is a dell D610 laptop by the way....I've checked the power settings for the NIC, they were set to default which is When the laptop is not plugged in, the NIC is disabled, but when it is plugged in its enabled.

Now, Are you recommending that I completly disable this NIC since its using the NIC on the docking station?? Could this be where its getting confused? OR should I set it to remain "ON" no matter if the laptop is plugged in or not.

[IcemanND]

The power management settings in the Device manager are not controlled by the Dell Quickset utility, at least in my experience with my D810. Uncheck the box for allow computer to turn this device off to save power for both network devices. Also if he is only using the dock NIC turn the one off on the laptop. Sometimes XP is it's infinite stupidity will try using a non connected nic instead of the one with a live connection.

[TheFlash428]

What kind of computer does the target drive reside on? Is it running a server OS (i.e. Server 2003, windows 2000 server), or is it a workstation OS, such as XP?

The reason I ask is that the problem may be the number of connections being handled by the server(?)

Are there other members on the network who are also sycronizing files to the same server? If so, are there no errors experienced?

[qpshelp]

Thank you for taking the time to help me with this:

the files are located on a windows 2003 server. Not too many other people synchronize, and this looks more like a confusion with nic cards.....This morning I obtained access to the users account for only a few hours to try and resolve this problem. I was able to disable the NIC on the laptop, and so far it looks like everything is okay. The problem is that this issue is so sporadic, It would be hard to tell without putting it in production. The only thing I can sit here and do is click through his folders hoping the error will pop up again.

I previously had the NIC to be turned on 24/7 and was getting the error message. I will keep trying to reproduce the error with the laptop NIC disabled.