LAN Connection dropping Optiplex 755

whitelightrider

Right folks,

I have a strange problem. Have 2 Optiplex 755's running on the ground floor of the building. Today they started dropping the network connection every 3 or 4 minutes so I replaced them with 2 new 755's, and these are working fine.

However after bringing up the "faulty" 755's to another desk, they havent dropped the connection once.

All I can see in the Event viewer is "Failed to subscribe to local Intel(R) AMT".

Any ideas on what could be wrong?

carveone

Well, AMT is remote management. Part of vPro, but I don't see what that's got to do with anything. My guess is that you are in to the realm of dubious quality network cables. Combined with AutoNegotiate on the switch, this can cause the most annoying, sporadic, weird ass problems you've ever seen.

One of the writers for PCPRO magazine recounted a big fight he had with various hubs/switches/routers/pcs which came down to crap UTP. People using Cat3 at 90metres on 100 MB - that kind of thing... Nothing like cutting corners on basic infrastructure to mangle your day.

One of the reasons I tend to force speed/duplex on the switches - a duplex mismatch is the most aggravating problem ever - I managed to speed up a company network by at least 10 times by turning Auto off...

Conor.

Capt'n Midnight

like the fella said

try changing the speed down to 100Mb to see if that makes them more stable

tech

are you using NOrton AV?

Cervantes

This is a known problem with the Optiplex 755 and the Intel 82566 network controller - here's the workaround we got from Dell until a BIOS update is released to resolve it:

As discussed the recommended workarounds for this 755 Nic card issue are as follows:

The three options below all cause the Intel Chipset, and the internal registries, to reset, clearing the error for good and providing a stable platform.

1) - Using the Intel Management tool (ctrl+P on boot), set the ME Status to "Disable"
2) - Power off system, remove power cord, press power button, to remove flea power, re-insert power cord and power back on.

3) - Within Device Manager, go into the Properties for the Intel card and run the Link Speed Diagnostics (about 1 minute).

In addition, by applying option one, you can then go back into the management tool and re-enable the ME Status, this has also proven to be stable.

whitelightrider

Cervantes wrote: »

This is a known problem with the Optiplex 755 and the Intel 82566 network controller - here's the workaround we got from Dell until a BIOS update is released to resolve it:

As discussed the recommended workarounds for this 755 Nic card issue are as follows:

The three options below all cause the Intel Chipset, and the internal registries, to reset, clearing the error for good and providing a stable platform.

1) - Using the Intel Management tool (ctrl+P on boot), set the ME Status to "Disable"
2) - Power off system, remove power cord, press power button, to remove flea power, re-insert power cord and power back on.

3) - Within Device Manager, go into the Properties for the Intel card and run the Link Speed Diagnostics (about 1 minute).

In addition, by applying option one, you can then go back into the management tool and re-enable the ME Status, this has also proven to be stable.

Cheers Cervantes. I just tried that on the Dell PC but it's asking me for a password? Dont suppose you know what it might be?

Ill also try and reset the port speeds on the switches and see if that makes a difference.

carveone

Cervantes wrote: »

This is a known problem with the Optiplex 755 and the Intel 82566 network controller - here's the workaround we got from Dell until a BIOS update is released to resolve it:

Good lesson there! Look for known hardware issues first...

The optiplex 755 is one of the latest dell models. I guess it has teething issues. (Wasn't it the Optiplex 270s that were really bad?)

C.

Cervantes

AFAIK the default password is 'admin'

crisshartzell

I have the same problem with my Optiplex dropping the LAN connection. Disabling Intel ME Status worked, but it took some time to arrive at an acceptable password -

I finally found these requirements at http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Intel_Active_Management_Technology_(AMT)

• between 8- and 32-characters long
• Contain both upper and lower case Latin characters
• Have at least one numeric character
• Have at least one ASCII non-alphanumeric character (!, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *)

Capt'n Midnight

carveone wrote: »

Good lesson there! Look for known hardware issues first...

The optiplex 755 is one of the latest dell models. I guess it has teething issues. (Wasn't it the Optiplex 270s that were really bad?)

C.

Hardware problems caused by capacitors overheating , upgrade the BIOS if not at A07

MADmanFREE

We're getting this network problem on the A09 bios. Just getting a machine to try the fix. Our problem is that we have a few hundred of these in the establishments that we cover. One major headache! Hopefully dell will sort this out with a new bios soon!!!

Capt'n Midnight

The thermal fix / A07 was for the Gx270's