VPN connection dropping

I'm able to connect to the VPN at my company (which I set up - it's a Windows
2003 Server Running VPN services) and am able to Remote Desktop / Ping / Use
full Outlook just fine.

For a while.

After a certain amount of time (usually 60 to 90 minutes) the VPN connection
will all of a sudden stop transmitting data. According to an ipconfig I
still have an IP on the remote network, but all traffic ceases. Outlook
reports that it has lost connection to the Exchange Server, ping tests fail,
no more remote desktop, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria.

If I open up my Network Connections folder, the VPN Connection still shows
up as "Connected". If I try to disconnect it, I get the "Attempting to
Disconnect from VPN" window, at which point it hangs (I've let this try to
disconnect for 2 hours at one point, with no results). I can't close out of
that window unless I go into Task Manager and kill the explorer.exe process.

Usually, I end up rebooting my machine every 60 to 90 minutes just so I can
reconnect to the VPN and resume my work. As you can imagine, this is getting
annoying.

Help please!

Thanks!

~ Nick

Sorry, one detail I left out of my original post...

On my XP machines, I'm able to stay connected to the VPN indefinitely, and
other XP users report the same thing.

"ncacia" wrote:

> I'm able to connect to the VPN at my company (which I set up - it's a Windows
> 2003 Server Running VPN services) and am able to Remote Desktop / Ping / Use
> full Outlook just fine.
>
> For a while.
>
> After a certain amount of time (usually 60 to 90 minutes) the VPN connection
> will all of a sudden stop transmitting data. According to an ipconfig I
> still have an IP on the remote network, but all traffic ceases. Outlook
> reports that it has lost connection to the Exchange Server, ping tests fail,
> no more remote desktop, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria.
>
> If I open up my Network Connections folder, the VPN Connection still shows
> up as "Connected". If I try to disconnect it, I get the "Attempting to
> Disconnect from VPN" window, at which point it hangs (I've let this try to
> disconnect for 2 hours at one point, with no results). I can't close out of
> that window unless I go into Task Manager and kill the explorer.exe process.
>
> Usually, I end up rebooting my machine every 60 to 90 minutes just so I can
> reconnect to the VPN and resume my work. As you can imagine, this is getting
> annoying.
>
> Help please!
>
> Thanks!
>
> ~ Nick

You may want to disable IPv6. Please post back with the result.

--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com


"ncacia" <ncacia@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:D4DC5269-28E2-4330-85FE-497BD5AB5B3E@microsoft.com...
> I'm able to connect to the VPN at my company (which I set up - it's a
> Windows
> 2003 Server Running VPN services) and am able to Remote Desktop / Ping /
> Use
> full Outlook just fine.
>
> For a while.
>
> After a certain amount of time (usually 60 to 90 minutes) the VPN
> connection
> will all of a sudden stop transmitting data. According to an ipconfig I
> still have an IP on the remote network, but all traffic ceases. Outlook
> reports that it has lost connection to the Exchange Server, ping tests
> fail,
> no more remote desktop, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria.
>
> If I open up my Network Connections folder, the VPN Connection still shows
> up as "Connected". If I try to disconnect it, I get the "Attempting to
> Disconnect from VPN" window, at which point it hangs (I've let this try to
> disconnect for 2 hours at one point, with no results). I can't close out
> of
> that window unless I go into Task Manager and kill the explorer.exe
> process.
>
> Usually, I end up rebooting my machine every 60 to 90 minutes just so I
> can
> reconnect to the VPN and resume my work. As you can imagine, this is
> getting
> annoying.
>
> Help please!
>
> Thanks!
>
> ~ Nick

So far so good....

I disabled IPv6 on ONLY my VPN connection and it dropped after 73 minutes as
per usual

Then I disabled IPv6 on BOTH the VPN and also on my local wireless
connection, and it's been up for over 2 hours thus far.

If it drops again, I'll post back here, but until then, thank you for your
help!

~ Nick

"Robert L. (MS-MVP)" wrote:

> You may want to disable IPv6. Please post back with the result.
>
> --
> Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
> Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
> http://www.ChicagoTech.net
> How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
> http://www.HowToNetworking.com
>
>
> "ncacia" <ncacia@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:D4DC5269-28E2-4330-85FE-497BD5AB5B3E@microsoft.com...
> > I'm able to connect to the VPN at my company (which I set up - it's a
> > Windows
> > 2003 Server Running VPN services) and am able to Remote Desktop / Ping /
> > Use
> > full Outlook just fine.
> >
> > For a while.
> >
> > After a certain amount of time (usually 60 to 90 minutes) the VPN
> > connection
> > will all of a sudden stop transmitting data. According to an ipconfig I
> > still have an IP on the remote network, but all traffic ceases. Outlook
> > reports that it has lost connection to the Exchange Server, ping tests
> > fail,
> > no more remote desktop, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria.
> >
> > If I open up my Network Connections folder, the VPN Connection still shows
> > up as "Connected". If I try to disconnect it, I get the "Attempting to
> > Disconnect from VPN" window, at which point it hangs (I've let this try to
> > disconnect for 2 hours at one point, with no results). I can't close out
> > of
> > that window unless I go into Task Manager and kill the explorer.exe
> > process.
> >
> > Usually, I end up rebooting my machine every 60 to 90 minutes just so I
> > can
> > reconnect to the VPN and resume my work. As you can imagine, this is
> > getting
> > annoying.
> >
> > Help please!
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > ~ Nick
>
>

Ugh, I spoke too soon...

2 hours and 30 minutes of connection time, and my VPN dropped again.

I tried to disconnect from the VPN (since it still shows up as "Connected"
in my Network Connections folder) and once again, the "Disconnecting from
VPN" window pops up but freezes, with me unable to close it or cancel or
anything.

This time, I received a 169.254.0.30 address on the VPN after attempting to
disconnect. My regular internet connection has stayed up throughout this
whole process.

Thanks,

Nick

"Robert L. (MS-MVP)" wrote:

> You may want to disable IPv6. Please post back with the result.
>
> --
> Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
> Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
> http://www.ChicagoTech.net
> How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
> http://www.HowToNetworking.com
>
>
> "ncacia" <ncacia@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:D4DC5269-28E2-4330-85FE-497BD5AB5B3E@microsoft.com...
> > I'm able to connect to the VPN at my company (which I set up - it's a
> > Windows
> > 2003 Server Running VPN services) and am able to Remote Desktop / Ping /
> > Use
> > full Outlook just fine.
> >
> > For a while.
> >
> > After a certain amount of time (usually 60 to 90 minutes) the VPN
> > connection
> > will all of a sudden stop transmitting data. According to an ipconfig I
> > still have an IP on the remote network, but all traffic ceases. Outlook
> > reports that it has lost connection to the Exchange Server, ping tests
> > fail,
> > no more remote desktop, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria.
> >
> > If I open up my Network Connections folder, the VPN Connection still shows
> > up as "Connected". If I try to disconnect it, I get the "Attempting to
> > Disconnect from VPN" window, at which point it hangs (I've let this try to
> > disconnect for 2 hours at one point, with no results). I can't close out
> > of
> > that window unless I go into Task Manager and kill the explorer.exe
> > process.
> >
> > Usually, I end up rebooting my machine every 60 to 90 minutes just so I
> > can
> > reconnect to the VPN and resume my work. As you can imagine, this is
> > getting
> > annoying.
> >
> > Help please!
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > ~ Nick
>
>

I have the exact same issue, except it doesn't hang when I disconnect - it
hangs when I try to RE-connect. I simply cancel the reconnect and connect
again and I'm back on. However, my connection drops very frequently - every
5 minutes at the worst.

Yes, I've removed IPv6 and I have a DNS suffix specified for IPv4.

--
Eric Legault - Outlook MVP, MCDBA, MCTS (SharePoint programming, etc.)
Try Picture Attachments Wizard for Outlook:
http://www.collaborativeinnovations.ca
Blog: http://blogs.officezealot.com/legault/


"ncacia" wrote:

> Sorry, one detail I left out of my original post...
>
> On my XP machines, I'm able to stay connected to the VPN indefinitely, and
> other XP users report the same thing.
>
> "ncacia" wrote:
>
> > I'm able to connect to the VPN at my company (which I set up - it's a Windows
> > 2003 Server Running VPN services) and am able to Remote Desktop / Ping / Use
> > full Outlook just fine.
> >
> > For a while.
> >
> > After a certain amount of time (usually 60 to 90 minutes) the VPN connection
> > will all of a sudden stop transmitting data. According to an ipconfig I
> > still have an IP on the remote network, but all traffic ceases. Outlook
> > reports that it has lost connection to the Exchange Server, ping tests fail,
> > no more remote desktop, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria.
> >
> > If I open up my Network Connections folder, the VPN Connection still shows
> > up as "Connected". If I try to disconnect it, I get the "Attempting to
> > Disconnect from VPN" window, at which point it hangs (I've let this try to
> > disconnect for 2 hours at one point, with no results). I can't close out of
> > that window unless I go into Task Manager and kill the explorer.exe process.
> >
> > Usually, I end up rebooting my machine every 60 to 90 minutes just so I can
> > reconnect to the VPN and resume my work. As you can imagine, this is getting
> > annoying.
> >
> > Help please!
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > ~ Nick

[ObieOne]

Hi folks,

Has anyone of you been able to fix this?

I have quit the same issue.
I work on my Vista Business laptop using a VPN to an SBS2003.
Works ok for all day. No issue's what so ever.

However if I shut down my laptop (or only the VPN) at the end of the day it just hangs on 'closing connection'.
Once I let it stay there for an hour, no results.

I noticed when I first choose to logoff and then shut down the laptop it works ok.

Any suggestion?
Arno