Intel Pro 1000 generating gratuitous ARP traffic

categories:

Finally, I have decided to take 5 minutes and focus on the gratuitous ARP broadcast issue I have with our Windows 2000 server (Fujitsu Siemens server).

The problem is described here : http://blog.wains.be/post/unsolvable-gratuitous-arp-from-our-windows-2000-server-with-intel-pro-1000/

I have installed Wireshark on the Windows box, had to reboot (oh !) to get it working. Thanks to Wireshark, I figured out the gratuitous ARP traffic was generated as some lower level than Windows.

Indeed, the whole network is seeing the gratuitous ARP broadcast except the Windows box. Conclusion : the broadcast is not generated by the OS but probably by the hardware itself.

I have checked the BIOS for any interesting setting but I don’t find anything relevant. The BIOS is really minimal actually.

I found another person having the same issue with the same network interface : http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=101&threadID=224471&messageID=2245929

I will avoid Fujitsu Siemens for servers in the future : cheap RAID controller (Promise), Maxtor drives, minimal BIOS, etc.

Next : figuring out why the Windows printer spooler randomly stops working (printing blank pages actually), restarting the service fixes the issue….. (edit : seems fixed by updating the drivers while the changelog didn’t mention the issue, damn HP)



Thanks for reading this post!


Did you find an issue in this article?

- click on the following Github link
- log into Github with your account
- click on the line number containing the error
- click on the "..." button
- choose "Reference in new issue"
- add a title and your comment
- click "Submit new issue"

Your feedback is much appreciated! 🤜🏼🤛🏼

You can also drop me a line below!