How to Troubleshoot ESC Workstation Connectivity Issues

When working in ESC, a user may suddenly receive connection errors and be logged out of ESC.  This user may be able to immediately reconnect to the database, or may not be able to reconnect for a while - if at all. 

Cause of Issue:

The connection failure is really just ESC's way of informing you that the program has lost connectivity to the server over the network using TCP/IP. ESC is never the cause of the network disconnect and is just letting you know that the connection was somehow severed.

There are a variety of causes for this problem and that is why the error is very generic in nature. Here are some possible causes for the connection failure error:

1. If you receive the connection failure errors whenever your Internet access goes down, then this typically results from a problem with IP address assignments. DHCP may be issuing all IPs on the network including the ESC server (the computer that runs SQL) and when the Internet goes down, the ESC workstations may have problems connecting to the temporary leased IP on the server.
2. Large print jobs on the server that will spool and take a lot of resources. This usually occurs when using a network printer attached to a server.
3. Problems with network cards and network collisions. Bad NIC cards on the server can cause periodic disconnects. Also, some network cards have a power management setting that allows the computer to turn off the card to save power.
4. Network wiring problems.
5. Wireless networks will usually receive errors because of the nature of wireless connections. ESC requires a constant uninterrupted TCP/IP connection from the workstation to the server and wireless connections may have frequent disconnects.
6. Viruses, spyware and adware can also be the cause.
7. A server that is unable to handle the load it is given. SQL does take a large amount of memory to run and does not readily release it. This can cause problems on computers with a lower amount of ram or that may have many tasks to perform.
8. Very fragmented drives on a server will have performance reduction which can potentially lead to time outs and disconnects.
9. External factors such as line interference with copiers or other devices in the office or near the office.
10. Operating system issues on the server, workstations or both.
11. In rare cases a corrupted ESC database could cause the connection failure message but this would occur only when someone accessed the same exact area of the program each time and would not happen at random.
12. Any other network issue that causes any computer on a network to be unable to share resources.
13. Some Microsoft Windows updates may cause problems and should be applied.  Always reboot the machine once updates are applied.

Possible solutions:

1. Disable the power management settings in Windows that allow the computer to turn off the monitor or hard drives to save power.
2. To fix potential IP address problems, simply assign a static IP on the server and then within ESC, choose open company and instead of the server name use the IP address. This may fix the problem.
3. If you have a network printer located on a server, move the printer to another computer so that the print jobs do not spool on the server which can potentially interfere with other processes on the server.
4. Problems with network cards and network collisions. Bad NIC cards on the server can cause periodic disconnects. If there are potential network issues, you might check cabling as well as and suspect network cards on either the server or workstations. Also check the network cards device properties and disable the power management option to allow the computer to turn off the device to save power.  Not all NIC cards will have this feature.
5. Sometimes a network may have infrastructure problems due to how it was configured. This can only be determined by a qualified network engineer.
6. If you are running ESC on a wireless network, there is no solution to the continual connection failure problems other than to just hard connect the computer to the network.
7. Viruses, spyware and adware can also be the cause. Run scans with fully updated viral and spyware software.
8. Upgrading the server's amount of RAM may be very beneficial.
9. Perform regular server maintenance to include defragmentation.
10. Move large copiers and other electronic devices from the server as they may cause electrical interference or problems on network lines causing interruptions from the workstations or server.
11. Operating system issues on the server, workstations or both. If a problem is isolated to a single workstation, chances are that the workstation has a potential problem within Windows itself. It is possible that the TCP/IP stack may have become corrupted and a reinstallation of the operating system may be warranted.
12. In rare cases a corrupted ESC database could cause the connection failure message but this would typically occur only when someone accessed the same exact area of the program with the problem each time and may not happen at random or in other parts of the software.
13. Some Microsoft Windows updates when applied will stop services to install the updates. Unfortunately the update program may not restart these services and programs like SQL Server may not be running properly the next morning after applying the updates. Rebooting the server should restart all necessary services.
14. As there are a variety of other possible reasons why workstations and networks have disconnects, there is no way to list them all within this document. It is always advisable to contact a qualified network tech if the issue is still occurring.

Additional Information:

Whenever troubleshooting an issue involving multiple computers always try to narrow down the location of the problem.  When one computer gets disconnected, do the other computers continue working well?  If so you can generally rule out a problem on the server and look at the local machine instead.  If all of the computers get disconnected at the same time, then look at the server first as it (or the network) is the most likely culprit.