Windows 2000 Server + Wingate 6.2.2 Freeze

[lukmanha]

We have been using rel 6.2.2 for quite sometime and out of sudden last Monday the whole windows just frozen. Hard reboot and it freeze again at random hours during the day (when traffic is heavy). System seems to be stable at night. I've removed KAV, Pursesight still no luck. Downgraded to 6.2.1 no luck. Change to XP PC still the same.

And finally this morning I downgraded to 6.0.4 and it runs without freezing. The problem is KAV and Pursesight cannot work with 604. I've no choice since this is the most stable to date.

What could be the reason? I've cases of Wingate stops responding (very normal) but having Windows 2000 server freezing is something new. No log whatsoever in Windows event log, just say unexpected system shutdown at xxx time.

Ours is unlimited Wingate 6 license with KAV and Puresight. Please help

[yuker2]

Hi Lukmanha

I suffered this issue as well. I even went out and bought a complete new server because i thought it was a hardware issue.

I did raise this issue some time ago. I have not had a response to it.

I too had to revert back to 6.04 in order for the system to start functioning again. I must note that i was not running KAV or Puresight. I do believe this is some other issue.

From what i could see it seems to be an entire Kernel hang. No mouse response, no kb.. nothing.. system just dies. In my case however it would happen anywhere between 1 and 15 minutes.. not good.

Not much help i know.. just wanted to let you know you are not alone on this one.

Y

[genie]

We are working on identifying the reason of such instability on certain platforms - shouldn't be too long now.

[lukmanha]

I'm happy at least someone else is sharing the same issue as me. My 6.0.4 version is running very well for the last 24 hours and no freezing.

I've been using Wingate for the last 10 years and this is the first time I encountered Windows OS freezing. There could be something at the software side from wingate that may accidentally used up Windows kernel memory. I don't think it is hardware problem because we swapped to another machine and the same problem exists.

[lukmanha]

Any news on how to fix the windows freeze problem with 6.2.x version? I found out that 604 has problem with SMTP for some domains (some delivery failure).

I urgently need to solve this, it has become a nightmare for me for the last one week.

Genie, where are you

[adrien]

Hi

Are you using any Intel Pro 100 or Pro 1000 network cards? We've seen some issues with the network management apps that come with this and WinGate.

Regards

Adrien

[lukmanha]

This is an IBM XSeries 235 Model MT8671-1XS with two NICs as below:-

Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet
3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 PCI TX NIC (3C905B-TX)

I've downgraded to 6.0.4 for the last 1 week and no freezing so far. In fact I've been using the server for the last 4 years without any problem. It only happens to 6.2.xx of wingate.

[adrien]

in order to hang the actual system, something must be going on in the kernel.

Is this machine multi-CPU (or hyperthreading)?

If hyperthreading, could you try turning off hyperthreading in the BIOS on that machine?

[adrien]

Do any of you use any of the following features in WinGate 6.2.x?

* bandwidth management
* WinGate dialer (any dialer profiles defined?)
* SYN cookies (on any extended networking port range or service binding)
* more than one default gateway
* VPN (WinGate VPN)

Adrien

[adrien]

PPS.

If you're using WinGate behind another firewall and don't require the ENS (extended networking) features, you could try disabling the ENS driver to see if that resolves the issue.

Please let us know if any of these suggestions help, we're really keen to solve this issue.

Regards

Adrien

[lukmanha]

1. This server comes with 2 CPUs, I assume it should run on multithreading

2. We don't use any of the features mentioned (bandwidth management, dialer, only one default gateway, and no VPN). We have 6MBps leased line to ISP

3. We don't have other firewall behind wingate

4. How can I use Puresight and KAV on 604? The new version doesn't work and the old version of puresight doesn't work with the new license we use currently. Since 604, we have more Sex related spams coming in.

[adrien]

1. This server comes with 2 CPUs, I assume it should run on multithreading.

That's what I was trying to test. Is it possible to disable all but one? Multi-CPU machines behave differently in the kernel to single CPU ones, and so deadlocking issues can present themselves in multi-CPU (or hyperthreading ones) which don't show in single-CPU machines. If we were able to test on that machine with only one CPU, then we could possibly eliminate whether it's a multi-CPU re-entrancy/deadlock problem.

2. We don't use any of the features mentioned (bandwidth management, dialer, only one default gateway, and no VPN). We have 6MBps leased line to ISP

OK - what about SYN cookies on externally available ports? I'm just trying to eliminate anything that changed in the driver between v 6.0.4 and the next one.

3. We don't have other firewall behind wingate

Sorry - do you mean in front of WinGate (on the Internet side?)

4. How can I use Puresight and KAV on 604? The new version doesn't work and the old version of puresight doesn't work with the new license we use currently. Since 604, we have more Sex related spams coming in.