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Running Debian, when transferring files from the server to my pc, the transfer is suddenly interrupted. Some smaller files (couple of MB) seem to work most of the time, but bigger files mostly fail at random points. After the transfer fails, the entire TCP/IP stack seems to be out on the server, even ping doesn't work anymore (every host is unreachable).

I tried the follwing:
- Connecting my PC directly to the server, ruling out errors with switches etc in between.
- Trying different client pc's, ruling out a problem with the client pc
- Trying different files from different hard drives on the server, ruling out hard disk issues
- Trying different protocols (ftp, scp, smb), ruling out a problem with a specific protocol or server

The problem appeared in any of the above configurations. So I'm leaning towards either a software issue are a hardware issue with the NIC. However, syslog and dmesg doesn't indicate any problems. Ethtool results also seem normal...

I'm really out of ideas on what's broken and how to proceed...

HalosGhost
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Seba Kerckhof
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    Try booting the server from a live cd/usb and attempt to transfer some files. If the problem still exists I would think it's a hardware issue – Creek Jun 14 '14 at 14:54
  • If you have network problems then always include the outputs of ip addr and ip route in your question. In this case also those of ip rule and iptables -L OUTPUT -nv. – Hauke Laging Jun 14 '14 at 17:18
  • Is the network connection WiFi or Ethernet? Try a different Ethernet cable as well if it's a wired connection. – slm Jun 14 '14 at 17:22
  • @HaukeLaging: Don't use iptables -L for any sort of debugging. Use iptables-save to show unadulterated rules. – pilona Jun 14 '14 at 21:35
  • @pilona Which differences do you expect? – Hauke Laging Jun 14 '14 at 21:53
  • @HaukeLaging: iptables-save outputs the rules without pretty printing. It shows them as they are usually stored. If you have any non-trivial ruleset that doesn't fit nicely into the pretty-printed model of iptables -L, it becomes unreadable. We don't need to see the packet or byte counters for every rule, nor will every rule necessarily have protocol, iif, oif, saddr, and daddr matches. If we're going to modify the rules anyway, why bother translating them to another form that needs translating back? My 310 lines of rules on my router's firewall are unreadable in this form. – pilona Jun 14 '14 at 22:02
  • Hey guys, thanks for the help. The network is wired and I know what ip route and iptables-save should look like and they are fine. However, I tried Creeks suggestion by running a linux live usb and the problem was still present, so probably the hardware is failing. Strange I don't see/find any errors though. – Seba Kerckhof Jun 15 '14 at 10:39

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