checksum offload problem appears some of network card, but widely

Question

did you heard about some of network card which support checksum offload functionality has an error in it? this may cause many problem like unexpected connection lost, most udp packet loss under a certain condition, or broken downloaded files, etc.

recently, i have experienced this kind of problem while developing a network program in some of our company's computer. and i figured out that the problem is about the checksum offload error. it was really hard to find the reason.

after i have learned about this, i asked my ex-colleagues and googled about this problem. so i noticed that the problem is not many but widely spread. and it's very hard to find the cause, hence the many people would have suffered from this error so far.

although, erroneous network card causes this problem, but those of user who is not friendly with computer hardly can't update driver or disabling checksum offload option. probably, they wouldn't have know what causes their problem.

hence my question is... does Microsoft has any plan to solve this problem? i think Microsoft can diagnose this and should make workaround for this. and ship the solution via windows update. then many of users who suffering from this problem all around the world will be happy. and network programmer either. ;-)

Answer 1

I have investigated some of symptoms related the checksum offload fault. there are so many kind of aspect from continuous and serious one to hard to aware one.

sadly, i think someone has erroneous NIC should try this-n-that as he or she can to figure out the cause. we hardly expect helping hand. even if you're a computer-illiterate. and hardware manufacturer would not recall their product. it's ridiculous. what the fun...

Answer 2

Are you sure it's faulty hardware and not external influence, e.g. by malware or over-protective antivirus/firewall systems?

As you're working in a company: swap the disks of two identical computers and see if the problem still appears. If it does, you've got a software problem. If not, fix the hardware.