Has your network connection suddenly got closed flashing the “An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host’ error message? If yes, then you probably know that troubleshooting this problem is very difficult. The most complex part is that you don’t understand which remote host has forcibly closed the connection and how to resolve the problem. This article puts light on this error and explains how through online laptop technical support you can fix it.

The ‘An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host’ error is a client error message that can occur because of Chimney issues or Server issues. When you confront a technical error like that, you know that it is not your cup of coffee, and you surely need professional help. On that note, this article first explains the Chimney issues that lead to the client error message like the one under consideration here. Next, it explains how online laptop support can fix the TOE/Chimney issues.

Understanding the Chimney Feature

Chimney is a feature that got introduced first time in the Windows Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack and then it was made available through Windows Server 2003 SP2. The purpose of Chimney is to improve the performance of a network over a network card that implements TOE, TCP/IP Offload Engine. TOE, TCP Offload Engine is a hardware implementation of the TCP/IP stack.

How is Laptop Technical Support Helpful?

If some problem hits the Chimney features, then it creates error messages like “Connection forcibly closed by the remote host” or “General network error.” In most of the cases, a layman doesn’t understand these error messages. Also, they can’t fix the problem because the error message doesn’t propose any troubleshooting option. In fact, when the error message appears, it gets difficult even for professionals to dig out the main reason for the forcible connection closure. Thus, to resume the connection, it gets imperative to seek professional help.

When you go for online customer support, the tech professional will check for three possibilities:

• Hardware Problem

• Another Client is Killing the Connection

• Genuine Server Problem

First Possibility- Hardware Problem

The connection closure may take place because of the server problem or because of some hardware (TOE/Chimney) problem. First the laptop service executive will check whether the client error message flashing on your computer has a corresponding message registered in the SQL Server instance’s ERRORLOGs. If they don’t find the network-related error messages in SQL Server instance’s ERRORLOGs, then they will learn that it’s a hardware related issue and not a server issue.

The occurrence of client error message in your computer normally indicates that there is some severe problem on the server and as a result of that the connection got closed. In that scenario, the server also logs the error message. Taking a note here, for a genuine server problem you get a client error message on your computer screen and a corresponding error message gets logged in the SQL Server instance’s ERRORLOGs. A good example of such error message is the Error 17828, which reads “The prelogin packet used to open the connection is structurally invalid; the connection has been closed. Please contact the vendor of the client library. ”

But in case of “Connection forcibly closed by the remote host” error, the client error message, on your computer screen, might not have corresponding error message logged in the SQL Server instance’s ERRORLOGs. That confirms the connection closure is not because of a server issue rather it’s a TOE/ Chimney hardware related issue. That is why there is no message in the SQL Server instance’s ERRORLOGs indicating the connection closure. That is how the online laptop support guy finds out whether it’s a server problem or hardware problem.

Second Possibility- Another Client is Killing the Connection

Not necessarily, it has to be a hardware problem. The “Connection forcibly closed” message without a corresponding server ERRORLOG message can also appear when a different client kills the connection. Considering that possibility, the online PC repair guy will examine the SQL Server ERRORLOG for KILL statements. Here, he can view whether or not some other client is killing the SQL Server connection.

Genuine Server Problem

And the third possibility is the “Connection forcibly closed” error message, which is appearing because your network is sporadically failing, and thus the server has closed the connection. In that case, the online PC repair guy will find the corresponding error message in the SQL Server ERRORLOG.

Wrap Up

Once the online laptop support guy succeeds in finding the cause of the connection failure, he will accordingly execute the troubleshooting process and resolve your connection failure issue in no time. If it’s a server issue, then the troubleshooting process will be different. But if the online customer support guy suspects TOE/Chimney is the source of your problem, then he will test it by disabling the Chimney feature and check if the problem persists or vanishes. He will run some command to disable the Chimney. If the problem still prevails, then you have to replace the hardware.