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We have a Windows 7 Pro PC running 24/7 on a room downstairs in our building. We use this PC for running tests in some hardware that is connected to it via additional NIC and USB port.

I configured the PC correctly for being accessed via Remote Desktop Connection:

  • I created an user (set as administrator) with password
  • Allowed remote assistance (System properties)
  • Allowed connections from other computers running Remote Desktop (System properties)
  • Disabled windows firewall completely
  • No anti-virus installed (We have no internet access as it is behind a proxy)

Additional tasks:

  • Removed scheduled tasks (disk defragmenter, etc)
  • Set power settings to always-on, never suspend, never turn off HDD, etc.

Problem:

  • Everything is fine, we can access the PC via several users (one at a time) and it works fine
  • Almost once or twice a week we lose connection to the PC, nobody can connect and even our Remote Desktop Connection client says "Connecting to XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX. Configuring remote session..." and stands there for hours
  • We can ping to the PC
  • We have access to an SSH server we installed there, but I dont know much about the Windows command line (only Linux...)
  • When I go to the PC and plug a screen I see the login window, if I plug an USB mouse and keyboard, seems that they are not detected as nothing moves or types, even the keyboard blinking is on and frozen.
  • I decided to keep an PS2 keyboard always plugged, when the same happens, I am still unable to type anything on the login window, same happens with the blinking cursor always on.
  • Till now the only solution was plugging the power off and on again, but we will loose all tests and results we were running.

Any ideas what can be 'freezing' the PC?

It seems that it is very similar to: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2571388 although I have Windows 7 Pro as the connection server side

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  • This is not a RDS problem. It looks like the whole system locks up – which will also break the RDP session. Try to eliminate as many probable causes as possible, e.g. software running on that system and eventual hardware failures.
    – Koraktor
    Commented May 19, 2016 at 8:45

1 Answer 1

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This seems to be a hardware problem, unrelated to the remote Desktop system. Are you running old hardware?

Make sure that all your hardware drivers have been updated to the latest versions. This problem can also be caused by processes that use up too many computer resources. Do you have any more observations/symptoms you can share with us?

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  • I can confirm tomorrow but I am pretty sure it is an HP Compaq DC5800 Small Form Factor desktop running with a Pentium Dual-Core E5200 (2.5GHz), RAM should be 2GB, 3GB or 4GB (not sure now) Tomorrow I will try to run a RAM and HDD check
    – Vasco Baptista
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 14:21
  • I think I have an unused PC that I can swap the HDD to, but I know with Linux its pretty easy and I've done it several times to port a system to a better machine. For the Windows case, I don't know if it is so easy...
    – Vasco Baptista
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 14:24
  • @VascoBaptista It is A LOT TOUGHER on windows...
    – undo
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 15:51
  • I checked the RAM, it was fine, HDD was fine as well, I ended up installing VNC server and it seems to work fine till now... :)
    – Vasco Baptista
    Commented May 19, 2016 at 7:18

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