Quote Originally Posted by softmessager View Post
"if you're going to distribute a program to the public that relies on TCP/IP, that program can't just be an ordinary application with just a trace file to help you out."

Can you please elaborate on the above?.
Well, your situation makes the point clear, doesn't it? A trace file is not enough information for you to solve the problem.

Again, what if it's a setting on their network card that's causing this or a third-party software causing the issue? What if the computer's power options or some other software puts the NIC to sleep after 1 hour, and the NIC doesn't wake up for some reason (maybe the LAN driver is buggy)?

In other words, you need more information on the environment -- network card, version and model, settings, any third-party software running (virus checkers, Internet security suite programs such as Norton, Avast), etc.

I'm no great expert in socket programming (my expertise is in scanners and image acquisition devices), but this is no different than any other type of programming that relies on hardware that can have multitudes of settings where you don't know what the customer may have enabled/disabled/tweaked etc. You need as much information as you can regarding the hardware and software that is being accessed.

Regards,

Paul McKenzie