RDP locks up login, doesn't unlock on Windows

From time to time, my system, when I try to login TRHOUGH or AFTER a remote connection, locks up the login session. I can't login anymore, the screen turns black (the monitor is still active, the image is black). Especially in the recent case, the system did not come back from the lock-up, and I had to reset the computer. Any idea what might be the issue here?

More information: Both Computers are Windows 7, The RDP Server has a wired connection, the Client has either Wireless or Wired. The network card involved on the server is a "Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20)" card built-in on an ASRock Mainboard. I'm using either local LAN or internet connection through NAT/Router.

private_meta

Posted 2010-11-01T10:17:55.507

Reputation: 2 204

More info: Is your connection wired/wireless? Are both computers Windows 7? What models are the computers and especially the network cards involved? Are you using VPN/LAN/Internet? – harrymc – 2010-11-01T10:31:26.257

I updated the information in the post. – private_meta – 2010-11-01T11:27:58.433

More questions: Are all network card drivers up to date (from the manufacturer's site)? Does this problem also happen when connecting via LAN? Are both machines fully patched? Does this happen when booting in Safe mode with network? – harrymc – 2010-11-01T13:57:51.350

The machines are fully patched, the drivers I'm using (apart the nvidia driver) are all from the microsoft update site, so I would have to look for up-to-date-drivers for the network card. About Safe Mode: I can't really test it, as the occurence of the problem is very very random, I can't reproduce it properly (basically happens when I least expect it), so I don't have the time and opportunity to run Safe mode for days. – private_meta – 2010-11-02T07:12:15.157

Answers

You might try disabling remote sound when connecting. Sometimes this helps.

RDP problems are normally caused by the video driver.
You should download it from the Nvidia site, rather than from Windows Update.
The above link can find you the update automatically (requires Java).

Another rather more remote possibility is the network card. See my answer here.

harrymc

Posted 2010-11-01T10:17:55.507

Reputation: 306 093

My default setting for remote desktop connections is leaving the sound on the remote machine, untouched, as disabling sound or pulling it to the local machine leads to me having some applications after quitting remote desktop because they won't have sound. Then again I can't even properly reproduce the error. – private_meta – 2010-11-02T07:10:38.527

I have updated my answer. – harrymc – 2010-11-02T08:48:03.350

I'm using the up-to-date nvidia driver from the nvidia website. According to your linked post, I disabled the Large Send Offload for now and I'll see what happens.

Another problem with RDP that I realized happen a couple of times being bluescreens when being connected via RDP, maybe it's related. I couldn't any more information though. – private_meta – 2010-11-09T10:02:12.527

Turning off sound redirection solved this for me - after months of suspecting the nvidia drivers.

Tom Snyder

Posted 2010-11-01T10:17:55.507

Reputation: 11

1I generally leave sounds at the remote machine when activating RDP to save bandwidth, so sound shouldn't be redirected. Playing sound not at all tends to create some problems with applications when logging in again (at least it did some time ago). – private_meta – 2011-01-17T10:47:56.217