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IP Problem: Client not accessing Sun box

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11 replies

by ngunity

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I have a Windows 95 client which regularly accesses a local sun box in our lan. Which as of today has stopped being able to "see" the Sun box.

The client accesses the Sun Box through a terminal emulator (Netterm) on a local IP address.

The client can log on to the network, ping other computers/ devices in the network, and in general do anything but access the sun box.

All other clients can access and ping the sun box.

The user claims no new software has been installed, all other network operation is satisfactory on the client, TCP/IP has been uninstalled and re-installed and no other protocols are installed. No DNS hosts or Gateways are required to access the Sun Box but all are configured on this machine correctly for web/e-mail.

The people who support the Sun box could not think of a reason for the problem and are satisfied it is not server-related.

Short of a long-shot NIC problem I am stumped for the answer??

Can anyone think of a logical reason, or solution for this problem?

11 replies

by dkpalmer

If the 95 box can see and access all other network resources, then the problem is almost certainly at the Sun end.
Does the Win95 box use DHCP or a static IP? Has it been changed? If you use DHCP, is it possible the user pulled an address from another DHCP server or manually set their IP.
Is there any type of firewall/filtering software running on the Sun box that is rejecting the win95's IP address?
You might also want to run a trace route from the Win95 box to see if the packets are somehow getting misrouted by another network system.

by mckaytech

I'm not clear on whether the Win95 client can ping the Sun box. If not, it's a network connectivity issue probably related to routing (access list maybe?).

If the Win95 client can ping the Sun box but not log on with a telnet session, then it's most likely a permissions issue on the Sun box or a configuration issue with NetTerm. However, if there is a router between the two, it could be that the router is not passing traffic on port 23.

I agree with the suggestion to do a traceroute and would also suggest doing a "winipcfg /all" from the command prompt and comparing the results with those from a machine that works.

paul

by shanghai sam

The Win 95 cannot ping the sun box

Winipcfg failed to reveal any discrepancies between the failing workstation and a working one.

Thanks for the input anyway

by shanghai sam

The Win 95 cannot ping the sun box

Winipcfg failed to reveal any discrepancies between the failing workstation and a working one.

Thanks for the input anyway

by stillatit

Things to try:

Verify that the IP of the Sun box and the IP of the workstation are, in fact, on the same segment.

Verify that the user's IP mask is correct. A longshot, but if wrong can make a part of your network invisible to the user.

Ping the user's computer from the Sun box. If it works, look for a name problem on the user's machine. If not, look for an IP/subnet problem. The steps below narrow this down.

If the ping worked, on the user's machine go to a command prompt, and typearp -a
This will show you the IP address of all machines the computer has talked to recently, including the Sun box.

Try doing a ping of the Sun box by its IP address. (You could have a local hosts file which has a bad address in it.)

Try connecting using Microsoft's telnet using the IP number of the Sun box. (Start button, Run, then type telnet w.x.y.z where w.x.y.z is the IP of the Sun box. If this works, the IP number in the Netterm connect parameters may be wrong. If you get a connection prompt, but the Sun box rejects the username and/or password, you will be able to see that.

Good luck.

by ngunity

For answer 1:

Okay here's further Clarification:

The windows 95 machine uses a Static IP which is on the same subnet mask as the Sun box. The sun is at static Ip: 192.168.101.1, the Win95 at : 192.168.101.29

Tracert reveals nothing as thereare no routes/hops through the LAN and so tracert immediately reveals time-outs in it's attempts to access the Sun IP.

I am looking into possible firewall/ restrictions at the sun end

For answer 2:

Will check on the ping from server to workstation and check back in with the results.

As above masks and IPs are fine.

I have been pinging with IP addresses, by the way, and so I know it's not a name-resolution problem.

Telnet of course failed as I can't even ping the Sun box.

by ngunity

The problem gets more bizarre,

After trying all the suggestions and further analysis I've discovered the problematic workstation cannot ping or tracert to the Server, using IP addresses always, nor can it access the majority of other workstationson my network.

It can however access and ping my NT server, Webramp, and several workstations which are not discernably different from the majority which the computer cannot see. The server and workstations the machine can access/ping can also see it and ping it.

I have tried to turn up a pattern in the workstations the client CAN access and one noticeable item is that all but one had IPX/sPX installed???

Remembering that the problematic workstation only has TCP/Ip installed, as all machines do, I don't see how the presence of IPX/SPx on the workstations it can access is a clue.

I am going to attempt a new NIC in the problematic PC, and failing that a total re-install of the machine, pending a solution.

by ngunity

The problem was caused by a bad cable daisy chaining the networks hubs together, causing the user, and others to be unable to use some/ all of the network resources.

I have to apoligise for getting the problem definition wrong when it was actually a hub related hardware issue!

thanks for the replies though

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