Cisco 1720 fails on 1 of 2 protocols?

[MarkMallow]

Hi, we use a legacy system between two buildings that uses Novells IPX/SPX and e-mail uses TCP/IP. We route both protocols between two Cisco 1720 through a T1. Been good for 10 years then our IPX/SPX stopped working between buildings but TCP/IP still works.

I typed:
#show protocols
#show ipx interface brief
#show cdp neighbors

I see all lines are up, IPX protocols are up, the other building listed as neighbors. I printed the configuration 10 years ago it's the same. I noticed each router has 2 IPX numbers. If I'm in Router1 and ping both IPX addresses of Router2 I get successes. However, going into Router2 and pinging both IPX addresses of Router1 I get one success one fail. I swapped the WIC 1DSU cards between them, and the pinging situation is exactly the same so swapping them didn't change anything. Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[VinceWhirlwind]

Did you recently upgrade the code on any of the routers?

 

[MarkMallow]

No, haven't touched them in 10 years. This morning it was working, but now it's not again.

Should I always be able to ping both IPX ports of the routers? I'm kicking myself because when it was running I didn't have time to test to see if I got success pinging the address I couldn't yesterday before it went down. I'm back to router1 being able to ping both IPX ports of router2, and router2 only being able to ping one address of Router1.

 

[VinceWhirlwind]

Well, sorry, but I used to work almost 10 years ago on a network that carried several protocols including IPX, but I no longer remember anything at all about IPX except we eventually got rid of it (together with appletalk) to save money on firmware licences.

You say you swapped the WICs around and Router1 Address2 is still unpingable from Router2?
When you swapped them around, did you effectively swap the patch leads/etc.. too?
When you swapped them, did you reconfigure the IP address at all, or did the WICs swap places in terms of config as well as physical slot?
If both sets of cabling/WICs are all good for the good IPX address, then you have surely narrowed it down to configuration? But you haven't changed that, and you've checked.

Could it be a rogue device causing a conflict?

 

[MarkMallow]

I hear ya about the 10 year ago thing... calling places and I tell them I'm having trouble with routing IPX I get "Let me talk to my engineers and they'll call you back" but never do. I know why...

You say you swapped the WICs around and Router1 Address2 is still unpingable from Router2?
Correct, it's as if I never swapped them. That rules out the WICs basically.

did the WICs swap places in terms of config as well as physical slot? Yes, the configuration is stored in the router itself and assigned to the port on bootup. You can swap WICs freely unlike ethernet cards, I think because they tend to fail and having to reconfigure them each time would be a pain. So they made the router hold the configuration/ip addresses and you just swap out the WIC with a good one and away you go... no reconfiguring necessary. .

It started working again this morning... I'm now thinking at night it gets cooler in the room with the router (since it's winter) and the solder is shrinking making a connection. As the day goes on and the room warms up the solder expands and fails. That's why it works in the early AM only (until about 8AM).

 

[VinceWhirlwind]

hmmm.....or, it works until Mr X arrives at work and switches on his rogue device.

What happens if you disable the non-working one and together with it one of the Router2 IP addresses (are they paired up in some way?).

 

[MarkMallow]

hmmm.....or, it works until Mr X arrives at work and switches on his rogue device.

How true! In the end, it was a persons computer in our network I replaced the "faulty" Cisco 1720 and had the same issue. Realized the connection goes down from 8AM - 5PM our working hours. I had each department shut off their computers one department at a time until I ended up hitting a department after shutting theirs off the line came up. When they turned them on, it went down. Rinse and repeat until I traced it to one user's computer, couldn't have been a nicer person too

To anyone else who comes across this, here's the technical info.

If you want to run IPX on a 1720 it required a special purchase of the Novell powerpack, they do NOT do ipx by default. I nearly crapped myself. I remember now back in the day you ordered a special "PowerPack" and got a chip in the mail from Cisco you replaced in the 1720. If you get "Invalid input detected at '^' marker" everytime you type ipx routing you don't have one with the Novell Powerpack. Another way is

After logging in, enabling, type
Router1#show ver
...
System image file is "flash:c1700-ny-mz.121-5.bin"
...
the n in bold above is a 1720 with IPX. If you get c1700-y-mz.121-5.bin (notice only y not ny) yours doesn't have IPX ability. But, if you're replacing a faulty one the firmware comes on that easily removeable chip. I disassembled the old unit, removed the firmware chip (says 5V on it) and popped it into the new, now I had IPX on the new. There's 2 IPX interfaces on each. To figure out how to ping

Router1#show protocols
FastEthernet0
Internet Address is 19x.xx.xx.xx
IPX Address is Company1.xyz.xyz.xyz
Serial0
Internet Address is 19x.xx.xx.xx
IPX Address is AAA.xyz.xyz.xyz

When that machine wasn't on, I was able to ping both IPX addresses from the other router by typing
Router2# ping ipx Company1.xyz.xyz.xyz
Router2# ping ipx AAA.xyz.xyz.xyz

Thanks again!