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Network Connectivity

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ChrisAC

ISP
Aug 6, 2001
2,158
GB
I have a small problem that I'm hoping somebody can help me with. I know that the answer is something simple but it hasn't really hit me yet, so I'm looking for some inspiration!! It goes like this:

I recently left a small company to join a much bigger one. My old company has a small network of 4 nodes and an ISDN router/gateway. I frequently e-mail one of my colleagues there and we fire mails back and forth all day long! Today he rang me to tell me that he couldn't get on the network, and therefore couldn't get his mail or get on the web!! I did the usual thing, ran through some settings, pinged the gateway ... nothing!! So, I went down there on my lunch hour to have a look. I checked the gateway (forced a test connection), tested other PC's .. everything was fine. However, this one PC can't get on the network and can't ping any other PC, mail server or the gateway. I checked, double checked and re-configured TCP/IP. Checked the IP address, subnet mask, DNS servers, gateway, bindings, client for MS networks, file and print sharing .. all the usuall stuff!! Still nothing. Re-booted, logged on to Client For MS Networks, tried pinging .. nothing. I checked the lights on the back of the network card. They were on. I checked the light on the hub. That was on. Still nothing. However, the thing that I beleive is causing the problem is this:

If I ping the gateway or the mailserver (or whatever) I get activity on the hub .. but the collision light constantly flashes whenever I'm pinging from this PC. The collisions must be causing dropped packets and the "request timed out". There are usually a few collsions but this is constant whenever this PC is pinging. I swapped the fly/patch leads and even changed the port on the hub. Still the same.

I feel sure that the answer is staring me in the face but I just can't see it and I really don't want to spend my whole weekend at my ex-companies office!

Any suggestions?

Chris.
 
Basically, the old network is connected to an ISDN router connected to the ISP. Did you try a tracert to see how far the packets travel before they die.

Can all the other PC's can access the internet fine?

Are they in a workgroup or domain? How long ago did this PC work? Where there any recent thunder storms in the area? Where I worked before, we took a couple of hist through our isdn line and it took out a couple of network cards. You may want to crack the case and examine the card for small burnt spots.... Are they connected to a hub or a switch.

Another thing to check, is there a firewall like zonealarm installed on that PC. A colleage of mine had installed it on his computer and it really messed up his networking!

Anyway, Good Luck



Troy Williams B.Eng.
fenris@hotmail.com

 
Basically, the old network is connected to an ISDN router connected to the ISP. Did you try a tracert to see how far the packets travel before they die.

Can all the other PC's can access the internet fine?

Are they in a workgroup or domain? How long ago did this PC work? Where there any recent thunder storms in the area? Where I worked before, we took a couple of hits through our isdn line and it took out a couple of network cards. You may want to crack the case and examine the card for small burnt spots.... Are they connected to a hub or a switch?

Another thing to check, is there a firewall like zonealarm installed on that PC. A colleage of mine had installed it on his computer and it really messed up his networking!

Anyway, Good Luck



Troy Williams B.Eng.
fenris@hotmail.com

 
The ISDN line is fine!! I dialed out with it directly and got the mail sever to connect to the ISP's POP3 server. The other PC's connect to the net just fine!! It's just this one that can't ping the gateway. The lights are on on the hub and the NIC and the activity light is flashing. It's just the constant collisions that are causing me grief and preventing packets from getting through. It's a 1 hop thing ... node to gateway!!

Chris.
 
Replace your nic on the problem machine!!

Hope this solves your problem.
 
I did do .... and it did!! Basically, the old NIC was a bit of a cheapo one. I replaced it with a slightly less cheap Netgear card and now all is fine!!

Many thanks.

Chris.
 
goof ball, replacing the nic is the obvious solution, 85% of all network problems fall into the physical layer, layer!
 
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