Last Updated 10/28/2006
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Introduction |
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| This is an attempt to document some common problems that you
might have with your dial-up TCP/IP connection. Originally, this page was made to address
using Trumpet Winsock and SLIP emulation software. The focus of this guide will now be on
troubleshooting Dial-Up TCP/IP networking connections in general, which should apply to a
wide range of dial-up TCP stacks, Windows 95 DUN (Dial Up Networking) and Windows NT RAS.
If you would like to advertise on this page (Dreaming in color here), please contact me at the e-mail address below. If you have suggestions, find errors or have a solution you would like to add to this document, please e-mail llarrow@yahoo.com it to me. I will include your e-mail address or name if you desire with the solution. Disclaimer. Sorry, but I do not have time to answer your personal questions. Copyright Notice: Copyright (c) Lynn D. Larrow 1995-2006. The URL for this page is http://www.internetweekly.org/llarrow/trouble.html. Since 4/1/95, this page has been accessed:
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| First thing you need to do is to check to make sure that you have installed Dial-Up
TCP connection properly. Make sure you follow all of the instructions provided to
you from your Internet Service Provider (ISP): Also, use ipconfig /all from the command line to check your XP/2000 PPP connection. To get to the command line, select Start->Run->cmd <return>. Note: use winipcfg for Windows 95/98. Here's an example of what Your PPP connection settings should look like if you are connecting correctly to your ISP. Please note that nearly all IP PPP configurations are dynamic IP Address, i.e, you don't have to enter any of this information. If you have a static connection, then you would have to enter your IP and DNS addresses. PPP adapter SBC Global: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 70.231.130.193
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 70.231.130.193
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 68.94.156.1
68.94.157.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled
Windows XP: How To Configure and Use Dial-Up Connections in Windows XP. Windows 95/98: How to Connect to the Internet in Windows 95/98. Windows NT 4.0/2000: Troubleshooting Internet Service Provider Login Problems. Trumpet Winsock: If you are still using Slirp and Trumpet Winsock, please see my SLiRP installation instructions, e.g., .slirprc file. Make sure you have downloaded the correct version of SLiRP/TIA for your host computer. If you are PPP user, here is my trumpwsk.ini. |
| Domain Name System or DNS is the way TCP/IP resolves computer names to IP addresses
much like a phone book lets you look up telephone numbers by name. If your DNS server is
not correctly specified, you will be unable resolve or look-up computers by name. Example: Most ISP's now support dynamically assigning DNS addresses when you login into their PPP server. In this case, make sure that your DNS entries are left blank . Otherwise, check with your ISP to verify what your DNS server addresses should set to. Windows 95 users on a LAN using a local static DNS address may experience this problem documented by Microsoft: DNS Settings in Dial-Up Networking Connectoid Are Not Used. Microsoft's resolution to this problem is to set your DNS for your network card to your ISP's DNS server and to create a hosts file to resolve local names. This problem has been corrected with version 1.3 of DUN. |
| Windows XP: See
Microsoft Windows XP - Rasdial. See also: #1.06 below for other Windows versions. Trumpet Winsock: Use my Pacbell PPP login.cmd or SLiRP login.cmd for a comparison with your script. If all the settings match, you will probably need to check your modem documentation or this URL for your modem setup string. Also, I have noticed that if you try to put "exec slirp" in a $variable name, e.g., $slipcmd that Trumpet will think you are trying to start (execute) a file on your local PC. |
| When you configure winsock applications like Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook, Netscape or Eudora mail you need to make sure that you have the right server names specified. Below are server types that you will need to get from your ISP. I have used Best as an example. You will need to get the correct names from your ISP. If you have trouble contacting your ISP, or want to get information about a domain's DNS MX entries (e-mail), check with the Network Tools or DNS Stuff: DNS and other IP Tools to look the DNS MailB Querytype. If you are unsure or cannot find your ISP POP or SMTP server name, try looking up using host name for common server name as in the examples below. | ||
| Examples: | ||
| POP mail server | mail.best.com | |
| SMTP mail server | smtp.best.com | |
| NNTP or News server | news.best.com | |
| Make sure that you have selected the right modem driver (in the modem control panel
entry for Windows 95 and Windows NT) and that you have hardware handshaking flow control
set on. See also: Navas 28800-56K Modem FAQ. See my Communications FAQs and Links for more information. |
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Windows XP: To Dial: rasdial connectionname [username [password | *]] To Disconnect: rasdial [connectionname] /disconnect Example: Reference:
Microsoft Windows XP - Rasdial |
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Windows 95: rundll rnaui.dll,RnaDial <connectoid> where
connectoid is Microsoft jargon for the name of your dial-up networking target that you
have already created, e.g., msn, aol, ... Please note a "hands free" option is
now available with DUN 1.3. Example: Reference: How to Start Dial-Up Networking Connection Using Command Line. |
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Windows NT/2000: rasphone -d <entry> where entry is the name
of the dial-up entry in your phone book. For example: I put the following entries into a
batch file in my startup group to dial PacBell (my ISP) and then launch my.yahoo.com using
Internet Explorer 4.0. Example: Reference: RASPHONE and RASDIAL
Tips and Differences for NT/2000. |
| Many ISPs support server assigned IP, Gateway and
DNS addresses, which means you
usually don't have to worry about what your addresses are. You can check what your IP
settings by executing from the DOS prompt: Windows 95/98: winipcfg Windows NT/2000: ipconfig /all However, if you suspect you need to manually specify these addresses, consult your documentation or call your ISP technical support person for these IP addresses. If you have trouble getting a hold of support, you can see what your ISP DNS server(s) are by using the whois [domain.name] command in UNIX, Network Tools or with a winsock whois client like the one in Sam Spade. If you have several choices for DSN, see which DNS server has the best response time by using ping and traceroute. Remember to check with your ISP to determine which DNS server you should be using from your location. Example: {netcom10:1} whois best.com
[snip]
Domain Name: BEST.COM
[snip]
Record last updated on 10-Jan-95.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS.BEST.COM 204.156.128.1
NS2.BEST.COM 204.156.128.10
NS3.BEST.COM 204.156.128.20
The DNS entries are also on the UNIX host computer in the file /etc/resolv.conf. Example: {netcom10:2} more /etc/resolv.conf
domain netcom.com
nameserver 192.100.81.120
nameserver 192.100.81.101
nameserver 192.100.81.105
Your gateway could be determined by using the netstat -r command in UNIX or by using a traceroute program. {netcom19:10} netstat -r
Routing tables
Destination Gateway Flags Refcnt Use Interface
localhost localhost UH 301 5727174 lo0
default 192.100.81.254 UG 275 27592733 le0
{netcom19:11} traceroute best.com
traceroute to best.com (204.156.128.10), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.100.81.254 (192.100.81.254) 3 ms 4 ms 4 ms
2 t3-1.scl-gw1.netcom.net (163.179.220.194) 4 ms 5 ms 8 ms
[snip]
6 shell1.best.com (204.156.128.10) 11 ms 13 ms 10 ms
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| Microsoft Support Knowledge Base for all
Windoze Versions Windows NT/2000/XP Frequently Asked Questions Win95 FAQ Part 8: The Internet/other dial-up questions |
| The host file can be used by the TCP stack to lookup or resolve host names on a LAN or
on the Internet. In most cases, the DNS server is all you will need to worry about when
you setup dial-up connection. However, there are times when a hosts file is needed: you
don't have a local DNS server on your LAN, you want to simplify your winsock client setups
perhaps for multiple ISPs, or maybe you use Windows 95 on a LAN and want to dial-up the
Internet at the same time. One of the best features of the hosts file is that it can be changed on the fly. If you have several accounts that you log into, you could create hosts files for each ISP and then copy the desired hosts file before you dialed the target ISP. Notice that both files use an alias in the third column. These alias names are what you need to put into your browser, e-mail client, newsreader, etc. Caution: These settings override DNS and are static. If your ISP changes IP addresses on you, you will need to update these files. See Also: Host Name Resolution for more details from Microsoft. Example: Hosts file for ISP1 127.0.0.1 localhost 207.12.72.12 popmail.isp1.com popmail 207.12.72.13 smtpmail.isp1.com smtpmail 207.12.72.14 news.isp1.com news Hosts file for ISP2 127.0.0.1 localhost 208.120.72.112 popmail.isp2.com popmail 208.120.72.113 smtpmail.isp2.com smtpmail 208.120.72.114 news.isp2.com news The hosts file should reside in the following directories:
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| Prior to Windows 95 DUN version 1.2, which was released this summer 1997, when you
tired to log on to an NT RAS server and your password expired or the system otherwise
forced you to change your password, you received a message to contact your system
administrator. Since I have administered RAS servers, I was more than just a little ticked
with Bill Gates over this bug. Well give Microsoft enough time (about 2 years) and they
might even fix a silly bug like this. Ok I'll shut up. This problem is fixed if you update to Windows 95/98 DUN 1.4. |
| Do your home work and make sure pick the solution (wireless
or hard wired) that best meets your needs. If you can afford it, I'd
just go with wireless it's a lot more flexible and costs are fairly
reasonable these days. Some Good Resources are:
Home and Small Office Networking with Windows XP |
| INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND FREEDOM FROM INFRINGEMENT. Use at your own risk in other words. |
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