odd DNS failure in w2000?

[steve at horne.homelinux.net (steve at horne.homelinux.net)]

Thanks Bill -- See included notes.

On Sat, Mar 15, 2003 at 10:10:19PM -0500, Bill Horne wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 15, 2003 at 09:35:25AM -0500, steve at horne.homelinux.net wrote:
> 
,quoted message stripped>

> 
> Please tell us a few more details:
> 
> 1. Does the W2K laptop use DHCP, or is its IP addresses permanently
>    assigned?
> 

All permanently assigned --  192.168.1.x 


>    A. If the laptop uses dynamic IP, where does it get its DNS info?
>       In other words, do you run a DNS on the RH 6.2 box, or does the 
>       laptop use your ISP's DNS?

I set the primary DNS onthe laptop to 4.2.2.1. Same on the XP laptop which works.
 I've tried adding attbi's nameservers (read from the firewall's resolv.conf)
with no change in behavior.

I should add, the w2000 laptop (with the problem) boots & runs linux just
fine, with the same dns server and ip address.

>    B. If the laptop has a fixed IP address, have you set the DNS 
>       server(s) to a known good IP? ISPs sometimes renumber their 
>       DNS, and the W2K machine may be using an outdated IP.
> 

> 2. Do you have IPTABLES (or IPCHAINS) firewall rules in place on the 
>    Redhat 6.2 box? Be sure you're not blocking port 53 if the W2K
>    laptop needs to see an external DNS at your ISP.
> 

I'll check this, but none of the other machines (2 linux, 1 w95, 1 xp) have a problem.



> 3. Does the W2K laptop (and the other machines on your LAN) have a 
>    current HOSTS file? Be sure all the machines have the same file!
> 

Now this is interesting.  Is this the so-called LMHOSTS file?
I've never used one -- what is the format, and where do they go?
  The linux boxes all have /etc/host,
all the same (more or less).

The windows machines (including laptop) find the samba shares
ok, and can resolve their names -- eg "ping rio" works (rio is on local lan)
"ping 64.58.76.230" (yahoo) works, "ping 4.2.2.1" works.

> Once we have this info, we can provide more help. 

The error message (see initial note) looked "socket" related -- 
I was wondering if a windows dll had magically become 
corrupted, as they so often do.  I'd rather not have to
reinstall w2000 -- had to track down a half
dozen drivers -- if I can help it.

As a security measure on the firewall, I maintain a
list of md5sum's for the contents of key directories.
Anybody do this on a windows machine, just to keep the
libraries  from changing chaotically?
 

> 
> Bill
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