We have one user who has been reporting sporadic problems for a couple of months sending mail from Eudora on dialup from home to local MichNet. When she brings her computer to the office so we can troubleshoot it, it never fails. The messages she gets in Eudora are as follows: Connecting to the mail server Error getting address for "pilot.msu.edu" Cause: host not found. (11001) which sounds like possibly a DNS problem. Sometimes she exits Eudora, starts it up again and it works. Other times she disconnects her dialup, redials and it works. At 12:10 AM 10/31/2003, Patrick S Bills wrote: >MSU Network Experts, > > >I've had, and heard of, a few problems with dial-up that seem to be >related to >the Win200 DNS client, so I'm looking for advice from folks in this >list. Rich W. long ago asked for experiences with campus dialup. This is in >part a late answer to that. I prob. shouldn't bother this list - but I'm at a >loss as to what to do. > >Here is my (probably ignorant) question: do MSU DNS server block specific >clients, similar to the DHCP blocking strategy? > >The symptom is DNS unresponsiveness when dialed in, and in one case even >on-campus ethernet, using Windows 2000. But let's consider just dial-up to >start. > > >System: >Windows 2000 (all patched up, no worms detected), no firewall software, NAV >corporate, DCOM disabled. > >Symptoms: > >After dialing in and checking the ipconfig, the computer is assigned a host & >DNS addresses by the DHCP server (see output below). However, when using any >network software, 'unknown host' or similar errors, e.g. ping, webbrowser, >etc. > >Sometimes nslookup will return an IP given a host name, even though >other apps (including ping) cannot, but nslookup does not always work. In the >latest case (late Th. night) nslookup will provide MSU host addresses, but no >external hosts, even with timeout set for 10 seconds. I've tried >explicitly setting the DNS to the (...41 and ...42) and also DHCP (which comes >back with radius5.merit.edu). Same behavior. In fact using nslookup and >changing the lookup-server there makes no difference. > >I'm convinced the problem is mine, and not the computer lab servers. In one >case I uninstalled/reinstalled the TCP/IP protocol in Windows 2000 and the >problem was fixed (caveman-style configuration editing). But I've found that >doesn't always work, and I've heard from a few other users who've had this >trouble, which leads me to wonder where the problem actually is. > > Any hints on how to attack this problem? Thanks for any and all input! > > --- An MSU network user. > > >sample IP config output: >PPP adapter MSU: > > Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : > Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface > Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00 > DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No > IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 35.12.19.54 > Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255 > Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 35.12.19.54 > DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 35.9.10.6 > 35.9.10.8 > NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled > > > >ps. I'm using pilot for mail becuase mail.msu.edu won't work with just an >ip in >the browser. I will miss telnet! > >.......................................................... >Patrick Bills [log in to unmask] >Michigan State University tel 517/432-0849 >East Lansing MI 48824 --Chris ============================================== Chris Wolf Computer Service Manager Agricultural Economics [log in to unmask] Michigan State University 517 353-5017