Introduction Product Overview Installation & Use Support & Troubleshooting Links   updated: 6/17/98

Support & Troubleshooting Troubleshooting Network Connectivity Problems This section includes general tips for troubleshooting common problems connecting to the ASIP Services. IP Connections Verifying IP connections AppleTalk Connections No zones in Chooser File Server not appearing in Chooser Guest access grayed out Volumes grayed out "Server not responding" message Forcing an AppleTalk connection Can't connect using TCP/IP Clients hang when logging onto the server. <Basic/Advanced> IP Connections Verifying IP connections Whenever clients report problems accessing IP services, it's good practice to verify IP connectivity at the client and at the server. Even if the client connected successfully in the past, many different things could cause unsuccessful attempts at any time, such as: TCP/IP settings accidentally changed Routers down DNS services down Duplicate IP address appears on the network. Address server (DHCP, BootP) not functioning/not accessible. Corruption is some system files or TCP/IP preference files. Ping Utilities Testing IP connectivity is often done using utilities that send ping packets. Ping packets are simply small packets from one host to another, that request a response from the recipient. Many ping utilities are available for free download on the Internet. One favorite is MacTCP Watcher. Some sort of ping utility is invaluable when troubleshooting IP connections, and the following suggestions are assuming that some ping utility is available. If no ping utility is available, then use whatever IP applications are at hand, the simpler the better. Remember that the device you're attempting to contact has to support the service that the client software is trying to reach. You may be able to use a Web browser to test a connection with another Mac that has Personal Web Sharing enabled, but you can't use it test a connection to your router. Here's a suggested troubleshooting path for isolating problems with a client trying to connect to the host. Ping the host using its Domain name If pinging succeeds, then there's no problem with the client or the IP connection between client and host. Next step would be to check the applications at client and host, and look for problems there (Web server, file server, mail client, etc.). If pinging fails, it could indicate a problem with the routers or DNS servers, not necessarily with the workstation itself. Go on to the next step. Ping device on local subnet using IP address Pinging a device on your same subnet using its IP address does not require routers or DNS servers to be successful, so it verifies that each machine is able to communicate, at least on its own subnet, using TCP/IP. Important: be sure that the workstation you are attempting to ping has its IP stack (i.e., protocol set) initialized. Most Macs do not initialize the IP stack until an application that uses IP is launched. On the Mac you'll be pinging, launch an IP application, such as the Web browser or a ping utility, to initialize the stack before attempting the ping. You can determine which other devices are on the same subnet by checking the physical connections (are they connected to the same hub? or same bus?) or by checking their IP addresses (are the network portions of the IP addresses identical? You have to consider the IP address AND the subnet mask to determine this). If pinging a device on the same subnet is successful, you've verified that the computer's IP connections are working, but there still may be some problem with external network devices, such as routers, DNS servers. Continue on with the next step. If pinging a device on the same subnet fails, then you need to check carefully the local software and hardware configurations. Here's some tips on how to do that: See if any other device on same subnet can ping other devices. This will let you know if the local network is functioning, and if basically the IP addresses have been set up correctly. If server addressing is being used, see if you can test with a manual address, to see if problem is with communications between the client and address server. Check TCP/IP configuration carefully; compare them with that of a Macintosh that is working properly: verify link being used, IP address, subnet mask, and router information, whether "802.3" is checked (Advanced mode). Check network connections make sure they're not loose swap out nw hardware with a working machine test AppleTalk on the same link if possible. If none of the above fixes the problems, try resetting PRAM, tossing TCP/IP preferences and MacTCP DNR, and reconfiguring. turning off non-MacOS extensions, and possibly reinstalling Open Transport, or the entire system folder on the affected machine (clean install).   Ping router port on same subnet The workstation's TCP/IP panel may be configured with a router address. (This should be the router port which is on the same subnet as the workstation itself.) All communications with devices not on the same subnet as the workstation must pass through this router, so if it is not available, your client won't be able to talk to anyone outside the subnet. Again using a ping utility, attempt to ping the router port. If pinging the router is successful, go to next step. If pinging the router fails, see the network administrator, or whoever manages the router, and report the problem. Ping DNS server Whenever a host attempts to make a connection using a domain name, that name must first be resolved to an IP address. The name will be sent to the first DNS server listed in the TCP/IP control, and if that server doesn't respond, it will be sent to the second, the third, and so on. Try pinging the DNS servers listed. If pinging the DNS server succeeds, MacTCP Watcher lets you do a DNS Lookup; see if you can resolve a domain name (try several names in different domains, such as www.apple.com, www.cornell.edu, phc.mpr.org). If resolving names fails, its possible that the server is down (or the address is not that of a DNS server after all). Verify the information with the network administrator. If pinging the DNS server fails, report the problem to the network administrator. In the meantime, you can reconfigure your TCP/IP control panel with an address of a working DNS server; check the configurations of other devices on the network who are able to resolve names successfully. AppleTalk Connections No Zones in Chooser Zones are created by AppleTalk routers, and divide network devices into logical groupings. When a Macintosh tries to get on the network (either at system startup, or when the AppleTalk port is switched from one port to another), it does the following Tries to obtain an AppleTalk address dynamically, Checks for routers on the network, Verifies its address against information it received from the router, Requests information for the network from routers, such as zone names, Registers its own services, such as its Macintosh name for file sharing. If, on a zoned network, no zones appear in the Chooser, check the following: Is the correct port selected in AppleTalk control panel? Are network cables connected properly? Can other devices on the network see zones? Can you swap networking hardware with another device that's working, and see zones? If so, suspect networking hardware. Otherwise, suspect software, and try the following: Reset PRAM Re-select correct port in AppleTalk control panel. Restart with MacOS only extensions Toss AppleTalk preferences, restart, try again. Test IP connections on the port, if possible, to verify that the network itself is available. Run Disk First Aid or other disk utility. May be necessary to reinstall Open Transport, or a clean system folder. File Server not appearing in Chooser Verify file server name and zone name. See if anyone else can see it in the Chooser (may be network problems). Verify that the Web & File server is running. Verify port selected in AppleTalk control panel on both server and client. Guest access grayed out User "guest" does not have file service enabled at Web & File server. Server administrator must allow guests to log into the file server. Volumes grayed out User does not have any "read" privileges to the share point. Server administrator must allow users to at least "read" at the share point level, for users to mount the volume. "Server not responding" message AppleShare IP servers with AFP over TCP enabled will attempt an IP connection whenever the client and the server are configured for TCP/IP. Occasionally, although both client and server are configured for IP, there is no IP connectivity between them. (This might happen is there were no IP router between the client's network and the server's network.). In these cases, try to force an AppleTalk connection, instead of allowing the software to attempt an IP connection. See next step for details. Forcing an AppleTalk connection AppleShare client software 3.7 and above will attempt to make an IP connection to the Appleshare server whenever this feature has been enabled at the server, and the client is also configured for TCP/IP. To prevent this, and force an AppleTalk connection: Open Chooser. Select AT zone of file server (if on a zoned network) Select AppleShare Client icon Hold down the Option-Key when selecting the file server. Try this whenever you see a "server not responding" message, as indicated in the question above. Can't connect using TCP/IP If the client's connection is made via AppleTalk instead of TCP/IP (this should be done behind the scenes if everything is set up right), check the following: Verify that the client is configured for TCP/IP (control panel). Verify that the server is an ASIP server with "AFP over TCP/IP enabled" Attempt the connection using the "Server IP Address..." button in the Appleshare client software. If this button is missing, update client software to version 3.7.4 or later. Test IP connectivity between the client and server. Client hangs when logging in to the server. This problem is currently under investigation at Apple. The symptom is that the client hangs when attempting to log into the server, just at the point where the server volumes are expected to mount. Force-quitting the Chooser sometimes allows the client to continue. Many have reported that this problem does not affect the administrator user, only other registered users. Workaround: Disable the "Remember Recent" feature of Apple Menu Options control panel. (Changing values to "0" is not sufficient, the feature must be turned off).