RE: OT - Network Black Hole?

["Adam Stevens" <adam@xxxxxxx>]

> A mate is going up the walls because he cannot connect to his machine
over
the Net
> via VNC etc.  We have tried another remote-control app as well as
shoutcast server
> and nothing works.

Couple of things...

Is he running a local network?  If so, can he VNC to one machine from
another locally?

I don't know if "Shields Up" does a port scan of high port
numbers, but VNC
uses as default port 5800 and 5900.  5800 is used for it's own web server,
so it's quite a good test to go to "http://hisIPaddress:5800/";
and see if
you get a VNC login screen... If you don't then either the port is being
blocked, or VNC isn't setup (which narrows it down, because if you're sure
VNC is set-up correctly, then it's something blocking the ports!

You could also try some other type of port scanning software to scan the
high ports (eg, 5800 and above).  See if you get anything there.

Can you access his web server (PWS) remotely?  If so, can you switch the
PWS
port from 80 to 5800 or 5900, and see if you can still access it... If you
can connect when it's on port 80, but not when it's on port 5800, then
something *is* blocking the port!

FWIW, I have a friend, who's w2k machine refuses to allow any FTP server on
port 21 (including IIS).  It's almost as if port 21 on his machine is
"bust"
:-)  Sounds like a similar problem?

If none of the above works, then give it a good hard kick... Or do what the
network admins did at one place I worked at, and just spend a few hours
pinging machines until it magically starts working! :-)

Adam.