Troubleshooting Internet Wireless Connectivity Problems

Quickly diagnosing Network Issues on your Windows XP PC

If you are like me and have a WinXP laptop at home then you will miss some of the nice diagnostic features Windows 7 comes with (we will skip Vista for obvious reasons) - By the way I have finally got a Windows 7 machine at home and at work!

I like WinXP purely because it lets you do what you want without all those annoying pop ups asking you to confirm everything you want to run.

However the other day for some reason I opened my laptop only for my Internet connectivity to be disabled with the message that the relevant driver was no longer installed! Why I have no idea as I had been using the laptop only hours before without an issue.

No I hadn't accidentally turned off the Wireless switch at the top of the Sony Laptop or accidentally disabled the radio from the utility and a quick virus scan using my last update showed nothing untoward.

The Intel Wireless Troubleshooter had all the options greyed out and the Windows Wireless Network Manager wasn't even in the task bar for some reason so I couldn't check the repair function on that either.

However (and this might be obvious to people who know) but there is a little tool you can run from your Start Menu which will diagnose any network issues and fix them if it can. This is probably the same tool that Windows Messenger uses when you use their own diagnostic tool.

To run this tool do the following:

• Go to the Start Menu
• Choose the RUN option
• Enter the following into the input box: %windir%\network diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
• Hit OK

If it can fix the problem it will tell you and if it can't then you will need to look deeper e.g check your router, check your inbound Internet connection and make sure there isn't a local Internet problem in your area.

The diagnostic log that I got looked liked this:

Last diagnostic run time: 08/20/11 13:33:34 HTTP, HTTPS, FTP Diagnostic

HTTP, HTTPS, FTP connectivity



info HTTP: Successfully connected to www.microsoft.com.

info HTTPS: Successfully connected to www.microsoft.com.

info FTP (Passive): Successfully connected to ftp.microsoft.com.







DNS Client Diagnostic

DNS - Not a home user scenario



info Using Web Proxy: no

info Resolving name ok for (www.microsoft.com): yes

No DNS servers



DNS failure









Gateway Diagnostic

Gateway



info The following proxy configuration is being used by IE: Automatically Detect Settings:Disabled Automatic Configuration Script: Proxy Server: Proxy Bypass list:

info This computer has the following default gateway entry(ies): 192.168.1.1

info This computer has the following IP address(es): 192.168.1.5

info The default gateway is in the same subnet as this computer

info The default gateway entry is a valid unicast address

info The default gateway address was resolved via ARP in 1 try(ies)

info The default gateway was reached via ICMP Ping in 1 try(ies)

info TCP port 80 on host 207.46.19.254 was successfully reached

info The Internet host www.microsoft.com was successfully reached

info The default gateway is OK







IP Layer Diagnostic

Corrupted IP routing table



info The default route is valid

info The loopback route is valid

info The local host route is valid

info The local subnet route is valid

Invalid ARP cache entries



action The ARP cache has been flushed







IP Configuration Diagnostic

Invalid IP address



info Valid IP address detected: 192.168.1.5







Wireless Diagnostic

Wireless - Service disabled



Wireless - User SSID



action User input required: Specify network name or SSID

Wireless - First time setup



info The Wireless Network name (SSID) to which the user would like to connect = BLAH

Wireless - Radio off



info Valid IP address detected: 192.168.1.5

Wireless - Out of range



Wireless - Hardware issue



Wireless - Novice user



Wireless - Ad-hoc network



Wireless - Less preferred



Wireless - 802.1x enabled



Wireless - Configuration mismatch



Wireless - Low SNR









WinSock Diagnostic

WinSock status



info All base service provider entries are present in the Winsock catalog.

info The Winsock Service provider chains are valid.

info Provider entry MSAFD Tcpip [TCP/IP] passed the loopback communication test.

info Provider entry MSAFD Tcpip [UDP/IP] passed the loopback communication test.

info Provider entry RSVP UDP Service Provider passed the loopback communication test.

info Provider entry RSVP TCP Service Provider passed the loopback communication test.

info Connectivity is valid for all Winsock service providers.







Network Adapter Diagnostic

Network location detection



info Network location could not be detected

action User input required: Select network location

info Using home Internet connection

Network adapter identification



info Network connection: Name=Local Area Connection, Device=Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller, MediaType=LAN, SubMediaType=LAN

info Network connection: Name=Wireless Network Connection, Device=Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection, MediaType=LAN, SubMediaType=WIRELESS

info Network connection: Name=1394 Connection, Device=1394 Net Adapter, MediaType=LAN, SubMediaType=1394

info Network connection: Name=Strategies VPN old, Device=WAN Miniport (PPTP), MediaType=TUNNEL, SubMediaType=NONE

info Network connection: Name=Strategies VPN, Device=WAN Miniport (PPTP), MediaType=TUNNEL, SubMediaType=NONE

info Both Ethernet and Wireless connections available, prompting user for selection

action User input required: Select network connection

info Wireless connection selected

Network adapter status



info Network connection status: Disconnected

info Network adapter hardware problem: This device is disabled.

warn Network adapter status not healthy

action Automated repair: Enable network connection

action Enabling the network adapter

info Network adapter successfully enabled

info Network connection status: Connected







HTTP, HTTPS, FTP Diagnostic

HTTP, HTTPS, FTP connectivity



warn HTTP: Error 12007 connecting to www.microsoft.com: The server name or address could not be resolved

warn HTTPS: Error 12007 connecting to www.microsoft.com: The server name or address could not be resolved

warn FTP (Passive): Error 12007 connecting to ftp.microsoft.com: The server name or address could not be resolved

warn HTTP: Error 12007 connecting to www.hotmail.com: The server name or address could not be resolved

warn HTTPS: Error 12007 connecting to www.passport.net: The server name or address could not be resolved

warn FTP (Active): Error 12007 connecting to ftp.microsoft.com: The server name or address could not be resolved

error Could not make an HTTP connection.

error Could not make an HTTPS connection.

error Could not make an FTP connection. 

If like many people you have now moved onto a newer operating system like Windows 7 then you can take advantage of their inbuilt network troubleshooter which can be accessed by following this guide:

1. Click the Start button.
2. Click the Control Panel‌.
3. In the search bar in the top right corner enter "Troubleshooter".
4. Run the search and click on "Troubleshooting" in the list of results.
5. Click Network and Internet
6. Pick the type of problem you are having and it will run a diagnostic test for you. If you are having internet connectivity issues then you should select the first option "Internet Connections"

For more information on troubleshooting internet and wireless connectivity problems on Windows 7 machines read this step by step guide on troubleshooting connectivity problems.

Remote Desktop Access Denied Error

Troubleshooting Issues with Remote Desktop / Terminal Services


This morning I tried remotely accessing my work PC which is always left on from my home laptop.
However after my first attempt I was met with the following error which appears om the login screen on the remote PC.

"the refereced account is currently locked out and cannot be logged on to"

I tried pinging the PC and could get a response fine but running the reboot command:


shutdown -m \\mypcname-r -f

I just got an "Access Denied" error.

I could login fine the night before and I hadn't installed anything new. I ran a virus scan which didn't pick anything up.

After connecting to the Virtual Private Network (VPN) I tried running the following command from the RUN prompt.


\\mypcname\c$

But it returned a popup screen with the following message.

"The system detected a possible attempt to compromise security. Please contact the server that authenticated you"

Obviously this was some kind of mistake and from searching the web it seems the problems comes about due to the machine I'm using to access the remote PC which was on a domain and was using different credentials than what I was trying to use to access the resource.

From Microsofts own Knowledge Base article 938457: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938457

Symptom: When you try to include security settings for a user from a different domain in a local domain folder, you receive the following error message:

The system detected a possible attempt to compromise security. Please ensure that you can contact the server that authenticated you.

Note: This problem may also occur when you try to browse the Active Directory directory service listings for the nonlocal domain.


Cause: This problem occurs because the network firewall filters Kerberos traffic.


Resolution: To resolve this problem, configure the network firewall so that TCP port 88 and UDP port 88 are not blocked for either domain.

My Firewall was not blocking these ports but I had no idea what had happened the other end on the servers at work.

To get access back I tried terminal servicing into a different computer from my laptop which I knew I had access to. I could gain access to this PC.

Once I had remotely accessed another computer on the network I ran the following reboot command which when run from my own laptop gave me an "Access Denied" error.

I ran the reboot command

shutdown -m \\mypcname-r -f

I then tried pinging the PC from my laptop and couldn't access it so I knew it was rebooting.

After a while the PC came back online and I could re-gain access to it.

I checked the event logs on both machines and found the following items of interest.

On the Remote PC (I couldn't access)

The Terminal Server security layer detected an error in the protocol stream and has disconnected the client. Client IP: 10.0.9.121.

That IP relates to our server that manages domains om our network.


From looking at the event log on my own PC I could see the following errors at around the time I tried remotely accessing the work PC.

08:32.01
The server could not bind to the transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{AE7A7B4B-3EED-4D2A-B123-1A4F4AB04698} because another computer on the network has the same name. The server could not start.

08:32.03
CoID={C5816EC8-C2E8-4710-A412-F7ECDBC25C42}: The user me successfully established a connection to OurCompanies VPN using the device VPN3-1.

08:32:08
The time provider NtpClient is currently receiving valid time data from domainserver.domain.company.co.uk (ntp.d|0.0.0.0:123->10.0.7.1:123).

08:32:12
The server could not bind to the transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{AE7A7B4B-3EED-4D2A-B123-1A4F4AB04698} because another computer on the network has the same name. The server could not start.

08:33
The password stored in Credential Manager is invalid. This might be caused by the user changing the password from this computer or a different computer. To resolve this error, open Credential Manager in Control Panel, and reenter the password for the credential DOMAIN.COMPANY.CO.UK\me.

08:33.11
The server could not bind to the transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{AE7A7B4B-3EED-4D2A-B123-1A4F4AB04698} because another computer on the network has the same name. The server could not start.


I have since managed to reboot my work PC and home laptop and connect successfully but I hadn't changed my password so I guess it was an issue at the company on their network that caused the problem and looks like an issue with the domain controller and Kerberos which is a network authentication tool designed to use strong authentication for client/server applications by using secret-key cryptography.

Here are some helpful articles related to the same subject if this method doesn't fix the problem for you.

http://www.bluemoonpcrepair.com/wp/?p=20

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938457

Error copying tables importing or exporting the Geography or Geometry data type in SQL 2008

Error importing and exporting the Geometry and Geography data types in SQL 2008

Today I had to make some work live that involved copying a database containing UK Postcodes and their related geo-location data to another SQL 2008 server.

The table contained a list of all UK Postcodes as well as their longitude and latitude and a GeoLocation column that was based on the new SQL 2008 DataType Geography.

However when I tried to use the Import/Export wizard to copy the data I got to the Review Data Type Mapping page and was met with the following error message.


Found 1 unknown column type conversion(s) You are only allowed to save the package.




Viewing the full error details revealed that the problem was down to SQL not understanding the Geography data type in the table I wanted to export.


The full error message details are below:

[Source Information]
Source Location : (local)
Source Provider : SQLNCLI10
Table: [dbo].[Country]
Column: CountryGeography
Column Type: geography
SSIS Type: (Type unknown ...)
Mapping file (to SSIS type): C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\MappingFiles\MSSQLToSSIS10.XML

[Destination Information]
Destination Location : (local)
Destination Provider : SQLNCLI10
Table: [dbo].[Country]
Column: CountryGeography
Column Type: geography
SSIS Type: (Type unknown ...)
Mapping file (to SSIS type): C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\MappingFiles\MSSQLToSSIS10.XML

[Conversion Steps]
Conversion unknown ...
SSIS conversion file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\binn\DtwTypeConversion.xml

First of all I checked that the database compatibility mode was set to 100 (SQL 2008) and not 90 (SQL 2005) and once I had confirmed both databases were the correct format I checked the mapping conversion XML file on the server I was doing the import from.

This XML mapping file is located at the following path C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\MappingFiles\MSSQLToSSIS10.XML.

On opening the file I could see that there was no mention of the geography OR geometry data types which explained why the DTS package wizard could not carry out the operation.

To fix this I copied one of the other similar data types (varbinary) and re-inserted it into the file twice before changing the names to Geography and Geometry.

You can just copy and paste the following XML into the file.

  <!-- geography -->
  <dtm:DataTypeMapping >
    <dtm:SourceDataType>
      <dtm:DataTypeName>geography</dtm:DataTypeName>
    </dtm:SourceDataType>
    <dtm:DestinationDataType>
      <dtm:SimpleType>
        <dtm:DataTypeName>DT_IMAGE</dtm:DataTypeName>
      </dtm:SimpleType>
    </dtm:DestinationDataType>
  </dtm:DataTypeMapping>




  <!-- geometry -->
  <dtm:DataTypeMapping >
    <dtm:SourceDataType>
      <dtm:DataTypeName>geometry</dtm:DataTypeName>
    </dtm:SourceDataType>
    <dtm:DestinationDataType>
      <dtm:SimpleType>
        <dtm:DataTypeName>DT_IMAGE</dtm:DataTypeName>
      </dtm:SimpleType>
    </dtm:DestinationDataType>
  </dtm:DataTypeMapping>

Save the MSSQLToSSIS10.XML file and you should now be able to import or export a table that contains the datatypes geography and geometry.

If for some reason after editing the file it still doesn't work, try the following:

• restarting the SQL Server service on the server you are running the export/import wizard from.
• restarting your own SQL Server Client Tools.
• If you are running a 64bit version of Windows 7 like I am then you might need to also edit the same file in the 32 bit Program folder e.g C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\MappingFiles\MSSQLToSSIS10.XML.

Problems connecting to Remote Desktop over a VPN

Troubleshooting issues with Remote Desktop connections

By Strictly-Software

I have just experienced and finally resolved a problem that started suddenly last week that prevented me from connecting to my work PC from my laptop at home using Terminal Services / Remote Desktop.

The problem started suddenly and it has made little sense for the last week. The symptoms were:

• A virgin media broadband Internet connection.
• A windows XP laptop connected to my broadband over a wireless connection.
• My laptop could access the VPN without any problem and it could also access the PC in question over a windows share e.g \\mycomputer\c$
• Trying to connect using a Remote Desktop connection returned a "this computer cannot connect to the remote computer" error message.

As far as I was aware nothing had changed on my computer and I first though that maybe a virus was blocking the port or a windows update had caused a problem. However when I brought the laptop into my office and tried connecting to my PC over the office wireless connection there was no problem.

I then tried this great little tool RD Enable XP that allows you to set up remote desktop access remotely as long as you have access to the computer and the necessary admin privileges. It requires that you have PSExec installed which comes with the PSTools admin suite and allows you to carry out tasks on computers remotely such as monitoring and managing processes.

The program checks that you can access the remote PC, that the Terminal Services options are enabled correctly in the registry and that you're not being blocked by a firewall.

I had already checked that the fDenyTSConnections registry option was set correctly so when the application hung whilst trying to set firewall exceptions I thought that there was a problem with my router and firewall.

I then tried changing the port number that Terminal Service connections are carried out with from 3389 to 3390. This is another registry setting that needs to be changed on the remote computer and then after a reboot you just append the port number after the computer name or IP address when connecting e.g strmycomputer:3390.

This didn't work so I was pretty annoyed as Virgin media hadn't been much help so I was about to give up until I came across a message thread related to the same problem.

One of the suggestions was to change the Advanced Network Error Search option which is something Virgin offers it's users and is described as follows:

Our advanced network error search helps you find the website you're looking for quickly.

We all make mistakes when we type in website addresses. Perhaps we miss a few letters, or the website doesn't exist any longer. If an address you enter doesn't locate a site, this handy feature will convert the incorrect address into a web search, so instead of an error message you will get a list of our closest matches, plus some additional related links.

This option is linked to your broadband connection which explains why the problem was related to the local connection and not the PC or remote network.

Low and behold when I disabled this option I could once again access my work PC over Remote Desktop again!

I have no idea why this option was suddenly enabled as I have never come across or even heard of it before tonight so I can only imagine Virgin decided to update their settings without asking their customers first.

It also seems to be pre-selected on newly bought laptops as I found out again tonight! Lucky I wrote this blog article otherwise I would have had to hunt down the original again!

I have no idea why this Virgin config option affects remote desktop connections but it obviously can cause a total block on this type of functionality.

If you too have similar problems related to Remote Desktop connections and are also a Virgin Media customer then save yourself a whole lot of time and go to this page first and check your settings: https://my.virginmedia.com/advancederrorsearch/settings