Kindly help if you can. I am working on a 3COM NBX 100 system which is not establishing connectivity with a desktop computer acting as a client. TCP/IP configurations for the NBX and computer have been performed as per Installation Guide Release 2.6 on page 132 and 133.

The client computer can ping it's NIC interface and get responses using it's address (192.168.1.191). From the client computer I am unable to ping the NBX 100 system. For this I am using the default IP address (192.168.1.190).

This unit is a pull out and there is no information on the IP Address and Subnet Mask it is configured to operate on. I have tried to using the Web Browser and VT100 emulator to connect to the NBX system but to no success.

I will appreciate any suggestion even if it means resetting the IP connectivity settings to the default values.

Thank you.
Willy Cox Chanda.
wchanda@gte.net    

You can get a console prompt (via the serial cable) right?

My apologies, but I know that there is a command that can be executed from the VxWorks shell, but for the life of me, I cannot remember it. Call your 3Com VAR and ask them to call 3Com for you to find out, if you can.

Tallyho,
Mike

  "Any society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers."

1) There is no console prompt via the serial cable. Yes, the serial cable is connected and I have it configured for VT100 just like what the manual stipulates.

2) Using a Hub, I have a LAN between the NBX 100 and the client computer. I can ping the IP address (192.168.1.191) of the client computer and get successful responses. When I ping the default IP address (192.168.1.190)of the NBX 100, I get no successful responses. This is where the problem is.

3) Does the NBX 100 reestablish itself to the default IP address after it has been powered down and rebooted?

4) The status of LED's on the NCP panel of the NBX 100 show as follows after booting.
 S1=OFF, S2=ON, S3=Blinking
Is anything wrong?

This is all I had.

Thank you.

Hmmm.... tough one. As long as you are using a straight-thru serial cable, not a null modem cable, you should see a VxWorks prompt when connected to the port. If not, that would be my indicator that somethig is wrong with the boot process. You may be getting an IP repsponse, but the processor might be "dumb" otherwise. Reboot the NBX with the port connected and see if you get the VxWorks boot up sequence showing in your vt100 terminal window. Youo should see it as it boots - if not I suspect the port, your vt100, or the processor card.
Rebooting won't reset to defaults since the IP config is held in nvram. If the IP is what you say, the default mask should work. Have you tried FTP? But then you would need to know the admin poassword. Tough without the console working.
A new hard drive or a call to 3Com is all I can offer on this with my limited knowledge.

Tallyho,
Mike

  "Any society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers."

If and when you do get a response from the Com Port (vt100, 9600,no parity, 8 bits, 1 stop bit), the command to display/change the IP address of the NBX is 'nbxIpConfig'.  Match the case exactly.  Press <cr> through each entry if you do not wish to change any values.

Things are now getting interesting with the current problem. To start with, I sincerely thank those of you who have offered advice thus far.

I decided to take the bull by the horns and opened the NBX box to check what is inside. Surprising enough, the ribbon cable to the hard drive was not connected. I went ahead and physically attached it to the hard drive. There was so much excitement that I had solved the problem. After I turned on power to the unit, the NCP LED's (S1, S2, S3) went through the blinking motions as per manual. Following a complete boot process, the new status of the LED's now became as folows:

 S1=ON, S2=OFF, S3=Blinking
This is precisely what the manual says should happen.
With this condition, an attempt was made to establish connectivity with the NBX 100 from a client desktop using Internet Explorer and also using the VT100 Terminal Emulator. No connection could be established. I tried pinging the NBX 100 from the DOS prompt using the default IP Address (192.168.1.190). The response was negative (Host unreachable). Now my morale was in check.

Like a Mandingo warrior, I decided to take another chance. This time I run a Sniffer program on the subnet to ascertain
the NBX IP address. Sniffer was returning this information.
IPaddress=0.0.0.0 and Subnetmask=255.255.255.255.

On the premise of my troubleshooting adventure, the conclusion I have come to is that there is certainly something wrong with the NCP board. What it is, I got no clue.

Another observation noted is that using fusion of intelligence and in particular the sense of hearing, the Western Digital Hard Drive in the NBX is generating a continuous noise (That of Read/Write/Seek) on the mechanism. This also is an indication that the drive's life time is about to expire.

Till next time, I will end here.

Thank you.

Willy Cox Chanda.
wchanda@gte.net
   

 

Okay- you went to all that trouble with the sniffer...

what's missing ?

Your NCP does not show an IP address...go back to your Console port (CLI) = nbx100> and then type nbxIpConfig and press enter until you get to the IP address setting-- now set your IP to what it should be then continue pressing enter until you are asked to save ?  Press Y.

Just to make it stick after all that- press Control R

Let the box reboot, now try getting to NetSet with an IP address you keyed in.

Western Digital Hard

if you are using a clone then get on ebay and buy a replacement drive from:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=61841&item=5707081425&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

BTW-- you're NCP is probably good ... the hard drive is rattlin' and when the drives do go bad... it is common for the NCP NOT to have an IP address or a bogus IP will appear on the CLI...it's not consistent.