Windows Logon and Exchange Mail not working

[jcrapps]

Hello All,
I'm having a problem with all users with new IBM T60 Thinkpad notebooks logging in to the domain and also sending and receiving mail. Here's a fast summary of my situation:
We currently have two different network connections. One is a T1 line that connects to a DC in another state. The other is a DSL line that's used for backup purposes (SBC). Since we were told that the T1 line would be terminated soon, we decided to set up a site-to-site VPN connection on our DSL line with a Cisco VPN 3002 VPN Client box. This would simulate what we have with our T1 connection. The weird thing is that the IBM T60s now take 10 minutes to log on and cannot send or receive mail. They have access to the shares fine. They seem to be able to ping to all servers fine. The older laptops (IBM T40, T42) have perfect access and logons to the same exact network. This leads me to believe that it has something to do with the computers themselves and not the actual location, since it's all within the same site and same exact connections. I know there are probably more things you need to know, but at this point, we're pretty stumped on what to do. Where can we start?

 

[BenChristian]

Have you performed tracerts to see if the new notebooks are taking a different route than the older ones?

Ben Christian
MCSE, MCSA:Messaging

http://www.benchristian.com

 

[jcrapps]

Thanks for the reply Ben. No, I haven't tried that yet. I'll definitely give it a try and see how it goes.

 

[nsantin]

Sounds like DNS. Check the NIC settings and see if you have hard coded DNS (assuming you are using DHCP)

 

[jcrapps]

OK, so I've tried traceroute and both laptops (T42 and T60) are taking the same route to the DC. I have tried running the T60 in Safe Mode with networking and still not able to use Outlook or add a new user through browsing usernames in AD. We checked the DC's "Computers" container and the T60's laptop was in there. The T60 is pinging all the servers fine. Also, I wasn't able to gpupdate on the T60, but was able to on the T42. I checked the event logs but didn't find much that pertains to my problem, at least I think so. This is really boggling my mind. Both laptops are using the same VPN connection. Both us same OS (Windows XP), and both are on the same exact domain. I don't think it's a DNS problem because both laptops are using DHCP to retrieve all their IP information. I've tried uninstalling the Firewall software and Virus Scanning software (Both McAfee). Still the same. I also uninstalled the Novell Client because I thought that might have been it. The Novell Client software and McAfee software are the only differences between the two laptops that I can see. But if I use the Cisco VPN software on the T60, it works fine. Really strange. Any more ideas? We're really stumped.

 

[FloDiggs]

Have you checked your nic setting to ensure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled? You might also try disabling any desktop firewalls that might be installed.

 

[Selspiero]

What comms equipment are you using?

 

[BenChristian]

Try doing a netdiag on the T60 and see what errors are produced.

Ben Christian
MCSE, MCSA:Messaging

http://www.benchristian.com

 

[jcrapps]

Flodiggs, I haven't checked Netbios over TCP/IP. I'm still learning here, but why would I need NetBios enabled?

Selspiero, I'm not sure what you mean by comms.

Ben, I haven't tried netdiag on the T60 yet. Will I need to install the support toolkit for XP?

 

[jcrapps]

Oh, by the way, my logons don't take forever anymore. For some reason, I'm able to logon within a normal amount of time. I'm not sure if it somehow cached my credentials, but that issue is fixed.

 

[BenChristian]

Yes, netdiag is part of the support tools

Ben Christian
MCSE, MCSA:Messaging

http://www.benchristian.com

 

[FloDiggs]

In the NT days, part of NetBios was used to find domain controllers. While XP and 2000/2003 are supposed to rely on DNS, I have seen NetBIOS, or the lack there of, cause issues.