Conference 7.286::fddi

1747.0. "DEFPA problems on a Alpha 200 running NT" by CSC32::S_ROCHFORD () Thu Jul 13 1995 19:19

    I have a Alphastation 200 4/166 running Windows NT 3.5 w/service PAK 2.
    Just installed a DEFPA and am using the driver from the 2.41 kit. 
    
    Now the following is being seen:
    
    1) If the system is booting from a clean shutdown then its so slow.
       It took 10 minutes to log in locally as administrator and I waited 5
       minutes for File Manager to come up (it never did) before I gave up and
       just hit the reset button.
    
    2) If I attempt to login as a Domain User I get the hourglass after I
       entered my username password and it just sits there forever (I left it
       there for 4 hours).
    
    3) If the system is booting from a dirty shutdown (I press the reset
       button) then on my initial login I get an error message saying that a
       domain controller is not available to validate my login and that its
       using cached information. I then get a service failed to start (its
       my NFS server from Process Software) message and that it can not make
       the network connections that my profile specifies.  I then go into the
       services window and successfully start the NFS server service.  I then
       go into File Manager and select network drives which are showing that
       they are not connected and it successfully makes the connection.
       I then logout and log back in with no problem and all my network
       connections are successfully made and everything works fine.
       I have both TCP/IP and Pathworks DECnet installed and they work fine.
       Also the built in ethernet adapter is not being used and the driver
       for that adapter is not being loaded. 
    
       If I cleanly shutdown and reboot the system we are back to symptom 1.
    

    Any ideas why the FDDI links seem to be having problems getting started
    but once there started they work fine?  Are there any known issues that
    might cause these types of symptoms?
    
    
    Thanks,
    Stephen

    >>Any ideas why the FDDI links seem to be having problems getting started
    >>but once there started they work fine?  Are there any known issues that
    >>might cause these types of symptoms?
    
    The two or three times someone told me that their login took a long
    time or that the domain service was not found, it wound up being a
    network problem (cable unplugged, hub port off, etc).
    
    That aside, there is a problem with the NT 3.5 TCP/IP stack and node
    addresses that have the high order bit set (like DECnet Phase IV
    addresses).  The NT 3.5 stack looks at the wrong bit.  You're not
    likely to run into this problem, however, unless you have PATHWORKS
    clients on your network with DECnet addresses.
    
    I don't know if Service Pack 2 fixes this problem or if you need to
    upgrade to NT 3.51.  Also, it's possible that the shipping version of
    PATHWORKS for Windows NT includes the patch.  I know the engineering
    group did receive an updated stack from Microsoft.
    
       - Larry