Wingate Stopped Operating with change

[mblynm]

We have a real problem. I did confirm that it is NOT in the Zone Alarm Pro firewall (ver. 5.2.002.000) since the problem is the same with or without Zone Alarm activated.

For no reason we can find, this we are unable to:

A. On the Administrator's Machine Primary machine, there are no problems accessing the Internet or Downloading Eudora Mail.

B. On my wife's machine, Number one Client computer, she can access the Internet but NOT any Eudora mail.

C. On our daughter's machine, Number two Client computer, she can access NOTHING, Internet or mail

We did download version 6 on a test basis, but that expired on 2 September, today being 12 September, and all was well until this afternoon. I did download an update from Microsoft, being Sp2 to XP Professional, and when it gave problems in using windows I did a System Restoration operation on my machine to a time prior to that download and all the problems caused by the SP2 went away.

We discussed the newer version of WinGate with your people and were advised that it was designed for businesses, not for home use and that version 5.2 would be satisfactory for our needs, and it has been wonderful until tonight. I cannot find the problem, nor can my wife who is a computer managing expert at her office with several servers and two dozen desk tops and additional laptops.

However, WinGate, for some reason, is not working as outlined above.

Can you help us?

Warmest regards,

Judge MacLaughlin

[adrien]

Hi

If your wife's computer can accesses the Internet (albeit without mail), tha indicates that fundamentally WinGate is actually working, but that something (probably configuration) is stopping other things from working.

There are several places to start looking for signs of problems.

How do the 2 client machines use WinGate to connect? Do they have their default gateway setting in their network card's TCP/IP properties set to the IP address of the WinGate machine? Or do they use the WinGate Client?

For Internet (I presume you mean web access) to work, but not mail is odd as well. How are your client machines configured to use mail? Do they collect mail from an ISP mailbox or use WinGate's built-in mail server? If they collect from an ISP mailbox, I would suggest (unless you are using Kaspersky AntiVirus for WinGate to scan incoming mail) you disable the POP3 proxy in WinGate, and the POP3 server.

If you have a valid key for WinGate 5.x, you can use this to activate WinGate 6.0 as well, so you needn't necessarily pay for an upgrade.

Adrien

[mrsmblynm]

Wifey here. The two client computers are Win98SE machines that use the WinGate Client. The POP3 proxy and POP3 server are disabled in WinGate. Everything was running smoothly until mblynm attempted to install the WinXP Service Pack 2. He says that during the service pack install, it informed him that the installation could not be completed until he made some changes to his ActiveX settings. He tried various settings, and is not sure now which settings he changed. He finally got through the installation screens, but is not 100% sure whether the installation was successful because of the ActiveX issue.

It was at this point that the problems began. As mblynm told you, my computer will access the web, but cannot check my POP3 mail. Our daughter cannot access the web. She uses web-based email, so I don't know whether she can access POP3 mail or not.

None of the configuration settings within WinGate have been changed since the system was set up. The only change was the attempted installation of XP SP 2.

When myblynm found out that the client machines were displaying their respective problems, he rolled back his system settings to those of the previous day in an attempt to undo whatever was causing the problems. This, however, did not resolve the problems.

Any assistance or suggestions you can offer are greatly appreciated.

[Nev]

None of the configuration settings within WinGate have been changed since the system was set up. The only change was the attempted installation of XP SP 2.

When myblynm found out that the client machines were displaying their respective problems, he rolled back his system settings to those of the previous day in an attempt to undo whatever was causing the problems. This, however, did not resolve the problems.

Any assistance or suggestions you can offer are greatly appreciated.

Hi,

By any chance is the operating system's firewall enabled, SP2 does this by default, try disabling it and just use Qbik's NAT firewall.

Report back and someone will take it further.

Nev.

[mrsmblynm]

According to the system information, mblynm is running on SP1, not SP2. I assume this is because of the system rollback he performed. At any rate, there is no Windows Firewall in the Control Panel, and if we try to get to it through the Help, we get the following message:


This Program could not start

The operating system could not start this program. This may happen if:
-Your computer is on a network.
-You need to install the necessary hardware.
-You need to install the necessary software.
-You need to re-install the program file.
-You are running Windows XP 64-Bit Edition.
-You need to access an Active Directory snap-in.

[Nev]

According to the system information, mblynm is running on SP1, not SP2. I assume this is because of the system rollback he performed. At any rate, there is no Windows Firewall in the Control Panel, and if we try to get to it through the Help, we get the following message:


This Program could not start

The operating system could not start this program. This may happen if:
-Your computer is on a network.
-You need to install the necessary hardware.
-You need to install the necessary software.
-You need to re-install the program file.
-You are running Windows XP 64-Bit Edition.
-You need to access an Active Directory snap-in.

Doesn't sound good, Control panel > Network connections > Properties of an adapter > Advanced tab, but I'm not using an XP box at present, something of that order.

Good luck,
Nev.

[mrsmblynm]

Control panel > Network connections > Properties of an adapter > Advanced tab

Firewall and ICS are both unchecked.


We have noticed that mblynm's computer has been getting script errors since this all started, and my computer gets a red X wherever Java should be running. (Sun Java) Is this related to our problem?

[mrsmblynm]

I have been using Eudora for my email. When I open the program, it briefly displays the message "Connecting to the mail server", then displays the message "Logging into Pop server". It never gets beyond this point.

I decided this evening to try Outlook Express to see how it would perform. This is the messaage I immediately receive when I try to retrieve email:

Your server has unexpectedly terminated the connection. Possible causes for this include server problems, network problems, or a long period of inactivity. Account: 'mail.bellsouth.net', Server: 'mail.bellsouth.net', Protocol: POP3, Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Error Number: 0x800CCC0F


What could be blocking my access to the POP3 server?



Also, my daughter is still unable to access the web from her computer. There have been no changes to the settings on either of our computers, which are both Win98SE. Both were accessing the web reliably before the installation of SP2 on mblynm's XP machine. According to Microsoft, the SP2 is removed when you do a system restore to a restore point prior to the time of the SP2 installation. So why is one machine able to access the web, but not the other?

Have your development people determined what incompatibilites there may be between WinGate and SP2? And would there be some system or registry changes that would remain even after the system restore that could affect WinGate's performance?

Any help or suggestions you could offer would be greatly appreciated. I've been fighting this thing for a week now, and I'm about at the end of my rope.

[Pascal]

The one incompatibility we found with XP SP2 is if you are using a 64-bit processor (The only ones that support DEP, I believe) such as AMD64, you will get a BSOD when the system starts up. This involves editing the boot.ini file to get past it, as there is no UI to disable DEP.

If you can get web-access, then all other machines should be able to get web-access as well. It does sound a little bit as if Service Pack 2 is not cleanly uninstalled - perhaps things went awry because the server could not complete the installation properly?

Things I can think of to check would be:

(a) How the home network is setup. I'm assuming you can all browse, ping, etc. each other?

(b) Try different methods of connecting the client computers. Basically go back to basics. The easiest test would be to set a proxy in IE, try that method, see if you can get out through the server. If that works, at least we've narrowed it down to a problem with WGIC, which in turn might be a problem with XP's firewall.

(c) Verify on the Server that XP's firewall and ICS is disabled completely, unless you wish to use those services. Maybe the System Restore did not revert those settings (?)

(d) It might be necessary to reinstall WGIC on your daughter's computer. If yours functions, then it might be that she has installed / changed something on her workstation that has affected it, and a reinstall of WGIC (Or even a reset of the client on the control panel) could cure it.

[Pascal]

0x800CCC0F CONNECTION_DROPPED Connection closed.

Something dropped the connection. Two things to check here:

(a) Verify on the server that there is not a corresponding firewall hit. There shouldn't be - but let's double check it.

(b) Add a default port range for this connection in the "LAN -> Internet" and "LAN -> WinGate PC" port security actions and set it to allow, but tick the option to "Notify when accessed".

That way, we'll see if it's reaching the WinGate server and we can see if it's being blocked there or not. Also, what version of WinGate are you currently running? Have you moved up to 6.0.2?

[mrsmblynm]

Ok daughter's computer is finally working. I uninstalled and reinstalled the WGIC, then when the "Page Cannot Be Displayed" message came up in IE, I clicked the "Detect Network Settings" link, and after several seconds, the page finally came up. Daughter is now a happy camper. :)



Now on to the POP problem .....

[Pascal]

Interesting. If you are using that setting in IE it will be using a proxy connection, though? If you look in GateKeeper - do you still see it as a WRP Control Session, or does it show up as an HTTP Session only?

[mrsmblynm]

Interesting. If you are using that setting in IE it will be using a proxy connection, though? If you look in GateKeeper - do you still see it as a WRP Control Session, or does it show up as an HTTP Session only?

It shows as an http session only.

[mrsmblynm]

0x800CCC0F CONNECTION_DROPPED Connection closed.

Something dropped the connection. Two things to check here:

(a) Verify on the server that there is not a corresponding firewall hit. There shouldn't be - but let's double check it.

(b) Add a default port range for this connection in the "LAN -> Internet" and "LAN -> WinGate PC" port security actions and set it to allow, but tick the option to "Notify when accessed".

That way, we'll see if it's reaching the WinGate server and we can see if it's being blocked there or not. Also, what version of WinGate are you currently running? Have you moved up to 6.0.2?

We're not using the firewall features of WinGate; instead we're using ZoneAlarm. We have tried turning ZoneAlarm completely off, and still no email. We've also checked, double-checked, triple-checked, etc to make sure the WinXP firewall is not enabled.

[mblynm]

Additional Question:

The icons, two, usually in the system tray seem to disappear recently, the past two or three days, and it is necessary to access Gatekeeper through the Start/Programs menus.

How can we be assured that these icons will remain rather than evaporating? The monitor is checked in msconfig.

[Nev]

Additional Question:

The icons, two, usually in the system tray seem to disappear recently, the past two or three days, and it is necessary to access Gatekeeper through the Start/Programs menus.

How can we be assured that these icons will remain rather than evaporating? The monitor is checked in msconfig.

Hiya,

Well this o/s has a feature that could be causing this to happen.

Right click the task bar > Properties and check Hide inactive icons in notification area [from memory].

or in the same area customise the options for the Notification area by toggling how a particular icon is displayed, Always hide, Always show or hide [again from memory].

As for the Firewall I have never used ZA, but have heard others [who know more than I] on this forum say that it is not a good combination to have with Wingate and it is difficult to remove even using an un install doesn't always remove the driver. Mind you that is from memory, perhaps a search of the forum would show more light.

Nev.

[mrsmblynm]

More problems in our continuing saga. My son was here for a visit and tried to use ICQ and YIM from my machine. Neither one would connect. After checking with my daughter, who occasionally uses AIM, I find that it is not working on her machine. Mblynm is able to access AIM on his computer. Why will WinGate allow the client machines to access the web via IE, but not allow access to Eudora, Outlook Express, YIM, AIM, and ICQ?

[erwin]

Hi there

Sorry to sound so vague but I have read through the post and I will just recap to see where you are progress wise.

WinGate Server (XP machine)
Client machines running Win98 (using the WinGate Internet Client (WGIC))

OK sorry to sound a bit repetative but:

In IE on the Win98 machines:

Make sure that the use proxy server option is left blank, as listing the WinGate IP address here will force IE to use the "proxy method" and not WGIC (as Pascal mentioned in an earlier post.)

Which is why you see only "HTTP sessions". If WGIC is working correctly you will see "WRP session" in the activity pane in GateKeeper
regardless of what Internet activity you are using.

Open the WGIC applet on the client machines make sure the WinGate server is listed and selected to be used (found on the "WinGate server" tab). Client machines should have their Gateway and DNS settings in their PC network properties set to the IP of the WinGate server(XP machine)

Try surfing the net using IE and you should see a WRP session show up in GateKeeper as mentioned earlier.

Since you are using WGIC all internet access (mail/web etc) will use WRP in WinGate to access the Internet. Since you have disabled all POP proxies in GateKeeper, you should configure the mail program to connect directly (i.e listing the ISP mailserver details in the programs mail connection settings).

For other apps such as ICQ etc there should be no adjustment neccessary.(as mentioned all Internet apps will use WGIC/WRP) I have just tested this (with ICQ and Outlook Express) here in the lab to confirm this.

Regards
Erwin

[mrsmblynm]

In IE on the Win98 machines:

Make sure that the use proxy server option is left blank, as listing the WinGate IP address here will force IE to use the "proxy method" and not WGIC (as Pascal mentioned in an earlier post.)

Proxy server option is left blank on both client machines.

Which is why you see only "HTTP sessions". If WGIC is working correctly you will see "WRP session" in the activity pane in GateKeeper
regardless of what Internet activity you are using.

In addition to http sessions, I also see the following WRP sessions:

From my machine:
EUDORA.EXE
IEXPLORE.EXE

From daughter's machine:
UPDMGR.EXE
EXPLORER.EXE
AIM.EXE

Open the WGIC applet on the client machines make sure the WinGate server is listed and selected to be used (found on the "WinGate server" tab).

Wingate server is listed and selected.

Client machines should have their Gateway and DNS settings in their PC network properties set to the IP of the WinGate server(XP machine)

Client machines have the Gateway set to the IP of the server. DNS was disabled (why has the internet connection been working since the beginning if this should not have been disabled?), but I have enabled it and listed husband's computer name as the host, and his IP address in the DNS Search Server Order.

Try surfing the net using IE and you should see a WRP session show up in GateKeeper as mentioned earlier.

Activity pane now shows two instances of IEXPLORE (I assume because I have two IE windows open), and the http briefly shows, then disappears.

Since you are using WGIC all internet access (mail/web etc) will use WRP in WinGate to access the Internet. Since you have disabled all POP proxies in GateKeeper, you should configure the mail program to connect directly (i.e listing the ISP mailserver details in the programs mail connection settings).

Mail program is configured with ISP's pop3 and smtp settings. Still no connection.

For other apps such as ICQ etc there should be no adjustment neccessary.(as mentioned all Internet apps will use WGIC/WRP) I have just tested this (with ICQ and Outlook Express) here in the lab to confirm this.

No adjustment made. Still no connection.

[adrien]

Hi

If you like, I can log into this system from remotely (if you have a trial license, or Professional key), and can see if there are any obvious issues with the configuration.

This could be a lot quicker, since this topic has been dragging on, and I'm sure you just want the problem resolved!

Adrien

[mrsmblynm]

That would be great! Do you have access to my contact information? I tried to send you a pm, but was told that feature is disabled.

[adrien]

Hi

I just sent you an email

Hopefully we can get this sorted out soon.

Adrien

[mrsmblynm]

No email so far..... :(

[adrien]

Hi

Can you email me at adrien at qbik dot com to confirm your address?

Looked like the mail I sent was delivered to yahoo, but you never know.

Adrien