

              NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT

TITLE:              GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING
DOCUMENT ID:        TID014936
DOCUMENT REVISION:  A
DATE:               09JUN94
ALERT STATUS:       Yellow
INFORMATION TYPE:   Issue
README FOR:         NA

NOVELL PRODUCT and VERSION:
PERSONAL NetWare 1.0

ABSTRACT:

This document is to aid in troubleshooting simple or common
problems you may see with PERSONAL NetWare.

------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER
THE ORIGIN OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO
NOVELL.  NOVELL MAKES EVERY EFFORT WITHIN ITS MEANS TO VERIFY
THIS INFORMATION.  HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS
DOCUMENT IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY.  NOVELL MAKES NO EXPLICIT
OR IMPLIED CLAIMS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS INFORMATION.
------------------------------------------------------------------

ISSUE

This document is not all inclusive but is designed to help
isolate and eliminate "basic" problems.  Carefully read the
following list of questions.  If it applies to your problem, then
follow the corresponding answer.

By following the suggestions you may be able to clear up the
problem entirely or be able to inform Technical Support personnel
what you have tried to help them expedite a solution.  Questions
may occur in compatibility with software applications or types of
hardware and configurations used.

Question:

My installation of PERSONAL NetWare works fine through Windows
but locks at various times if installing from DOS.  What could be
happening?

Answer:

You may have an original DOSINST.OVL file that did have occasion
to lock up when installing under DOS on some machines.  Contact
your Technical Support Representative to get the latest update
file P10Uxx.EXE, which will contain the newest DOSINST.OVL.

Question:

I have an existing NetWare Lite system.  Can I add workstations
with PERSONAL NetWare and have them communicate with each other?


Answer:

No.  You will need to upgrade all NetWare Lite machines to
PERSONAL NetWare for them to work together and share each other's
resources.  Do not mix PERSONAL NetWare with NetWare Lite.

Question:

After installing PERSONAL NetWare on at least two machines I
cannot get them to communicate.

Answer:

This in one of the more difficult problems to resolve.  You may
have a defective Network Interface Card (NIC) or another hardware
failure.

First, make sure the interrupt and port address do not conflict
with any other hardware in the machine.  If it appears there are
no conflicts, try another interrupt anyway.  Be sure the NIC is
seated in the expansion slot correctly.  Also, try a completely
different NIC.

Check for all proper cabling.  You must have the correct cable
type depending on the network topology. (Ethernet uses RG58,
Arcnet uses RG62 and so forth)  Be sure to use T-connectors at
each Ethernet connection and 50 ohm terminators at each end.

If using Arcnet, be sure to have proper connections to either an
active or passive hub with each unused passive hub connection
terminated with a 90 ohm terminator.

Sometimes the wrong NIC driver file is inadvertently selected in
the install process, so ensure the driver is the proper one to
use for your NIC.  If in doubt as what to use, contact the vendor
of the NIC.  You may also use a simple utility called COMCHECK
that can be run on each machine and will send bits of information
back and forth between the machines exercising the hardware and
seeing if just the hardware itself is communicating.  This is
available on CompuServe as COMCHK.EXE or from a Technical Support
Representative.

Along with the above suggestions you may also need to check the
NIC you are using and be sure you are loading the latest
available drivers for it.

Question:

My machines initially communicate fine but suddenly with no
apparent explanation I lose the connection to one of them.  I
then have to reboot and reload the PERSONAL NetWare files and
they are fine again but it may recur later and at unpredictable
moments.

Answer:

This may be indicating a possible hardware failure especially if
the frequency of the problem increases.  Check all hardware
first.
Next, if you seem to lose connections between two machines but
other machines still see them, you may need the latest AUTO.VLM

from the update file P10Uxx.EXE.  This allows for better auto
reconnect should you lose connections.

Question:

In my workgroup list I sometimes see the name of a workgroup all
scrambled and unrecognizable.

Answer:

Some NICs may not be able to handle the motherboard BUSS speed,
and, therefore, they be somewhat incompatible as far as the
hardware is concerned and cause corrupt information.  If your
motherboard BUSS speed is faster than 8 MHZ, try slowing it down
(this is done in the machines SETUP).  In some cases you cannot
change it, but the machine clock cycles, or speed, may be too
fast.
For example, a speed of 66 MHZ versus a speed of 33 MHZ.  Try
slowing the machine speed; turbo versus non-turbo, and so forth 
Sometimes you may have a NIC that has timing conflicts.  Some
NICs like the NE2000 have a jumper that may help.  You can try
removing the W16 jumper on an NE2000.  Contact individual NIC
vendors for an equal solution.

Question:

I keep getting DEVICE FULL errors.

Answer:

This may indicate your installation options may have been
incorrect.  You may be trying to load specific information for
other Novell networks, but you may only be using PERSONAL
NetWare.  In your NWCLIENT subdirectory, you have a text file
called NET.CFG.
Using any text editor, locate the NetWare DOS Requester section. 
It contains an indented line called NetWare Protocol.  Change it
to read "NETWARE PROTOCOL=PNW" (remove BIND and NDS).

Question:

I cannot get beyond loading the VLMs, the machine just locks up.

Answer:

Usually this means the NIC options are incorrect (interrupt or
port address), or the wrong NIC driver is being used.  Check in
the NET.CFG to make sure the NIC options are what the actual NIC
is set for and the name of the driver file is correct for the NIC
you are using.

Question:

After installing, everything seems to load okay, but I get a
message that SERVER is not available.  Also other users cannot
access this server, but the SERVER.EXE file is loaded on that
machine.

Answer:

In the installation or SETUP of PERSONAL NetWare, it has an

option to "share this computer's resources."  If this machines is
to be a SERVER shared by anyone, this option must be selected. 
You may need to go back through SETUP and select the check box
for this option.

Question:

I have added more nodes to our existing network and some of the
original nodes cannot get a connection or may lose connections.

Answer:

Be sure all hardware is functioning properly.  Also, depending on
how many nodes existed previously and how many are added, you may
need to increase some of your Server Configuration options.  To
do this, go into the NET ADMIN utility, and select the server you
want to make changes to by highlighting it and pressing enter.

Then, select CONFIGURE, followed by the ADVANCED SETTINGS option.
To make changes, modify the FUTURE column.  Some of the settings
that you may want to increase are Client Tasks (generally set it
to a minimum of 5 per node or 10 per node for workstations
running Windows), and Connections (select the number of nodes you
will have on your network plus 2).  These changes will not take
effect until you reboot the machine and reload the PERSONAL
NetWare files.

Question:

I try sending print jobs from a DOS command and they either never
print or the machine locks up.

Answer:

If you have a NET CAPTURE statement loaded, DO NOT use the DOS
"PRINT" command.  Other commands, such as COPY, should print a
file to the LPT port just fine.

Question:

I try using commands such as XCOPY to bring files from one
machine to another and some files may make it and others may not.

Answer:

In the NET ADMIN utility, select the server that is having the
problem.  Then choose Configure, followed by the Loadable Modules
option.  If the Security module is not selected, do so in the
FUTURE column and reboot.

Question:

My applications seem to run extremely slow when accessed across
the network.

Answer:

First, check for any software caching conflicts with another
cache, or you may need to change the caching parameters.  Check
your documentation for possible settings.  Also your PERSONAL
NetWare resources may need to be fine tuned.

In the NET.CFG file add the following to the NetWare DOS
Requester section (the details of these options may be found in
the PERSONAL NetWare manual under appendix C):

     average name length = <set it to an average length of
          characters for server names>
     cache buffers = 0
     connections = <set to actual # of servers>
     exclude vlm = NETX.VLM
     exclude vlm = SECURITY.VLM
     large internet packets = off
     local printers = <set it to actual # of printers>
     network printers = <set it to actual # of ports used for
          network printing>
     pb buffers = 0
     responder = off
     signature level = 0

Then, in the NET ADMIN utility, add the following server
configuration options in to the advanced settings menu:

Connections (2-50):      number of stations + 2
Client tasks (4-200):         number of stations x 5
Number of IO buffers (0-25):  0 (if NWCache is loaded)
Service extensions (0-10):0

Also, load NWCACHE with the option /DELAY=ON.

Question:

Sometimes access to PERSONAL NetWare is just fine, but other
times it is sporadic or certain files can be accessed one time
and not another.

Answer:

This may be remedied by some of the previous suggestions. 
However, you may have a deeper problem.

First, try loading the PERSONAL NetWare files individually to be
sure they load without error.  This may be done by saying NO to
loading the network software on boot-up.

Then, go into the NWCLIENT subdirectory ant type out the contents
of the STARTNET.BAT file.

Finally, load or type each line one at a time from your DOS
prompt.  If they all load okay, then try not loading any PERSONAL
NetWare files at all and see if your machine is running okay
strictly under DOS.

You may need to run CHKDSK to see if there are any hard drive
storage problems.  Unfortunately, there may be computer virus
related problems also.

Run a virus scan utility to see whether your system is infected.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Any trademarks referenced in this document are the property of
their respective owners.  Consult your product manuals for
complete trademark information.
----------------------------------------------------------------
