[nylug-talk] Ubuntu Problem: No Longer Able to Make Certain Connections

[Kevin Mark]

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On Sat, Sep 09, 2006 at 08:51:01PM -0400, James Keenan wrote:
> A little over a week ago I ran into a problem at work where I use  
> Ubuntu Linux (5.10, I believe) on my local drive.  There appeared to  
> be something wrong with my connection to the network.  I logged off  
> and logged back on.  At the moment I logged off I had been used  
> Firefox as my browser, Thunderbird as my email and news client and  
> GAIM for instant messaging.
> 
> When I logged back on, two things no longer worked:
> 
> 1.  I could no longer use GAIM to access my AOL Instant Messenger  
> account from my own box.  I can use a Web client (meebo) to access  
> AIM.  And I can use a co-worker's GAIM on Ubuntu program to access  
> AIM, including setting up a new AIM account.  But no matter what I  
> do, my GAIM on my own box is thoroughly dysfunctional:  a window  
> (never seen during previous operation) opens up saying it's trying to  
> make a connection, but that connection inevitably times out.  I have  
> tried doing both a simple reinstall of GAIM as well as removing GAIM  
> and reinstalling it from the Ubuntu repository -- to no avail.
> 
> 2.  I can no longer reach the one news server I constantly seek --  
> nntp.perl.org -- via Thunderbird.  It too times out.  Yet I have no  
> problem reaching this same server from home (where I use Mozilla on a  
> Mac iBook).
> 
> Since both of these services worked fine before and now both fail, I  
> hypothesize that the two problems are related.  Co-workers have  
> speculated that there's a "firewall problem," but I haven't changed  
> firewall settings recently.  iptables -L shows I'm at default settings.
> 
> Can anyone provide some leads in diagnosing this problem?  Thanks in  
> advance.
> 
Hi Jim,
Could you try this acrobatics: ssh -X to another linux server and see if
you can use a remote version of f-bird or t-bird or gaim. If so, it
maybe a firewall issue. Also if your friend can access gaim, how is box
hooked up the network? Is he next to you -- on the same subnet, or in a
differnt part of the network? And also, have you tried another live
cd--knoppix or similar?
cheers,
Kev
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