Problem sharing Internet Services between a Laptop and Tungsten T3

Forums › Legacy mobile platforms (Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Web OS, Symbian, Meego, Blackberry) › Problem sharing Internet Services between a Laptop and Tungsten T3

Blue4u

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1019 3-Feb-2004 12:29

Hi All,

I am frustratingly close to getting my surfing up and running using ICS and I'm hoping someone can help me get up and running. I should say that whilst I know a little about networking I am by no means a geek (in the niocest possible sense)

OK Scenario:

Laptop with D-Link USB bluetooth adapter running Win2000 SP4 connected to a LAN accessing the wider corporate network via a router which accesses Internet Services via a firewall. Add to this my Bluetooth enabled Tungsten T3 which has the latest T3Update and other patches installed

The Problem:

I can synchronise my Tungsten T3 using bluetooth no problemHaving read several articles I have set up ICS and a network Bluetooth to LAN network connection profile.

When I try to connect to the Laptop services using this connection profile the connection is succesfully established at 700kbs (Handshaking messages appear and connection appears in status bar) and I can ping the local router successfully

Problem is I cannot ping any outside websites. If I open up Web Pro (My palm browser) it asks me if I want to conect to the internet, if I say yes there is a pause after which the message "DNS timeout (Comm. 8) Please check your coverage" appears. So it appears that despite a successful network connection via bluetooth to the LAN via the Laptop I cannot gain access to Internet services. I have tried automatic assignment and manual assignment of DNS addresses (to match those used by the Laptop LAN network profile) but neither works.

I was wondering whether I have a port/firewall issue but I don't understand why if I am piggybacking on the back of my laptop internet services this should be a problem. Anyway if anyone can give me some ideas to troubleshoot or solve the issue that would be great

David Hettel

73 posts

Master Geek

#3208 4-Feb-2004 05:30

It sounds to me as if you haven't setup ICS correctly on your Laptop. First your wire NIC to your corporate LAN will have an address like 192.168.1.xxx, and a subnet like 255.255.255.0 and a default gateway address, and a DNS server address, and perhaps a WINS server address.

Now the Bluetooth LAN should only have two values in it. an IP address of 192.168.0.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Every thing else will be blank. If your Bluetooth LAN is not showing this then ICS is not setup correctly.

The Tungsten T3 will have an address in the 192.168.0.1xx range most likely.
and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, now everything else will be set to the Bluetooth LAN IP address, or 192.168.0.1 the Gateway, the DHCP server, the DNS server, and the secondary DNS server will all point to 192.168.0.1 Now I noticed that you said you had set them to the same value as you LAN connection was using. That suggest to me that perhaps your ICS is not working.

A firewall is designed to prevent you doing, what you are now trying to do. I would suggest that while you are trying to get this working to disable your firewall, or even uninstall it. ZoneAlarm is known to prevent this from working when disable.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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#3212 4-Feb-2004 08:08

If I open up Web Pro (My palm browser) it asks me if I want to conect to the internet, if I say yes there is a pause after which the message "DNS timeout (Comm. 8) Please check your coverage" appears.

Sometimes this message appears when you have the Web Pro configured to use a proxy server. Still configured as you're now, open Web Pro and change its configuration, then try again.

Blue4u

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3214 4-Feb-2004 08:30

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the reply. When I hit the connect button on the Palm to PCT LAN network connection the connection log looks:

S:CLIENT
CLIENTSERVER
LCP->CfgReq
LCP<-CfgRej
LCP->CfgReq
LCP<-CfgAck
LCP->CfgReq
LCP<-CfgAck

Service Name PCT LAN

Local IP Address 192.168.0.1
Gateway 0.0.0.0
DNS Address 194.107.63.130 (manually assigned but have also tried automatic
194.6.81.18 query setting with no improvement)

I get the visual confirmation of handshaking and successful establishment of a connection

I get a message at the Status bar saying Connected to "Netrwork Access" on this computer

Do you still think I have not set up ICS correctly?

The firewall is a corporate firewall around a very large VPN not as simple to take down as ZoneAlarm but I still do not fully understand why if I am sharing the laptops services that the Palm should be affected, it is not creating a new service merely piggy backing on an existing one. I still get this annoying DNS seek timeout message,

regards Howard

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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#3216 4-Feb-2004 08:56

Now the Bluetooth LAN should only have two values in it. an IP address of 192.168.0.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Every thing else will be blank. If your Bluetooth LAN is not showing this then ICS is not setup correctly.

Not always. While 192.168.0.1 is required, DNS is optional. For example, at home I use my ISP's DNS server addresses in my ICS target (which is the Bluetooth) and it works fine, while on my laptop I have my work's DNS server address.

Blue4u, you say you can't ping external addresses. Are you able to ping by IP? If you can ping by IP, then enter the DNS in the Bluetooth adapter configuration in your laptop.

You say something about firewall, but do not specify what type. Is it a firewall box in your network, or a software firewall on your laptop?

Blue4u

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3219 4-Feb-2004 10:09

Hi All,

The DNS addresses I manually entered are the DNS addresses used by other PCs and Laptops at work to access network services including the internet

We do not have a firewall on the server at work but the server is within a VPN which accesses the outside world via Servers that do have firewalls installed. The VPN is called NHSNet and sevices the entire National Health Service so it is very big and I have zero control over it.

I can ping the IP address of the gateway router at work but I cannot ping the IP of the DNS servers, hence I would guess the reason for the DNS timeout error. Perhaps there is something flaky with my ICS setup but I have followed the guides to the letter and all the signs are that I am connecting to Network Services on my Laptop, see my previous mail.

any further ideas greatly appreciated

freitasm

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#3221 4-Feb-2004 10:27

Just a note, make sure the DNS is entered on the Bluetooth adapter on your computer, not the Palm. In your Palm keep using the automatic addresses given by ICS when connecting.

Blue4u

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3223 4-Feb-2004 11:57

OK I will give all this stuff a try tomorrow, do I take it that you now think that ICS is working but I have a DNS configuration problem? Thanks for the suggestions by the way

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David Hettel

73 posts

Master Geek

#3227 4-Feb-2004 16:02

Hmm, I'm not a palm user. So perhaps this is obvious, but it's not to me. You said the

Service Name PCT LAN

Local IP Address 192.168.0.1 <== Is this the PC, or the Palm
Gateway 0.0.0.0 <== For PC OK, for Palm a problem
DNS Address 194.107.63.130 (manually assigned but have also tried automatic
194.6.81.18 query setting with no improvement)

For my Windows XP pro on the PC entering a value here breaks ICS, I use a blank value here, and can't think of a reason you would need one for the Virtual Bluetooth NIC. If the PC is set up correctly it will take the request of your Tungsten T3 and translate it to simulate a request from your PC, so a firewall running on your PC may see this as threat. Any external Firewall should see this as a request coming from your PC. Either way the PC will not send request out through the Bluetooth NIC, so it doesn't need a gateway address, or a DNS address.

In theory if you are configuring the Tungsten T3 yourself you could use the DNS address that other laptops are using, I could see this as causing potential problems, because the DNS server will not know how to route the return answer back to your Tungsten T3. Their could be thousands of computers, within the NHS that are using the address 192.168.0.xxx. The guy in the office three doors down from you could have a PocketPC and be doing the same thing. No way for the DNS servers to know who to send the packet to. By having your computer request it, it passes it's address to the server, and the server knows how to talk to your computer, because you have a unique address within the NHS.

Blue4u

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3255 5-Feb-2004 13:33

Hi David,

To try to answer your queries:

The printout of comms transactions is generated from the palm logon and displayed on the palm logon log, so 192.168.0.1 is the IP address assigned to the Palm device. This is in fact what is recommended in the Bluetooth Guides for setting up the Palm, published elsewhere on this site.

The Gateway address: This is what the palm reports for the Bluetooth adapter again within the palm logon dialogue, the corporate LAN NIC (as configured on the laptop) has the organisations gateway (router) address in here as does the bluetooth adapter (on the laptop). There is no way of putting in the gateway address in the configuration of the network connection setup on the palm itself.

In my experience iof you have an IP conflict on a network then both devices affected issue warnings to that effect and network connections are disrupted, I am not experiencing this. I am definitely the only person trying this sort of thing within our organisation.

My approach to DNS settings was as recommended in the guides and I have tried both automatic and manual assignment on the palm device. For the manual setup I used the same DNS server addresses as defined on the corporate LAN.

Does that clarify anything for you? I am still trying to get it to work,
thanks again for the interest

freitasm

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#3261 5-Feb-2004 13:49

Blueu4

The printout of comms transactions is generated from the palm logon and displayed on the palm logon log, so 192.168.0.1 is the IP address assigned to the Palm device. This is in fact what is recommended in the Bluetooth Guides for setting up the Palm, published elsewhere on this site.

Nope. Follow the guides again, don't skip a step, pay attention to all comment. 192.16.8.01 is to be entered on the Bluetooth adapter on your computer, not on your Palm. Do not enter anything on your Palm, all configuration will be assigned by the mini-DHCP on your ICS.

The Gateway address: This is what the palm reports for the Bluetooth adapter again within the palm logon dialogue, the corporate LAN NIC (as configured on the laptop) has the organisations gateway (router) address in here as does the bluetooth adapter (on the laptop). There is no way of putting in the gateway address in the configuration of the network connection setup on the palm itself.

Probably this is broken because the ICS requires the address that you put on your Palm, hence causing a conflict and everything stops working from there. Go back to the guides...

My approach to DNS settings was as recommended in the guides and I have tried both automatic and manual assignment on the palm device. For the manual setup I used the same DNS server addresses as defined on the corporate LAN.

You can enter the DNS address, but again this is on the Bluetooth adapter, not on your Palm.

Blue4u

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3263 5-Feb-2004 13:57

Thanks, I will revisit the guides and try again