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Troubleshooting the TCP/IP Stack

The following sections provide troubleshooting advice for the TCP/IP stack.

Getting the TCP/IP Kernel to Start

If the TCP/IP kernel does not start, the system files probably contain incomplete or incorrect information. The Cisco TCP/IP Suite installation program makes several changes to various system and configuration files. If the installation program does not complete properly, or if these files are later changed manually, the Cisco TCP/IP Suite- specific information in these files may be incorrect.

To correct the condition, provide the correct information in the system files, or re-install Cisco TCP/IP Suite.

Checking WINSOCK.DLL

If Cisco TCP/IP Suite is not working properly:

Handling Kernel Initialization Errors with Windows for Workgroups

The SMC NDIS3 drivers distributed with Windows for Workgroups are not truly NDIS3-compliant. If you are using Windows for Workgroups, are using NDIS3 network drivers, and have an SMC-brand network interface card, you may experience errors during TCP/IP kernel initialization. To correct the problem, obtain updated NDIS3 drivers from SMC.

Getting Other WinSock-based Applications to Run

If you cannot run WinSock-based applications, or can run them only after running a Cisco TCP/IP Suite application, Windows may not be able to locate the necessary .DLL files for operation. These are the possible causes:

  1. If you are using Windows 3.x, the Cisco TCP/IP Suite installation directory (for example, MULTINET) is not in your system path. The .DLL files that are required for operation are in this directory. If this directory is not in your path, Windows cannot locate the files. To correct the condition, add the directory to your system path, and reboot your workstation.
  2. If you are using Windows 3.x, you have another vendor's .DLL files, or older versions of the .DLL files provided by Cisco in either a directory that is in the system path before the Cisco TCP/IP Suite installation directory, or in the Windows system directory. To correct this condition, locate and remove all instances of WINSOCK.DLL, except for the one located in the Cisco TCP/IP Suite installation directory.
  3. If you are using Windows 95, ensure that the only instance of WINSOCK.DLL is in the Windows directory, and the only instance of WSOCK32.DLL is in the Windows system directory. These files should not be in the Cisco TCP/IP Suite installation directory.

Using Cisco TCP/IP Suite with Digital's Pathworks for DOS

Digital's Pathworks for DOS uses NDIS2 drivers for its network device driver architecture. However, Digital's NDIS2 implementation differs from the NDIS2 standard. Using Cisco TCP/IP Suite with Pathworks for DOS results in VMULTINT.386 failed to load error messages. To correct the condition, the N2GLUE.DOS device driver must be loaded in the Pathworks current template file.

To load the N2GLUE.DOS driver:

  1. Remove all references to Cisco TCP/IP Suite's NDIS2 drivers from the CONFIG.SYS file.
  2. Locate the template currently being used by Pathworks. This file can be identified by locating the line in STARTNET.BAT that refers to the PWTPL environment variable. For example:

    set PWTPL=c:\decnet\CFG00001.TPL

    indicates the current template is C:\DECNET\CFG00001.TPL.

  3. Load the template into a text editor, and locate the [Network] section of the file.
  4. Insert a load statement for N2GLUE.DOS after the line that loads PROTMAN.DOS, but before the line that loads NETBIND. For example, if you are using an NE2000 network adapter and have installed Cisco TCP/IP Suite into the default directory, your template file might look like the following:

    {LOADDRV} {+DEST}PROTMAN.DOS {SW_PROTMAN}
    {LOADDRV} {+DEST}NE2000.DOS
    {LOADDRV} c:\multinet\n2glue.dos
    {+DEST}NETBIND.COM

  5. Save the template file.
  6. Reboot your workstation.


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