bwk@mbunix.mitre.org (Barry W. Kort) (09/02/89)
In article <Added.UYzWZNG00Ui38dIk8o@andrew.cmu.edu> ISSTTH@NUSVM.BITNET (TNG TH) writes: > Hi. I have a problem concerning TOPS. > My setup consists of 1 Mac IIx and 1 Mac II. Both are running ethertalk. > Time again, once the drives on both machines are cross mounted, I keep > getting msgs like "Can't connect to drive" and the dialog asks me to > keep trying or give up. I have a friend who claims this is the problem > with TOPs. How true is this? > When transfering files to my Mac II from the IIx, sometimes I want to > run a program. But the launching of any program on the receipient > machine usually will cause the sender machine to hang up. Why? > Can anyone enlighten me? Do you have many AppleTalk zones on your network? If so, are they all configured so that the ethernet zone has a universally-agreed-upon zone name and network number? From time to time, someone in our installation starts up a Kinetics Box with an inconsistent configuration. When this happens, our EtherPort cards get confused and we lose connections to TOPS and AppleShare servers. If you open the Chooser or the TOPS Desk Accessory, do you find zones where servers come and go, or zones where servers are listed incorrectly? If so, you may have this problem. The ethernet zone is like Main Street. At every intersection, the street signs must agree to call Main Street by the same name, or things get very confusing. The new Kinetics K-4 boxes are not easily confused by such anomalies, but the current generation of 3Com and EtherPort cards are sensitive to such irregularities. Kinetics advises that by the end of the year, they will have a new version that is more robust to these problems. --Barry Kort MITRE Network Center