Pathworks 7.3 crashes with WinXP

[Issam Farran]

Hi,
I have a machine here which shows BSOD immediately after WinXP starts (right about the authentication window is displayed).
it also has CheckPoint's SecureClient installed (a VPN client which installs an Intermediate NDIS driver).
if i uninstall either SecureClient or Pathworks, everything works fine.
even if i disable only the DECNDIS.sys, everything works fine.
analyzing full dump from windows, i get a "Pool corruption" error and looking at the memory region got from the corrupted address, i see the following string:
"NDIS Error: too many adapters binding with DECNDIS"

Any idea what could this mean?

[Volker Halle]

Issam,

welcome to the OpenVMS ITRC forum.

Your question is not exactly an OpenVMS question, but Pathworks (even on Windows) is still known here.

Could it be that the CheckPoint SecureClient creates some additional network adapter(s), which DECNDIS automatically binds to ?

If you check the properties of your network adapters and remove the binding of DECNDIS from any adapters not needed ?

Just a guess...

Volker.

[Andy Bustamante]

Pathworks 32 adds DECnet as network protocol. This requires setting the mac address on the adaptor. As Volker points out, make sure this is configured on one adaptor only.

Does the Checkpoint client attempt to manage all network traffic? It probably won't understand how to deal with DECnet.

One option may be to configure a Pathworks/DECnet NIC and a TCP/IP NIC.

The default install of Pathworks 32 requires an updated decdnp.sys available from HP. Log a Pathworks support call for access to this file. The network connection will work temporarily, but eventually, Pathworks network connections will time out.

Why Pathworks 32? Advanced Server/Pathworks LAN Manager will support Microsoft file sharing over TCPIP with no additional softare required on the client PC.

Andy Bustamante

[Jur van der Burg]

Decnet from the original pathworks kit is seriously broken. It has severe problems on multi-cpu machines, or even machines with hyperthreading enabled. HP should be able to supply an updated version.

Jur.

[Issam Farran]

Thanks a lot guys, you've posted very useful info/suggestions.
i will check number of possibilities and post the results.
with regarding to Andi's point about SecureClient attempting to manage all network traffic then the answer is yes, it does.

[Werner Koestner]

Hi

I was actually looking for help with regards to Pathworks 32 myself when I came across this thread.

I was under the impression that only Pathworks 7.4 is supported on WinXP. Just a thought.

I do have Pathworks 7.4 (January 2004) installed on my development machine to allow me to develop a .NET application to translate between WCF and DECnet (sockets task-to-task) so that we can make an old DOS box running Pathworks talk to a new system. So far its fine, but I had my test code only running for short periods of time...

My question is:

How can I find out which NICs are supported by Pathworks. My development PC has two NICs (one Intel and one Broadcom). Only the Broadcom is recognised by Pathworks. I was a bit lucky that this Broadcom NIC works but I will have to buy a rack mount server soon as runtime for this application and I don't know how to make sure the server NIC(s) are supported before I buy the kit.

Thanks for your help.

Werner

[Andy Bustamante]

10 points for Werner please. The current release of Pathworks 32 is 7.4.

Werner,
The Pathworks 32 SPD at http://docs.hp.com/en/12869/PW32SPD.pdf states the following about NICs:

Ethernet and FDDI adapters must also support a software-configurable network address using the Network Address keyword

The ethernet spec includes a programable MAC address, which is required for DECnet. Many low end NICs ignore this feature.

Andy Bustamante

[Werner Koestner]

Thanks for that Andy.

I had an older copy of this document and we were aware of the requirement to be able to change the MAC address. However it is not obvious when you look at the specification of a network card if this feature is supported.

And due to the nature of my work environment it would be a bonus if I could give a definitive description in form of ...must support standard xyz... or here is a list of supported cards ...

There is another thing you may be able to help me with:

In 2006 you posted an answer in a thread regarding a computer crash related to pathworks:

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1038857

My questions:

a) Do I still require the updated decdnp.sys and how do I get it? The file a have dates from the 20 Jan 2004 and its version is 7.4.122

b) Where do I find the 'Pathworks event log'? Did you mean the windows event log or has pathworks its own?

Thanks again for your help.

Werner

[Andy Bustamante]

a) This is from memory but I recall the version I got was .114. I'll see if I can dig up anything, that issue was in a previous position so I don't have documenation immediately at hand. Check the PW Event Log and see if you you're getting a "mumble mumble" expanded to xxx regularly. If you see these, when xxx hits 512 your Pathworks shares will hang.

b) Under Start --> Programs --> Pathworks you'll have an entry to view the Pathworks event log. This isn't included in the Windows logs. You can follow the boot here.

The ethernet spec IEEE 802.3 specifies the network card will support programable MAC addresses. Some lower end PC think this isn't important.

Andy Bustamante

[Jeroen Hartgers_3]

use version;
Advanced Server V7.3B for OpenVMS Patchkit 9

On the site where i work we have 100 vms servers with pathworks the real name is Advanced Server.

pathworks/advanced server is still al look alike WINNT file server. If a vms node has the pdc or bdc role and a WINXP takes the master browser role the pwrk/as enviroment will crash the same way a winnt domain will crash.

We use a resorouce domain with a pdc en bdc (vmware servers WIN2K3) and al the vms servers ar member. This resource domain has a bothway trust the windows AD domain.

The resource domain has the secrutiy level of an winnt domain. In this construction it works fine with 10000 users 5000 shares.