Weird CDE problem

[Robin King_1]

I have been having problems since I joined my present company with my access via CDE to the various HP servers. I get the common error message when trying log in "Unable to initialize or connect to the Desktop messaging system".

There is plenty of documentation and forum postings about this problem, but none of the resolutions seem to work for me. Most of the resolutions point toward hostname resolution problems.

My problem seems unusual, in that I have been able to access some boxes but not others, even though their config seems very similar. This afternoon, I have noticed something else.

I use an NCD900 X-Term. The X-Term boots, and gives me a list of the hosts with XDMCP broadcasts. If I try to log into server "A" it will log in without any problems, if I log out and attempt to log into server "B" I get the error message.

If I then reboot the X-Term and attempt to log into server "B" it will let me, but again if I logout and attempt to login to server "A" I get the message.

I'm totally stumped as to why this would happen, I'm presuming it's network related, but what I don't know.

Can anyone help, as this is getting really frustrating.

Thanks!!!

[Alex Glennie]

You're not the only one .... I smell a bug and since I've just tested this on an ncd 900 followed by the exact same test wrt an HP Envizex II to the exact same unix hosts my gut feeling is this is something to do with NCDware .... you maybe wise to check their knowledgebase or apply their latest patches.

fyi the ncd 900 showed the problem, the Envizex didn't

Alternatively you could log a call with HP ...I'm pretty sure your name rings a bell and you are in the UK, I'm in all next week unfortuantly :-(

[Robin King_1]

I thought you would be the first to answer Alex! We have had contact a couple of times.
I'm off for the day now, so I'll check NCD's website next week.

I'll post any findings on here!

[Robin King_1]

Forgot to say that IU have already applied all the latest software updates from NCD and it hasn't done anything constructive.

[Robin King_1]

I have submitted this query to NCD, so I'll post the reply here when I get it.

[Alex Glennie]

Robin,

Thanks for the update, I *maybe* wrong but since HP's older xterminals don't show the problem I think laying at NCD's door first is the best bet, however depending on their feedback feel free to raise a call with the UKRC and I'll look into for you from the CDE perspective... ask the call logger to mark it fao : alex glennie and it should speed things up.

If nothing else I can reproduce it which is often 1/2 way to fixing it ....

[Alex Glennie · Accepted solution]

Feedback from Robin which maybe of use for future reference to all ....

Alex

It's been a while, but we seem to have finally resolved this problem.
It's all to do with the retain_x_settings in the xp.cnf file. The easiest way to resolve the issue, is to boot to the screen that show the host list, and press SHIFT-PAUSE, this will bring up the configuration menu. Click on Setup, and the "configuration summaries" tab. On this screnn make sure reain_x_settings is set to no, then save the config.

This certainly seem to have worked on mine, so hopefully you'll find it useful as well.

Cheers

Robin

[Rick Beldin]

I worked one of the original cases several years ago where people reported problems with this. I have seen this with NCD and Tektronix Xterminals.

This engineering note was written 3 years ago and was specific to Tektronix Xterminals. I suspect that NCD bought out Tektronix.

HP Security Class: Customer Viewable User Doc ID: S3100001486
Xterminal: Tektronix Xterminal rejected with error from tt session
Quality Score: 0 0 Date Certified: 20000218
Document Information Table
PROBLEM

I installed CDE (Common Desktop Environment) patch
PHSS_19748. Since I installed this patch, my
Tektronix Xterminal gets rejected with an error from tt session when I
attempt to start a CDE session.

Why am I getting this error?


CONFIGURATION

Operating System - HP-UX
Application - CDE (Common Desktop Environment)
Subsystem - Tektronix Xterminal

RESOLUTION

When 'retain_x_settings=yes' the Tektronix Xterminal retains the
_TT_SESSION property from the previous login. The CDE software does not
expect this property to be retained. CDE interprets part of the property
as a binary host address, when the property is actually ascii. The delay
happens when the slow DNS fails to find the invalid address.

HP and SUN are not supporting this kind of tt_session buffering in
combination with CDE.

To resolve your error, set the Tektronix setting 'retain_x_settings=no'.

Note: Please refer to Tektronix support for more detailed
information about this setting.

There are no known problems with HP Xterminals or PC Xservers, such as
ReflectionX or Hummingbird eXceed.

Another option, which is an unsupported work-around, is to restore
the old ttsession behavior:

1. Stop CDE on the server.

2. Replace the ttsession file and libtt.3 with versions from an
unpatched system.