Trouble Shooting Thread [community project]

[DNR]

Maybe in suck-o v2 we can open a section for Trouble Shooting. I can see the section being broken down into linux, Windows and maybe Mac - and then subsections for Monitor/graphics, Sound, Power, Malware/Crash and Network Connectivity.

This thread will get everyone started, you can pick a topic and create a tutorial (short is sweet). The section is meant for all those visitors that come to suck-o - to provide them with a check list of things to check first, and even collect needed info to better allow the members to help trouble shoot.

Works in progress can be posted for peer review and suggestions.

You may post your project here before it is completed - so others do not duplicate your efforts.

DNR

[DNR]

[feel free to review and suggest]

Windows Network Connectivity Trouble Shooting

Typical symptoms of a Network connectivity problem are:

Unable to connect to Internet
Unable to connect to the router
Unable to connect to other computers

The web browser can return the message of:
Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage

The checklist while it may seem basic - will ensure that you don't have people in the forum trying to help fix your problem while assuming you did the basic checks. Power on, LED lights, cords plugged in, and noting changes that were made on the working computer or network is very important.

It is also important to use the proper terminology for your devices and setup. If you forget to tell your helpers that you are trying to access a wireless access point - they might have you focused on a DSL router and not the first device you need to connect to - the wifi AP. While the connectivity is similar as cabled networks, you still have additional things to check on a wifi setup.

Check List

Hardware - external
1. Check Power status, note LED light status
2. Check cables - power and data (are they firmly connected?)
3. For Wifi, check signal strength

Software
1. Did you change, install, uninstall any programs? This includes driver updates, new browsers, and 'cleaning up your system'.
2. Is the software acting normally? changes could indicate malware.
3. Did you do a cold re-boot (shut down and then restart)

Network / ISP
1. Did you change networks? (settings for one network will not work for another)
2. Is the network down? (it might not be you - it could be the ISP or website)


For troubleshooting network connectivity - you might want to disable the firewall - we can always test the network connectivity again AFTER the firewall is turned on.

PING

The web browser can be corrupted or locked out by a security program, so you want to PING your target - this will bypass any browser issue and check your network and the website you want to contact.

>Don't ping suck-o.com it is set to NOT reply to pings

C:\Users\Owner>ping www.google.com

Pinging www.google.com [64.233.169.99] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 64.233.169.99: bytes=32 time=137ms TTL=235
Reply from 64.233.169.99: bytes=32 time=116ms TTL=235
Reply from 64.233.169.99: bytes=32 time=126ms TTL=235
Reply from 64.233.169.99: bytes=32 time=122ms TTL=235

Ping statistics for 64.233.169.99:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 116ms, Maximum = 137ms, Average = 125ms

Now it is very important to note - the network resolved the NAME of www.google.com to an IP - this means you have DNS working. (domain name translation) you also see no packets lost, and the Round Trip is reasonable (if the network is slow - your packets time out - the web browser says no page, but really its loading too slow)

If Ping does not work for google, try another- it is possible for google's network to be down!

C:\Users\Owner>ping www.google.com
Ping request could not find host www.google.com. Please check the name and try again.

This ping result can be from two things - no network connection, or the DNS server IP is wrong. If it cannot translate the name to IP - then it cannot ping.

Next Ping by IP # - this bypasses a DNS issue.
If you ping with the IP of google, you can bypass DNS and really know if you have a connection problem:

C:\Users\Owner>ping 64.233.169.99

Pinging 64.233.169.99 with 32 bytes of data:
PING: transmit failed, error code 1231.
PING: transmit failed, error code 1231.
PING: transmit failed, error code 1231.
PING: transmit failed, error code 1231.

Ping statistics for 64.233.169.99:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

Now you have an error code which is helpful, code 1231 points to a network connection problem. Make sure you ping another IP to make sure its not a website down.

If Ping WORKS with an IP, then it points to your DNS server IP (your ISP moved it to another server or its down) You can try a public DNS IP.

Service provider:OpenDNS
OpenDNS free dns server list:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Now, before we get into IPs and network settings, lets review:
At the minimum to connect to a network you need to know:
IP of Gateway and IP of DNS server(s) used. Your machine's IP can be Dynamically issued by the ISP or network, so writing it down may not be helpful. You can use ipconfig to release your adapter and ask for a new IP.

Don't bother using ipconfig if you have no clue what the IPs are supposed to be!

CMD>ipconfig /all (do not get scared at the information overload, just look for the ADAPTOR that is not disabled)

C:\Users\Owner>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : inmotion
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

PPP adapter Verizon Wireless - VZAccess:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Verizon Wireless - VZAccess
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . :
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 75.219.83.157(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 66.174.95.44
66.174.92.14
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 4:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : PANTECH UM175 WWAN Driver #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 7A-80-20-00-02-00
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : globalsuite.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-22-5F-72-6E-B3
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet
Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-23-AE-21-49-E9
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{04C4A538-3D75-46F4-A336-CF9BB51B4
D9F}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e50:873b92b:e5e0(Prefe
rred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::873b92b:e5e0%10(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.globalsuite.net
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 12:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{5A05C5AC-2D79-4BF8-9B78-FBCD9F36E
991}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 13:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{B6CF99D7-32B0-47B0-AB6C-CBD1A014F
FA1}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 14:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #5
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 15:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft 6to4 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2002:4bdb:539d::4bdb:539d(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 2002:c058:6301::c058:6301
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 66.174.95.44
66.174.92.14
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

C:\Users\Owner>

The device I am using is the PPP Adapter connection and everything looks normal except you see no GATEWAY IP, this is handled by the Tunneling interface used by Verizon's network, see Local Area Adaptor #15 (last one)

Lets try looking at another ipconfig:

This one is easier to understand: You can see the default gateway, and the DHCP server are the IP of the router. You also see the DNS servers have two IPs, this is a failover. You can see the IP of the machine - and it is correct because it is in the range of the subnet mask 192.168.0.XX (255.255.255.0) This IP can be different each time you log on to your ISP!

***damn this is not going to be simple is it ***

Oh well let me lead you to hell...

Netstat is your next tool to check your network connection;

C:\Users\Owner>netstat -e
Interface Statistics

Received Sent

Bytes 11446328 8723054
Unicast packets 14727 31120
Non-unicast packets 0 0
Discards 0 0
Errors 0 1
Unknown protocols 0

Netstat -e checks your Ethernet stats, remember I had that failed PING? This is why there is an error for Sent packets. Otherwise you can tell this is a working network, sent and recieved packets, no errors, no unknown protocols (this is important - if you failed to load needed protocols, it will be Unknown!)

--skip--
Tools
I like Everest Home edition your customers can quickly copy and paste the machines network settings

Field Value
Network Adapter Properties
Network Adapter Verizon Wireless - VZAccess
Interface Type PPP
Hardware Address 00-00-00-00-00-00
Connection Speed 115200 bps
MTU 1500 bytes
Bytes Received 21794608 (20.8 MB)
Bytes Sent 4713996 (4.5 MB)

Network Adapter Addresses
IP / Subnet Mask 75.219.83.157 / 255.255.255.255
DNS 66.174.95.44
DNS 66.174.92.14

It puts all the important info in easier reach here is driver info:

Field Value
Device Properties
Driver Description PANTECH UM175 WWAN Driver #3
Driver Date 8/10/2008
Driver Version 3.1.15.810
Driver Provider PANTECH CO., LTD
INF File oem68.inf
Hardware ID USB\VID_106c&PID_3714&MI_03
Location Information Wireless WAN Adapter

At this time, Sensors is not working with Vista or just this laptop..

Topic marked for destruction - 48hrs - DNR

[StyloMylo]

Such a detail info...Thanks for sharing

[floodhound2]

My general hardware / programming troubleshooting technique is to take the suspected bad part and replace it with a know good part.

Example:
Your computer wont boot up correctly.

Solution:
-Remove all the parts except the Motherboard, CPU and RAM.
-If the Bios screen is present then there is a good chance that the motherboard CPU and RAM are working.
-Next hook up HDD and see if you can boot the computer correctly
-Next connect GPU and again check rebooting each time
-Next wireless cards
-ETC...

Obviously this method will not solve every problem but its a good philosophy to go by.

This also works with programming and low level electronics.

[DNR]

In Suck-o Fashion, if you liked my Computer trouble shooting guide I wrote, then you''l like my next DNR's guide. Always best written from experience!

Firearm Trouble Shooting Guide
Whether or not you use a firearm for work, or defense, or maybe you might find one drop in your lap in the heat of battle, you better have the basics of maintaining a firearm. Forget the safety handling stuff, you need to put out lethal bullets because your life depends on it.

Failure to Fire
1. Make sure the Safety is off. Yes, make sure dumbass.

2. Frequently FTF (fail to fire) is because the bolt is not fully forward, you may have performed a weak halfassed cycle of the slide or bolt and it did not fully seat. This prevents the rest of the firing mechanism from engaging as a safety feature. Recycle the slide or bolt, or use the forward assist (M4).

3. Bad ammunition is the second most frequent cause for FTF. Now, that brick of cheap ammo you brought at the gun and knife show ain't looking too good eh? Primers can be harder to impact due to how its seated, primers could be made of thicker metals (foreign), and then primers get old dumbass. If any box of ammo has a 1 or 2 rounds that FTF, thats about a 10% failure rate - you can't count on 90% in combat. Eject, find new ammunition, sell the bad ammo at the gun and knife show.

4. A close #3 - magazine failures. These cause FTFs, because either the firing mechanism senses the unseated magazine or because bullets cannot feed. It is best to quickly swap out magazines and make sure you seat the new one. At a quiet time, you can play with the suspect magazine. While the suspect magazine could have been poorly seated due to your limp wrist, it could also have a bent lip, broken spring, jammed follower - and you don't have time for that now.

5. Firing Pin failure. It happens, you got hot and heavy and you broke shit. Switch to secondary weapon. You did bring a secondary weapon!? If not, it will take about 15 minutes to swap a new firing pin, about 1 hour if someone is shooting at you.

Failure to Eject

FTE, is almost strictly a ejector issue - thats the first place you want to check - but first, you need to clear the weapon. It does not matter if the round has been fired or not, if it is jammed in the breech - it is a FTE.

1. eject the magazine, you do not need another round to feed while you are trying to clear the chamber of another round. If possible, swap for new magazine to eliminate magazine feed issue from FTF/FTE problem.

2. With the magazine out of the weapon, the loose round can fall out of either the bottom magazine port or the top/side ejector port - shake the weapon several times to see if the round falls out.

3. If the round is still in the breech/bolt - cycle the action/bolt - you want to see if the ejector will catch the round and extract it. If cycling the weapon TWICE did not eject the round - you need a knife or tool NOW to manually extract the stuck round.

4. while manually extracting the round, perform a visual check on the ejector pin. Hot and Heavy can also break off your ejector pin. Know where it is, and check it like you check for a loaded chamber. If the ejector is FUBAR, you can replace it in about 30 minutes with the right tools and parts, if someone is shooting at you, add 1 hour.

5. Bad ammo - check the ejected rounds for splitting, cracking, and overpressure cracks at the head of the cartridge. Find new ammo.

6. Dirty weapon. So you decided to go drinking and jerk off to porn instead of cleaning your gun since the last time you shot it, dumbass. A quick shot of cleaner into the breech can save your ass. Pray and spray. Next time use dry lubes.

FTF can also be Failure to Feed

1. primarily a magazine problem, eject and swap for new magazine. You may have to perform a FTE, as sometimes a feeding problem includes a failure to eject problem.

2. If the weapon continues to FTF despite ANOTHER magazine swap, you have a defective weapon, switch to secondary weapon. You could use the weapon as a last-resort single shot, but we don't let shit get so bad to be last-resort shit right?

Damaged Sights
With the popular use of Optics and Reflex sights, damaged sights can be common.

1. Always have secondary sights for medium to long range weapons - iron sights. Your ability to aim and hit is so vital to a properly working weapon you never rely on just optics.

2. Pistols can be usebale with no sights as they are short range weapons - you are pointing and shooting by reflex.

Shoot and Scoot!

DNR