X-Pmrqc:  1
X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail v2.3 (R1).
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.novell
Date:         Thu, 13 Aug 1992 10:57:02 EDT
Reply-To:     Novell LAN Interest Group <NOVELL@SUVM.BITNET>
From:         "Cathy Erdly" <ERDLY_C@MSB.FLINT.UMICH.EDU>
Subject:      Illegal or Down Server error
X-To:         NOVELL@suvm.acs.syr.edu

Hello All!

Some of our users randomly get the following error message when
leaving a software application:

    ***  Attempted access to illegal or down server ***
         Program aborted

The user can then type whoami and is told they are still connected to
the network. When they try to access any other network applications,
they get the error "bad command or file name" as though they are no
longer connected. If the station is a print station, prints
discontinue being released from the printer. The user usually has to
reboot their machine and log back into the server to continue on with
their work.

    We have been tracking and trying to narrow down where this error
comes from without much luck.

Here's what we have and know:

    Server - Zenith 386/33 Eisa running NetWare 3.11
    Workstation - Zenith 248SX/25 (Model #ZCV-3726-EF)
                  IPX, version 3.10
                  NETX, version 3.26
                  MS-Windows, version 3.0
                  MS DOS, version 5.0

    This error first appeared on a machine set up as a print station
    running LanSpool 386, version 2.00 with an attached networked
    printer. At first it only occurred on such stations but has since
    popped up elsewhere.

    The error first starting appearing when we installed a building
    LAN. At first it was isolated to that building where all machines
    were connected using 10BT. I was temporarily located in that
    building during installation and training. Since then I have
    relocated to a different building and am attached via thinnet.
    I have gotten the error a couple of times in my current office.

    The error occurrs most often after exiting MS-Word 5.5. However,
    one user has gotten it after exiting d-Base IV 1.1. Both
    applications were being run from the server.

    Some users have exited Windows prior to pulling up Word 5.5 and
    gotten this error. Some users don't use Windows and still get the
    error.

    The error can occurr at any time during the day or evening.

As you can see there isn't much to go on to isolate the problem. I
talked to a couple different Novell technicians and they claimed they
had never heard of such an error. In our attempts to isolate where
the error comes from, we have disabled EMM.SYS. We made sure that
while in Word 5.5 they did not use the graphic mode. We made sure
the most current network drivers were loaded. All of these seemed to
decrease the frequency of the error occurring but not get rid of it
altogether.

We are most frustrated at being unable to get anywhere near solving
this error. The latest thing we have tried is replacing the CPU board
in one of the machines after it crashed. We just did that the other
day and are waiting to see if we get called with the error.

Have any of you seen this error before? If so, what did you do to fix
it? Do you have *ANY* ideas of where to go from here.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give. :-)



=====================================================================
Catherine A. Erdly                              Phone: (313) 762-3123
Computer Systems Specialist II                         (313) 766-6629
Information Technology Services                   Fax: (313) 762-3687
University of Michigan - Flint
207 Murchie Science Building      E-mail: Cathy.Erdly@um.cc.umich.edu
303 East Kearsley Street            or    erdly_c@msb.flint.umich.edu
Flint, Michigan 48502
=====================================================================
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.novell