Unable to Remote in to XP Pro with PPPOE connectoid

[rvgrahamsevatenein]

I've put a Dell computer in my mom's place (across the country from me)
and had to set her up with BellSouth DSL. The computer is running XP
pro, which I'm very familiar with, and the DSL modem is a Westell 2100,
which I'm less familiar with. After finding out the modem (which is
also a router) is not very good at port forwarding, I put it into
Bridged mode and walked her through creating an XP broadband
connectoid. Now she connects to the internet fine, but I still cannot
remote into her machine. Remote is enabled in System properties, her
account is an admin account, the Modem/Router should not be blocking
any ports since it's in dumb mode and XP is initiating and controlling
the pppoe session. What am I missing? Windows Firewall is not even
enabled, but nonetheless the port is open in the firewall (3389 for
Remote Desktop).

Should the Local Area Connection have the same IP as the XP PPPOE
connectoid? currently it has autoconfigure 169.254.xxx.xxx, which I
suspect is wrong, but I can't seem to find where to change that.
Ipconfig /Release /Renew just leads to an error and continues to use
AutoConfigure. The Local Area connection is set to receive DHCP. Most
of my experience is in corporate Lan environments or behind proper
routers such as Dlink, Linksys, and even a bit of Cisco experience. I'm
lost dealing with this XP PPPoe situation.

Bob Graham

 

[Chris Priede]

Hi,

What am I missing?

You have a done a pretty thorough job and I can't think of anything that you
are missing. Grasping for straws, things I'd consider would include:

1) Did you check the Windows firewall settings for the PPPoE connection,
rather than the LAN card? They are separate...

2) Confirm the computer is actually listening on the RDP port: in command
prompt window, try "netstat -a" and look for a line similar to:

TCP computername:3389 computername:0 LISTENING

I can't think of a good reason why it wouldn't, but when troubleshooting,
it's always good to know what _is_ working.

3) Are you certain you are using the correct IP address? Check it both
ways: the addresses given by "ipconfig" command and by a remote site, such
as www.whatismyip.com should be the same.

4) Has there _ever_ been another firewall in use on this computer? Some
third party firewalls have a reputation for leaving behind their driver
level components and continuing to block things, even after supposedly
uninstalled. ZoneAlarm introduced this "feature", although it probably has
been perpetrated by others as well.

5) Sometimes, Internet Service Providers block certain popular ports for
residential account IP pool -- either due to associated security concerns or
to enforce the common "no running 'servers' unless you pay twice as much for
a business account" clause. These blocks are often regionally implemented
and inconsistent between the same provider in different areas. I find it
highly unlikely that Bell South (generally not known for doing this) would
have blocked RDP in any market, but make that your last thing to look into,
nonetheless.

Should the Local Area Connection have the same IP as the XP PPPOE
connectoid? currently it has autoconfigure 169.254.xxx.xxx, which I
suspect is wrong, but I can't seem to find where to change that.

When the LAN card is used for PPPoE, it doesn't matter. It is a common
practice to assign the card a static private network IP address (RFC 1918),
but that is done only to eliminate any DHCP timeout delay at startup. For
PPPoE purposes, it is fine configured with any IP address (or none at all).

 

[Guest]

I am also having issues connecting to my mom's computer. We also set her up
with a Bellsouth DSL. But I am not even near to what Bob's networking
knowledge seems to be. I have the same issue of wanting DESPARATELY to help
Mom over a remote connection from Ohio to NC. Any help would be greatly
appreciated.

Mom has a brand new Dell running XP (not sure if it is XP Pro) I believe the
DSL modem is a versalink 327.

I have a DSL setup with Cincinnati Bell's Zoomtown, with a Cisco 675 DSL
model and a Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless Access point Router. I have downloaded
IP2.exe to enable us to see the WAN IP address.

I first tried using netmeeting. Do you both have to be connected to the
same ils server? I used to do netmeeting through Microsoft's
ils.microsoft.com, but this doesn't seem to exist anymore. Can I do a direct
connection to her IP address? I tried calling her but it never connected.

I have tried remote assistance and remote desktop connection with no
success. I was able to do remote assistance over my home LAN, but must be
being stopped by blocked ports or something like that. I am unfamiliar with
ports for the most part. I DID get into my Linksys router and to the
forwrading page. I "created" or named a custom application "RA" and under
Ext. Port entered 3389 to 3389 and another port (example 999 to999) I
checked TCP protocol, and entered the ip address of 192.168.1.10 in each
case, then checked Enable and saved this. Did this do the trick to set up
the ports on the Linksys. I still have not been able to connect to her
computer as yet.

Any advice or pointers would really be appreciated.

 

[rvgrahamsevatenein]

Thank you Chris.

You sent me in the right direction. The problem was in one of the
myriad of unwanted applications that Dell refused to not install on our
new PC: McAfee, specifically their "Personal Firewall". I had to have
her choose "Disable" from the right-click menu on the Systray icon and
then I could remote in. There's an option in the McAfee firewall that
opens port 3389. All's well now.

Dell refused to give tech support on this issue. Apparently, as long as
the hardware isn't broken you're up a creek without a ladder as far as
they're concerned. I wouldn't be so upset about that if they hadn't
refused my request to not install a dozen or so trialware apps! Then
refuse to help you work around them! Never again.

Bob

 

[rvgrahamsevatenein]

Jim, see my other reply to Chris. If your mom has XP Home you will
*not* be able to Remote Desktop into her PC. I think you can get in
with Remote Assisance, but you'll have to talk her through emailing you
an assist request via "Help and Support" from the start menu. I twisted
my mother's arm to pay the extra $119 to Dell to have XP Pro (she has a
few pennies more than I do). I'm going to set her up with a DynDns
client so I can always know her IP.

Bob

 

[Guest]

I'm trying to get help here , Cause i couldn't even make a VPN between my
Home pc running winxp and connected to the internet through ADSL Service ,To
my Office pc running winxp ,and connected to the internet through ADSL
Service as well..
Help me

 

[rvgrahamsevatenein]

Any routers involved? Port 1723 must be allowed through for VPN. Also
firewall software can block port 1723. And beware that some "Dsl
Modems" are actually routers.

No one will be able to help you without more info about the hardware
and software setup.

Bob

 

[Guest]

I have not been able to connect to my PC with XP Pro from a remote PC with XP
Home. The Pro PC is connected to the internet via SBC DSL Home Network
2-Wire modem. The Pro PC is connected to the base PC via a wireless remote.
The connection is dynamic, but when I tr to connect using the IP address, I
get the message that the PRO PC is not recognized. The remote desktop
feature works from the base PC on the home network. Any suggestions?

 

[Chris Priede]

Hi,

You sent me in the right direction.

Only by blind luck.

I wouldn't be so upset about that if they hadn't refused
my request to not install a dozen or so trialware apps!

The trick for that is to choose from their business product lines. In case
of Dell, that would probably mean Optiplex instead of the home user targeted
Dimension. Those tend to arrive with close-to-clean Windows installs
(because they know perfectly well IT departments wouldn't stand for "10,000
free hours of AOL" pre-loaded).

 

[Chris Priede]

Hi,

I have not been able to connect to my PC with XP Pro from a remote PC
with XP Home. The Pro PC is connected to the internet via SBC DSL
Home Network 2-Wire modem. The Pro PC is connected to the base PC
via a wireless remote. The connection is dynamic, but when I tr to
connect using the IP address, I get the message that the PRO PC is
not recognized. The remote desktop feature works from the base PC on
the home network. Any suggestions?

The 2-Wire device also contains a router and a firewall, so there's no
possibility of this working until you forward port 3389 on the private IP
address of PC you wish to connect to.

Your description leaves me uncertain how the wireless connection fits into
this picture so I can't rule out other issues -- however, forwarding the RDP
port is definitely one.

 

[Guest]

Bob and Chris,
Thanks for the replies.

1. If I see the following:
TCP PCName-Media-PC:3389 PCName-Media-PC:0 LISTENING

Then may I assume the port 3389 is configured properly on this end to work?

2. Could I still use netmeeting to do this?

3. What do I need to do on my mom's end to allow the RA or Netmeeting to
work? When I give her my IP address, does she need to have the port
identified? Is that what the 123.123.123.123:3389 (ip.address"+"ortnumber
does? Is that needed?

4. I guess I need to get someone at her end to look at the windows firewall
and other firewalls, and set up a permanent exception to letting me connect
remotely?

All the hype about remote assistance being "seemingly" easy is fraught with
all these other networking/router/firewall issues that escape me. But I'll
get there eventually. If I could get this working this would be a great
Christmas present!!

Thanks,
Jim