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I have a rather strange issue with my netbook on my local network. When trying to connect to it in any way from a remote system it does not appear to find it. However if I get the netbook to ping the machine trying to connect it mystically appears to work.

Below is the ping test from my main PC to the netbook.

C:\Users\Sam>ping 192.168.8.102

Pinging 192.168.8.102 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.8.100: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.8.100: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.8.100: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.8.100: Destination host unreachable.

Ping statistics for 192.168.8.102:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Now a ping from the netbook to my main PC

sam@malamute ~ $ ping 192.168.8.100
PING 192.168.8.100 (192.168.8.100) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.8.100: icmp_req=1 ttl=128 time=2.46 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.8.100: icmp_req=2 ttl=128 time=0.835 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.8.100: icmp_req=3 ttl=128 time=1.60 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.8.100: icmp_req=4 ttl=128 time=1.32 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.8.100: icmp_req=5 ttl=128 time=1.34 ms
^C
--- 192.168.8.100 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.835/1.514/2.460/0.536 ms

And the same ping again from the main PC after the netbook has made a connection to it

C:\Users\Sam>ping 192.168.8.102

Pinging 192.168.8.102 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.8.102: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.8.102: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.8.102: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.8.102: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.8.102:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 1ms

The netbook is running Gentoo and is currently connected via wireless.

My main PC is running Windows 7 however I get the same result no matter what PC I use on this network. Please see this example from a CentOS machine on the same network

[root@tiger ~]# ping 192.168.8.102
PING 192.168.8.102 (192.168.8.102) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.8.200 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.8.200 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.8.200 icmp_seq=4 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 192.168.8.102 ping statistics ---
6 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% packet loss, time 5000ms
, pipe 3

If you need any more information or require logs or config files please let me know and any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Additional info:

No responses on TCP dump from the netbook.

Same result when booting into Ubuntu from a USB key.

No issue when using a wired Ethernet connection.

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  • 1
    Please explain your network setup. SOunds to me like the netbook is not sending an ARP to the switch to make itself known, so the / a switch does not know where the IP address goes to.
    – TomTom
    Jul 1, 2012 at 16:15
  • Network is all unmanaged switches and a gateway server to the internet. The netbook is connected wirelessly however is the only wireless client with this issue. I have a 24 port switch with the gateway server connected to it along with Sky boxes/PS3 and other machines in my rack. Which is where the centos machine resides. from there a wireless access point/switch is connected to it and that is the AP the netbook is on. My main PC is on the same switch that the netbook connects to via wireless. Hope that helps Jul 1, 2012 at 16:20
  • It's more than the netbook isn't responding to ARP requests. Wow, I'm having trouble finding anything with net searches, but I had similar issues under linux with my MSI Wind u100. (rtl8187 driver) Jul 1, 2012 at 16:22
  • I did try and search the net. Been trying to resolve it for weeks. However keep drawing blanks :( If it helps the wireless card is an atheros card using the ath5k driver built into the kernel Jul 1, 2012 at 16:23
  • Nothing network-related in the logs? Jul 1, 2012 at 16:24

1 Answer 1

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Solved. Turns out the AP has had it.

Swapped it out for a different one and the problem has disappeared.

Thank you for all the help and the AP was given to the dog to play with.

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