[SOLVED] Weird problem, Arch and Win7 as clients and WinXP as ICS host

worf · 2012-10-27 19:52:02

Here is the deal: I'm pretty much forced to get my Internet through my old computer, because Vertex Wireless 100 usb modem which is my only option is quite Linux unfriendly, considering that and old PC, Windows XP was a logical idea. This is not entirely bad solution, cause my old comp, which is in the some sort of basement, is always on and can be used for downloading and torrenting over night. My Arch Laptop is connected to it with a simple network cable and receiving Internet from XP's ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). Now, this setup has been working great for months and never gave me any problems, I was connecting and disconnecting network cable from my laptop when ever I needed to, old machine with XP was turned off from time to time, still no problem whatsoever, networking and Internet via XP's ICS was always received well.

On a request by family member I've unfortunately installed Windows 7 beside Arch on laptop and connected it to WinXP PC by same method as with Arch, I just put in static IP, and networking and Internet from ICS was working right here too. Network configuration:

WinXP Pro 32-bit on old PC is the HOST with:

192.168.0.1 as the IP
255.255.255.0 as mask 
192.168.0.1 as gateway
192.168.0.1 as DNS

Arch 64-bit and Win7 64-bit on same laptop are the CLIENTS with:

192.168.0.103 as IP
255.255.255.0 as mask
192.168.0.1 as gateway
192.168.0.1 as DNS

At this point I shut down Win7, then reinstalled grub and successfully booted into Arch Linux, but I have no more access to: https, http, ftp and msn connections, and strangely, only imap and ics calendars are normally accessible.
What is strange here, only event that triggered this is Windows 7 installation on my laptop and that it was connected by same method as Arch to Windows XP computer, and it normally established network and Internet connection via ICS from XP, just as Arch before.

I ruled out any possibility that Arch is the cause of this, it's completely the same as it was, nothing has changed or installed on it since, I have disabled my iptables.service which was configured right, but I still disabled it, just to rule it out, and no firewall is present on XP machine, windows firewall is disabled. And further, I've loaded SystemrescueCD Live image on Laptop, which successfully obtained Internet over XP's ICS before, and now it can't do it as well as Arch.

All this lead me to beyond belief conclusion that Windows 7, simply by connecting to XP's network and ICS, screwed it up, so no Linux OS can access it anymore???

I've rebooted again to Windows 7 and everything was still working fine here, network access was there and I could access everything: http, https, ftp, msn connections were still working fine, back to Arch, same thing: no https, http, ftp... Unbelievable!
Now, what else I can do with Arch and Win XP machine: I can access resources between the two computers, client and host can ping each other and sharing works perfectly from both sides, I can connect from Arch to WinXP with Remmina to TightVNC at any time too. But as I said, in Arch there is no more: http, https, ftp, msn... access.
I've already lost to many days over this, trying to figure it out, asking many people, googling to infinity, restarting ICS service, reinstalling network card drivers on XP, rebooting million times, flushing DNS on XP and on Arch, nothing helped, my Arch still can't get most of Internet access.

Sorry for the long post, but I've had to explain the problem as best as I could.
I know that this is not a strictly Arch question, but I hope some of You fellow Archers who have or had this kind of negative experience with Windows, know something about this issue, or at least can point me in right direction, what to do or try next to get some logical answer out of this mess.

Thanks.

Last edited by worf (2012-11-06 22:25:23)

ewaller · 2012-10-27 20:29:18

The only thing I can think of has to do with the way that Windows does network discovery. They have the notion of a domain controller. As to who is the controller is subject to negotiation; In general, the machine running the newer OS wins. This is mostly of importance to SAMBA, but I wonder if it may be impacting other things as well. Perhaps the XP has given some of its authority over to the Win 7 box.

worf · 2012-10-30 21:38:07

ewaller wrote:

The only thing I can think of has to do with the way that Windows does network discovery. They have the notion of a domain controller. As to who is the controller is subject to negotiation; In general, the machine running the newer OS wins. This is mostly of importance to SAMBA, but I wonder if it may be impacting other things as well. Perhaps the XP has given some of its authority over to the Win 7 box.

Maybe it is authority problem, but how to investigate it in XP, is beyond me. I really tried everything I could think off and find, spent countless hours on this, nothing worked. My Arch strangely, only has access to imap and ics calendars, still no http, https... access for almost a week.

Short summary of problem: Arch Laptop was networked with XP machine through simple network cable and received Internet over XP's ICS. After Win7 is installed beside Arch on same laptop and networked to XP machine, Arch can not receive Internet anymore through XP's ICS.
Now Win7 can network and receives Internet from XP's ICS, Arch on same laptop can network but can't receive Internet from XP's ICS. No firewalls present on Arch and XP.

Does anyone have an idea or suggestion how to investigate this, cause I'm totally clueless now?

ewaller · 2012-10-30 21:47:38

I do not know how to do this on Windows, but is it possible to see what it's routing tables look like?

Also, can you run the command ipconfig from a console on the XP machine and post the results? What I want to see is the IP address and the Masks for both the wired interface that faces the Arch box, and for the wireless.

Also, are you configured for NAT or Bridged on the XP box?

worf · 2012-11-06 22:23:10

ewaller wrote:

I do not know how to do this on Windows, but is it possible to see what it's routing tables look like?
Also, can you run the command ipconfig from a console on the XP machine and post the results? What I want to see is the IP address and the Masks for both the wired interface that faces the Arch box, and for the wireless.

Sorry for late answer and thanks for helping. But no need for me to post those values anymore cause, they were always fine, and I've finally managed to solve this problem.

ICS in Windows XP is so riddled with various problems, that I've missed rather obvious one: XP Box needed flushing ARP Cache. A small command line solved what bothered me for so long:

netsh interface ip delete arpcache

And now my Arch laptop is receiving Internet from old XP machine over ICS as it always was.

Last edited by worf (2012-11-06 22:30:35)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-10-27 19:52:02

[SOLVED] Weird problem, Arch and Win7 as clients and WinXP as ICS host

#2 2012-10-27 20:29:18

Re: [SOLVED] Weird problem, Arch and Win7 as clients and WinXP as ICS host

#3 2012-10-30 21:38:07

Re: [SOLVED] Weird problem, Arch and Win7 as clients and WinXP as ICS host

#4 2012-10-30 21:47:38

Re: [SOLVED] Weird problem, Arch and Win7 as clients and WinXP as ICS host

#5 2012-11-06 22:23:10

Re: [SOLVED] Weird problem, Arch and Win7 as clients and WinXP as ICS host

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