computer Guru, Expert, Enthusiast, Knowledge needed

[PeterM]

Hi all,

I have now installed Windows 7 Pro in order to overcome problems with Vista allowing Orchestrate to talk to The Sky 6. However after a few emails backwards and forwards to Software Bisque I am now seeking the assistance of the Gurus here.

The issue as explained to me is that "Windows 7 cannot resolve the computers name to its ip address(no NetBIOS) so Orchestrate requires the IP address of the computer"

So in order to fix this I need the ivp4 internal ip address of the computer. Ok easy, Command prompt, enter, type in ipconfig, enter... well that's where I come unstook as all that comes up under Windows IP configuration is as follows :-

Wireless LAN adapter Wiireless Network Connection 2:
Media State.....: media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS suffix. :

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless network connection:
Media State.....: media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS suffix. :

Ethernet adapter Local area connection
Media State.....: media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS suffix. :

Tunnel adapter Toredo Tunneling Pseudo- Interface
Media State.....: media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS suffix. :

C:\Users\PC>


I am signed in as the administrator (I think) and I have also tried ipconfig /all but none of the above (or under ipconfig /all) give me the pcs ip adddress. If however if I plug in my 3 mobile broadband usb and run ipconfig I then get an ipv4 address, put it into Orchestrate and whammo it works. Once disconnected from the internet however I am back to no connection. Then when I reconnect to the interent I find a new ip address (not static) so it seems this is not the ivp4 I am after. So now I am asked to find my computers internal Ipv4 address and use that.
I do not know how to do this.

I will thank you in advance as this is driving me nutty, my lack of knowldege and thats why I need a computer Guru, Expert, Enthusiast with Knowledge.
PeterM

[toryglen-boy]

Hi Peter, i must admit i am confused.

Vista used an IPv6 address (although "4" could be selected) and Windows 7, will very probably need 2 use an IPv6 address.

Your infomation shows that none of your interfaces have an IP address assigned, there are a few things you could try, although you probably already have!

assigning a manual IP address? You said when you connect online, you get an IP address thats static, is it really static? or is the DHCP lease on the address still current?

flushing the DNS cache from a DOS prompt, so its forced to renew DNS entries?

soz to not offer more, i am unfamiliar with the software, or what your trying to do, if you can post more background on here, then i will endeavour to help

;)

[kustard]

You could try the localhost IP address for the computer which is 127.0.0.1

I don't know if that will work though but it might be worth a try.

What is Orchestrate? I've never heard of it. Sounds a bit odd to require an IP address to run unless it needs internet/network access at all times.

[Octane]

Is Orchestrate an application that runs on the Internet?

If it's just internal, you could always try 127.0.0.1 for localhost.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

Beat me to it, Simon. :)

Regards,
Humayun

[kustard]

Hehe, great minds Humayun :)

[PeterM]

Hi Duncan,

Thanks for the quick reply. The IP address when online changes so its dynamic I guess.

The best background I can give - Fire up the Sky6, connect to the telescope. Create a script of galaxies in The Sky6 I want to image then export them into Orchestrate (another Software Bisque programme). Open Orchestrate - create a new file and then paste the exported data I got from The Sky6 into it. From here under Windows XP it was simply a matter of going into the connection drop down menu in Orchestrate and clicking on "link to the SKY6" (and the scope and the camera). This would then mean I could just click start in Orchestrate and the programme would slew the telescope to each galaxy as per the script written.

When I do the drop down "connect" in Orchestrate using Vista or Win 7 I get an error message noting " error connecting to the sky address family not supported by protocol family" with some various error codes, this is what the internal IPV4 address typed into client in Orchestrate is supposed to fix according to Software Bisque.

Now with (and previously Vista) Win7 seems I have to enter a client into Orchestrate as per SB instruction in my first post.

By the way another member, Thunderchild also familiar in using The Sky6 and Orchestrate tried the same and got the same error message.

I don't know if this helps but I sure appreciate any assistance.
PeterM.

[darrellx]

Peter

It sounds rather odd. I don't have my home network using dhcp. I prefer static IP addresses. I am not real sure what you are doing and how it works. I don't use Orchestrate or The Sky. But if I understand it all correctly, you would need a dhcp server somewhere in the system if you (your PC) is automatically assigning an IP.

I would first try flushing the cache as Duncan has suggested. It may not do much but it would be interesting to see.

Try ipconfig /release
Then ipconfig /renew

But when that doesn't work,
Go into the Control Panel
Select Network and Internet
Then Select Network and Sharing
Then Change Adaptor Settings (on left of screen)
Right Click on the Local Area Connection and select Properties
Select the IPV4 item and click Properties
In this screen you should see that you are obtaining an address automatically.
Click the button to "Use This Address".

I would suggest you use something in the range 192.168.1.XX
For the subnet mask, you want 255.255.255.0

Hope this helps.
Darrell

[PeterM]

Hi Simon,

Orchestrate never needed the internet to run on XP and I am advised by Software Bisque that it is not needed in Win7.

PeterM.

[slippo74]

Hi Peter,

I have no knowledge about The SKy 6 and Orchestra as per I dont use those software. It is also not clear for me if it is a requirement to be physically connected to a network in order to run them.
However, if there is a requirement to get the local hostname resolved it means that the software will query the DNS system as primarly name resolution method and in case of no response it will check within the operating system local hosts file.
If you are not connected to a DHCP system that deliver to your pc a network identity (the IP address) you will require to manually configure your network card and edit the local hosts file.
This file (...system32\etc\driver\hosts) is a simple text file that can be edited and in which you can add a static host entry that will provide to the OS (and the softwares) all the information about the network name of your machine which you want to be associated to the IP address configured into the network card. This routine will give the name resolution.

So basically, if you have for example the ethernet card using a static IP like 192.168.100.1 and you machine is named PC-Win, you will have to add in the local hosts file something like:

127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.100.1 PC-Win

Hope this helps.

[PeterM]

Thanks Darrellx, Octane and Slippo74 for the quick responses will try each of these and come back.

PeterM.

[lacad01]

"localhost" 127.0.0.1 should be default in the hosts file
"\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts"
try to ping localhost from a command prompt to verify
Should hopefully work together using that...
cheers

[PeterM]

Just an unqaulified thought. I had Win7 Pro installed (previously Vista home) on my Compaq laptop by a local PC place. They formatted the hard drive and installed a fresh version of Win 7 Pro and I guess all the drivers, is this likely to cause an issue. I also am confused as I have been told that all PCs have an internal ip address even if they never get connected to the internet? and this is the one I need? Thanks again.
PeterM.

[lacad01]

Peter, not sure about the drivers but yes the "localhost" or loopback or 127.0.0.1 is the internal IP address, it's a virtual or logical interface that is always "up" regardless of connection status of physical interfaces.

[supernova1965]

You might be looking for the MAC address or Physical address of the network adapter all computers have this address MAC means Media Access Control. This will come up when you do ipconfig /all as you did before. Hope this is what you need I think it is.

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-02-80-92-7A
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, February 15, 2008 3:19:03 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, February 20, 2008 3:19:03 PM

[kustard]

I'm just wondering if all you need to do is enable NetBIOS on the IPv4 interface. This link is for Vista but it might be similar for Windows 7:

http://ecross.mvps.org/howto/netbt.htm

[PeterM]

THANK YOU ALL!

Duncan, Simon, Humayun, Darrell, Christiano, Adam and Warren,

Simple as putting in the local host 127.0.0.1 well I never.
Works perfectly, no internet needed.

This site has incredible talents that are always willing to assist, that's gold, no it's priceless.

Thanks again.

PeterM.

[Octane]

Glad to hear you got it sorted, Peter. :thumbsup:

:)

Regards,
Humayun

[slippo74]

Excellent! :)

[supernova1965]

Glad to see you got it sorted:thumbsup:

[kustard]

:)

[dpastern]

I'll just add a few things to this...

flushing DNS command (no one seemed to mention the actual command itself)



usually Windows has the localhost 127.0.0.1 entry in the hosts file, maybe Windows 7 is different? Vista does it...the hosts file is found (as others have already said) in:

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hos ts

use notepad to view it. It simply is a way of telling your computer that a particular host name has a particular IP address. I could quite easily make your web browser think that the Google webpage is really the IIS homepage if I wanted to (and was able to edit your hosts file of course)...

I am perplexed as to why you are not getting an IP address. You cannot be on a network without an IP address. ipconfig should have returned an IP address for whichever device was being used for network (ethernet adaptor, wireless adaptor, etc).

IPv6 is not commonly used, very few networks will use it. IPv4 is still very much the standard addressing range imho, and from my experience in the industry.

What sort of Internet connection do you have? Dialup? ADSL? ADSL2+ Cable? Satellite? ISDN? How is your computer connected to the modem device? Cable? wirelessly?

Have you tried running the DOS shell as administrator, and then running the ipconfig command? start > all programs > accessories > command prompt - right click on it and select properties. Go to the compatibility tab and tick "run as administrator". Nothing else need be ticked in here.

Just a few thoughts...

Dave

[PeterM]

Hi David,
Thanks also for your help, the local host 127.0.0.1 was the key to solving my issues. Still ipconfig shows no ip address as it is supposed to, but all things are working and I really appreciate the assistance.
I am really surprised at the difference Win7 has made to the speed of the computer over Vista, its like a different pc.
PeterM.

[dpastern]

Is it that much faster? Cos to be honest, I notice no speed differential between vista and xp sp 2 (I run a triple boot system - xp sp 2 32 bit, vista x64 sp 1, debian amd x64).

Dave

[supernova1965]

O its faster all right I just stopped someone from throwing their 2 year old laptop on to the main road just by installing win7 on it before I got win7 on it took the laptop 15 min to boot up

[mithrandir]

I'm sure Dave will take umbrage, but in my opinion:

The simplest way to stop Windows slowing down over time is to not run Windows. *nix rules. Others in no particular order.

Erase the disk and completely reinstall only those things you know you still want. A painful process but effective.

Never install anything just to try it without taking a full backup first. Uninstallers never remove all the junk. If you must experiment, try it in a cloned VM first.

Fit all the memory your motherboard will support. Note that there is a trade-off in battery life for laptops/notebooks.

Have more disk than you can poke a stick at. Insufficient free disk is asking for fragmentation and slowdowns. A 26,000 fragment page file is not a pretty sight. (How it got like that I don't know. It was allocated with a fixed size on an almost empty disk.)

Install the page defrag utility from Sysinternals http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897426.aspx and configure it to run every boot, or at least until it says all the files it wants to tidy up are in 1 extent.

[dpastern]

hahaha @ Andrew - my preferred operating system is GNU/Linux (Debian). Not UNIX, but close enough. I could always fire up a vm of openBSD or freeBSD (both technically Unixes, although they come from sys 32 from memory, not sys v classical UNIX). :P I'm really a Linux guy @ heart, I use it day in day out at work.

Dave

[supernova1965]

Hi Dave

Have you tried SABAYON 4.0 I really like this one its the only linux where every thing on my lappy worked first go after install wireless and the little multimedia buttons the lot. The only thing it needs IMHO is SUSE Linux One click install and YAST.:thumbsup:

[rally]

Peter,

I assume then that this means that it would also have worked fine under Vista had you done the same thing ?

Which then makes it surprising that Software Bisque were unable to help you resolve the problem.

Rally

[mithrandir]

Dave,

I've spent over 30 years working with computers. I've run Slackware since version 1.something. Today I have boxes with version 9, 12 and 13 (x64). If everything I need to run was available (or even buildable from source) on Linux there would be no Windows on any of my computers.

At work it's AIX, HPUX, Linux (RHE), Solaris, and Windows (everything from NT4 onwards).

Windows causes more grief than the rest put together.

Andrew

[dpastern]

Haven't tried it. I'm a Debian guy through and through.

Dave

[dpastern]

I haven't had the pleasure of using AIX, HPUX. I used Slackware years ago (well tried to) as I was trying to move away from Redhat. Didn't have a lot of success with it and gave up on it. Around 12 months later I migrated to Debian and although it's just as hard to install/configure as Slackware, I stuck with it and learnt more in the process. I'm glad I did! I've used Solaris (8 and 10 for i386) - in fact I have a Solaris 10 VM on my system now lol. I don't play with it a lot, I simply don't have the time in the day anymore to do so. I work a 9 hour day, travel 3 hours on top of that and by the time I get home I'm just generally too knackered...

Microsoft Windows is not as bad as you make it out to be. It's far more stable and secure than it used to be 5 years ago, and that's a positive.

Dave

[mithrandir]

That's damming with faint praise. When Windows is as secure, and as hard to break, as any of the *nixes (in which I include Linux and OS X) I might reconsider.

Andrew

[Octane]

Windows runs Photoshop and Canon's Digital Photo Professional. And, so, is OK, by me. :P

Seriously, for the common man, it does everything they need it to.

The only people who run an operating system other than Windows, are IT professionals (those who work with the systems in the industry), the curious, and, the tinkerers. I'd say that covers 99% of the population.

The other 1% would be anomalous, and, I'd like to befriend them. :)

Regards,
Humayun

[PeterM]

Hi Rally,
Software Bisque were very helpful and quick in responses and offering resolutions. I have always found that if you ever want Astro suppliers that will respond to your issues etc then my experience has shown that Wild Card (Argo Navis), Starlight Xpress and Softwqare Bisque have been way out in front, oh and of course our own Ice In Spacers, what a great community. SBs response being to go to ipconfig and get the ip from there. When this didn't give me what I needed I emailed SB and in the meantime put it on IIS and the guys here responded. I have emalied SB to advise the issue is resolved. So yes it appears it probably would have worked with Vista, so either very few use Orchestrate or if the do perhaps they use XP.
But a win, win 'cause others now know how to resolve and I must say I do like Win7.
PeterM.