open remote mystery

[bstender]

Hi, my first post to the forum...

 

Head scratcher:

 

We have FM server 7 network. 3 happy clients. I have been using FM for 10yrs or so and i thought i had solved all of my "open remote" issues, but now this:

 

Bought a used emac(OSX 4) to upgrade an older imac, i moved the old filemaker pro to the new machine by dragging it over. fm opens fine but it will not see any files in the open remote dialog. (neither in the "Local hosts" or through "favorite hosts/add host") it will spin for a long time and come up empty.

 

I tried installing FM7 afresh using the original CD, still no go.

I tried trashing the FM prefs, no good

I tried hosting a random file on a different machine, cannot see that one either (but another machine can see the newly hosted file)

I HAVE turned off the firewall

i CAN ping the server machine from the new emac (and i can ping the emac from a diff machine fwiw) i can also surf the web from the new emac.

 

the other machines can see the server normally throughout and there have been multiple reboots after changes, both host and client

 

i would be very grateful for a new thing to try.

 

-bill

[AHunter3]

What happens if you hit "Favorite Hosts" and specifically type in the IP Address of the computer that's hosting the files? Or are you saying that's what you're trying and no files show up?

 

Is the old computer still on the network and running Filemaker at the time you're doing this? If so, is the installation code good for multiple machines, good for more machines than you've currently got that code running on?

 

Can the eMac ping the Host machine?

[AHunter3]

Scratch that last question, you already said you could.

 

OK, create a fresh FmPro file on the eMac and turn database sharing on. Can you open the eMac's file as a guest from other machines in the office?

[bstender]

hi thanks for replying,

 

old machine turned off, no conflict with the serial.

 

(FM tells you there's a serial conflict then promptly quits)

 

yes to the ping, can ping server, can ping new client

 

other info: the firewall had an item in the list i did not recognize; cab os though the firewall was turned off, and thus checked items were greyed-out, this item had a green check mark as if it was active. it let me uncheck it though, and after restart it was still unchecked and did not affect my problem. :

 

didnt find anything about cab os on google except for M$ cabinet files, it doesnt seem to matter so i passed it by.

 

NEW: just tried turning the firewall ON, and opening port 5003, didnt help

[bstender]

OK, create a fresh FmPro file on the eMac and turn database sharing on. Can you open the eMac's file as a guest from other machines in the office?

 

just tried this...yes, CAN see the file hosted by the emac.

[bstender]

OK, create a fresh FmPro file on the eMac and turn database sharing on. Can you open the eMac's file as a guest from other machines in the office?

 

just tried this...yes, CAN see the file hosted by the emac.

[Norma_Snockurs]

Bought a used emac(OSX 4) to upgrade an older imac

 

Does the new eMac have the same network settings as the old imac? Are you running the same OS version as the other macs on your network? Is the eMac on the same subnet?

Are your files hosted by Filemaker 7 Client or are you running FM Server?

I have had a similar issue with clients running OS 10.4.5 or .6 - the server was running FM Server on 10.3.9. Upgrading the server to 10.4.7 Server solved the problem for me but I know not why :-)

[Norma_Snockurs]

A colleague of mine I was just speaking to suggets DHCP may be the culprit here. If you are using DHCP to configure your network try using manual settings on the eMac.

I have also had IPV6 cause odd network behaviour when accessing remote hosts under OS X.4 although not specifically FileMaker related. You might try turning IPV6 off in the network preferences for your connecting port although I offer no scientific basis for this assertion :-)

[bstender]

same network settings as the old imac? same OS version as the other macs on your network? Is the eMac on the same subnet?

 

yes to settings, OS version is the same for emac and FMServer mac, 10.4.7 (others on network are 10.3.x)

 

IPv4, was already set to manual, so i tried it as DHCP.

 

Is there a plist that might pertain that i could trash? i trashed the FMPro prefs early on, but i'm afraid to just scoop up stuff from the root Library.

[AHunter3]

What happens if you create a new Username Account on the eMac, set up the networking numbers the same way, and try opening solution as a guest from FileMaker running from that user name? That oughta tell you whether or not you've got hosed plist or corrupted cache type problems.

[bstender]

new username does not work. but one difference; after adding the IP address to the favorites, it did not go into its long spin, it just put the IP in the list of favorites (and didnt display the files)

 

and another thing, we just discovered the HP USB printer that needs to connect to this machine will appear to print and show the file in a list as printed, but printer actually never prints (no blinking). mentioned bc maybe there's a relation?

[bstender]

new username cannot conneect

 

also having trouble with USB printer connection. printer is seen, print command will generate a print file which is marked as printed, but printer never lights up. (just in case that's relevant to filemaker connection)

but emac CAN print through printer sharing through a nearby machine when that same printer is hooked to other machine. also LAN/WAN normal as before... it's not completely broken, it's discretely broken!

[Norma_Snockurs]

Re-Apply the OSX 10.4.7 Combo updater. It sounds like you may not be playing with a happy OS. Repair your permissions and do a cache clean with something like Tiger Cache Cleaner.

BTW it was IPV6 I said was causing me problems with remote host connections not IPV4.

It can be turned off completely without issue for fault finding purposes.

[bstender]

an update to this mystery, only partially solved...combo updater didnt do it, tiger cache cleaner didnt do it. reinstalling the system from scratch didnt do it either...

 

it sat abandoned until i decided to try again just yesterday. on a whim i decided to add a filename in the "show only these files" box in the "add favorites" dialog, (i've never done that in the 10+ years i've been using fm over the local network and have never read anything that sugested i might need to, so i never thought about it) but after a minute of the spinning pizza wheel, lo and behold the file appeared on the list, and it opened.

 

so i then entered the remaining files needed and the workstation is now usable.

 

but its still not 'happy', sometimes it takes way too long to display the files or open the file chosen, while the other stations get quick responses.

[AHunter3]

Hmm... have you tried sacrificing an installation CD at a crossroads on a moonless midnight while chanting "Accessible power, customizable buttons, and graphic reporting"?

 

Sorry, I've got nothing.