SC has always worked but now...

[bstrange]

OK I have created an SC exe that I install on my client's systems and have used it repeatedly from almost all of them successfully, that is until today

I have changed nothing, my settings at no-ip.com are updating correctly, but when any of my clients click on the .exe, it does nothing... no errors, no baloon messages, it just minimizes to the task bar and upon mouseover displays only "Win VNC - listening"

I have tried it on my wife's PC as well as well as the 3 remote locations that have reported the problem. It worked correctly as recently as last week.

I have tried creating a new .exe with my actual IP address and port and it does not work.

I am including my custom settings below. The first one is the deployed exe that is on all of my client machines. The second one is the re-written exe that I created today to rule out trouble with redirection at no-ip.com that utilizes my current IP.

Deployed Version helpdesk:

[TITLE]
Home PC Patrol Remote Support

[HOST]
Home PC Patrol Remote Desktop Assistance
-connect homepcpatrol.myvnc.com -noregistry

[TEXTTOP]
Double click < HERE > to make a connection

[TEXTMIDDLE]
Before making a connection

[TEXTBOTTOM]
Please Call (419)202-5982 to get your ticket

[TEXTRBOTTOM]


[TEXTRMIDDLE]
Home PC Patrol, Sandusky, OH

[TEXTRTOP]
Home PC Patrol Remote PC support

[TEXTBUTTON]
More Info

[WEBPAGE]
http://www.homepcpatrol.com

[TEXTCLOSEBUTTON]
Close


[BALLOON1TITLE]
Establishing connection ...

[BALLOON1A]
5 min try period

[BALLOON1B]
If it fails, the software will remove itself

[BALLOON1C]
from your system.

[BALLOON2TITLE]
Connection active.

[BALLOON2A]
Warning, your desktop is remote visable

[BALLOON2B]
You can break the connection any time

[BALLOON2C]
by using the close button

[WEBPAGE]
http://www.homepcpatrol.com

New helpdesk I tried to use to troubleshoot today:

TITLE]
Home PC Patrol Remote Support

[HOST]
Double click <<HERE>> to start a connection.
-connect 72.241.96.233:5500 -noregistry

[TEXTTOP]
Home PC Patrol Remote Desktop Assistance

[TEXTMIDDLE]
Before making a connection

[TEXTBOTTOM]
Please Call (419)202-5982 to get your ticket

[TEXTRBOTTOM]


[TEXTRMIDDLE]
Home PC Patrol, Sandusky, OH

[TEXTRTOP]
Home PC Patrol Remote PC support

[TEXTBUTTON]
More Info

[WEBPAGE]
http://www.homepcpatrol.com

[TEXTCLOSEBUTTON]
Close


[BALLOON1TITLE]
Establishing connection ...

[BALLOON1A]
5 min try period

[BALLOON1B]
If it fails, the software will remove itself

[BALLOON1C]
from your system.

[BALLOON2TITLE]
Connection active.

[BALLOON2A]
Warning, your desktop is remote visable

[BALLOON2B]
You can break the connection any time

[BALLOON2C]
by using the close button

[WEBPAGE]
http://www.homepcpatrol.com

This is causing major problems for me, any help would be greatly appreciated!

[bstrange]

also I tried changing:

[HOST]
Home PC Patrol Remote Desktop Assistance
-connect homepcpatrol.myvnc.com -noregistry

to

[HOST]
Home PC Patrol Remote Desktop Assistance
-connect homepcpatrol.myvnc.com:5500 -noregistry

in case it was a port issue, however no such luck

[YY]

About the SC.exe:
1. I didn't see the [DIRECT] option in the helpdesk, but your clients just click the exe and it then minimizes to the task bar (so it try to connect automatically?). Is it the situation, or just forget to mention the [DIRECT] in your message?

2. May be a stupid question, I had never awared the port no. can be omitted at the "connect homepcpatrol.myvnc.com -noregistry" statement. But your deployed verion really worked, right ?


At your end:
Have you changed any firewall rule, or any port forwarding (or DMZ) at router?

Suggest you to probe the comm. port at your pc (running vnc-viewer) to ensure it can hear from internet.
Start the viewer, and click this link: https://www.grc.com/x/portprobe=5500
The port need to be OPEN

[bstrange]

Probed the comm port and the site lists it as open:




but it generates the following error:



I am not using any DSMPlugins or encryption as most of my fixes are very small 5 minute fixes (i.e. "Every time I hit print it prints to the new laser printer and I want it to print to my old HP Deskjet that it used to print to, please help") thus encryption seems like an unnecessary headache so I never bothered.

I searched the VNC forums and have seen this issue addressed numerous times, but no clear solution.

I have no clue what is wrong or how to resolve it, have uninstalled ultravnc and reinstalled numerous times w/o any luck.

As Murphy's Law would advocate, since this problem began I have had 4 clients call with problems that required me to drive to the site (50 miles+ one way *minimum* in all instances)

Worst part is, it has only been down a couple days....


btw, no changes to anything prior to the recent loss of functionality, no router changes, no script changes, all clients have and use the same deployed version, and it was used successfully less than one week ago and had been periodically for several months.

I have ruled out no-ip.com as a contributing factor as I can ping and tracert homepcpatrol.myvnc.com (and nothing has been changed there since initial set-up as well)

Virus and spyware scans come back clean...

I'm at a loss

[bstrange]

Ok, some progress (maybe)

Was able to make the error message posted above go away by forwarding ports 5800, 5900, and 5901 to this PC.

Previously, only 5500 was forwarded to this PC.

Now... while the error message is no longer showing up when I probe the port, my deployed connections still do not work.

[bstrange]

now I am even more confused...

My wife found an old compiled exe that we used before the no-ip server setup.

It was actually one of a pair that were made.

One had my actual IP address and was called PCPatrol.exe and the one she found was one we cobbled for use on the LAN as we could not use the version using the actual IP address over the LAN prior to setting up homepcpatrol.myvnc.com (Once we set up homepcpatrol.myvnc.com, the version that we released to clients and used internally, worked remotely and over the lan, so we had no need for seperate PCPatrol.exe and a PCPatrolLAN.exe)

Only thing is, I no longer have the zip used to create the old exe she found that actually works, so I have no idea how the helpdesk was written.

More thoughts:

1. If the old one she found was written presumably with a 192.168.0.4 type address, wouldn't that point to a problem with my name server at no ip?

2. If the problem is in fact with no-ip, then why doesn't the exe I created with
[HOST]
Double click <<HERE>> to start a connection.
-connect 72.241.96.233:5500 -noregistry
work?

3. I recreated a new exe with
[HOST]
Double click <<HERE>> to start a connection.
-connect 192.168.0.4:5500 -noregistry
and it isn't working!!

Does anyone see any glaring problems with my scripts??

Think I may be losing my mind lol

also: Is there a way to decompile the .exe she found that works to take a look at the helpdesk file?

[YY]

Yes, so confused....
I have no idea at this moment, hope other user at this forum can give you a hand.

If the System Restore is able to run, you may try to restore to a date of last week, to see if the depolyed version can make a connection. Just suspect whether it is a effect of your Windows having some patch/update applied.

Is there a way to decompile the .exe she found that works to take a look at the helpdesk file?

Your can use 7-Zip to open the exe & extract the helpdesk for inspection. 7-Zip is available at:
http://www.7-zip.org

[kaldag]

I assume the 72.XXX.XXX.XXX is not your IP. Can you ping your IP from the outside world.

You mentioned a network, if a work one could they have installed software like CSE (Cisco security Agent) which locks down workstations.

Ken

[bstrange]

Woot! 7zip decompiles .exe(s) Thanks!

Ok, now the only difference in the 2 helpdesks aside from the IP addy is the direct statement preceeding the host:

[DIRECT]

[HOST]
Internet support
-connect 192.168.0.4:5500 -noregistry

Must be the problem, at least you would think, but no, nope, nada ... updated all versions adding [DIRECT] into them and still does not resolve the problem EXCEPT on the one I created last night using my internal IP (192.168.0.4), THAT one now works after adding the [DIRECT] statement.




Used Port Query to check if IP and port were coming up correctly and got the following results:

This is with UVNC in listen mode

=============================================

Starting portqry.exe -n 72.241.96.233 -e 5500 -p TCP ...


Querying target system called:

72.241.96.233

Attempting to resolve IP address to a name...


IP address resolved to cblmdm72-241-96-233.buckeyecom.net

querying...

TCP port 5500 (unknown service): NOT LISTENING
portqry.exe -n 72.241.96.233 -e 5500 -p TCP exits with return code 0x00000001.

Thinking thet the "NOT LISTENING" might hold a clue heh

[bstrange]

Ok so I open UVNC Server and set it's starting port to 5500.

(This is the full blue eyeball UVNC Server since the Listen server that is recomended for use with SC returns the results above and does not allow me to adjust the default ports)

That allows the port query to turn out the following results:

=============================================

Starting portqry.exe -n 127.0.0.1 -e 5500 -p TCP ...


Querying target system called:

127.0.0.1

Attempting to resolve IP address to a name...


IP address resolved to localhost

querying...

TCP port 5500 (unknown service): LISTENING
portqry.exe -n 127.0.0.1 -e 5500 -p TCP exits with return code 0x00000000.

but wouldn't you know...now...smack dab in the middle of port query's screen, pops my old friend:

[bstrange]

more...

Port Query with actual IP inserted:



Port Query with Loopback / Local Machine IP inserted:



Remote port query (of port 5500) from whatsmyip.org:



as you can see in this last one, the port is open, but the error box is again present as is the case in the second screenshot.

All of these were done using UltraVNC Viewer (Listen Mode) from Start>All Programs>UltraVNC>UltraVNC Viewer>Run UltraVNC Viewer (Listen Mode)

[YY]

Can you borrow another router/hub, or using a cross-over cable to test again?
I wonder if this is an issue of your router not honestly sending all signal to your viewer pc.