[Skimmertalk] Phantom Firewall

[Lee Sawkins]

Hi Pete  
  
A couple of changes to the Aggregator software could make things easier for all of us.  We all see the message "Unable to Connect to the RBN" from time to time and wonder what the problem is.  We also have seen our computers freeze while waiting for the connection to be made. 
 
The freezing problem is easy to fix.  The Aggregator program should issue a connect request and then exit.  There will be a software interrupt when a connection is made or if an error occurs.  Either one or the other will occur.  When this happens the Aggregator program can continue and do what is needed.
 
Another thing the Aggregator software needs to do is to display a reason for any failure to connect.  This is simple to implement.  Just pass the winsock error message to a message box.  You cannot fix the problem if you do not know what it is, as you have found out.
 
One problem I see with telnet quite often is that when you make a connect request, you receive a software interrupt telling you there is data available. You then try to receive the data and get an error telling you that the winsock control is in the wrong state.  Before accepting the data you must make sure the link state is VBconnected(.state = 7).  Many times the state is VBconnecting (.state = 6).  If the state is 6, you cannot loop and wait for it to get to state 7 as looping consumes all the cpu cycles and it will never change states.  You must insert a time delay and check that the state has changed to 7 before you can read the incoming data.  A delay of a couple of hundred msecs is all that is usually needed.  Attempting to receive data while in state 6 will cause a failure.
 
Lee VE7CC



----- Original Message -----
From: N4ZR <n4zr at comcast.net>
To: skimmertalk <skimmertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Thu, 31 May 2018 06:54:33 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: [Skimmertalk] Phantom Firewall

Looking for suggestions on a perplexing problem - for the last month or 
so, Aggregator on my Windows 10 machine has been unable to connect to 
the RBN.

I know my network is OK because my Windows 7 Skimmer machine continues 
to connect, so no LAN-level firewall is responsible.  Turning off the 
Windows Defender firewall entirely doesn't solve the problem. I've 
looked for any malware-defense software that might have been installed 
at some point in the past - nothing.

Ideas?

-- 

73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the Reverse Beacon Network
at <http://reversebeacon.net>, now
spotting RTTY activity worldwide.
For spots, please use your favorite
"retail" DX cluster.

_______________________________________________
Skimmertalk mailing list
Skimmertalk at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/skimmertalk