Troubleshoot network problems

First Steps

• Most important: Have you configured the Firewall properly? Learn more...
• Ensure that the network adapters and drivers are installed properly and that the network cable is firmly connected (most network adapter indicate a physical connection via a LED light)
• Make sure to have the latest drivers for your network interface adapters (especially when using Windows Vista)
• When connecting via Ethernet, make sure that you are using the suitable cable (so called "cross-over" cable for a direct PC-to-PC connection and a "patch" cable if you connect the PC through a network hub/router/switch). It can be confusing because both cable types look absolutely identical. The cable might carry a label such as "patch cable" vs. "cross-over"
• Make sure to have latest versions of your physical video card drivers. The physical video cards must support at least 16 bit color depth (>65.000 colors)
• Close any other program on both computers except MaxiVista to eliminate the risk that another application can lock the network or filter out any network traffic
• If using the full version and performed an update, please make sure to create a new viewer program as well. This can be done at any time from the corresponding server program menu command. The data protocol may have changed and the new server program may not understand an old viewer program.
• If using a USB-to-USB cable, please refer to its documentation to make sure that it supports the TCP protocol. Please ask your dealer or the cable manufacturer whether it supports TCP/IP.
• If you have disabled the automatic network settings in MaxiVista, click on Configuration Network options and check that you have entered the correct IP address of the Secondary PC. We repeat: The IP address of the Secondary PC:
  
  
• If you use the MaxiVista default network settings, you may try to use the manual IP address selection. Click on Configuration Network Manual. Then enter the IP address of the Secondary PC and restart the Server Program. Now, the server program does not need to send a UDP call to the network. If you are afraid how to determine the IP address of your Secondary PC, please look at Step 3 below

Verify the TCP/IP protocol installation

Ensure that all computers have the TCP/IP protocol installed (video tutorial):

• On both PCs, click Start Settings Control Panel Network and Internet Connections Network Connections
• Locate the icon of the network adapter which connects to the other PC
• Right-click the icon click Properties. Make sure that the TCP/IP protocol is installed and enabled as shown here:
  
  
  
• This is particularly important with Microsoft Windows 98 based computers which do not have TCP/IP installed by default. In Windows XP it is enabled by default

Find out the IP addresses

To continue troubleshooting, you need to know the IP address of the computers. These are the unique IDs under which the PCs can call each other:

• Select the TCP/IP protocol in the above list and click Properties
• If there is no value for IP address shown, then the networking is not working properly. Further assistance can be found in the Microsoft Knowledge base
• IP addresses for local network usually begin with 169.254.x.y or 192.168.x.y (whereas x and y is a number between 0..255). If the IP address does not begin with either 169 or 192, the network adapter is most likely connected to the internet instead to a local network. MaxiVista however does not work over the internet
• The value x represents the "subnet" and both computers must have the same subnet value to be able to communicate
• The last value y is the individual ID of the PC. This value must be different for each network adapter in both PC
• If everything looks OK, write down the IP address

Verify local TCP/IP functionality

If the IP addresses are correct, check whether the TCP/IP protocol is properly configured (video tutorial)

• On both PCs click Start Run type cmd hit OK
• In the following window, type ping localhost and then press Enter
• If you receive "Request timed out", the computer's TCP/IP configuration is generally malfunctioning. Further help can be found in the Microsoft Knowledge base

Check basic networking

Now, try to ping ("call") the opposite's computer (video tutorial):

• Type ping x.x.x.x (where x.x.x.x is the IP address you have just written down for the opposite(!) PC) and then press Enter
• If you receive "Request timed out", the calling PC cannot find the other PC on the network. Further help can be found in the Microsoft Knowledge base

Check for port conflicts

In very rare occasions, it may be that the ports being used by MaxiVista are already occupied by another application. You can easily check that with the netstat command (video tutorial):

• On both PCs open a DOX command box by clicking Start Run type cmd hit OK
• Enter netstat -a

Check the output whether any other applications are using a MaxiVista related port. If so, perhaps you can re-configure the other application to use another port or you must close the other application before you can use MaxiVista.