So my main computer is in the midst of a system recovery

[james_davis_nicoll]

But I do have this other one I picked up and it'll do for now (and all the files I care about are backed up).

The only problem is, for some reason telnet can't connect. All I get are "could not open connection to host, on port 23: connection failed". Suggestions?

Comments

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

Does ping work? What are you trying to telnet to? Is it running any other services, and if so do they work?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I am trying to reach panix. Panix webmail works, and so does my web browser.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

Does ssh work? (Which Panix machine?)

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I have never used ssh. Should I?

[montoya.livejournal.com]

YES.

Download PuTTY if you're on Windows, or just use ssh if you're on some form of Unix.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

OK, I have.

...

That'll do what I want it to. Thanks.

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

Well, telnet panix.com works for me (I don't have a login, but it gets me to the login prompt). So the machine's up. And port 23's the right port. The machine might have a firewall set to block outgoing connections on port 23 (some people set that up to stop people from blindly typing passwords into unencrypted telnet sessions). What OS is this new computer running?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

XP.

[ellarien]

Are you running a firewall? And is it configured to let telnet through? I seem to remember I had to create an exception for ftp on one of my machines. (Of course, we haven't been allowed to use plain telnet at work for years; ssh all the way, these days.)

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I am running zone alarm and I thought it was.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I've gone and added it as a trusted program and still zip.

[ellarien]

Might Windows Firewall be running as well? (Check Security Center under Control Panel.) If not, it probably isn't a firewall issue, in which case I'm out of ideas.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I am sure it did work the last time I telneted from this machine but PuTTY seems to be doing the job.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

So how long should I let the system recovery run before giving up on it. It's been at "less than a minute" for about an hour. Overnight?

[geekosaur]

I'd let it go overnight; Microsoft is somewhat infamous for mis-estimating times.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Did your system download updates? Mine did last night and I had to reboot it three times to get it to run properly.

Considering the time, I hope the recovery is done!