XP PRO and netware 5.0 running ipx

Thanks for the info.  The Novel system is being replaced with Windows 2003 server.  We still have a month before the switch over.  Since the netware is just IPX, how do I get it to be IP?  To my knowledge, the netware server does not have an IP address.  I beleive the IPX binds to the NIC during boot up.  The workstation has its IP working OK as I can share resources on the netwrok and go to the Web through the router.  All stations but one will log onto the Novell server also.

Thanks

Sorry to hear you're moving to an OS that'll cost you 2x to 3x as much to own, make your server infrastructure instantly vulnerable to practically every bit of malware on the 'Net (better hope no one takes a laptop home or to a hotspot, gets infected, and then brings it back to your network - BOOM! your severs take a header into concrete courtesy of some 16-year-old twit in Germany... you don't have to worry about the servers now, but you will after the switch), and that will be a serious technology DOWNgrade (AD isn't a Directory Service, its the same old tired Domains with a smiley face pasted over them). But hey, its your hair, blood pressure and lack of sleep, not mine. Good luck - you'll need it.

You wrote "client 32 are connecting fine with the install using ip or ipx [from custom install]"

This led me to believe you were supporting both IP and IPX on the server. If you're not, if you only support IPX on the server, then install Client 32 with IPX-ONLY support. Do NOT include the IP support.

Thanks for your help.  I do IT work for a small library, and as good as Novell is as a product, there does not seem to be a method for small computer companies to purchase and use Novell.  By my questions it is obvious that I am not that good at version 5.  I enjoyed 2.15 and 3.12, so that explains what a dinasouer I am.  The main data base at the library will run on Novell, but the company supports Windows better.  The future of public access to the data base will only function on a Windows server.

I have tried the IPX only install, and I do not get the "cannot find a tree" error, the station either hangs, or if I ask it to look for the tree, it eventually displays a small NOvell screen with no data on it.

It needs to connect to the system via a wireless connection, and I can connect to the rest of the network.  I removed the wirless adapter, hardwired it tothe network, andformatted the drive and reinstalled XP PRO.  Same result.  I have two other workstations with XP PRO that are 6 months older, but have all the XP updates, and they work with the IP or IPX install.  This has become more of a personal challenge than a necessity, because i can move an old win98 station in and it will connect just fine.

Any more suggestions wuld be appreciated, bit I unserstand if you would rather not continue since the Novell days are numbered

I have no idea why you would say that there's no method for small companies to purchase and use Novell's products - unless you expect Novell to psychically sense that they need to send you a salesperson. Pick up the phone, dial 1-800-NETWARE, get a human and tell them you're trying to locate a Novell sales rep in your area. When you get the contact info, call that person and get them in to discuss Novell's Small Business Suite (http://www.novell.com/products/smallbiz/) and then also about Open Enterprise Server (http://www.novell.com/products/openenterpriseserver/). Want to avoid the steep Windoze licensing charges? Want to use Linux? Novell can help you do both. All I can do is point you to these sources of info. But if you're a small library, I hate to see you slip the Redmond licensing noose around your neck when there are some alternatives that will give your CHOICES (something you won't get from Redmond) and almost certainly cost a lot less and be much more secure. Those E-Rate funds aren't limitless, and I've got $20 that says you Total Cost of Ownership will be less than if you throw the baby out with the bathwater and go all Windoze (its a sucker bet, there's a stack of independent case studies, Gartner Group, et. al., that bear this out - just ask Anheuser-Busch how much their NetWare-to-Windoze migration set them back).

You mention the need to use wireless. Most WAPs only support IP, not IPX. There are a few out there with support for the IPX framing types - you need to examine your wireless gear's documentation and make sure it supports IPX, and that in particular it supports the IPX frame you're using. Then make sure you force the XP workstation to use the framing type. Do NOT let it auto-select. That could be its problem when connected by wire instead of wireless - if you have IPX bound to the NetWare Client but its auto-selects the wrong frame type, you'll get the symptoms you describe.

You could also go to the NetWare server and assign it an IP address and start using IP instead of IPX. Be sure to load SLPDA.NLM if you do that (with v5.x, it used SLP v1, so you don't need an SLP Scope object, it can run unscoped) so the workstations can find the server via IP.

Novell isn't a product.  NetWare is a product.

Is the XP Pro installation on an OEM disk?  What does it say about SP?  1?  1A?  Have you disabled unnecessary services (like the crappy personal firewall?  Is the IPX protocol configured to match the IPX frame type and network number (as PsiCop suggested?)

Regarding Windoze vs NetWare:  is there only one server in this network?  Is there a concern about the insecurity of Windows?  If there is more than one server, then just install a Windows server as a Workgroup member, to support the database, and upgrade NetWare to 6.5 with upgrade protection (Open Server is around the corner.)  That way, you can satisfy your database vendor and still provide a secure, stable environment for the users.  You can get away with a far smaller Windoze server that way, because you'd have to go for hardware overkill in order to support file, print, etc. services as well as the database on a single Win server.

Try dropping back to Client 4.83, any service pack, IPX-only. There are some odd behaviors with 4.9 around security and 4.9 buys you nothing on NetWare 5.0.