DNS issue

[Hemispheres]

Hello. I'll apoligize up front that I'm not a network admin - I know just enough to be dangerous. My IT department has officially given up on solving my issue, though, so I thought I'd look for some suggestions here.

Yesterday, I got a new hard drive for my machine. All I've done so far is install Windows, along with SP2 and all of the available updates, and Office. I've joined the domain and am able to access all internal and external sites that I've tried so far except one - our Exchange server. The internal IP address and server name are set up in my hosts file. When I try to ping the server by the server name, though, it tries to ping an external IP address and fails. I am able to ping the internal IP successfully. When I go into the mail setup and try to do a name search, and I enter the server name, it fails. If I enter the internal IP address, it's able to find my ID on the server and replaces the IP address with the server name, but it won't go any further than that.

I've checked other machines in the office that are set up in the same way mine is (DHCP), and they work properly. I compared the output of ipconfig/all, and everything matches.

Any help would be appreciated. Please let me know if there's additional information that would be helpful.

Thanks,

-Dave

[InspectorGadget]

The internal IP address and server name are set up in my hosts file. When I try to ping the server by the server name, though, it tries to ping an external IP address and fails.

This is a key symptom -- this cannot happen. I suspect it is due to the details of what your are doing, given that your descriptions are pretty vague.

I suggest going back through your first post and list the exact entries, commands, and responses in your interaction with the computer. I'll try to check back here but you may want to tickle me with a PM.

- The Inspector

[Hemispheres]

Originally Posted by InspectorGadget

...this cannot happen. ...

Actually, it can, and did, happen. The problem, as I learned from a response to a post on another forum back when I posted this last month, is due to a "feature" of WinXP that causes a system to ignore the hosts file when the DNS Client service is running. I switched this service off and changed it to manual startup, which fixed the problem.

Originally Posted by InspectorGadget

...your descriptions are pretty vague. ...

It's odd...I posted this question on a few forums (the one where someone provided me with the answer and two others), and no one else complained that my post was "vague" - everyone seemed to understand what I was asking. Including, obviously, the person who knew the solution to my problem.

-Dave