Hosts File Not Working- Can Ping IP Address but not Hostname

OK, I just noticed something VERY odd, which makes me think a virus is to blame.  There is a file called "quotes" in my WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC directory.  I contains a bunch of literary quotes.  I surely didn't put it there, and this machine is two days old.  Off to do a live update-- though that was the FIRST thing I did, after installing the Windows Updates!

I'll post back if this finds anything or fixes the problem.

Message Edited by gryjhnhpe on 11-22-2003 09:33 PM

Try pinging "localhost"  which is  127.0.0.1.  I believe it is resokved by the hosts file.  If it doesen't work then there is something wrong with the hosts file.  Did you create the hosts file using "notepad" or modifying the existing one, and did "notepad"  by chance make its name "hosts.txt"

To answer the questions posed:

1) I am not using DNS because I am unable to ping the DNS names server that my customer has provided with their VPN-- they admit they don't have this setup, they prefer the use of PC Anywhere.  Which is why I need an explicit entry in the Hosts file.  I have another laptop with Win2K Pro sitting here that can resolve the Hosts file entry just fine, and it also cannot ping the DNS server.

2) No, it didn't append .txt, I have checked that in DOS.

3) Does anybody else on XP Pro have this file called "quotes" (no extn) in their DRIVERS/ETC directory?  I find this to be really odd.  It has a date modified identical to all of the other files such as NETWORKS, PROTOCOL, SERVICES, etc., which is 8/29/2002 6:00AM.  It certainly doesn't appear in my WIN2K Pro machines.

4) When I ping unix4, I get (after a brief delay) "Ping request could not find host unix4.  Please check the name and try again."  When I ping 100.100.30.4, I get:

Pinging 100.100.30.4 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 100.100.30.4: bytes=32 time=163ms TTL=127

Reply from 100.100.30.4: bytes=32 time=218ms TTL=127

Reply from 100.100.30.4: bytes=32 time=183ms TTL=127

Reply from 100.100.30.4: bytes=32 time=94ms TTL=127

Ping statistics for 100.100.30.4:

To answer the questions posed:

1) I am not using DNS because I am unable to ping the DNS names server that my customer has provided with their VPN-- they admit they don't have this setup, they prefer the use of PC Anywhere.  Which is why I need an explicit entry in the Hosts file.  I have another laptop with Win2K Pro sitting here that can resolve the Hosts file entry just fine, and it also cannot ping the DNS server.

2) No, it didn't append .txt, I have checked that in DOS.

3) Does anybody else on XP Pro have this file called "quotes" (no extn) in their DRIVERS/ETC directory?  I find this to be really odd.  It has a date modified identical to all of the other files such as NETWORKS, PROTOCOL, SERVICES, etc., which is 8/29/2002 6:00AM.  It certainly doesn't appear in my WIN2K Pro machines.

4) When I ping unix4, I get (after a brief delay) "Ping request could not find host unix4.  Please check the name and try again."  When I ping 100.100.30.4, I get:

Pinging 100.100.30.4 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 100.100.30.4: bytes=32 time=163ms TTL=127

Reply from 100.100.30.4: bytes=32 time=218ms TTL=127

Reply from 100.100.30.4: bytes=32 time=183ms TTL=127

Reply from 100.100.30.4: bytes=32 time=94ms TTL=127

Ping statistics for 100.100.30.4:

Sorry the thing posted my note (twice) before I was done.

I get the rest of the standard correct Ping response, Packets sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0, etc.

5)  I did the complete virus scan with update virus files, and no infected files were found.  Are there any other registry entries that would prevent the host file from being used?

6) When I ping 127.0.0.1, it again returns the successful Ping response for all four packets.  When I ping localhost, it ALSO returns the successful Ping response.  I just cannot ping any entry by name that I have added.  I have tried adding multiple entries for uppercase and lowercase names, I have given the same ip address different names on both the same and on different lines, nothing has changed this.  I have changed my TCP/iP properties to Enable NetBIOS form the default, in case that told it to use the local hosts file, but still no change. 

Thanks again for any assistance!

GOT IT!

OK, after adding the 127.0.0.1 foobar entry, I also commented out all of my Hosts lines, and just had this:

127.0.0.1 localhost

#100.100.30.4 unix4 UNIX4 unix4.lcec.pwr

100.100.30.4 unix4

127.0.0.1 foobar

NOW IT WORKS!

And I can add multiple hostnames on other lines, no problem (had tried this before, it did not work).  FYI, I had explicitly put in carriage returns (tried one, tried many) after my entries previously.  And I had also tried individual lines with each alias-- the multiple aliases on the single line worked fine in W2KPro though/

So now I have this and it works with multiple aliases (need multiples since the intranet refers to the machine one way, and the TNSNames uses the other alias, etc.):

127.0.0.1 localhost

#100.100.30.4 unix4 UNIX4 unix4.lcec.pwr

100.100.30.4 unix4

100.100.30.4 UNIX4

100.100.30.4 unix4.lcec.pwr

127.0.0.1 foobar

Thanks everybody, thanks mgale for getting me to try the explicit test to see if ANYTHING in the host file could be resolved!  This forum RULES!!!

Just to verify what I think happened:

I copied down some other entries and pasted them in-- then I noticed THAT entry didn't work.  So I deleted them, and re-typed the entry in from scratch-- worked fine.  I must have had a missing carriage return after one of the prior entries, which didn't show up until I physically typed in a new entry for 127.0.0.1 foobar.  Most of my other tests and changes were done with copy/paste, so I must have just been propogating the problem.  I had tested by cursoring after each line to see if there was a carriage return, but it never showed up.

Thanks again,

Jake

Other things to note:

1) I am on XP Pro, SP1 with Advanced Networking patch installed.  (I tried unistalling this, didn't change the problem).

2) I can add 127.0.0.1 foobar after my other Host file entries of 100.100.30.4 unix, and it can resolve foobar (!).