I read the similar message posted any my telnet port is open. 23/tcp open telnet. LINUX ver: REDHAT 7.2 I am connecting through a adsl router on a adsl line. I have 2 win98 machines also connected to the internet through the same router. They all have the same wan Ip address 80.x.x.x, however if I telnet 192.168.1.45 - This works telnet 80.x.x.x.x - It cant find the machine the telnet screen doesnt do anything for a long time eventually it says it cant connect. Also my firewall (IPCHAINS, IPTABLES) are all disabled. In service configurator it shows ip chains and Ip tables not ticked (default when machine starts up) When I run NEAT (tcp/ip settings i have manual setting in there) 192.168.1.45 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1 (GATEWAY) If (under neat) I change the 192.168.1.45 to the wan ip address (80.x.x.x) I cant connect to the internet. As for the gateway (I dont have one, eg. I also have a laptop, which I can use in the office and at home on the same provider adsl line without changing any settings it works perfectly.) Please help. James

If you are trying to telnet into your linux box using the 80.x.x.x address from inside your home network, I don't think it's going to work. You will only be able to use the 192.168.x.x address to telne into the linux box from within your LAN. If you want to telnet into your linux box from outside of your home network to the WAN IP address, make sure you have port forwarding enable for port 23 (or 22 TCP and UDP if you are using SSH — which is reccommended over telnet) to the IP address of your linux box. Otherwise, that port is closed by your router by default, and no incoming connections will be allowed. Hope this helps . email me if you have more questions!