Hi, For some reason I am unable to telnet a switch on my LAN and get the message: Could not open connection to the host, on port 23: Connect failed I am new to networking and have connected a cisco switch 2900xl with my pc using a straight-thru cable.Below are the ip addresses: Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : heroeff Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : home Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection 3: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NETGEAR WG311v3 802.11g Wireless PCI Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-14-6C-86-BD-E3 Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.237 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 14 February 2009 14:35:52 Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 15 February 2009 14:35:52 Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family Gigabit Ethernet NIC Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-DB-F6-4D-6E Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.124.64 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : From the console port I set the following: Current configuration: ! version 12.0 no service pad service timestamps debug uptime service timestamps log uptime service password-encryption ! hostname S1 ! enable secret 5 $1$EO6Y$ywKReef0Nrp1NeNCNfI.T0 enable password 7 ************** ! username heroeff password 7 ************ ! ! ! ! ! ip subnet-zero no ip domain-lookup ip domain-name heroeff.com ! ! ! interface FastEthernet0/1 ! etc..... interface VLAN1 ip address 192.168.1.70 255.255.255.0 no ip directed-broadcast no ip route-cache ! ip default-gateway 192.168.1.254 banner motd ^C ################################### Switch 1: DO NOT LOG ON ################################### ^C ! line con 0 exec-timeout 30 0 password 7 ************* logging synchronous login transport input none stopbits 1 line vty 0 4 password 7 ************* logging synchronous login line vty 5 15 password 7 ************** logging synchronous login ! end I am currently: unable to ping pc ip address from the switch CLI S1#ping 192.168.1.237 Type escape sequence to abort. Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.168.1.237, timeout is 2 seconds: ..... Success rate is 0 percent (0/5) unable to ping switch ip address from the pc DOS prompt unable to ping default gateway from the switch CLI S1#ping 192.168.1.254 Type escape sequence to abort. Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.168.1.254, timeout is 2 seconds: ..... Success rate is 0 percent (0/5) able to ping ip of PC from DOS and ping ip of vlan1 from CLI S1#ping 192.168.1.70 Type escape sequence to abort. Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.168.1.70, timeout is 2 seconds: !!!!! Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 1/5/16 ms I tried to telnet and also ping with the firewall being off but got no luck either. I am using tera term pro to telnet. I also downloaded Putty and had a go with it but still had no chance to telnet. Finally I have no idea as to when I shall make use of the switch ip address: 169.254.124.64. Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

I forgot to mention that I port-forwarded the telnet application. I also ensured that telent service was enabled and started.

Has any1 got a suggestion?

Ok I am getting closer. the ip address 169.254.124.64 was the ip address of the ethernet LAN (and not the switch...what a fool i am). I changed the ip to 192.168.1.100 so all devices are in the same network. I can successfully ping the ethernet interface (192.168.1.100) from both sides (pc / switch). I can also ping vlan1 (192.168.1.70) from the DOS. However I am still unable to ping the PC (192.168.1.237) from the switch. Any ideas?

Since I can ping vlan1, i can now telnet the switch (great !!!). However I also need to be able to access the PC from the switch. Indeed I would like to back up my startup-config file on the tftp server which is located in the PC. I also now have a different problem. Everytime my ethernet cable is enabled then I lose my wireless internet connection. How come? An answer would be appreciated as although I don't mind monologues, I would rather get opinions from others.

Still can't ping my pc from the switch :-( However I resolved the conflict between my WLAN and ethernetLAN. WLAN didn't like the other ethernet interface LAN to share the same default gateway. I got rid of it and BINGO !!!! Now I can still access the internet while telneting my cisco switch. One more issue to fix now. By the way, thanks for your non help. You are doing good so far.

Ping blocked at pc? "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10