Vodafone Secure Remote Access - help?
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From: Woody on 24 Apr 2010 18:07 My employer supplied laptop has a Vodafone 3G dongle (Huawei) with it to allow me to remotely access the Co network. The Vodafone Secure Remote Access (VSRA) is a bit of a pain as, when installed, it takes over broadband, wi-fi, and mobile access. Once it has made Internet connection it triggers Cisco VPN client which, with Secure ID, sets up a VPN into the Co network. I've had the unit a year or so and, after a few teething troubles, I've never had a problem with it - until now. I last used it about three weeks ago without problem, but every time I tried this week, both on mobile and on wi-fi it kept failing. The screen has five stages of connection on it:- Connecting Establishing link Acquiring network address Authenticating Connected. This last week it has failed every time at the Authentication stage as 'unable to contact server.' I have changed nothing since I last used it so I am baffled as to the cause. I have compared the config against that of a machine where it works and they appear identical. The only suggestion from IT is to reload the software. I have tried the dongle on another identical machine and it works perfectly. On one of my attempts to go on line I was next to a Vodafone site and (using GPRS fallback) it was showing 100% signal, so it is not a signal issue. I did manage to get on line through my free-access hotel wi-fi using Wireless Zero Config (the machine is running XP2 SP2) without problem, but VRSA failed every time when used. I contacted Vodafone and all they could suggest was a firewall problem - but at the authentication stage it is not even connected to the Internet so the firewall is not involved. Anyone familiar with this package and could give me any clues as to how to get it going again or the possible cause? My machine has an encrypted hard disc, but I have cold booted several times which usually overcomes any encryption-related issues to no avail. -- Woody harrogate three at ntlworld dot com
From: Woody on 25 Apr 2010 04:44 "Peter" <occassionally-confused(a)nospam.co.uk> wrote in message news:ojn7t5960bdlibivd066pnsem0viji9h8n(a)4ax.com... > > "Woody" <harrogate3(a)ntlworld.spam.com> wrote > >>I contacted Vodafone and all they could suggest was a firewall >>problem - but at the authentication stage it is not even >>connected to the Internet so the firewall is not involved. > > You should contact your employer's IT manager. Contacting Voda > is a > waste of time; they just have a load of untrained script > monkeys. > > I wonder if your employer has stopped paying for his contract? > ;) > If they have stopped paying why did the dongle work perfectly in another machine? It was IT who suggested reloading the software.................... -- Woody harrogate three at ntlworld dot com
From: Jono on 25 Apr 2010 05:17 Woody pretended : > "Peter" <occassionally-confused(a)nospam.co.uk> wrote in message > news:ojn7t5960bdlibivd066pnsem0viji9h8n(a)4ax.com... >> >> "Woody" <harrogate3(a)ntlworld.spam.com> wrote >> >>>I contacted Vodafone and all they could suggest was a firewall >>>problem - but at the authentication stage it is not even >>>connected to the Internet so the firewall is not involved. >> >> You should contact your employer's IT manager. Contacting Voda is a >> waste of time; they just have a load of untrained script monkeys. >> >> I wonder if your employer has stopped paying for his contract? ;) >> > > > > If they have stopped paying why did the dongle work perfectly in another > machine? > > It was IT who suggested reloading the software.................... I've seen more than one incidence of "identical" machines giving different results on the same dongle.....as you are having...which suggests it's the machine and nothing to do with Vodafone. What happens if you do a System Restore and roll back 3 and a bit weeks?
From: Woody on 25 Apr 2010 10:11 "Jono" <nothanks(a)blueyonder.invalid> wrote in message news:mn.ca697da436d1e668.88534(a)blueyonder.invalid... > Woody pretended : >> "Peter" <occassionally-confused(a)nospam.co.uk> wrote in message >> news:ojn7t5960bdlibivd066pnsem0viji9h8n(a)4ax.com... >>> >>> "Woody" <harrogate3(a)ntlworld.spam.com> wrote >>> >>>>I contacted Vodafone and all they could suggest was a >>>>firewall >>>>problem - but at the authentication stage it is not even >>>>connected to the Internet so the firewall is not involved. >>> >>> You should contact your employer's IT manager. Contacting >>> Voda is a >>> waste of time; they just have a load of untrained script >>> monkeys. >>> >>> I wonder if your employer has stopped paying for his >>> contract? ;) >>> >> >> >> >> If they have stopped paying why did the dongle work perfectly >> in another machine? >> >> It was IT who suggested reloading the >> software.................... > > I've seen more than one incidence of "identical" machines > giving different results on the same dongle.....as you are > having...which suggests it's the machine and nothing to do with > Vodafone. > > What happens if you do a System Restore and roll back 3 and a > bit weeks? > > > Good idea, but I suspect there my be no restore points - I certainly haven't initiated any! -- Woody harrogate three at ntlworld dot com
From: Woody on 26 Apr 2010 14:40
"Woody" <harrogate3(a)ntlworld.spam.com> wrote in message news:eYJAn.37$lQ.30(a)newsfe03.ams2... > My employer supplied laptop has a Vodafone 3G dongle (Huawei) > with it to allow me to remotely access the Co network. > > The Vodafone Secure Remote Access (VSRA) is a bit of a pain as, > when installed, it takes over broadband, wi-fi, and mobile > access. Once it has made Internet connection it triggers Cisco > VPN client which, with Secure ID, sets up a VPN into the Co > network. > > I've had the unit a year or so and, after a few teething > troubles, I've never had a problem with it - until now. I last > used it about three weeks ago without problem, but every time I > tried this week, both on mobile and on wi-fi it kept failing. > > The screen has five stages of connection on it:- > Connecting > Establishing link > Acquiring network address > Authenticating > Connected. > > This last week it has failed every time at the Authentication > stage as 'unable to contact server.' I have changed nothing > since I last used it so I am baffled as to the cause. I have > compared the config against that of a machine where it works > and they appear identical. The only suggestion from IT is to > reload the software. I have tried the dongle on another > identical machine and it works perfectly. On one of my attempts > to go on line I was next to a Vodafone site and (using GPRS > fallback) it was showing 100% signal, so it is not a signal > issue. I did manage to get on line through my free-access hotel > wi-fi using Wireless Zero Config (the machine is running XP2 > SP2) without problem, but VRSA failed every time when used. > > I contacted Vodafone and all they could suggest was a firewall > problem - but at the authentication stage it is not even > connected to the Internet so the firewall is not involved. > > Anyone familiar with this package and could give me any clues > as to how to get it going again or the possible cause? My > machine has an encrypted hard disc, but I have cold booted > several times which usually overcomes any encryption-related > issues to no avail. > > > > -- > Woody > > harrogate three at ntlworld dot com > > Found the problem. McAfee issued a new AV update a week or so ago which defined svchost.exe as a virus and deleted it. Caused no end of trouble across the world. McAfee denied it of course. Did a restore to 6th April when I know it last worked and all is well again. -- Woody harrogate three at ntlworld dot com |