I have a computer running Slackware 10.2 and Samba 3.0.20.

When I try to access my network, Samba hangs. If I wait, Samba times out with a message like "209.86.66.120 not responding". This is not the only ip address that it returns but all of them, as determined by doing a "whois" on the internet, belong to "Earthlink Inc.". Earthlink is a respectable site and I can browse to it directly. All of their ip addresses begin with "209.86".

My problem is: why is Samba trying to access Earthlink and why is it not trying to access my network which is defined in the Samba config file?

I have grep'd my whole drive for "209.86" and nothing comes up. So, what could be telling Samba to try to access Earthlink as a network when I do not want it to?

Any ideas?

Might get better help by posting your problem here: Slackware Help Forum -- Slackers helping slackers. :: Index

Well, the problem went away. I am not aware of having done anything to cause this - just as I am not aware of what caused it in the first place. However, my adventure has now led me to discover that it is a universal problem. Anyone can verify this by googling or yahooing "209.86.66".

Having read many of these I now come to the conclusion that Earthlink has set up 209.86.66.119 and 209.86.66.120 as black holes. All searches of their sites that are not resolved by the dns are directed there. an address of nothing but one that responds that it is not found.

This does not however resolve the question of why lan computers are not looking to the lan first for computers defined there. It seems that many run into the problem from time to time and it is a question that I think needs to be understood.

I have the solution. Strange that I answer my own question to a problem that affects everyone. What it comes down to is that computers on a network have to be told where to look for the link to other computers. In Linux the config file must contain a line that is
"<ip address of router> server"
In windows the network has to be set up to access the net through another computer in the wizard where the "other computer" is the ip of the router.

NORMALLY, all of this happens by default but in the course of making ajustments to the config files either the wizard or config programs will become confused or the user will make an error which results in the computer being directed to the internet to resolve a name for a computer on a lan.

Marpag, most users in this forum use Windows instead of Linux. I run Ubuntu. Don't have the smarts or gonads or computer to run Slackware. Would love to give it a go when I get a faster Tower. I am currently running an old IBM M-41 server with 1 gig RAM. Thats why you probably had to answer you're own question. I've cruized through the slackware forums just to check them out and saw some what I thought were funny signatures by members there. Quote " Ubuntu is for people too dumb to run Slackware". Like I said, some people don't have the hardware besides the smarts. Welcome to the Forum and I among other Linux users will look forward to any new posts you submit.