(cross-post added to XP Networking)
"Tim Kendall" wrote in message
...
Hi I am running Outlook Express 6 on my terminal server and every time a
user opens up their OE they get a message stating,

"Would you like to go offline?
No connection to the internet is currently available. To view internet
content that has been saved to your computer, click Work Offline.
Click Try Again to attempt to connect.
Options:
"Work Offline" or "Try Again"

By clicking Try Again it logs them in but the next time they close and
re-open outlook express they receive this message.

Any Help would be greatly appreciated.


It's not just OE. It's actually a configuration problem/deficiency on the OS.
What is happening is that there is no clear Internet connection
when the app checks for one. Perhaps it times out?
This happens especially on PPPoE links which work just like
regular dial-up PPP links but when they are connected automatically
the user isn't aware of this and thus may have the mindset that the
Internet connection is always-ready, even if it isn't really.

To see this you could try tracing the connection with netcap
and formatting the trace with Ethereal. I suspect you would find
that the link is going up and down more often than you would expect.

What I would be interested in knowing is if the link goes back up
as a result of the first request, in which case the prompt is only for a higher
level protocol (exactly as a Dial-up user who specifies Never dial... can see,
when the same prompt gives them a chance to complete a manual dial)
or if it only goes back up as a result of the Try Again being clicked.
That should be pretty simple to check, just by pausing a bit longer than
normal before clicking on the Try Again.

BTW have you ever checked the status *before* trying a request
which you suspect might cause the symptom? E.g. perhaps

ipconfig /all

(in a cmd window) would show you something different at that time
than it would show you when a request would work normally? Etc.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
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