Retrospect Client for Windows Troubleshooting

Resources

Getting Started

When troubleshooting Windows client computers, it is important to make sure the backup computer is configured correctly:

Macintosh Servers: Check the network software on the backup Macintosh. Open Transport must be installed and TCP/IP must be active. Open Transport must at least be version 1.1.2. The TCP/IP control panel must be set up for Ethernet rather than dial-up PPP. Additionally, TCP/IP options should be set to "Active" with "Load only when needed" unchecked.

Windows: Confirm that TCP/IP is functional by browsing a site on the Internet or try using the DOS Command prompt to ping a TCP/IP user on your network.

Troubleshooting a Client Startup Error

Retrospect Clients for Windows prior to version 5.1 may report "Client service not loaded at system startup" if a problem was detected with TCP/IP during computer startup. The 5.1 or later versions of the Retrospect Client will usually report "Ready" or "Waiting for first access" even when the client did not load as expected. If your client is not visible from the backup computer after startup, try the following steps to troubleshoot the problem.

Verify the existence of a TCP/IP networking protocol in the Network control panel. While you may have a TCP/IP setting for dial-up networking, you also need one for the network card. This should show up in the list of networking components in the Network control panel.

Check your TCP/IP communications by starting the MS-DOS Prompt program and entering "ipconfig -all". This returns information regarding the type of network card, IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway. If it does not show this you need to check your TCP/IP configurations. To do this, go back to the Network control panel, select TCP/IP for your Ethernet card, and click Properties. This window’s IP Address tab shows you the IP address and subnet information. "Optain an IP address automatically" should only be selected if your network uses a DHCP server to assign IP addresses. If you do not know what your TCP/IP settings should be, consult with your network administrator.

You can also test the computer’s connections by "pinging" the computer. To do this, start the MS-DOS Prompt program and enter "ping" followed by the computer’s TCP/IP address. (For example, "ping 192.168.6.1".) If it returns information about the computer, it was able to "ping" that address. Ping from the Windows computer to another computer, either Windows or Macintosh. If you can ping other computers successfully, TCP/P is configured properly.?

Retrospect for Windows offers a "Test" button located under Configure>Clients>Add. This "Test" option will perform a ping and report information on its results.

Use Windows' Find command to locate Microsoft’s Winsock file and verify its version and location. Searching for "winsock.dll" should find it in the Windows directory. Right-click and choose Properties to get more information about the file. Under the Version tab, you should see a Microsoft copyright. If not, contact Retrospect Technical Support for additional details.

If TCP/IP is definitely running and the control panel still reports that the Retrospect Client is not loading, uninstall it using our uninstaller located in Add and Remove Programs found in the control panels. Restart your computer and reinstall the latest version of the client software. Make sure you are logged in with Administrator privileges before you reinstall the Retrospect Client software.

Finally, if you are still unable to get the Retrospect Client software to load, open a tech support incident with Retrosepct Technical Support for assistance.

Troubleshooting Error -1028, -530 and 541

The error 541 will occur if Retrospect locates a computer without the Retrospect Client software at a specific IP address. The error can also occur if you previously added a specific client via the Add by Address command, and the IP address for that client computer has changed.

If you tried to connect with the client via the Direct Address Entry or Add by Address option and receive error -530 or -1028, then no computer was found at that address.

Although the -541 and -1028 or -530 errors appear to be different, the troubleshooting steps are similar:

Verify the Retrospect Client control panel is turned on. It may have been disabled in the Services control panel or even uninstalled. Check its status field for any possible errors.

Verify the Windows TCP/IP setup. Make sure the TCP/IP protocol is an installed component for networking (not just the dial-up adapter). Verify the addresses of the router, gateway, or DNS server, if any. Try pinging as described in the previous section.

Try to get information or properties on the client from Retrospect. Go to Configure>Clients, select the client, and choose Get Info from the File menu (or Properties from the Edit menu). If Retrospect returns error -1028 or -530, forget the client and log it in again from the Clients on Network (or Live Network) window.

If you recently installed a second network card on the client computer, verify the TCP/IP protocol is binding to the correct adapter. (See below.)

Use other computers on the network to "ping" the troublesome computers to check whether they are communicating with TCP/IP. You can also try the "Test" option found in Retrospect for Windows.

If Retrospect reports error -1028 or -530 for all computers, suspect the backup computer’s TCP/IP configuration as the cause.

Try uninstalling the Retrospect Client software and reinstalling it. To do this, first forget the client from Retrospect on the backup computer, then go to the client computer and run the uninstaller found inside the Add and Remove Programs control panel. Restart the client computer and reinstall the client software. Go back to the backup computer and login the client.

Error 541 and Multiple Ethernet Adapters

Windows users with more than one Ethernet card or TCP/IP adapter may experience difficulty getting older Retrospect Clients for Windows to bind to the desired interface.

This problem can also prevent Retrospect from seeing clients on the network. With more than one Ethernet card installed, Retrospect may report an error 541 (client not installed or not running).

From the Services control panel get properties on the Retrospect Client service.

Stop the Retrospect Client Service.

Close the Services control panel

From the Start menu, choose Run and type "Regedit" (no quotes).

Open the path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Dantz\Retrospect Client\5.0, and highlight the 5.x folder. You should see a "BindListener" value set to 0.0.0.0. If the ethernet card you want Retrospect to use has a fixed address, change the BindListener value to that address. If the ethernet card you want Retrospect to use has a dynamic address, set the BindListener value to the network portion of your IP address. For example, if the current IP address is 192.168.6.241 with Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0, use 192.168.6.0.

Close the Registry

Restart your computer

If you use the 6.5 version (or later) of the Retrospect Client, all IP addresses should automatically be found by the client software. If you wish to force the client to only bind to a specific IP address, use the following command from the Run Menu:

Last Update: February 14, 2012