Timeout Error: How to Troubleshoot Network Issues

Most of the time, Timeout errors are due to network connectivity issues. Errors like the one below can occur when trying to connect to remote servers, for example the Tableau or Email servers. This article provides steps on how to troubleshoot network errors. 

ERROR example:

Error setting up Tableau table definition: Timeout - IPC_NamePipe :: Select (WaitForMultipleObjects)

 TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS:

1. Ping the server and trace it's route. To do this, open the command prompt and enter "ipconfig". 

If the IP address starts with anything besiders 169 then your IP address is valid. This indicates that the problem is somewhere between your router and the internet.

Type this command to ping Google’s DNS servers

ping www.msn.com

If the ping fails to send, then details about the failure will be displayed to you.

If you want to continue pinging for a longer period for monitoring purposes, you can add -t to the end, like so:

ping www.msn.com -t

Pressing Ctrl + C will stop the pinging at any time.

You can trace the route between your computer and Google’s DNS servers by entering the following command

tracert www.msn.com

The tracert command breaks down the path that the information takes to reach the destination you specify. If it fails, check to see where the problem occurs. If an error pops up early in the route, the issue is likely with your local network.

2. Use the Telnet command to ensure the port is open and we can use it to test the connection to remote servers. Before running the command, you'll need to ensure that Telnet is enabled, this applies to Windows OS computers.

Open the command prompt and enter the following

telnet [server domain name or ip] [port number on remote machine]

If a successful connection is established, a blank screen will be displayed and this indicates that the computer port is open.

If a failed connection occurs, an error message will be displayed. The messages suggest that the port is  closed or that the remote server is not listening on the supplied port.

Often when using Telnet, the results indicate that your own network is blocking the connection. This is most likely due to a Firewall which blocks connections to outbound ports. To test whether the failed connection is due to the Firewall, you could disable the firewall and try using Telnet again

3. Get a HAR file and send it to Infogix Support, using the instructions here: HAR File

 If the steps above don't tell you why your connection is failing, please consult your network administrator and open a support ticket with Infogix.