Odd e-mail behaviour when swtiching between DHCP and BOOTP for IP leasing
 

NOTE: This post may not have anything to do with Linux, so if a moderator can find a more fitting location for this post, please move accordingly. :)

One of my co-workers is using the Arachne browser on his DOS-based machine. Converting him to Linux or another operating system is out of the question and a snide remark I do not need.

He is experiencing a problem when it comes to using DHCP and BOOTP and his e-mail.

When he enables both DHCP and BOOTP (BOOTP being the primary method, which then bounces back to DHCP if a BOOTP something-or-other fails) he is able to browse the internet and send emails without a problem. However, if he switches - strictly - to DHCP, which he wants to do, he notices a severe increase in speed (by a magnitude of 10 to 30, in his words). The problem occurs when it comes to sending e-mail, though: when running strictly by DHCP, he cannot access our company's secureserver.net-hosted POP and SMTP servers. But, when he runs in DHCP and BOOTP combined mode, he can.

We have a gateway running ClarkConnect Linux (version unknown), which was setup years before I worked for this company, and I have managed to fiddle around with it so that the DNS cache gets updated frequently (daily at midnight) as my co-worker thought it might be a DNS problem.

No other computers in the workplace have this problem. I apologize if I have not provided enough information with concerns to this issue, as this is all about something I know little about, but if there is something that I can do, please let me know.

So, to summarize the issue, my co-worker cannot send or receive e-mail when running Arachne in DHCP mode, although the transfer speeds are much faster. When running in a DHCP/BOOTP combined mode, everything works, but if there are any issues they can take anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds to resolve themselves.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in General and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

Which version of DOS does he use?

By the way, why does he use DOS? I'm not asking him to switch to another, I'm just interested in why someone would still be using DOS in this day and age.

What kind of computer is he running DOS on?

Sorry I can't help much.

Haha, it's alright. He runs DOS 5 - I asked him why not DOS 6.22 (ie. the last official release of MS-DOS) and he said it runs too slowly on /any/ machine. *rolls eyes*
He is rocking a Pentium 1 @ 233MHz.

He doesn't use anything else, he says, because he doesn't enjoy the "endless menus" and such associated with Windows systems - yet, he loves Apple products. For icing on the cake, he complains that Linux is too slow.

Long story short, my co-worker is in a position (ie. management) where he can run whichever OS he damn-well pleases, and gets everyone else to "downgrade" a bit just so he is accommodated; he severely need his technological base-knowledge updated. He's not a bad guy, but a little eccentric (the type to ask for the universe in a shoe-box).