I got an account on a portal that I access from my home.
I do not know what happened but suddenly I cannot log in. They told me I have to use putty but even that does not work.

They can connect to my account without any problem even the password works as long as they log in from their computers BUT I cannot log in.

I get the prompt for user id and password but that’s it. I get access denied and they do not understand why I cannot log in from my home.

Would anyone have some ideas what might be going on?

Thanks,
gp

What protocol are you using? ssh, rlogin, telnet? First try to ping the server you're connecting to. Second, if you have a firewall, make sure it isn't blocking any of those ports that each protocol uses.

ssh
I can ping it OK.
No firewall in between.

Have the IT guys look at the "sshd_config" on the server (probably in /etc/ssh depending on the distro) :

Maybe you might want to add the following line for TESTING purposes only.

PasswordAuthentication no

I got reply from them:

"It's the same one as the rest of our servers, which is set at the defaults."

Something must be wrong but they cannot figure out and I cannot figure out why I cannot log on!?
I always telnet to the site to get my e-mail but its about a week that something got messed up and since then I cannot log on.

First off, drop your IP tables:

/etc/init.d/iptables stop

Then try again.

If they allow ICMP, try pinging the IP address, to verify connectivity. If you don't get a response, try tracerouting, to see if you can determine where the problem is at.

If you get the password prompt, the tcp connection is established. This means it is not a networking problem.

You are sure you are using the right password ?

BTW

telnet is a VERY insecure protocol, maybe someone is hijacking your tcp-session, and in the process is redirecting you to some hoax-site.

paranoid, but possible

I got another reply from them:

“There are no iptables setup on that system …” “…it's not a
network layer problem. Your password is correct, so it's not an input
data problem…” “… I don't see any ssh configs on your account…”

They do not understand what is going on.

When I try to telnet I get only this:

"Connecting To acorn.he.net ..."

and it terminates right away?

They say it is on my machine but I fired my Linux box and I have same problem, it will not connect.
Maybe Hamsjael is correct.

Thanks,
gp

Finally I accessed my account BUT since “putty” does not recollects (does not store any settings) what I checked off in its interface I will have to play with that again and record hopefully the correct checkboxes so next time I do not have to spend an hour figuring out how to access my account.

What is interesting that about a week ago I had no problem to access my account and now they tell me to use “putty” to access my account and blaming me for problems that I encounter while trying to access my account.
Now, who started the problem? I did not have to use “putty” a week ago! How can be the problem on my system?

Hopefully they will resolve it soon.
gp

im haveing the same or similiar problem... a few days ago i logged onto mybox fine useing putty now i cant! I get as far as entering my password and it tells me incorrect password access denied!
ive tried over n over very carefully entering the password and nothing! i logged on with my other machine and got the same thing, access denied! my friends can log onto it fine useing the same password?
I dont understand...it worked fine for me 2 days ago and i made no new changes to my pc networks or anything. i even tried on a machine i just reformatted and had no software other then windows and putty with no firewall on.
is it possible my box locked me out..but my other pc has its own ip..but it seems to be any comp on my network is denied access!
i can go to my neighbors house and get on fine?

Click on the SSH under Connection and under "Protocol options" check off "1 only".
Then go back to your Session and it should work like before. It depends on the OS that you use, some require you to check off different boxes to get in.
Hope this helps.

nope didnt due the trick.. the thing is after i installed putty the first time i made no cnfg changes what so ever and it connected fine all i did was enter the ip and open then user name and password and i was on.
this is the reply i just got from layertech. ive yet to get a response on my ticket but can take up to 72 hours.
First open a ticket with our support team to have your server looked at. If you modified your /etc/resolv.conf in the last day or so it could be the cause of your slow logins and timed out logins.
wich i didnt modify anything and i can get on it on other networks.
well see.

You might uninstall and install putty again. I believe you get a confirmation from SSH if that is a trustful connection, putty treats that like it never seen it and that’s when you have to convince putty that that is what you want. Beyond that I would not know what to do.
When I got the response like you described the first time I did reinstall and convinced putty to log in.