Callers cannot connect

1. Is PBDispatch running? It must be running for new callers to reach you.
2. Is the service on? Open Network > Services in PBConfig. See The Services screen. After changing a port or an on/off switch, restart the service in Service Management or restart PBDispatch.
3. Is the port really open on this PC? In a command prompt, run netstat -ano | findstr “:23 ” (use your port) and look for LISTENING.
4. Is the Windows Firewall allowing it? See Before you install for the netsh command.
5. Is your router forwarding it? Callers from the Internet need the port forwarded to this PC.

Two programs cannot listen on the same port. Another program owns it. Common causes:

• SSH on port 22: Windows' OpenSSH Server owns it. Stop and disable it (services.msc, OpenSSH SSH Server), or give the BBS another port. See SSH.
• FTP on port 21: the PBLink QWK hub also defaults to 21. Give one of them another port, or share one port. See FTP downloads.
• Web on port 80: another web server, such as IIS, is running.

PBDispatch writes the reason to its event log. Tools > FTP Sessions says “NOT LISTENING” when FTP is not open.

• Login Guard. Too many wrong passwords from an address ban it for a while. Look at Tools > Login Guard > Status. To lift the bans, use Clear Bans. Your own PC is never banned. See Login Guard.
• Host Filter. The address may be on a list. A refused connection is closed silently. Find it in the log, add it to Always allow in PBConfig, then reload the host filter (Dispatcher > Reload Configs). Callers on shared addresses and hosting providers are the usual cases. See Host Filter.

The host key files in Configs were deleted or replaced. Keep them. Callers must accept the new key once. See SSH.

The control port is open but the data ports are not. Forward and allow the whole passive range (50100-50200 by default), and set External address to your public address or name. Behind a router “auto” is wrong. To check the settings, run PBFtp.exe -cfg Configs\PBFTP.CFG -test. See FTP downloads.

Run PBNntp.exe -cfg Configs\PBNNTP.CFG -test. See News.