Error 541, can't log in (Client not installed or not running)

[MacBill]

Hello,

 

I am administering a network with 8 Mac clients, and 7 of the Mac clients are working just fine. However, 1 is not working no matter what we do. Here's more details on the matter:

 

Retrospect 6.1.230 is running on the server machine with the 6.1.15.101 driver update. The server machine is a Mac Pro running 10.4.11. Every single Mac client is an Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, and they're all running Retrospect Client 6.2.229. Some of the iMacs are running 10.4.11, and some of the iMacs are running 10.5.4. The Intel Core 2 Duo iMac that's having the problems is running 10.5.4.

 

Retrospect can successfully see & backup 7 of our iMac clients. However, when we try to log in to the iMac that's having the problems, Retrospect gives us an error message that says:

 

Error 541, can't log in (Client not installed or not running)

 

However, when we go to look at that iMac, Retrospect Client says that it's "on" and waiting for first access. We also checked the FireWall settings on that iMac in the security system preference, and it is set to allow all incoming connections.

 

We also have completely uninstalled Retrospect Client on that machine using the Retrospect Client uninstaller, and then we have reinstalled Retrospect Client 6.2.229 on that machine -- and then restarted that machine. All to no avail. Retrospect still cannot log into that client.

 

Retrospect on the server machine can actually see the client in question in the list of clients -- it just can't log in. Keeps giving us that error 541.

 

Any ideas as to what may be going on here?

 

Thanks so much!

 

Bill

[MacBill]

I also wanted to mention that I have used Disk Utility to repair permissions and verify the disk on the iMac, and no permissions needed to be repaired and no disk problems were found.

[twickland]

How are you trying to connect with this client? Are you using Retrospect's default multicast discovery method, or are you using a fixed IP address?

[MacBill]

How are you trying to connect with this client? Are you using Retrospect's default multicast discovery method, or are you using a fixed IP address?

 

I am using Retrospect's default multicast discovery method, although I could certainly try using a fixed IP address... particularly since the iMac has been manually assigned a 192.168.x.x IP address.

[MacBill]

Very interesting! I feel like I'm making some sort of progress now, thanks to the tip from twickland.

 

I tried to connect via the IP address, and it gave me a completely different error message! It said "Activator Code Conflict. See the log window for details." So then, I looked at the log window, and this is what is said:

 

Activator code F-QZB3-MHW7-RT83-164 is used for multiple clients:

Jenna at 127.0.0.1

Jenna at 192.168.0.209

 

192.168.0.209 is the IP address I just tried to add manually, but I'm not sure why it listed 127.0.0.1, since there is no client running on the local server machine. 127.0.0.1 represents the local machine, doesn't it?

[MacBill]

(By the way, I also checked the number of backup client license codes we've purchased in the license manager. It says that we have purchased 20 licenses, that we've used 7 of them and that we have 13 available for use. So we haven't run out of license codes yet, and this 8th computer hasn't been successfully seen by the license manager yet.)

[Mayoff]

Does the client have wireless turned on? What network interfaces are turned on? Which network interface is first in the list?

 

 

[Mayoff]

1. Could the problem computer have the same computer name as another machine in this network?

 

2. Could the problem computer have a duplicate retroclient.state file as another in the network. Did this computer get created using the Apple migration tool?

[CallMeDave]

1. Could the problem computer have the same computer name as another machine in this network?

 

Retrospect Client on Macintosh doesn't use Bonjour/ZeroConfig. It doesn't know or care about the operating system's computer name.

 

2. Could the problem computer have a duplicate retroclient.state file as another in the network. Did this computer get created using the Apple migration tool?

 

Original poster reported using the Retrospect Client Installer application to uninstall; that would have removed the previous .state file.

[MacBill]

Does the client have wireless turned on? What network interfaces are turned on? Which network interface is first in the list?

 

Hi there,

 

The client does NOT have wireless turned on. The only 2 interfaces that are turned on are Ethernet and Bluetooth. They are connected to the network via Ethernet.

 

The service order of the interfaces are:

Ethernet

Airport

Bluetooth

FireWire

 

Thanks,

Bill

[Mayoff]

Retrospect Client on Macintosh doesn't use Bonjour/ZeroConfig. It doesn't know or care about the operating system's computer name.

 

When you do a fresh install of the client it will use the default computer name, which could be a problem if somehow another computer has the same name.

[MacBill]

1. Could the problem computer have the same computer name as another machine in this network?

 

I checked this... it has its own unique computer name.

 

2. Could the problem computer have a duplicate retroclient.state file as another in the network. Did this computer get created using the Apple migration tool?

 

Oh, here's an interesting piece of information that I didn't mention earlier. Not sure if this even makes a difference or not. This computer did originally get created a long time ago using the Apple migration tool and it didn't have any problems at all using Retrospect Client back then. Then, last week, we created a new admin user account on the machine and deleted the old admin user account. The problems started. Then, we uninstalled Retrospect Client and reinstalled Retrospect Client and the problems still remained. So, the original user that was created on this machine no longer exists -- we are now exclusively using the the 2nd user account that we have created on the machine. This is still an admin account, and the Retrospect Client was installed properly into the /Applications folder, so not sure if any of this is even relevant or not.

 

Thanks.

[MacBill]

I'm thinking that maybe I should just do a complete archive & install of Leopard on this iMac?

[twickland]

Retrospect on the server machine can actually see the client in question in the list of clients -- it just can't log in.

Do you mean that it's listed in the Backup Client Database window or just in the Network window?

 

If it's in the Client Database, you should forget the client and then try re-adding it from the Network window

[MacBill]

Do you mean that it's listed in the Backup Client Database window or just in the Network window?

 

Sorry that I wasn't more clear -- it does NOT show up in the "Backup Client Database" window, but when I click on the "Network..." button, it shows up greyed out in the "Backup Clients on Network" window with the words "Not Logged In" next to its name.

[CallMeDave]

when I click on the "Network..." button, it shows up greyed out in the "Backup Clients on Network" window with the words "Not Logged In" next to its name.

 

So you're getting the UDP packets that identify the client, but you are apparently not able to communicate via TCP to actually log it in.

 

> here's an interesting piece of information that I didn't mention earlier

 

Retrospect Client software runs at a lower level then user accounts, so the change there should not make a difference.

 

But is there anything else you haven't reported? Any other firewall software running (DoorStop, etc) that might be blocking this?

 

Dave

[Mayoff]

1. Kill the client on the suspect machine (command-Click on the client Off button)

2. Start the client from the command line with logging set to 9

 

 
$ cd /Applications/Retrospect\ Client.app/Contents/Resources
$ ./retroclient -log 9

 

3. Attempt to connect to the client

4. Kill the client (command-Click on the client Off button)

5. send the retroclient.log to emcinsignia_forums@emc.com

[MacBill]

So you're getting the UDP packets that identify the client, but you are apparently not able to communicate via TCP to actually log it in.

 

But is there anything else you haven't reported? Any other firewall software running (DoorStop, etc) that might be blocking this

 

Thanks for the help. No other firewall software on this machine. And the built-in firewall of Leopard is set to "allow all incoming connections".

[MacBill]

1. Kill the client on the suspect machine (command-Click on the client Off button)

2. Start the client from the command line with logging set to 9

 

 
$ cd /Applications/Retrospect\ Client.app/Contents/Resources
$ ./retroclient -log 9

 

3. Attempt to connect to the client

4. Kill the client (command-Click on the client Off button)

5. send the retroclient.log to emcinsignia_forums@emc.com

 

Thanks, Robin! Stepping through your instructions #1 through #3 fixed the problem! I was able to successfully connect to the client and back it up! Thank you! Hallelujah!

 

However, I do not know how to find the retroclient.log file to email to you. Can you please tell me how to locate this file?

 

Thanks,

Bill

[Mayoff]

If everything is now working, then the log won't be needed. It is normally found in he console.