[Editor’s note: This tip should no longer be necessary in R4.5, as these strange connection bugs seem to have been worked out. This tip remains for users of older versions of BeOS.]
Some users may encounter a bug that leaves the net_server in an ambiguous state if your ISP times you out — you may find you’re not able to make a new connection properly. This seems to be an especially pernicious problem for ISDN users.
If this happens, you don’t have to reboot. First, look at all your network apps to make sure none of them are currently requesting network services. For instance, if you’ve tried to check your mail and it’s just sitting there not making the connection, stop it, or quit the mail program.
Open the Network preferences panel and click the Restart Networking button. Wait a few seconds, close the Network panel, and try your connection again. You should now be able to fire up PPP normally.
Alternatively, you can restart networking from the command line by typing /boot/beos/system/boot/Netscript. If you have to run Netscript often, you may want to make a symlink to it in /boot/home/config/bin so you just type Netscript from any prompt.