> It does not seem to be related to ntpd -- or else ntpd is happy with > the addition of the hostname to /etc/hosts. Ok. However, the test has been exitous: you know what is NOT problematic. This fact reduces the problem. > Something -- I didn't do it directly -- had already added the hostname > to the 127.0.0.1 line in /etc/hosts by the time I got around to > looking there. I don't know whether it was there before or not, nor > what I did (boot with the wired network plugged in? Download updates? > The timestamp on /etc/hosts changes every time I reboot, so something > is updating it). In any case it was not necessary to disable wireless > or deactivate ntpd to get normal response back. Ok. > At the same time, if I do anything that requires DNS (like try to ssh > to a remote host), all the symptoms return until the DNS query times > out, at which point all is well again. So it is DNs's "fault" > somehow. (Interestingly, even though some warnings from ntpd about > unreachable time servers show up in /var/log/messages, they don't seem > to induce this problem.) What a curious problem! You can enable a tcpdump sniffer and put here the output you'll get. More useful and easy instructions at: http://www.freesoft.org/CIE/Topics/55.htm -- Thanks, Jordi Espasa Clofent