hi,
>
> Make sure it is listening. Like use "netstat -an | grep 518".
tcp        0      0  66.250.54.45.80        216.158.217.202.50518
ESTABLISHED
udp        0      0  *.518                  *.*

>
> A message in the archives said that a user had this problem when 127.0.0.1
> was not defined as localhost in /etc/hosts file.
it is defined there.

>
> Also, check your logs for messages from inetd about ntalkd.
>
i can see no messages about inetd in messages.

any other ideas?
thanks
Indira