Port scanning trouble?

[tampabay420]

i'm sorry i should of made my opinion more clear...
i don't part. like the Fancy front end, as apposed to the
console mode version...
+ i like to "nmap host > log.txt"

/edit -> kinda funny, i found this on nmap.org

POPULAR SITE SNAPSHOTS

Here is the fun result of all our effort.  We can now take random
Internet sites and determine what OS they are using.  A lot of these
people have eliminated telnet banners, etc. to keep this information
private.  But this is of no use with our new fingerprinter!  Also
this is a good way to expose the <your favorite crap OS> users as the
lamers that they are :)!

The command used in these examples was: nmap -sS -p 80 -O -v <host>

Also note that most of these scans were done on 10/18/98.  Some of
these folks may have upgraded/changed servers since then.

Note that I do not like every site on here.  

# "Hacker" sites or (in a couple cases) sites that think they are
www.l0pht.com        => OpenBSD 2.2 - 2.4
www.insecure.org     => Linux 2.0.31-34
www.rhino9.ml.org    => Windows 95/NT     # No comment :-)
www.technotronic.com => Linux 2.0.31-34
www.nmrc.org         => FreeBSD 2.2.6 - 3.0
www.cultdeadcow.com  => OpenBSD 2.2 - 2.4
www.kevinmitnick.com => Linux 2.0.31-34  # Free Kevin!
www.2600.com         => FreeBSD 2.2.6 - 3.0 Beta
www.antionline.com   => FreeBSD 2.2.6 - 3.0 Beta
www.rootshell.com    => Linux 2.0.35  # Changed to OpenBSD after
                                      # they got owned.

# Security vendors, consultants, etc.
www.repsec.com       => Linux 2.0.35
www.iss.net          => Linux 2.0.31-34
www.checkpoint.com   => Solaris 2.5 - 2.51
www.infowar.com      => Win95/NT

# Vendor loyalty to their OS
www.li.org           => Linux 2.0.35 # Linux International
www.redhat.com       => Linux 2.0.31-34 # I wonder what distribution :-)
www.debian.org       => Linux 2.0.35
www.linux.org        => Linux 2.1.122 - 2.1.126
www.sgi.com          => IRIX 6.2 - 6.4
www.netbsd.org       => NetBSD 1.3X
www.openbsd.org      => Solaris 2.6     # Ahem :-) (its because UAlberta 
                                        # is hosting them)
www.freebsd.org      => FreeBSD 2.2.6-3.0 Beta

# Ivy league
www.harvard.edu      => Solaris 2.6
www.yale.edu         => Solaris 2.5 - 2.51
www.caltech.edu      => SunOS 4.1.2-4.1.4  # Hello! This is the 90's :-)   
www.stanford.edu     => Solaris 2.6
www.mit.edu          => Solaris 2.5 - 2.51 # Coincidence that so many good
                                           # schools seem to like Sun?
                                           # Perhaps it is the 40%
                                           # .edu discount :-)
www.berkeley.edu     => UNIX OSF1 V 4.0,4.0B,4.0D  
www.oxford.edu       => Linux 2.0.33-34  # Rock on!

# Lamer sites
www.aol.com          => IRIX 6.2 - 6.4  # No wonder they are so insecure :-)
www.happyhacker.org  => OpenBSD 2.2-2.4 # Sick of being owned, Carolyn?
                                        # Even the most secure OS is
                                        # useless in the hands of an
                                        # incompetent admin.

# Misc
www.lwn.net          => Linux 2.0.31-34 # This Linux news site rocks!
www.slashdot.org     => Linux 2.1.122 - 2.1.126
www.whitehouse.gov   => IRIX 5.3
sunsite.unc.edu      => Solaris 2.6

- excuse me for always using the 'code' tag, i like the way it formats the text

[cheyenne1212]

I use Nmap every once and a while but some times have problems with it and have to have it not ping when it checks a address. It hasn't realy worked out well for me. It does however have a easy to use interface.

[cgkanchi]

Thought NMap for Windows doesn't work on loopback interfaces, you can get it to work by specifying your actual IP.
Cheers,
cgkanchi

[kilerboots]

Well anyways thanks everyone I found it and got it working. I'm new to portscanning, but all your replies helped me a lot.

>Thanks

[nebulus200]

If you just want to test if one port is open (and don't really care about the rest), just telnet or netcat to that port, if you get a 'connected' then it is open, if you get a 'refused or closed' then it isn't, no need to bother with a fancy scanner like nmap...

/nebulus