server can't always talk to client!!

[Daniel Miller]

I've noticed that my Cygwin server can connect to my Linux client just 
fine, as long as both machines are connected to our local network.  
However, if we unplug the machines (who share a common Ethernet switch) 
from the local network, I can no longer connect to the linux box.  I'm 
guessing that this has something to do with a DNS lookup on one side or the 
other; telnet sessions have a similar situation, though the telnet session 
*does* eventually time out and connect.  Is this a reasonable guess??  Is 
there something I can do to bypass this DNS lookup, if that's what it is, 
so we can connect any time, even if no general network is present???