[NCLUG] cannot ping ubuntu 12.04 when logged off

[phil marsh]

Hi all,
I'm stumped by this one and perhaps someone here could help?
I'm running Ubuntu 12.04. When my machine is logged out but booted up, I find I cannot ping it from my other machine on my LAN.
However, when I'm logged in locally to the Ubuntu 12.04 box, I can ping it from my LAN.
In other words logged out -> cannot ping
logged in -> can ping.
Could someone kindly tell me what I need to set to get the 12.04 box to accept pings (and ssh logins) when booted but not logged in locally?
Thanks,
Phil