[ntp:questions] ntpd not responding on localhost

[Nick Bright]

I've installed and configured NTP on a RHEL 3 machine, and configured it 
to query the US pool servers.

Unfortunately, because the firewall administrator this machine is behind 
hasn't yet set up the firewall rules the time can't sync. At least I 
assume that he hasn't done it, because the time isn't syncing.

ntpq> pe
      remote     refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
========================================================================
  217.160.254.116 0.0.0.0   16 u    -  128    0    0.000    0.000 4000.00
  75.144.70.35    0.0.0.0   16 u    -  128    0    0.000    0.000 4000.00
  72.232.254.202  0.0.0.0   16 u    -  128    0    0.000    0.000 4000.00
  208.75.88.4     0.0.0.0   16 u    -  128    0    0.000    0.000 4000.00

However, if I execute "ntpdate -u localhost" it replies with:

ntpdate[8246]: no server suitable for synchronization found

I did verify that I can sync with an external source, though:

ntpdate -u 217.160.254.116
  8 Feb 19:04:00 ntpdate[8247]: adjust time server 217.160.254.116 
offset -0.302278 sec

So my questions are:

If the NTPD isn't synchronized with external servers, will it simply 
ignore clients?

If it doesn't ignore clients, why would my ntpdate command run on the 
local machine not be able to query the server? It can't be the firewall, 
because iptables is completely disabled.

Thanks,
-- 
---
- Nick Bright
   Network Administrator
   Terra World
   Tel 888-332-1616 x 315
   Fax 620-332-1201