Router fun

[Circuit]

I picked up a fairly inexpensive D-Link wired router so I could have my Xbox 360 online at the same time as my PC. No big deal, I thought. Ever since, though, my internet connection will just randomly go dead. Opening up IE to go to the router setup doesn't even work during this time. There only appears to be two different firmware versions for this model, one of which was already on it. The other one listed appears to be an earlier version, but with a later date. I have no idea what that's about, but I tried it anyway and the same thing happens.

Since this is my first time messing with any sort of networking at all, I don't really know how to troubleshoot the problem. Could it be that my shitty DSL modem doesn't play nice with the router or is the router screwy? Resetting the router seems to help, but after doing that the connection takes a few minutes to come back. Hepl!

[Kermit]

The two things I would look at off the top of my head are:

Firmware on the DSL modem and
Cable running from the router to the modem.

Anyway you could get ahold of another router for a few hours to test that?

[Shadowrat]

It sounds like there's something going wrong in the router, if you can't see it from the local network.

These problems are best solved with anecdotal evidence.

On a recent job i had a setup where two computers are on a switch uplinked to a larger network. The computers couldn't see the network, nor could they even see each other.

After alot of plugging and unplugging of machines and wires, i discovered that the switch just needed to be rebooted. We actually have two of these switches on the site, and both behave the same way. If they are powered on too far in advance, they 'lock up' and don't transmit any traffic when the machines come up.

Both switches are D-Link

D-LINK IS CRAP!

There is of course a similar anecdote for every hardware manufacturer, so they are all crap.

Still I think you should just take it back and get a different manufacturer's router and try again. I've had several home router experiences that were similar. Rather than waste time reading manuals and calling tech support, I just got a different model, and it always fixed the issue.

[Q]

If you can't even get to the router setup webpage, then there's a problem between the PC and the router. This would mean one of two things:

1) The network cable between the PC and the router is bad
or
2) Something is wrong with the router

If the X-Box is also offline at this time, then that eliminates 1 and you're left with 2.

Most router issues can be resolved by power cycling the router, but if it's happening frequently then it's probably a bad router.

[jackrabbit]

I used to have this happen all the time. My problem was that the Xbox gives no concern over which IP addresses are in use or not. Realistically, the router should hand off an IP based on the DHCP rules you've set on the router, or the default ones, usually starting with 192.168.1.101.

Since some of my PCs are using static IP, and some are dynamic, I'd have a problem any time one of the dynamic PCs was rebooted/power-cycled and the Xbox was used/powercycled in the interim. The Xbox was grabbing 192.168.1.102 since it was one of the available IPs. If it was off, and a PC was rebooted, the router would hand off .102 to the next device that asked for an address. When the Xbox came back on, it would assume it was still .102. I'd sometimes get collision and the Xbox wouldn't connect to Live. Other times the Xbox WOULD connect to Live, then when I powered it off, the router wouldn't respond to anything and would need to be reset. This may not be your problem at all, but it's worth mentioning.

Finally I logged into the Xbox networking options and just gave it a non DHCP address and I haven't had the problem since.

Well... unless I overload traffic to the FTP. That kicks the shit out of my poor commercial-grade router, too. :(

On another, maybe unrelated note... if I remember correctly, the cable included with the Xbox is NOT a straight-through cat-5. It's a crossover cable. It will still work normally with most auto-sensing routers, but bear in mind, it's technically wired ass-backwards for normal TCP/IP traffic.

[Circuit]

Actually, I got the Core package, so it didn't come with an ethernet cable at all, so that's not it. Also, the problem just seems to happen at random, regardless of if I'm using Live or my PC's internet or both. Last night, I was playing WoW and the connection just sort of gave up. The Xbox wasn't on, so it should've had no effect on anything. After leaving WoW and heading off to bed, I turned on the 360 and checked to see if any new demos had been put up for download. After that, I shut down the 360 and browsed the net for a couple of minutes. I wake up this morning and my connection's dead again. Same thing of not even getting to the router setup page, which judging by you guys' input, leads me to believe that the router's just poop.

I'm going to pick up a different model/brand on the way home today and see if it does the same thing. I suspect not, but who knows. Intermittent problems are the coolest!

[Kermit]

If you can't even get to the router's config page, and are having connection problems with both devices, it's definitely a bad router.

[jackrabbit]

yeah, I'm with Kermit on this one. You could look at the Linksys WRT54G. Normally I shy away from Linksys after problems with them, but the WRT54G have a unix based firmware that you can customize or replace with something like hyperWRT.

I keep putting off getting one since I sold my laptop. Wireless just isn't a current high-priority item for me.

[Tai]

If you do go the WRT54G, I suggest flashing it with the sveasoft.com firmware. I might have mentiioned this before, but that's what I did to two of them, and I've got a wireless connection to a friend almost 2 miles away with no problems :)

[Shadowrat]

I keep putting off getting one since I sold my laptop. Wireless just isn't a current high-priority item for me.

maybe if you were more laptop friendly, i'd bring mine over more :p

[Tai]

with that hair?

[jackrabbit]

I still have wireless B, it's just disabled if no one is over.

You and your laptop are always welcome.

Bring some bundt cake.

[LogRoller]

In my experience, D-Link is just plain crap. I know that doesn't help, I just hate them so.

[Dg3Nr8]

I'm trying to agree with LogRoller more but it's just not possible.

[Shadowrat]

ha BUNDT! lol!

[armerius]

I used to have this problem with my Netgear WGT624v2 all the time... these crap routers need better firmware... in the end they seem to need a hard reboot through a 30 second unplugging of power.. then they seem to cycle and come back on without issue... my netgear still behaves badly (after many firmware upgrades), needing to be rebooted about once to three times a week.

[Budly]

I have both dlink and netgear and have had nary a problem with either. Personally I think that Texas is so big that Circuits signal is just plain getting lost.

[Circuit]

I picked up a different router and so far it's working fine. Since I've now had my first negative experience with a D-Link product, I can officially join the D-Link SUX OMG! Club. There's a club, right?

Thanks for the help, yous guys.

[Circuit]

In the past day or so, my connection has just been sort of giving up. In the system event viewer, there are the following logs:

*TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts.

*The system detected that network adapter \DEVICE\TCPIP_{A098E47E-0D29-41F5-8DD2-618EAB1F345C} was disconnected from the network, and the adapter's network configuration has been released. If the network adapter was not disconnected, this may indicate that it has malfunctioned. Please contact your vendor for updated drivers.\

*Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 00508DD576A0. The following error occurred:
The semaphore timeout period has expired. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.

*The server could not bind to the transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{A098E47E-0D29-41F5-8DD2-618EAB1F345C}.

*The IP address lease xx.xxx.xxx.xx for the Network Card with network address 00508DD576A0 has been denied by the DHCP server 192.168.0.1 (The DHCP Server sent a DHCPNACK message).

There are several more logs similar or exact to these, but I have no clue what they mean. What could the problem be? I waited in 3 seperate long queues in WoW only to stay in the game long enough to turn in a quest at a person I was standing in front of. Then the game would disconnect and my internet connection would be totally crapped out. This same problem happens with or without the router connected, so it's not a problem with that.

[Circuit]

Nothing?

[LogRoller]

First of all, are your ethernet drivers and router firmware all updated?

[Circuit]

Yes to both. Again, this happens with and without the router in exactly the same way.

[LogRoller]

Does it only happen with WoW? I seem to remember some issue with a particular ethernet setting in their tech support forums that could cause drop offs.

[Circuit]

I haven't noticed it happening while just browsing the net, but was the issue you remember seeing causing the people's whole internet connection to stop or just disconnect them from WoW? Because this is disconnecting me from the game, but also making my net connection unusable for a while.

[LogRoller]

I think that it was a disconnection from the net. I had something similar going on, but I can't find it on the website now.

Of course, I'm not looking too hard because I am currently working. :) I'll have a go later.

[Creole Ned]

I (and probably everyone else here :P) remember when I went through four months of hell with Telus - I was getting random disconnections daily and went through all the troubleshooting many times. My trouble ticket could probably stretch to the moon and back.

A tech support guy finally suggested that my IP address might not be automatically renewing. Indeed, the best way to fix the connection was to manually force a renewal of my IP. The issue was never officially resolved but the problem suddenly vanished one day. I think it was entirely on Telus's side - for some reason my IP address would fail to renew automatically and such failure basically turns off your Internet connection. Re-establishing the connection was simple and quick, but it was still aggravating because it only takes a moment to knock you out of a queue or file download or a spot you are reading at in a forum.

Anyhoo, not much help, but I'm inclined to believe it's an ISP issue. Keep bugging them about it and check your router log to see if it may be related to the IP not renewing itself.

[Circuit]

The WoW technical support forums contains a thread with connection issue solutions that mentions people losing their internet connection when performing certain actions in the game. They specifically mentioned turning in quests as being one of the actions. Last night, the only time this problem happened was when I turned in a quest. In fact, I was playing for a good 30 minutes or so, making blacksmithing items before travelling to Gadgetzan to turn in three blacksmithing quests. Three times, I completely lost my internet connection seconds after turning in one of the three quests.

[Creole Ned]

If WoW is the culprit then the solution is easy: Never turn in another quest ever again. Easy peasy!