[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Linksys router problem (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 10/24/2007 6:53:03 PM EDT
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Ok, a problem for the networking gurus: everything seems to be fine with my Linksys router (Model BEFSR41) until I enable Port Forwarding to allow for bittorrent downloading. Every time I enable port forwarding, the router will drop the connection for about 1 second every few minutes. Sometimes the dropouts are just two minutes apart, sometimes it's ten. The connection always re-establishes after one second, so it's not really hurting my surfing or downloading, BUT I also have an XBOX on the router and this problem will boot be off XBOX live. The problem occurs whether the XBOX is on or not. Any ideas? |
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i know this isn't the answer you want, but i really haven't had great luck with the sub-$50 class of networking equipment under any sort of load or using any advanced features - maybe look into the $100-$150 range, the linksys RV042 may be an option i personally use a Cisco ASA 5505 at home, but that is so i can extend my cisco expertise from my day job - it is a $400 device, probably not the best choice for typical home user |
That pretty much sums it up. Cheap gear doesn't work to well if you are actually using it. I would at least start with the firmware. I upgraded a WAP (Dlink) to open source firmware and it has been much improved since then. |
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*shrug* You get what you pay for. I doubt the cheap linksys has the right features, but check and see if there are any logs or logging options... I could venture a few guesses as to what might be wrong but without more info I couldn't pin it on something useful. Remember: Google is your friend. ... then again, I'm a computer geek and my home network router is a Cisco 1800. *shrug* 
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I would highly recommend going to an open source client for your linksys router. I am currently running SVEA SITE as I needed to add BGP to my functionality, but there are many others that work just as well and will most likely fit your model What ports do you have forwarded at this time? UDP 88, UDP 2074, UDP 3074, and TCP 3074 Are the above the ports you have forwarded? Also when you are using port forwarding are you forwarding it to your specific IP?? Such as 192.168.1.2 instead of using the blanket 192.168.1.0 ?? (0_o) |
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In the past, I've had nothing but trouble with the cheap routers. My biggest problem with Linksys routers is their habit of locking up when I pull too much bandwidth. I've had that happen with two of them out of the box and two others after a few months of ownership. Of course, I've also deployed 20-30 others with no problems, but many of those have been in mom & pop shops that never use more than 3-5MB of bandwidth in a given day. On the routers that had the problem, I could never get them to work correctly. I tried everything, including updating the firmware and ensuring a proper airflow was reaching the router. With the lockup problem (which was only fixed by powering the box down and back up), the only solution I could find was to replace the router. It sounds like it is a different issue than what you are experiencing, though, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were somehow related. I upgraded to a Cisco 1760 router while I was working on my CCNA certification last year, so I'm not sure if newer firmware has fixed the problems I was experiencing or not. For what its worth, the lockup problem affected several different products from Linksys, including the models with and without the integrated firewall, and the models with a single LAN port and the integrated four-port switch. -James |
No. If I'm sitting at the PC, the little window pops up in the corner saying "A network cable is unplugged" then it goes away. Also I occasionally review the system log in the windows event viewer and I can see all the times it dropped out. Then the next event is it being re-established a second later. |
Yikes. Does this only occur while you are uploading or seeding? If you enable port forwarding but don't use bittorrent, does this still occur? |
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I think he is looking at the GUI for torrent and seeing it pause. May be an application issue more than a network issue. Does this happen at random times or pretty steady, like every 15 minutes, or when someone connects. Might be a hic cup (not the dont know why you couldnt login answer hic cup) |
No, read his last reply. Windows it telling him that the link is down - the same message you'll see in the systray when you unplug your network cable. |
Is bittorrent currently running? |
Yea, that's a tough one to swallow. Have you done a full factory reset on the router? If not, then try it. I think first I'd try to isolate the problem. Either swap for a different router, or move the router to a different PC or even better, to a PC at a different location with a different connection. See if the problem follows the router or stays with the PC/internet connection. If the problem moves with the router, just replace it and your problem is solved. If it stays with your PC/connection then you're going to have to find if it's your PC or your connection. If you don't have another computer on site then a friends notebook might help. Once you isolate it further, then you can act. If it's your PC, run a full scan for malware, remove software you think might be causing the problem, boot into "safe mode with networking" and see if it happens there too. Try a full reinstall, use a new hard disk if you don't want to lose all your old stuff. If it's not your PC but the connection then you've got a real brain teaser. As Subnet indicated, it would be highly unusual for your connection to be the problem with port forwarding on but be fine with it off. Unless your ISP is dinking with it. |
never know.. shit just breaks.. the dropping the connection.. thats odd usually bad port bad nic or bad wiring.. is the PC a static IP? I needs to be for the forwarding.. OR it could be a error in teh firmware causing the port to drop.. try a diffrent port.. |
Gonna fill mine with Swiss cheez.|
Out of curiosity, is it possible your router is overheating and automatically rebooting? Those things boot up in just a few seconds, so that could explain why you're seeing the notice in the system tray for a moment. I don't remember ever seeing an uptime notice in the Linksys GUI, but you might want to see if you can find one in the newer version. That should establish whether or not the system is rebooting. You might also be able to set up an SNMP trap to find that same information. Barring that, check out the lights on the front of the router when your NIC loses the connection. See if any of the lights flash in a pattern that would indicate a system bootup. -James |
DD-WRT would also be my recommendation. I'm running it on all my Linksys Router and FON routers. |
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May be related, may not be, but I'll pass thing along anyway. I've been playing Team Fortress 2 recently, and a familiar problem has been popping up. About once a minute, I'd lag out and stall for about a second. Just surfing the net, this isn't an issue, but in a first-person shooter, this is a real pain. I did some digging and found that the Wireless Zero Configuration service in XP (and maybe Vista) does a scan every sixty seconds for other wireless networks and it causes a fat lag spike. I ran a ping -t to my router for a few minutes and it you could definitely see it. It would chug along at 1-2ms response times, then get a 1000+ ms packet like clockwork. Once I stopped this service, the problem went away and TF2 is very smooth now. Like I said, may or may not be related, but might be something to look at. Something like this could cause connection hiccups. |
Yes, it has been running all day. I just got back. I'm acutally using Azureus to DL a torrent. Anyway, I just checked the event log and it has not dropped the connection since 1:50 pm. It's so inconsistent. |
Auto MTU is disabled. To others: What's a NIC? |
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My older linksys would always drop the connection at random with my new Fiber line. Turns out some of these older routers cannot "keep up" some of these newer connections. Thye could run fine for a week only to drop the connection every 5 minutes another day. Installed a newer router, no issues since. |
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This one is pretty dang new...it's ver. 4.2 of the Model. With current firmware. As stated though, it is cheap. If it did it ALL the time I'd just give up and buy a new one (sounds like I'm headed that way anyway) but it's the kind of thing that seems fixable. |
This is an interesting theory. The behavior is the same as when I go in and reconfigure, I assume it reboots to enact the new settings. I'm going to try turning on the logging feature and installer the log viewer from the CD. Although the problem isn't occurring right now and hasn't since 1:50. |
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Try this to fix your problem...worked for me! roy d.....hit the net check tab at the bottom |
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I am getting so pissed off at my POS linksys router that I am about to build a firewall from scratch using IPCop (M0n0wall would be good too). Some Intel 10/100/1000 NIC's, 1GB mem (overkill), 40GB HD, and a dual-core processor. I built one of these before and all my network issues caused by my POS linksys went away, a friend bought the firewall off me, I regret selling. |
Ah, but is the value too high? Just a thought. Mike F |
"No problems were found." |
Huh, I'll have to look into that. I'm currently using Smoothwall firewall and have been very happy. |
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Okay, just had my first drop since I turned logging on at 5:45 pm. It DID apparently reboot as the "system up time" when I first looked at the log was 26 seconds. Here are the first 14 seconds worth of entries in the log: [snip] I've been running Azureus all evening with port forwarding open, downloading and seeding like a mother. |
Thank you but I have no idea what that means. 
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LOL there is a procedure to flash the router via tftp. look on linksys site and find the link on how to.. double check via there ftp site that you do in fact have the proper newest version. sometimes they do not list the most uptodate one on the website.. |
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LOL check this out... link to dissconect prob.. link to newer version of firmware this should do it.. |
Damn, that's me to a T. If this works I owe you a big, cold beer. |