Dropping internet connection.

bothered

I needed to update the firmware on my Linksys BEFSR41 router, simple enough. That was on Wednesday. It was for a problem on a couple of CoD servers that was solved as soon as I did the update. Soon after this I started dropping my internet connection, 2\3 times a day. I blamed NTL for this as its happened before with them. Rebooting the NTL box didn't always reconnect me. If I just reset the router the connection comes back, everytime!
It looks like it's the router and not NTL, I only realised this last night and I have to go to work shortly. Could anybody give me some things to check when I get home?
Cheers guys.

Thrax

Couple o' screenshots from your router's interface would help immensely to make suggestions.

Just take screens of most every page. Tedious, I know, but it could really help.

csimon

when you figure it out let me know because mine is doing the exact same thing ...my entire farm loses connection over night.

bothered

I read this morning that when you update the firmware you have to reset the router, which I hadn't done. So I did, then nothing worked except I was taken to NTLs registration page and had to register the PC again. Understanding wife sorted it out with NTL while I was at work (or so it seemed) I still keep loosing the connection. I have just registered @NTL again and rebooted everything and it's back on, but for how long?
Thrax, which pages would you like to see? It seems to have all been reset to defaults, even the few ports I had forwarded for a few games have now closed.

bothered

It may be early days but, I got a phone number for Linksys tech support. On the routers set up pages, in advanced, filters, there is a setting near the bottom of the page that said-MTU, disable was checked and size was 1500. He got me to enable it and set the size to 1492. Like I said, it may be early days yet but it's been on for a few hours with no problem.

profdlp

Bothered, I have the same router and have had a similar problem since updating to the new (more secure) firmware. I've been using the router's release/renew to correct it. My Internet loss occurs about twice a day.

I'll try the fix they recommended.

How do you have the rest of these set?

Block WAN Request: Enable Disable
Multicast Pass Through: Enable Disable
IPSec Pass Through: Enable Disable
PPTP Pass Through: Enable Disable
Remote Management: Enable Disable Port:
Remote Upgrade: Enable Disable
MTU: Enable Disable Size:
Filter Internet NAT Redirection: Enable Disable
Filter IDENT(port 113): Enable Disable

bothered

Here's what I have prof.

profdlp

Same at my end. Now I need to figure out what a couple of those mean.

bothered

Post them here if you find out.
He did seem to think that would solve it and it has stayed on since so it looks promising. If we both have the same problem with the same router after updating the firmware maybe they have had a few enquires about it? We'll have to see how it goes. I'll update this thread tomorrow with how things have gone.

profdlp

bothered wrote:

Post them here if you find out...

Will do.

...I'll update this thread tomorrow with how things have gone.

Same here.

bothered

4:15am and still connected.
Off to work now, I'll see when I get in.

profdlp

bothered wrote:

4:15am and still connected...

Same with me.

bothered

I've just got in and understanding wife is on the internet, shopping, again.
It's looking good. I've not lost a connection since the tech support. The number I phoned was on Linksys UKs site. I thought the guy had an 'unusual' accent, at the end he said "are you in the UK?" "yes, arn't you?" replied bothered. "No, I'm in Irving" I wondered who Irving was and whether I should ask, "It's in California" he said. Phew!
Thank you California Linksys man.

Thrax

What are you talking about? We don't have accents!

Blimey.

bothered

Cor luv a duck young marster, I can ardly believe me lug oles but ya do sound queer.

profdlp

Just dropped the connection again. The release/renew in the router settings brought it right back.

I upped the client lease time to see if that makes a difference.

bothered

Well its been over 24 hours now prof and I've stayed connected. Excuse me asking a stupid question, but did you reset the router with the reset button (to factory defaults) after the upgrade? then apply the 'fix'. It didn't work for me until I did that.
Has it improved at all or is it as bad as ever?

csimon

I installed new firmware this morning so it's too early to tell.
the difference is that mine is an access point.
So ...we'll see.

Jimborae

I thought the mtu thingy was for adsl connections rather than cable ones? I'll have to check my settings when I get home as I'm on NTL as well & using a Linksys wrt54G

Straight_Man

bothered wrote:

It may be early days but, I got a phone number for Linksys tech support. On the routers set up pages, in advanced, filters, there is a setting near the bottom of the page that said-MTU, disable was checked and size was 1500. He got me to enable it and set the size to 1492. Like I said, it may be early days yet but it's been on for a few hours with no problem.

Windows stock uses MTU of 1492 in size for ethernet-- and remember, with a router in place as a Gateway, your Windows clients think they ARE on an ethernet as far as technical behavior in lower level networking. That fix synced router's MTU to your Windows box(es)' default settings, most probably.

Mismatch of that between router and client box(es) nic(s) will cause a sync mess as far as data flow between client box(es) and router on LAN side. BTW, you might have been talking to someone who is in reality a Cisco-trained support person. Cisco owns Linksys now, and one of the things they worked on was tech support quality. They have a support center in Irvine, CA-- and that might sound like Irving to someone across the pond from me (e is silent).

Suggested mnemonic relation to remember stock MTU value for Windows from 95 OSR 2.1 up-- It's exactly same as year Christopher Columbus "rediscovered" America. That WAS deliberate as well as being a size boundary that could be used with cheap Novell compatible NICs also.

HTH to explain what happened and why fix worked.

bothered

Thanks for the explanation john, I think you're right. The guys did say something about 'congestion' between router and PC. Anyway I'm now upto 48 hours without a drop so I'm saying it's fixed.

maxanon

Have you guys read this article?

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,63705,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

There's an article on Wired News this morning talking about problems with the way Windows XP handles WiFi connections - stopping and starting the Wireless Zero Configuration tool should fix it. I haven't come across it, but my gf's parents are having problems with theirs and the next time I'm in NYC, I'll need to investigate.

profdlp

bothered wrote:

Well its been over 24 hours now prof and I've stayed connected. Excuse me asking a stupid question, but did you reset the router with the reset button (to factory defaults) after the upgrade? then apply the 'fix'. It didn't work for me until I did that.
Has it improved at all or is it as bad as ever?

Used the reset button as you suggested, then changed the MTU. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

As fra sa im"porvd"e si cocnrende
...prof uncrosses fingers temporarily...

As far as "improved" is concerned, It wasn't too horrible to begin with. About once a day a release/renew fixed it. The only time it riled me up was when it would decide to drop out during a streaming audio/video presentation.

...crossing fingers again...

bothered

Used the reset button as you suggested, then changed the MTU. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

As fra sa im"porvd"e si cocnrende
...prof uncrosses fingers temporarily...

As far as "improved" is concerned, It wasn't too horrible to begin with. About once a day a release/renew fixed it. The only time it riled me up was when it would decide to drop out during a streaming audio/video presentation.

...crossing fingers again...

profdlp

Still doing my once-or-twice-a-day release/renew. It could just be my ISP. I still have Adelphia, same as in (The Holy City Of) Charlottesville, VA, but have different servers here in (The Holy City Of) Westlake, OH.

One thing I've noticed with the new firmware is that the lease time has been reduced from 24 hours to 12, even when set at "0", which supposedly equals one day. Hmmmm...

I've always wanted to set up an assigned IP address system. This looks like a good time to try it.

bothered

It might be your ISP prof. I'm up to six days without a drop. I did have a similar thing ages ago and NTL (my ISP) fixed it by increasing my signal strength.

profdlp

That's a good suggestion. Thanks, Bothered.

This is another case where two variables have changed at the same time (I moved to a new city and downloaded the new Linksys firmware shortly after I arrived), making it harder to diagnose the problem. I may try reverting to the previous firmware. If the problem goes away I'll know it's the firmware. If not, it's likely my new connection.

MediaMan

It may not be totally relevant but I ran into a similar Internet dropping problem. "A network cable is unplugged" kept appearing every few seconds. For the life of me I couldn't figure it out.

The setup was two PCs running through the router to the modem and out to the world.

Plug either in and both worked...just not at the same time.

Finally I changed the duplex setting on one PC from FULL AUTONEGOTIATION to Full Duplex 10 and the problem is solved.

bothered

Well I got to nine days without loosing it then it dropped three times yesterday. It was the router that lost the connection again. I phoned Linksys and the guy told me to set the size of MTU back to 1500. (He didn't say to set it back to disabled though). He said he'd just been talking to somebody else with the same firmware and the same problem. He said to try an older firmware version if it continues but you can't get them from Linsys' site so he emailed them to me. The version I have is 1.45.11. The two he sent are 1.45.6 - 1.45.7. If anybody wants these let me know and I'll send them.
Oh, and setting MTU back to 1500, it's stayed on, so far!

profdlp

I'm going to try MTU = 1500 "Enabled".

If that doesn't work I'm going to try the older firmware. Makes me kind of nervous about the security issues, though.

profdlp

I finally said "Uncle" and reverted to the old firmware.

So far, so good. It does bug me to know there's a security risk involved. I've been thinking of going with a dedicated net server. Maybe now is the time.