dellsweig
Extreme Aerobatics
Premium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY
 ·Time Warner VOIP
·Vonage
 ·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | Looking for the Common Thread in router problems
Ok All
Instead of guessign what everyone is trying to do with their home networks (games, browsing, etc,etc,etc) - Why dont yo post the major congifg items that are in place at the time of your router crash/hang.
Maybe we will all see the common thread
PnP (on or off)
Security (WEP, WPA, None)
Logging (on or off)
MTU Setting
Port FOrwarding
DHCP Client lease time
I bet we find a common thread here - Like PnP
Logic tells me that with all the complaining going on about the hardware - there is something else we arent talking about which is behind this all |
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dellsweig
Extreme Aerobatics
Premium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY
·Time Warner VOIP
·Vonage
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Common Thread for router problems
Some more info....
90% of you out there dont have a clue as to what PnP is or does and how it effects your network.
»www.coternet.com/resource/articl···upnp.htm
Many vendors - including Linksys - have not embraced UPnP due to its inherent security and stability issues. The spec allows each individual vendor to make extenstions which dont necessarily play together either!!There is little or no security in UPnP as well - ANY application - web based ort local - can reconfigure your router - turn on or off port forwarding, effect routes, DNS servers, you name it...
Kind of like leaving the keys in the car and wondering why the gas tank is sometimes empty...... |
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streetwolf
join:2002-02-22
Marlboro, NJ | reply to dellsweig
Are you sure you really want a common thread for Router Problems? It would be like me having a common thread why I can't get a date. Way to long 
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dellsweig
Extreme Aerobatics
Premium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY
·Time Warner VOIP
·Vonage
·RoadRunner Cable
| Not a common thread for router problems - well maybe so -
It is just here in the Linksys forwum - if you dig down, you will find a few common configuration settings to those who are ready to throw out thier Linkys.... These folks will most likely find similar problems when they bo buy a Dlink, or SMC or Netgear... I bet when they step back and look, PnP, WEP/WPA, MTU and/or Logging will all have some overlap.
This might just give some folksa push to look at these things before they complain... The UPnP is a big player here - there is a reason Linksys did not rush to embrace the 'standard' |
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George Kidd
join:2001-08-09
Vancouver, BC | reply to dellsweig
Re: Looking for the Common Thread in router problems
Well folks, one approach is, I always leave uPnP turned "Off", and I avoid Wireless stuff. I am using ADSL and as a result have not had many of the problems mentioned. For me it "Just Works".....Happyness is... |
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dellsweig
Extreme Aerobatics
Premium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY | if you inlude router model, firmware rev with the things like PnP off - I will cut this stuff into a spreadsheet..... |
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JJ_Mclure
join:2002-03-13
East Greenwich, RI | reply to dellsweig
i understans the common thread model. but isn't that like a stitch in time saves nine. Or, look before you leap.
think people that threads come in many varieties. Clothes, CPU Multitasking, sewing, Lines of code Etc. Etc. |
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dellsweig
Extreme Aerobatics
Premium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY
·Time Warner VOIP
·Vonage
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to dellsweig
Ok - I will start:
BEFSW11S4 V4 (1.50) No Locks or freezes (8 clients)
PnP: off
WEP: off
WPA: off
Log: off
MTU: 1400
DHCP Lease: 32767
SSID: broadcast enabled
Port Forwarding: Yes - 2 port ranges
BEFW11S4 V1 (1.44.2) No Locks or Freezes (6 clients)
PnP: off
WEP: off
Log: off
MTU: 1400
DHCP Lease: 32767
SSID: broadcast enabled
Port Forwarding: no |
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dellsweig
Extreme Aerobatics
Premium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY
·Time Warner VOIP
·Vonage
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to JJ_Mclure
JJ
I agree - look before you leap BUT - many will find that PnP is killing them - add in WPA and well - you see the posts... The specs for PnP allow vendors to do their own things - without concern for inter-operability. I have not read the WPA specs carefully but I am sure Microsofts implementation does not always play with vender 'xyz' implementation....
Just trying to get folks to see that if you dont need it - turn it off.
If there are specific port forward requirements - forward them - dont use PnP.... If there is a home security requirement - use MAC filtering - do't screw around with WPA... |
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George Kidd
join:2001-08-09
Vancouver, BC | reply to dellsweig
Yup, that about covers the problems. Does NE1 have some "Good" Working Answers/Solutions that we can all put to good use? |
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dellsweig
Extreme Aerobatics
Premium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY | Who-ever Hofbrau is needs to get some sleep....
Pretty sad when you cant try to share the experience of others out here to help the folks coming here to solve their problems without getting slammed.
Sounds like a real friendly guy |
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biker45
join:2003-10-18
Erie, CO
| reply to dellsweig
dellsweig:
Thanks for your initiative to try and figure out the cause of the dreaded router hang problem.
Here's my info...
Router: BEFSW11S4 V4 (firmware 1.50) Locks/freezes approx twice per day (2 clients). Problem also occurred with older firmware 1.45.7 and 1.45.3
UPnP: off
WEP: enabled
WPA: off
Log: enabled
MTU: 1500 (previously set to 1400 but problem persisted)
DHCP Lease: 0 (label on config setting states that 0 minutes implies one day)
SSID: broadcast disabled
Port Forwarding: Yes - 1 port
Filter Ports: Yes, 4 ports |
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Jan Janowski
join:2000-06-18
Skokie, IL
 ·AT&T Midwest
| reply to dellsweig
My problem is I either mis-interpret the manual, or over-interpret what I read in the manual.... Which gets complicated by things in manual being covered in less detail than what I needed, and an occasional breaking of features in later version firmware.... and me running around trying to determine what I did to kill it.
I would say that more than 70% of the problems I've encountered are of this type.
--
Looking for 1939 Indian Motocycle |
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biker45
join:2003-10-18
Erie, CO
| reply to dellsweig
dellsweig:
I received your email with suggestion that I change my DHCP lease interval to 32767.
You have a good point. The router hang problem could be related to its processing of the DHCP lease renewal.
I just changed my lease expiration to 32767 and will post results in this thread. |
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dellsweig
Extreme Aerobatics
Premium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY
·Time Warner VOIP
·Vonage
·RoadRunner Cable
| Biker...
Way back (a whole year ago) when I was setting my Vonage ATA to work with the Linksys, I was having a problem where the ATA would 'lock up' once a day. The techs at Vonage suggested I try increasing the lease time - and guess what - it solved the problem... Maybe there is some obscure handshake the Linky tries which blows some DHCP client implementations out or some message the DHCP server in the linky does not like but it worked..
Did the change effect your problem?? did the 'problem' interval change?? There really isnt that many things in your linky that are clock driven like the lease interval.
Dan |
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pooter
join:2002-11-26
Somerset, NJ
1 edit | I bought a new BEFSW11S4 V4 last week and upgraded it to firmware 1.50 first thing. It has up to 4 clients and froze once a day.
UPnP: off
WEP: enabled
WPA: off
Log: enabled
MTU: default
DHCP:default
SSID: broadcast disabled
Port Forwarding: Yes - 1 port
Filter Ports: none
Edit: I forgot to mention, I could not detect any patterns regarding the router hanging. Twice it happened overnight when the router was not in use (all PCs and other Internet devices were turned off.) Once it happened while I was using XBox Live and the other time it happened while surfing. |
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Johkal
Cool Cat
Premium,MVM
join:2002-11-13
Happy Valley
clubs: | Re: Looking for the Common Thread in router proble
Flash back to 1.45.7 |
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biker45
join:2003-10-18
Erie, CO
| reply to dellsweig
Re: Looking for the Common Thread in router problems
Dan:
Setting DHCP lease interval to 32767 in BEFW11S4 v4, to try and resolve the router hang problem, did not work.
Router was in a hung state when I booted my PC this morning and attempted to access the net (i.e., pings to the inside IP address, 192.168.1.1, failed). After power cycling the router, the problem cleared as usual.
I leave my router and cable modem powered on 24x7, but I shut down my PCs at night. Before shutting down last night, I verified that the router was not hung. When I booted my wired PC this morning, I found the router was hung (pings to 192.168.1.1 confirmed the hang). Nothing in the router's log indicated a problem.
After booting in the morning is typically when I first encounter the router hang problem. The router hang problem occurs regardless of whether I boot my wired or wireless PC. Subsequent boots of either PC do not cause the router to hang (so booting is not causing the problem). Also, on rare occasions, I find that the router is not hung when I first boot my PCs in the morning.
Often during the day (with my PCs already booted), I will notice that I cannot access a web site. Subsequent pings to 192.168.1.1 fail, indicating that the router has hung again. On rare occasions, I can get through an entire day without a hang, but not often.
I really hoped that setting the DHCP lease time to 32767 would solve the problem, but I guess I won't be that lucky.
Since the hang often occurs at night when my PCs are down, I am wondering if the catalyst for the hang is something that my cable company is doing/sending. I guess I could power down my cable modem over night, leave the router powered up, and see if the router hangs (over night). If so, that would eliminate my cable company from the list of usual suspects.
Any other thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated. |
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mikeyuf
join:2003-01-05
Gainesville, FL | Well, Im having all the same problems.. But Im trying to to find 1.45.7? anyone have it? |
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ToasterMan78
Premium
join:2003-11-26
| reply to biker45
said by biker45  :
Any other thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated.
Probably others have mentioned this to you, but wired setups are intrinsically more stable than wireless setups. I don't know how long you have had problems (I see you have posted in other threads on your BEFW11), but it may be time to move to a wired setup. |
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