The router that worked but then didn't [IT question]

Dr Snofeld

We got a new router at my house when we switched ISPs. I can't play any games online with it. Other stuff gets online fine, but not games. Port forwarding has seemingly no effect. It's been this way for a while but I'd sorta given up on it.

Summary of our network:

Router - Stepdad's PC
        \ Network Switch - Homeplugs - My PC
                          \ Sisters' PC

Anyway, I came home today and fired up my PC, after switching the Switch and Homeplugs on (the router was on already because it's used for Internet calling). Fired up Steam to get offline mode, and it logged in. Everything worked including Steam (which I'd forwarded ports for) and Red Alert 3 (which I hadn't). I asked my stepdad and he said all he'd done was turn his PC on to install a new mouse.

Chuffed, I went off to play something single-player while waiting to see if anyone came online that I could game with. While I was playing my stepdad turned on his PC again to do something then switched it off. I finish playing my single-player game to discover that nothing's working again.

Summary:

1. Stepdad turns on router and his PC
2. Stepdad turns off PC
3. I turn on Switch, Homeplugs and my PC
4. Online games work
5. Stepdad turns on his PC again, turns it off soon
6. Online games stop working

I'm gonna go try this series of events again in a while, but my question is, does anyone know why this would have caused my router to work properly, or what it was that prevents it from working normally?

Ganluan

What exactly is Homeplugs?

Are the switch and your stepdad's PC the only machines plugged into the router? If your sister turns her PC on/gets online, do the games stop working then as well?

If I had to guess, it's something to do with the switch and the way it is passing back and forth between your PC and the gateway. Are your PCs given static IPs or is the router assigning them?

Dr Snofeld

Homeplugs are devices for sending network data through the power lines. They've workled flawlessly with the last router. One is connected to the switch and the other to my PC.

The router is attached to the switch, my stepdad's PC and a phone.

My PC is the only one with a static IP, outside the DCHP range or whatever, the other PCs have dynamic IPs.

My sister's PC being turned on doesn't make any difference. Bear in mind that the normal way of things is for it to not work, I'm trying to figure out why it suddenly did.

I just tried the sequence again and it didn't make things work. This is really weird.

Ganluan

Out of curiosity, is there a reason you can't connect your machine directly to the router? I assume there's not enough ports?

What kind of router is it? Have you tried putting your PC in the DMZ as a test to see if it works?

Dr Snofeld

Ganluan wrote: »

Out of curiosity, is there a reason you can't connect your machine directly to the router? I assume there's not enough ports?

What kind of router is it? Have you tried putting your PC in the DMZ as a test to see if it works?

It's some French thing, an Inventel Livebook. We got it when we changed ISPs, and presumably we need that model to keep using Internet calling. Besides which buying new routers is not a financial priority and not even my decision. And it's a wireless router, but we have thick walls so we use it as a wired router with, yes, too few ports for all the PCs.

I'm loathe to try DMZ. My stepdad makes a big deal about changing ANYTHING related to the router. It took me a while to convince him that opening ports would be okay, so if I tried to get him to turn on DMZ...it'd be unlikely to happen.

The fact that it happened one time when my stepdad's PC had been on and off, then stopped after it had been switched off again, makes me think, is it a problem with dynamic IPs?

Dr Snofeld

My stepdad thinks it might be a router firewall problem? Isn't that what forwarding ports is meant to sort out?