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Router issue
NinjaSquirrel
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My roommate and I recently went from DSL to cable internet and have been having some problems with our router.
When directly hooked into the modem, I've experienced no problems, however when we plug the router into the modem and then each hook our computers to the router things have been going pretty bad. Occassionally I won't be able to connect to anything for 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes I can only connect to aim (sometimes I can't see my contact list but people can still send me messages), irc and wow but no msn, bittorrent or Firefox.
When I can connect to these thing, even just before or after disconnects, there are no latency issues. Even when only able to connect to certain things the things that are connected aren't having bad latency. Firefox is the only exception where there will be times when page loads will take a minute to three minutes. Everything else has a less than 1 second to just under 2 second ping.
If anyone has any ideas all help is appreciated.
When directly hooked into the modem, I've experienced no problems, however when we plug the router into the modem and then each hook our computers to the router things have been going pretty bad. Occassionally I won't be able to connect to anything for 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes I can only connect to aim (sometimes I can't see my contact list but people can still send me messages), irc and wow but no msn, bittorrent or Firefox.
When I can connect to these thing, even just before or after disconnects, there are no latency issues. Even when only able to connect to certain things the things that are connected aren't having bad latency. Firefox is the only exception where there will be times when page loads will take a minute to three minutes. Everything else has a less than 1 second to just under 2 second ping.
If anyone has any ideas all help is appreciated.
NinjaSquirrel on
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1) If you're going from a DSL connection to Cable, you probably need to change your connection type in the Router from "PPPoE" to "Cable". Most likely, your IP will need to be set to Dynamic, which brings us to number
2) Most cable ISPs use a MAC address to verify clients, meaning the hardware address unique to every single Network card or Interface port. This is how DHCP works (automatic IP assignment). Your computer or router sends a request for an IP address, the ISP's servers recieve the request and reply by assigning your computer an IP, and usually also provide a bit of additional connection info (such as Gateway, DNS1, and DNS2). If your router didn't work and then you connected your computer, the ISP probably detected and assigned an IP (your IP) to the computer's MAC address. Now when you connect and properly configure the Router, the ISP already thinks you have an address assigned, and because the Router's WAN port has a different MAC address, it won't assign an IP to it (it thinks it's an unauthorized interface).
The easiest way to resolve this issue is to disconnect your Router from the WAN and configure it properly using the HTTP interface. Then, before you reconnect it, call your ISP (have your account number ready!) and ask them to please reset your MAC address.
As for 3), if you resolve 1) and 2), 3) should be resolved automagically. But while you're on the phone with your ISP, you may want to ask them what their DNS server IP addresses are (write them down) just in case for some reason you need to set them manually.
The guy who put the modem and cable in did hook my computer directly up to the modem while he was putting everything together and went to some websites to make sure everything was working.
I had set the router to DHCP when I configured it.
Also, I'm assuming your in the US or Canada, these settings may not work elseware (specifically australia).
Router
Automatic Configuration - DHCP
Router name: "Squirrel1" or WRT54G
Host name: doesn't matter, can be blank.
Domain name: doesn't matter, can be blank.
MTU: Manual (I prefer to set mine, 1492 is fairly industry standard)
Size: 1492
Network IP Address: default, probably "192.168.1.1"
Subnet Mask: default, probably "255.255.255.0"
DHCP Server: ENABLE (or you manually set IPs on your computers)
Starting IP Address: default, probably "192.168.1.100"
Max Number of DHCP Users: default's 50, go with 10
Client Lease time: default, "0"
Static DNS1: this you need from your ISP
Static DNS2: also from ISP
Static DNS3: not required, but your ISP may have one
WINS: not required at all
On the computers:
TCP/IP Properties, set to Automatically aquire and IP Address, Set DNS to automatic.
Go to Start>Run "cmd"
at the command prompt, type "ipconfig /release" ENTER
then type "ipconfig /renew" ENTER
This will tell your computer to release it's current IP and then request a new IP from a DHCP server (which your Router should be if you've configured it correctly). Once you Router gets an IP address (you may have to call your ISP for help on that) it will pass info back and forth (Route) from each computer to the internet. Also, if you put the DNS1 and DNS2 stuff into your router, it will pass that info down to the computers during the DHCP request.
if you were to type "ipconfig /all" at a command prompt, based on the settings I provided above, you should get information similar the following: (in no particular order)
IP Address: 192.168.1.100 (or 101, or 102, possibly up to 150)
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
DHCP Server: 192.168.1.1
Gateway IP: 192.168.1.1
DNS1: whatever you programmed it to in the router
DNS2: see DNS1
WINS: probably 0.0.0.0
SC2 NA: exoplasm.519 | PA SC2 Mumble Server | My Website | My Stream
You're going to browse to your gateway.
You can find the number in ipconfig from the command prompt.
You'll probably be prompted with a password. If you haven't messed with your router setttings at all, try just pressing enter, or use "admin/admin" for pass and user, or just "admin" and no pass.
Those are the common default ones on routers, I believe. Sometimes the password will also be 'password' but that's less common.
most of all, most of all
someone said true love was dead
but i'm bound to fall
bound to fall for you
oh what can i do
Every router I've encountered is configured to work with a cable modem by default and you have to make changes to work with DSL. By restoring to factory defaults, chances are you can plug it in and it'll work.
Everything is still working and so I am not sure if everything went as it should have or if this is just the router going through one of its working properly phases. Everything did turn off after I did the ipconfig /release, but I figured that was an expected result and they all started working again after the error showed.
If it's the version 5, congratulations! You've been suckered by Linksys into being a crap product (Don't feel bad about it, I got suckered too). The versions 5.0 and 5.1 (And apperently 6.0! They keep making 'em!) of the router model you named have much reduced memory and storage capacity, so the amount of connections you can make at one time is affected (I read somewhere about 16 connections! Hoora!)
The fact that the setup Computer->Modem is problem free seems to support the "your router sucks" theory. My advice, return if you still can. Otherwise, it could probably make a good paperweight.
(Wikipedia page about your router model here)
I should probably get laughingfuzz in here to explain his experience better.
The MAC address for you Router will be labeled possibly on a sticker on the bottom (example would be 00:0A:3D:F0:23:A0, possibly also shown as 00-0A-3D-F0-23-A0). WAN MAC address is also listed in the router status or admin pages in the web interface.