Can't reconfigure Netgear router after modem change

Archived from groups: comp.security.firewalls,alt.comp.hardware,24hoursupport.helpdesk (More info?)

I've about given up since I've tried everything I can think of. My ISP
won't support the router, and I'm still waiting for Netgear to reply to my
request for technical assistance.

I have a Netgear MR814v2 router for firewall protection. My OS is Win XP
Pro. And not that it matters, but my ISP is Comcast.

Recently I was having frequent connectivity problems over my cable
connection. I thought it was the ISP's problem until I eventually called
and found out that there had been no service interruptions in my area. A
Comcast Tech rep who came out said the problem was my modem (a Toshiba
PCX1100U). Recently I had bought a new D-Link DCM-200 cable modem because
it was only $20 after rebate, and I wanted a backup. So the Tech rep from
Comcast and I hooked up my backup modem, and after calling Comcast to give
them the MAC address of the new modem, my connection was established. The
tech rep and I tried to get the router to work in the connection without
luck. We seemed to have all of the neccessary information: IP address,
Subnet mask, Default gateway, DNS servers. In Network connections the OS
was set for DHCP address assignment. But I cannot get the router to work.
The connection is fine without the router. I've tried spoofing the MAC to
both the computer network interface MAC and to the cable modem MAC, but
neither of these options has helped. I've tried setting the router to get
the IP address dynamically from the ISP without luck. I tried getting tech
support from Netgear on the phone, but by the time the tech rep was done
feeding me instructions, not only could I not ping the router, but when I
took the router out of the path I couldn't connect to the internet anymore.
It took a little while but eventually I thought to use System Restore to go
back a day and my connection was restored.

Does anybody have any advice? Netgear Tech support is somewhere between
incompetent and nonexistent.

Archived from groups: comp.security.firewalls,alt.comp.hardware,24hoursupport.helpdesk (More info?)

"Jeff" <jeff@nospam.net> wrote in news:tOMJc.103407$Oq2.21489@attbi_s52:

> I've about given up since I've tried everything I can think of. My
> ISP won't support the router, and I'm still waiting for Netgear to
> reply to my request for technical assistance.
>
> I have a Netgear MR814v2 router for firewall protection. My OS is Win
> XP Pro. And not that it matters, but my ISP is Comcast.
>
> Recently I was having frequent connectivity problems over my cable
> connection. I thought it was the ISP's problem until I eventually
> called and found out that there had been no service interruptions in
> my area. A Comcast Tech rep who came out said the problem was my
> modem (a Toshiba PCX1100U). Recently I had bought a new D-Link
> DCM-200 cable modem because it was only $20 after rebate, and I wanted
> a backup. So the Tech rep from Comcast and I hooked up my backup
> modem, and after calling Comcast to give them the MAC address of the
> new modem, my connection was established. The tech rep and I tried to
> get the router to work in the connection without luck. We seemed to
> have all of the neccessary information: IP address, Subnet mask,
> Default gateway, DNS servers. In Network connections the OS was set
> for DHCP address assignment. But I cannot get the router to work. The
> connection is fine without the router. I've tried spoofing the MAC to
> both the computer network interface MAC and to the cable modem MAC,
> but neither of these options has helped. I've tried setting the
> router to get the IP address dynamically from the ISP without luck. I
> tried getting tech support from Netgear on the phone, but by the time
> the tech rep was done feeding me instructions, not only could I not
> ping the router, but when I took the router out of the path I couldn't
> connect to the internet anymore. It took a little while but eventually
> I thought to use System Restore to go back a day and my connection was
> restored.
>
> Does anybody have any advice? Netgear Tech support is somewhere
> between incompetent and nonexistent.


When you plug the router backup, can you ping the computers on the LAN?

What IP(s) are being assigned to the computers when they are requesting a
DHCP IP from the router?

Have you tried using one of the router's static IP(s)?

From what I understand, Comcast is not an ISP that looks at the MAC of
the second device behind the modem and no MAC spoofing with the router is
required for the connection to work.

Have you tried doing a hard reset of the router? Maybe, it's still locked
in on the old modem in some manner and needs to be reset to its factory
default settings before connecting it to the new modem.

Are you sure that the router has not become defective in some manner?

Duane

Archived from groups: comp.security.firewalls,alt.comp.hardware,24hoursupport.helpdesk (More info?)

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 09:00:09 GMT, "Jeff" <jeff@nospam.net> wrote:

>I've about given up since I've tried everything I can think of. My ISP
>won't support the router, and I'm still waiting for Netgear to reply to my
>request for technical assistance.
>
>I have a Netgear MR814v2 router for firewall protection. My OS is Win XP
>Pro. And not that it matters, but my ISP is Comcast.
>
>Recently I was having frequent connectivity problems over my cable
>connection. I thought it was the ISP's problem until I eventually called
>and found out that there had been no service interruptions in my area.

Which basically means nothing. Consider that when someone calls
with a problem and is told that there are "no service
interruptions", if they DO have a service interruption, the tech
on the phone just assumes "user error, not our fault" when they
don't really know. A tech should be able to see if you're
(moden) is connected to the network. If they can't tell you even
that it's time to ask for next tier of support. If you need to
ask for a manager, once someone comes on the phone, you even have
to ASK them if they are indeed a manager, else you may just get
handed off to someone else..


>A
>Comcast Tech rep who came out said the problem was my modem (a Toshiba
>PCX1100U). Recently I had bought a new D-Link DCM-200 cable modem because
>it was only $20 after rebate, and I wanted a backup. So the Tech rep from
>Comcast and I hooked up my backup modem, and after calling Comcast to give
>them the MAC address of the new modem, my connection was established.

OK, this is a confirmed working modem, keep using it while
reconfiguring the router, not switching back and forth with the
modems again.

>The
>tech rep and I tried to get the router to work in the connection without
>luck. We seemed to have all of the neccessary information: IP address,
>Subnet mask, Default gateway, DNS servers.

Subnet of the WAN or LAN? LAN is typically 255.255.255.0, but
WAN may be different. Gateway needs be correct but forget about
DNS server and just ping IP addresses on the WWW instead of
Domain names.

>In Network connections the OS
>was set for DHCP address assignment. But I cannot get the router to work.

Can you ping the router from the PC?

>The connection is fine without the router. I've tried spoofing the MAC to
>both the computer network interface MAC and to the cable modem MAC, but
>neither of these options has helped.

Do not clone the router's MAC to be same as any other connected
device... not the PC, not the modem. _IF_ you told Comcast the
MAC of your PC's network card as a requirement for service then
you either need to tell them switch that to the MAC of the
router, or use a different network card and clone the PC network
card's MAC to the router (assign router the MAC assigned to the
network card you have removed and aren't using anymore).

Check any connection lights for link between router and modem.
After Comcast tech tells you they can or can't see your modem (a
tech that has the ability to check that), have someone try to
ping the router over the internet. Of course if the router has a
setting to disregard pings, that setting should be disabled.
Basically you need to go step by step testing links between each
part of the chain till you find where it stops.

opening a command prompt window on the PC (type "cmd" in windows
2K/XP run box) and do a traceroute...

"tracert 210.120.128.117"

(or substitute any IP you want, know is a system with active
internet connection)

You should see (after a few seconds) a list of times and
addresses. First address should be the router, usually default
for router is 192.168.0.1. If you see _any_ IP addresses after
the router, your router is connected properly to the Comcast
equipment. If you see only the router IP, the router to modem is
the problem. If you can't even see the router IP, then the PC's
TCP/IP settings are not correct. I"m probably leaving out a few
details but it's easier to work backwards and find out exactly
what is and isn't working rather than trying to speculate every
potential issue.


>I've tried setting the router to get
>the IP address dynamically from the ISP without luck.

Does Comcast support doing that?
What happens when you set it to do that?
On the router's configuration menus, does it show it succeeded in
retreiving that info?


>I tried getting tech
>support from Netgear on the phone, but by the time the tech rep was done
>feeding me instructions, not only could I not ping the router, but when I
>took the router out of the path I couldn't connect to the internet anymore.
>It took a little while but eventually I thought to use System Restore to go
>back a day and my connection was restored.
>
>Does anybody have any advice? Netgear Tech support is somewhere between
>incompetent and nonexistent.

Basically what you need to do is pretend the router IS the PC.
Whatever settings Comcast instructed to set on your PC (beyond
merely installing TCP/IP and binding it to the network adapter)
are settings that should be configured on the router, wherever
possible. Then with router as DHCP server, after PC boots it
should show it's IP address as one assigned by router, in
addition to Subnet mask, gateway. At that point, try pinging
things from the PC in order- Ping yourself (the PC's IP
address), then router, then address I listed above in tracert
example.

Archived from groups: comp.security.firewalls,alt.comp.hardware,24hoursupport.helpdesk (More info?)

Actually comcast uses dynamic addresses.

Archived from groups: comp.security.firewalls,alt.comp.hardware,24hoursupport.helpdesk (More info?)

Leythos <void@nowhere.com> wrote in news:MPG.1b61f86befa0317598a7aa@news-
server.columbus.rr.com:

> I agree, while the IP may not change for months, if you change the MAC
> of the connecting device, your IP will change.

Exactly. It is dynamic in that it is DHCP assigned. Just because you
always get the same address doesn't mean you should just statically assign
it.

Archived from groups: comp.security.firewalls,alt.comp.hardware,24hoursupport.helpdesk (More info?)

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 22:42:37 GMT, "Jeff" <jeff@nospam.net> wrote:

>The router has two settings, Use the following IP Address, and Obtain IP
>Address dynamically from ISP. I've tried both, using both my NIC MAC
>address and my Modem MAC address. Each time I did turn off the modem and
>router in between trials for five minutes as had been suggested to me a
>longtime ago when I was first installing the router. And I have used the
>router reset button to clear all settings so I could be sure I was starting
>fresh. When I connect the router in the network I can't ping anything
>(except maybe the router itself).
>

Set it to obtain the address.

Don't be vague about "maybe" what you can ping. Missing these
exact details could be why it's not working yet.

Forget about having internet access for the time being and focus
on what i wrote prevously. Your router should have all the
settings comcast provided for your pc, set to it instead. Your
pc should no longer use thoose settings. In other words, if
Comcasty provided a host name then you can't have both systems
named that. You can't have two devices with same mac.
Substitute the router for the pc, and undo all configuration to
the pc, pretend the pc is not connected to cable internet at all,
simply have it set to obtain DHCP settings as it would in any lan
with a DHCP server (which on your lan, is your router).

Once PC can ping router, login to it and see what it's settings
are.

Archived from groups: comp.security.firewalls,alt.comp.hardware,24hoursupport.helpdesk (More info?)

I have set the router to all the settings given by Comcast to define the
connection - IP address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, DNS primary and
secondary server. And I can login to the router at 192.168.0.1, which means
its effectively communicating with the PC.

My PC Network setup is configured to "Obtain an IP address automatically"
and "Obtain DNS Server address automatically". Under IP addresses DHCP is
enabled. The advanced DNS settings are to Append primary and connection
specific DNS suffixes, Register this connection's address in DNS, WINS is
set to Enable LMHosts lookup and NetBIOS is set to Default (Use NetBIOS
settng from the DHCP server). The Options tab is set to "Allow TCP/IP
filtering", but the filtering is set to "Permit All".

And with the computer connected directly to the modem and therefore to the
network, checking my Network Connection Details shows that all the
information I've been entering into the router settings is correct.

And I'm still waiting form Netgear to respond to my case after four days.
If I don't hear anything on Monday I'm going to call Customer Support (not
Technical Support) and register a complaint.

Thanks for all the help you've all given so far.



"kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
news:b74hf0tvpo7ffre0nlf0a558od3gru36dn@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 22:42:37 GMT, "Jeff" <jeff@nospam.net> wrote:
>
> >The router has two settings, Use the following IP Address, and Obtain IP
> >Address dynamically from ISP. I've tried both, using both my NIC MAC
> >address and my Modem MAC address. Each time I did turn off the modem and
> >router in between trials for five minutes as had been suggested to me a
> >longtime ago when I was first installing the router. And I have used the
> >router reset button to clear all settings so I could be sure I was
starting
> >fresh. When I connect the router in the network I can't ping anything
> >(except maybe the router itself).
> >
>
> Set it to obtain the address.
>
> Don't be vague about "maybe" what you can ping. Missing these
> exact details could be why it's not working yet.
>
> Forget about having internet access for the time being and focus
> on what i wrote prevously. Your router should have all the
> settings comcast provided for your pc, set to it instead. Your
> pc should no longer use thoose settings. In other words, if
> Comcasty provided a host name then you can't have both systems
> named that. You can't have two devices with same mac.
> Substitute the router for the pc, and undo all configuration to
> the pc, pretend the pc is not connected to cable internet at all,
> simply have it set to obtain DHCP settings as it would in any lan
> with a DHCP server (which on your lan, is your router).
>
> Once PC can ping router, login to it and see what it's settings
> are.

Archived from groups: comp.security.firewalls,alt.comp.hardware,24hoursupport.helpdesk (More info?)

If you call Phone: (408) 907-8000 and ask for Level 2 support the
receptionist will connect you.

Make sure you are armed with a case number!

"Jeff" <jeff@nospam.net> wrote in message
newsdfKc.115303$Oq2.47357@attbi_s52...
> I have set the router to all the settings given by Comcast to define the
> connection - IP address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, DNS primary and
> secondary server. And I can login to the router at 192.168.0.1, which
means
> its effectively communicating with the PC.
>
> My PC Network setup is configured to "Obtain an IP address automatically"
> and "Obtain DNS Server address automatically". Under IP addresses DHCP is
> enabled. The advanced DNS settings are to Append primary and connection
> specific DNS suffixes, Register this connection's address in DNS, WINS is
> set to Enable LMHosts lookup and NetBIOS is set to Default (Use NetBIOS
> settng from the DHCP server). The Options tab is set to "Allow TCP/IP
> filtering", but the filtering is set to "Permit All".
>
> And with the computer connected directly to the modem and therefore to the
> network, checking my Network Connection Details shows that all the
> information I've been entering into the router settings is correct.
>
> And I'm still waiting form Netgear to respond to my case after four days.
> If I don't hear anything on Monday I'm going to call Customer Support (not
> Technical Support) and register a complaint.
>
> Thanks for all the help you've all given so far.
>
>
>
> "kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
> news:b74hf0tvpo7ffre0nlf0a558od3gru36dn@4ax.com...
> > On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 22:42:37 GMT, "Jeff" <jeff@nospam.net> wrote:
> >
> > >The router has two settings, Use the following IP Address, and Obtain
IP
> > >Address dynamically from ISP. I've tried both, using both my NIC MAC
> > >address and my Modem MAC address. Each time I did turn off the modem
and
> > >router in between trials for five minutes as had been suggested to me a
> > >longtime ago when I was first installing the router. And I have used
the
> > >router reset button to clear all settings so I could be sure I was
> starting
> > >fresh. When I connect the router in the network I can't ping anything
> > >(except maybe the router itself).
> > >
> >
> > Set it to obtain the address.
> >
> > Don't be vague about "maybe" what you can ping. Missing these
> > exact details could be why it's not working yet.
> >
> > Forget about having internet access for the time being and focus
> > on what i wrote prevously. Your router should have all the
> > settings comcast provided for your pc, set to it instead. Your
> > pc should no longer use thoose settings. In other words, if
> > Comcasty provided a host name then you can't have both systems
> > named that. You can't have two devices with same mac.
> > Substitute the router for the pc, and undo all configuration to
> > the pc, pretend the pc is not connected to cable internet at all,
> > simply have it set to obtain DHCP settings as it would in any lan
> > with a DHCP server (which on your lan, is your router).
> >
> > Once PC can ping router, login to it and see what it's settings
> > are.
>
>

Archived from groups: comp.security.firewalls,alt.comp.hardware,24hoursupport.helpdesk (More info?)

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 09:25:07 GMT, "Jeff" <jeff@nospam.net> wrote:

>THANK YOU!!!
>
>I now know the problem lies between the router and the modem.
>
>Without the router there is no problem. When I use the router, I have to
>use an additional RJ45 cable - one from NIC to router, and one from router
>to modem.
>
>I've checked the cables by interchanging them, and both cables are good.
>
>When I connect the router in the network, I can ping the router and connect
>to it on 192.168.0.1. But when I use the auto configuration wizard,

Hold on there, what are you trying to autoconfigure?
The router should be fine with factory default values, except the
specifics provided from Comcast. Don't go reconfiguring the
router, simply input what Comcast provided and nothing more.


>the
>error message is that the router does not detect an internet connection.
>And when I try to ping my ISPs DNS server the connection times out.

You never did mention if the router was receiving correct Comcast
config via DHCP.

>So the modem definitely works and both RJ45 cables work. I've carefully
>followed pages 7-4 and 7-5 of the Netgear MR814 Full Manual, Troubleshooting
>the ISP Connection. The router cannot be manually configured to so that the
>modem recognizes it by power recycling the modem or by MAC spoofing.

Power cycling is often mentioned but seldom if ever needed on
modern equipment... at worse it'd need rebooted, but never
powered off then on again.

The modem isn't supposed to be trying to recognize the router.
You keep mentioning MAC spoofing but do you know what you're
doing? If you spoof _any_ mac, it should only be IF you supplied
your PC's network adapter MAC to Comcast. If you did not supply
Comcast with the PC's network adapter MAC, _DO_NOT_ spoof a MAC
on the router. I'm not certain of Comcast's setup but most
likely they had you give them the modem's MAC, so when you
changed modems you needed to give them the new modem's mac, but
then that would be the end of your dealings with mac(s).


>And
>I've done a hard reset on the router to factory settings before doing all of
>the above.

Try doing a hard reset then not doing any of the above.
What info did Comcast provide to you, that is, specific to your
end? Did they provide any info on how you needed to configure
your PC? If so, focus on that, but also UNDO those config
changes you made to your pc, as they don't apply to it anymore.


You're certainly entitled to ignore me, but it seems you keep
doing same thing over and over again expecting a different result
instead of looking at the issues I mentioned.