Router trouble or?

[Guest]

I just got myself a Belkin DSL/Cable router. Almost for half price since it was "Recertified". But I didnt get the drivers/BelkinNET software CD. I guess they forgot to put that in. I ordered a replacement from Belkin, but no response yet. Anyways, after setting up two comps (one running Win98SE, and other WinME), I have started experiencing trouble. After about 1 hour of usage my connection would die and only resetting the router would bring back the connection to the network. I am no genius when it comes to these things .. anyone got any ideas? Also, when the connection dies the cable modem and router lights are blinking. Like nothing happneed.. So is this a faulty router,? faulty nic or nic(s)?, faulty cables?, or just software mess up? I have no idea and its getting very old ..the whole reset the router every hour thing. Anyone? (BTW, I got ATTBI aka @home)

 

[jlanka]

When it "dies" try testing the router a few different ways:

Can you ping the router?

If so, can you get into the router via the html based management interface?

If so, do all the settings look correct? Does it have an address from your ISP? Can you release and renew that address (assuming it's dynamic)?

If so, you should get the address of the first hop box at the cable company (ISP). You can get this number a few different ways, one is to do a traceroute, another is to look at the default gateway the ISP is supplying you, another is to do some tests available at <A HREF="http://www.dslreports.com" target="_new">dslreports</A>

Lastly, does this "connection dying" symptom ever happen when directly connected to the cable modem?

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Guest]

I didnt try pinging , but I should have mentioned that I can reset it thru web based managment when connection dies. I can log in. Whnr connected to the modem directly the dissconnection does not happen. I did the trace thing, and my real IP (not the router assigned ) is weird. Since when I hook up my modem directly to one of mine system it changes. I dont know if this is normal. The real IP changes, not the router. I dont know much, but shouldnt it stay the same.

 

[jlanka]

Nah - thats how DHCP works. Especially when you switch devices, the DHCP server sees a different MAC address and thus hands out a different IP address. Both addresses are in the same subnet, no?

Anyway, try pinging the default route (listed on the router box) at your ISP next time it hangs. See if you can ping it from the PC, and if you can ping it from the router (if there is a ping utility on it). Also from the router see if you can release and renew.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Guest]

K. It died few minutes ago. I tried pinging lot of stuff. (I used Visual Trace for trace/ping and MS-DOS for ping). These are the results I got:

WAN IP: trace/ping succeeded
Gateway IP: no success
LAN/Router IPs: trace/ping succeeded
Random host/IP (Yahoo.com): no success

These results confused the heck out of me. I could ping my ATTBI assigned IP? hmmm...

 

[jlanka]

I could ping my ATTBI assigned IP? hmmm...

You mean ping yourself? Yeah, thats entirely legal.

So lemme see, you can't ping the default gateway? OK - did you remember to try to do a DHCP release and renew from the router? Did that work?

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Guest]

It just died again. It usually takes few hours. I cant release/renew from inisde router setup. I can and tried with the "winipcfg". But nothing changed, all the IPs and info stayed the same. I momentarily lost connection (but the other system on the network did not). That was it. BTW, thx for helping me out, I am no genius when it comes to networking. I just want to find out where the problem is. If its faulty software setup, damaged hardware, or my ISP.

 

[Guest]

If I remember, @Home is one of the ISP's that does so weird things. For using your router, you need to change some settings to work properly. The Host Name and domain name on your router must match those of your computer when you are directly connected to the modem.

This information was gathered from SMC 7004 BR Broadband Router Manual, page 35(pdf page 36) at http://www.smc.com/drivers_downloads/library/7004BR_MN.pdf

 

[Rob423]

Should of Got a LINKSYS router... works great for me, i have the @Home service, and i have 3 computer's hooked up...everything works perfect.

ROB,

Once you go AMD, You never Go back!!