Router Problem?

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 01:52:21 -0600, Scott <golden@uslink.net> wrote:

>My SMC 2804WBR Barricade Router is a couple of years old.
>Just today, I found when trying to access some websites that I
>frequently go to (usatoday.com, msnbc.com, some banking sites)
>I get a message that "Netscape cannot connect to the server".
>Often after a few tries, it connects. IE 6 takes me to a blank
>page on many of these sites. I've reset the router, and all
>parameters appear to be ok. This intermittent website
>connectivity is on all four computers in my home network.
>The router firewall is off (Zone Alarm is on), because for some
>time it won't let IE6 fully download all images with the firewall
>on).
>
>Does this sound like a router problem?

Dunno. Here's how to assign the blame.

1. Start by pointing your web browser to the built in web server in
the SMC router. Does it belch web pages? If not, your router is
probably hung.

2. Next try a web page located at your ISP. If the ISP loses
connectivity to the greater internet, the local web servers may still
be available. You might wanna prepare for this in advance as many
ISP's host their public web servers at co-location facilities. If no
web server is available, dive into the SMC status page, determine the
gateway IP address, and try to ping it. For DSL, it should be a
consistant and about 30-40msec.

3. If the ISP's local web server works, then try some random but
popular web servers. If only a few URL's work, then your ISP has lost
connectivity to part of the internet or some major internet connection
point has gone down. Check your ISP's status page, and some of the
"internet weather" report sites.

Notice the way the troubleshooting starts at the closest web server
and works its way through the maze to the internet. If you were on a
corporate LAN, I would also have suggested you check if the local web
server on the local LAN was working.

>Lately, my SMC router often has to be reset when it stops
>connected to the internet. Now there's this new problem of
>not connecting to various websites.

I'm suspicious that you be having connectivity problems because of
excessive outgoing traffic. If you have machines infected with a
virus, work, spyware, or trojan horse, you may be filling your
outgoing pipe with relayed spam or junk. If the upstream bandwidth is
saturated, it simulates a comatose connection because no ACK's can be
returned to the web server. Watch the lights on the router or modem
and do some virus and spyware scanning. If they flash continuously,
especially when none of your computahs are doing anything, is a sign
of trouble.

>Any ideas would be appreciated.
>
>P.S. I do have a LinksysWRT54G wireless router on hand as
>a spare.
>
>Thanks!
>Scott

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D 831-336-2558
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

"Scott" <golden@uslink.net> wrote in message
news:40DFCE35.9023CDB6@uslink.net...
> My SMC 2804WBR Barricade Router is a couple of years old.
> Just today, I found when trying to access some websites that I
> frequently go to (usatoday.com, msnbc.com, some banking sites)
> I get a message that "Netscape cannot connect to the server".
> Often after a few tries, it connects. IE 6 takes me to a blank
> page on many of these sites. I've reset the router, and all
> parameters appear to be ok. This intermittent website
> connectivity is on all four computers in my home network.
> The router firewall is off (Zone Alarm is on), because for some
> time it won't let IE6 fully download all images with the firewall
> on).
>
> Does this sound like a router problem?
>
> Lately, my SMC router often has to be reset when it stops
> connected to the internet. Now there's this new problem of
> not connecting to various websites.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.
>
> P.S. I do have a LinksysWRT54G wireless router on hand as
> a spare.
>
> Thanks!
> Scott

I had what sounds like the same problem on my SMC 2804WBR, when I surfed to
amazon.com or spoke.com. What I found in the router's firewall log was that
the router thought I was conducting a Denial of Service attack from my LAN
to those web pages. After sniffing the connection with Ethereal, I saw that
those web pages were complex and causing many TCP connections to be started
in parallel. I fixed the problem by changing the router's firewall setting
in the Intrusion section: Maximum incomplete TCP/UDP session from same host
= 20 (was 10).

Ron Bandes, CCNP, CTT+, etc.

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Jeff,

It turns out it was the router. I installed a new Linksys WRT54G
Router, and everything is working perfectly once again. Thanks
for the tips.I'll save them for any future problems.

Scott

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

> On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 01:52:21 -0600, Scott <golden@uslink.net> wrote:
>
> >My SMC 2804WBR Barricade Router is a couple of years old.
> >Just today, I found when trying to access some websites that I
> >frequently go to (usatoday.com, msnbc.com, some banking sites)
> >I get a message that "Netscape cannot connect to the server".
> >Often after a few tries, it connects. IE 6 takes me to a blank
> >page on many of these sites. I've reset the router, and all
> >parameters appear to be ok. This intermittent website
> >connectivity is on all four computers in my home network.
> >The router firewall is off (Zone Alarm is on), because for some
> >time it won't let IE6 fully download all images with the firewall
> >on).
> >
> >Does this sound like a router problem?
>
> Dunno. Here's how to assign the blame.
>
> 1. Start by pointing your web browser to the built in web server in
> the SMC router. Does it belch web pages? If not, your router is
> probably hung.
>
> 2. Next try a web page located at your ISP. If the ISP loses
> connectivity to the greater internet, the local web servers may still
> be available. You might wanna prepare for this in advance as many
> ISP's host their public web servers at co-location facilities. If no
> web server is available, dive into the SMC status page, determine the
> gateway IP address, and try to ping it. For DSL, it should be a
> consistant and about 30-40msec.
>
> 3. If the ISP's local web server works, then try some random but
> popular web servers. If only a few URL's work, then your ISP has lost
> connectivity to part of the internet or some major internet connection
> point has gone down. Check your ISP's status page, and some of the
> "internet weather" report sites.
>
> Notice the way the troubleshooting starts at the closest web server
> and works its way through the maze to the internet. If you were on a
> corporate LAN, I would also have suggested you check if the local web
> server on the local LAN was working.
>
> >Lately, my SMC router often has to be reset when it stops
> >connected to the internet. Now there's this new problem of
> >not connecting to various websites.
>
> I'm suspicious that you be having connectivity problems because of
> excessive outgoing traffic. If you have machines infected with a
> virus, work, spyware, or trojan horse, you may be filling your
> outgoing pipe with relayed spam or junk. If the upstream bandwidth is
> saturated, it simulates a comatose connection because no ACK's can be
> returned to the web server. Watch the lights on the router or modem
> and do some virus and spyware scanning. If they flash continuously,
> especially when none of your computahs are doing anything, is a sign
> of trouble.
>
> >Any ideas would be appreciated.
> >
> >P.S. I do have a LinksysWRT54G wireless router on hand as
> >a spare.
> >
> >Thanks!
> >Scott
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D 831-336-2558
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Ron,

Yes, I tried your fix, but as you can see from my above post, the router
had gone bad. A new Linksys router did the trick.

Thanks!
Scott

Ron Bandes wrote:

> "Scott" <golden@uslink.net> wrote in message
> news:40DFCE35.9023CDB6@uslink.net...
> > My SMC 2804WBR Barricade Router is a couple of years old.
> > Just today, I found when trying to access some websites that I
> > frequently go to (usatoday.com, msnbc.com, some banking sites)
> > I get a message that "Netscape cannot connect to the server".
> > Often after a few tries, it connects. IE 6 takes me to a blank
> > page on many of these sites. I've reset the router, and all
> > parameters appear to be ok. This intermittent website
> > connectivity is on all four computers in my home network.
> > The router firewall is off (Zone Alarm is on), because for some
> > time it won't let IE6 fully download all images with the firewall
> > on).
> >
> > Does this sound like a router problem?
> >
> > Lately, my SMC router often has to be reset when it stops
> > connected to the internet. Now there's this new problem of
> > not connecting to various websites.
> >
> > Any ideas would be appreciated.
> >
> > P.S. I do have a LinksysWRT54G wireless router on hand as
> > a spare.
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Scott
>
> I had what sounds like the same problem on my SMC 2804WBR, when I surfed to
> amazon.com or spoke.com. What I found in the router's firewall log was that
> the router thought I was conducting a Denial of Service attack from my LAN
> to those web pages. After sniffing the connection with Ethereal, I saw that
> those web pages were complex and causing many TCP connections to be started
> in parallel. I fixed the problem by changing the router's firewall setting
> in the Intrusion section: Maximum incomplete TCP/UDP session from same host
> = 20 (was 10).
>
> Ron Bandes, CCNP, CTT+, etc.

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Check with SMC for updated firmware first and foremost. I had a similar
problem with my SMC 7400BR with a wap connected. I had been losing the
connection to my wap intermittently, and then completely lost connection to
my from the ISP to the modem. It turns out the ISP had a system outage and
when the connection was restored, the modem sent a load of trash to the
router, corrupting the firmware. I reflashed the router and every thing came
back to normal.
"Scott" <golden@uslink.net> wrote in message
news:40DFCE35.9023CDB6@uslink.net...
> My SMC 2804WBR Barricade Router is a couple of years old.
> Just today, I found when trying to access some websites that I
> frequently go to (usatoday.com, msnbc.com, some banking sites)
> I get a message that "Netscape cannot connect to the server".
> Often after a few tries, it connects. IE 6 takes me to a blank
> page on many of these sites. I've reset the router, and all
> parameters appear to be ok. This intermittent website
> connectivity is on all four computers in my home network.
> The router firewall is off (Zone Alarm is on), because for some
> time it won't let IE6 fully download all images with the firewall
> on).
>
> Does this sound like a router problem?
>
> Lately, my SMC router often has to be reset when it stops
> connected to the internet. Now there's this new problem of
> not connecting to various websites.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.
>
> P.S. I do have a LinksysWRT54G wireless router on hand as
> a spare.
>
> Thanks!
> Scott
>