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[Tarazet]

Recently, we overhauled our Comcast cable to have a much shorter run through the house. When I plugged my laptop into the wall, it was blazingly fast, leagues better than it had ever been before. But unfortunately, that would only run my room, and there are other computers in the house that need to be connected. So a Netgear wireless modem was plugged in.

The problem: something keeps periodically shutting down both routers. This lasts for about 5 minutes, during which time nobody can connect to either the wired or wireless router, then it starts working again. It has never conked out for longer than that. I did a little detective work and determined that it's definitely something in my Asus laptop that's making the system go haywire. What could be making this happen?

 

[Tarazet]

Any ideas? I'm really pulling my hair out over this... I can't maintain a consistent connection on my laptop, and it brings the entire network down with it. But in the 6 hours since I last turned it off and switched to a desktop machine, it's been rock solid.

 

[fart]

what is the equipment that is doing this

describe everything you can.

 

[bionic77]

Are you using a linksys router?

My wireless connection starts to flake out everyonce in awhile. It is usually random and a reset of the router will usually fix it.

 

[Tarazet]

Yes, it is a Linksys router. It's not a matter of the signal flaking out: it always remains extremely strong. It just gets blocked out for 5 minutes at a time, and I can't connect to the routers' IP addresses.

Linksys router and Netgear wireless router...

My laptop is an Asus S5200N. I use the Intel ProSet for Wireless program to configure, I believe the drivers are from Asus. I keep everything updated through Asus' support website.

What other info should I give?

 

[bionic77]

Yes, it is a Linksys router. It's not a matter of the signal flaking out: it always remains extremely strong. It just gets blocked out for 5 minutes at a time, and I can't connect to the routers' IP addresses.

Linksys router and Netgear wireless router...

My laptop is an Asus S5200N. I use the Intel ProSet for Wireless program to configure, I believe the drivers are from Asus. I keep everything updated through Asus' support website.

What other info should I give?

The losing the IP address is what I meant by flaking out, though sometimes it will just randomly lose the signal as well too.

My parents use the same ISP as me (Comcast) with a different router (some old cheap MS one) which has never once lost a signal when I was using my laptop. I think it might just be linksys.

 

[Tarazet]

The losing the IP address is what I meant by flaking out, though sometimes it will just randomly lose the signal as well too.

My parents use the same ISP as me (Comcast) with a different router (some old cheap MS one) which has never once lost a signal when I was using my laptop. I think it might just be linksys.

I'm also using Comcast... since your case so closely mirrors mine, I'll point it out to my dad. But why would it only affect the laptop and not the desktop, which uses almost identical hardware and is also connecting wirelessly?

 

[fart]

what's the model of the netgear? is it configured to work as an access point? i think i may know what the problem is

one last thing: does the connection cut out when you first connect? under heavy load?

 

[bionic77]

I'm also using Comcast... since your case so closely mirrors mine, I'll point it out to my dad. But why would it only affect the laptop and not the desktop, which uses almost identical hardware and is also connecting wirelessly?

I don't know. I never figured out why my connection cuts out sometimes either.

 

[Tarazet]

what's the model of the netgear? is it configured to work as an access point? i think i may know what the problem is

BEFSR81 Rev 2. It is, indeed, used as an access point.

one last thing: does the connection cut out when you first connect? under heavy load?

No, and no. It seems to be random.

 

[fart]

model number of the netgear piece, please.

so anyways, there's this bug/feature in several netgear products where the router will COMPLETELY destroy broadcast packets (specifically DHCP offer packets) across the wireless and wired interfaces. i mean, completely fuck up, and it happens almost at random too. in some setups what will happen is the dhcp server (which is generally also a little box) will start flooding itself and the netgear with dhcp offers, and then the trigger the other bug in most netgear (and other cheap consumer level) hardware which is resetting under load. that could be the cause of the your problem. it worries me that it's happening randomly though. but, i have heard stories of both the linksys and netgear parts resetting randomly as well.

one last thing you might want to do (other than getting rid of the linksys router, which i would recommend - you can use the netgear router exclusively since it's a router (duh) and the linksys as a dumb switch if you need it) is run full virus scans on all your hosts. sometimes hosts can end up with viruses/worms/trojans/other malware that start flooding the network with probes (this can happen randomly, it all depends on the malware) that will trigger the cheap routing hardware to reboot (often it's due to overheating).

 

[bionic77]

model number of the netgear piece, please.

so anyways, there's this bug/feature in several netgear products where the router will COMPLETELY destroy broadcast packets (specifically DHCP offer packets) across the wireless and wired interfaces. i mean, completely fuck up, and it happens almost at random too. in some setups what will happen is the dhcp server (which is generally also a little box) will start flooding itself and the netgear with dhcp offers, and then the trigger the other bug in most netgear (and other cheap consumer level) hardware which is resetting under load. that could be the cause of the your problem. it worries me that it's happening randomly though. but, i have heard stories of both the linksys and netgear parts resetting randomly as well.

one last thing you might want to do (other than getting rid of the linksys router, which i would recommend - you can use the netgear router exclusively since it's a router (duh) and the linksys as a dumb switch if you need it) is run full virus scans on all your hosts. sometimes hosts can end up with viruses/worms/trojans/other malware that start flooding the network with probes (this can happen randomly, it all depends on the malware) that will trigger the cheap routing hardware to reboot (often it's due to overheating).

What do you recommend to replace a linksys since apparently both linksys and netgear suck?

 

[Catapult Beetle]

This is just a shot in the dark, but try turning off Windows' Wireless Zero Configuration. This was causing some problems with my Linksys wireless router.

Go to Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools -> Services. In the Services list will be "Wireless Zero Configuration". Disable it.

 

[Tarazet]

Netgear router is WG602 v2.

Catapult: Will do. I'll bring my laptop in right now...

 

[fart]

What do you recommend to replace a linksys since apparently both linksys and netgear suck?

i'm using a dlink wgt624 now. it's not incredible, and yes, it also tends to reboot under load and just pseudorandomly, but it doesn't have that extremely irritating packet corruption issue. honestly, the only way to get decent networking hardware in this day and age is to pay out the ass*. my wired router is a 1u firewall box meant to sit between two fully utilized 100mb links. it is rock solid, but had a ridiculous purchase price (not that i paid it thank god). if you're going to get one of these little 50$ appliances, you really have to just accept some issues.

between the three big brands right now (netgear, linksys, dlink), i'd say the dlink 624 is the best atheros (channel bonding) product and the linksys with the aftermarket or open source firmware is the best non-channel bonder.

if you don't stress any of them, or subject them to weird network topologies, they usually work ok, but the fact is not enough engineering could have gone into one of these things for the amount they sell for.

*this isn't actually true. it used to be much much worse. the stuff you can buy now for 50$ is a hundred times better than the nonexistant products that used to not exist for that much.

 

[bionic77]

i'm using a dlink wgt624 now. it's not incredible, and yes, it also tends to reboot under load and just pseudorandomly, but it doesn't have that extremely irritating packet corruption issue. honestly, the only way to get decent networking hardware in this day and age is to pay out the ass. my wired router is a 1u firewall box meant to sit between two fully utilized 100mb links. it is rock solid, but had a ridiculous purchase price (not that i paid it thank god). if you're going to get one of these little 50$ appliances, you really have to just accept some issues.

between the three big brands right now (netgear, linksys, dlink), i'd say the dlink 624 is the best atheros (channel bonding) product and the linksys with the aftermarket or open source firmware is the best non-channel bonder.

if you don't stress any of them, or subject them to weird network topologies, they usually work ok, but the fact is not enough engineering could have gone into one of these things for the amount they sell for.

What about the MS routers? That goes through a lot more stress then I ever put my router through and it has never failed in like 2-3 years. My dad got the MS one because at the time it was the cheapest. I always assumed the MS router was the cheapest, but it seems to have held up a lot better then my Linksys.

 

[fart]

i'm pretty sure MS doesn't actually build and design those. i have no idea who makes them (there may be a "powered by" next to the MS logo or something - but i don't think they do that unless they're licensing IP..).

 

[Joe]

isnt having 2 routers usually a very bad idea?

 

[fart]

isnt having 2 routers usually a very bad idea?

yes, the internet is a terrible idea.

 

[Tarazet]

This is just a shot in the dark, but try turning off Windows' Wireless Zero Configuration. This was causing some problems with my Linksys wireless router.

Go to Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools -> Services. In the Services list will be "Wireless Zero Configuration". Disable it.

I think this was the winner. So far, so good! I did this and it's been two hours without a failure, which is by far the longest it has worked since it got set up a week ago. I'll keep browsing around tonight and see if the problem recurs, but it seems to have been cured...

 

[Tarazet]

OK, it didn't work after all. Connection has gone down three times today, as if I hadn't changed a thing.

 

[fart]

get rid of the linksys router section. use the netgear as a router.

 

[Tarazet]

Unfortunately, that's not possible, because the computer my dad telecommutes with isn't within range of the wireless. He has to have a wired connection...

 

[teiresias]

My netgear router would exhibit this same behavior all the time in my old apartment. I'd put the cable modem next to the PS2 and have it using a wired connection and use a wireless card in my PC to connect it to the router. But the traffic would suddenly stop, I'd still have signal but network traffic would just stop over both the wireless and wired connection. I don't remember if I could actually get into the router set-up though.

I've since moved back in with my dad for my last semester of school. I hooked up this same router to his modem and I've had no problems with it doing it anymore. See if there is an updated firmware for the Netgear router newer than the one currently in your device. I believe that's what I did, but I can't remember anymore - though I highly doubt it just fixed itself.

By the way, when you say you overhauld Comcast to have a shorter run through the house, do you mean the cable people came in and physically changed how the cable was routed through the house or what? I didn't realize they'd do that.

 

[quin]

I have a netgear router(WGR614) and I could never stay connected to the registration screen long enough to register for xbox live and both my laptop and desktop would cut out all the time. (I wanted to blame comcast). I got fed up and updated the firmware and it hasn't happend since, so maybe that will help if you do that?

 

[Catapult Beetle]

Probably a stupid question, but when you turned off Wireless Zero, you did disable it from loading at startup, right? Just want to make sure.

 

[Tarazet]

Catapult: Yes, I know how to do that... just now, I found out about another tool which I realized might be the root of the problem, namely the Remote Access Connection Manager, through Blackviper.com. I tried to disable it - and it gave me an error. So maybe that's what was fucked, and was messing me up. I disabled it and restarted and it's been stable since, fingers crossed.

And yes, we are going to update the firmware ASAP... but I want to see if there's something in my computer that's causing what basically amounts to internal DDOS attacks.