I'm ready to destroy my Netgear RT314! Random internet losses only in XP!

[KnickNut3]

Hi. I have been struggling with my router ever since switching to Windows XP. I have called tech support, and they told me that my answer would definitely be in Microsoft Knoledge base, but no even remotely related issues were there.

1. I have 2 XP computers and 1 Win98 computer connected to my RT314 router.
2. About twice an hour, both XP machines will lose access at the exact same time.
3. During this time, we cannot use the internet by any means with new connections, but already connected items, like FTPs and instant messengers, will continue to work. Example: I'm downloading something via FTP when my internet goes out. I will continue to download, but if I try to connect to a new FTP or connect to ICQ, I won't be able to establish a connection.
4. If I reboot the router by cutting the power and plugging it back in, the internet comes back on as soon as it's done rebooting. If I just leave it, it usually never comes back on, unless I wait an hour or more.
5. My Windows 98 machine never loses access, even through these entire ordeals.

Since both machines do it at the exact same time, it seems like more of a router problem than a one machine problem. Seems as if it randomly sends a bad packet that makes WinXP go haywire or vise versa. Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[FUBAR]

Firmware update?? Windowsupdate?

Have you got anything else interesting going on in your network? ports forwarded?

Sounds like the 2 XP machines are locking some service up on each other. You might want to check all your programs running across the net, virus scan, reinstall networking, release and renew IPs. Try and take one machine offline for an hour and see if it still happens. Then put it back on and try taking the other one off. It COULD be something with the win98 too... I dont' have a clue what tho.
I'd hardly blame it on the router tho, especially if other machines can still do everything.

 

[KnickNut3]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm running firmware 3.25. It has been the same on both 3.25 and 3.26 beta, the two newest ones.

These problems happen by themselves if only one of the machines is on. In fact, this happened to only my one machine when it was the only one on XP, and the 2 98s worked fine. I'm sure of that. Nothing else special. Just 3 computers hooked up to share the internet and occasionally files. I have no inter computer programs/movements for the most part. They both have Norton installed (with no auto-updates), and standard Windows/Office programs, but that's about it. These happen separately, though at the same time.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'd appreciate more.

 

[bozack]

Funny I am seeing the same thing here using Comcast in Arlington VA......

Never had the problem until they gave me a new modem and a new computer name....

Only difference is my computer is running windows 98.....

AIM, ICQ, Yahoo Messanger and such will all function correctly however the Internet Will not work at all.....

For me it is pretty random, no set time, and not while doing anything in particular.

It is getting very annoying though...

I have tried looking at the modems history log but nothing really comes out at me.

if this keeps up I might just trash the router and pay for another IP as it is not worth my time.

 

[gogeeta13]

I have the same thing happen. I have the rt314, stock firmware. I run XP. The internet droppings usuually happen due to CS. And yes, my AIM, MSN< ICQ still function as well

 

[KnickNut3]

Ah hah! I'm sensing a pattern here! And Netgear denies any wrongdoing... glad I'm not the only one, no offense. Maybe something can be addressed now. When I was one of the few with XP Netgear shrugged off my problem. Only problem is you can never get on tech support... queues run hours long and I get disconnected after those hours GRR! lol

 

[Ronstang]

I thought I was going crazy until I read this thread. I have the same problem. I'm not sure if it's a Microsoft or Netgear problem. I had the same problem with ME and hoped switching to XP would cure the problem. I even got a new modem from the cable company a few weeks ago, to no avail. Netgear has spent at least an hour on the phone with me but they said the router was OK. Maybe I will plug in my D-Link router and see if the problem persists.

I not only lose connection sometimes but WinMX will also lock hard everyonce in a while and the lights on the router/modem go crazy. I'm lost so I hope someone can shed some light on this problem.

 

[slunk]

Check out the Netgear forum at DSLreports.com. You might find a solution there.

 

[KnickNut3]

Yeah. Posted at that forum 2 weeks ago. No help, at least yet.

Let me know if the new router is any different.

 

[bozack]

Have you tried telnet-ing into the router (tenet routers IP 192.168.0.1 default I think) and looking at some of the system logs there to see if there are any errors??

Also by telnet-ing in you can release and renew the Wan IP address without "pulling the plug" also you can restart the router via the menu provided, which is a little easier than pulling the plug, at least for me where the router is buried in my desk behind stuff.

I have just started getting this problem since they upgraded me to a Motorola surfboard Modem and modifying my account....

before I would just get slow connect speeds at prime time, not this loss of connection between the PCs

You might also want to keep an eye on this thread as well over at DSLrepts as it seems like it might be related.....

DSLrepts link

I know that I am going to watch that one and see what happens, also try to look at the log file and see if I see anything out of the ordinary

 

[gogeeta13]

Where are the log files in the telnet menu?

 

[Drakkhen]

It sounds mostly like some type of DNS problem. If you can't seem to get anywhere on the net, but still your established connections work, then a DNS isssue is most likely.

When you have this problem the next time, try pinging a number out on the internet (I like using 205.152.0.5, a DNS server for Bellsouth) and see if that works. If that works, then try pinging something by name. If that doesn't work, then it is most definitely a DNS issue.

 

[bozack]

Drakkhen....

I can not ping via Name but am pretty sure I can ping by number....

I called Netgear Support last night and they had me hard set my client Ip addresses, DNS server Search Order, Gateway, and Sub Mask which appeared to remedy the problem, but about an hour after getting off the phone it went down again......

I still think this is something on Comcasts side as I did not have this problem before I got the new modem and account name, however I do not experience it when plugging the modem directly into the back of my PC.

I will try locking it up again tonight and try pinging the IP addy and the name to see what happens.

 

[Drakkhen]

One of the things that the Netgear does is give you a DNS entry for the router (usually 192.168.0.1).

What I usually do is manually enter a real DNS server as my secondary and the Netgear IP addy as the primary.

That way, if the DNS server that the Netgear uses goes down, then the secondary should kick in.

Good luck!

 

[alanwj]

I've had this problem with my RT314 as well, except the problem is not a loss of connective, but rather a loss of ability to resolve names. The OS of the computers connected has had no effect, from my perspective. I've "solved" this problem many different ways in the ~7 months I've had the router.

1) Renew WAN DHCP. If I remember correctly (I've gone through the router menus enough that I'm pretty certain about all this), that is option 24, then 4, then 3. The problem here is that you may lose active connections and you have to do it every time the problem occurs.

2) Set the DNS servers on your computer manually. If using windows, Control Panel->Network. There is a tab that lets you set up DNS. Put the address(es) of your ISPs DNS servers.

3) Set up the router to give DHCP clients the addresses of your ISP's DNS servers, rather than its own LAN address. (That is, don't let it use itself as a DNS proxy).

4) Set up a box to act as a DNS server, and use it (my primary box runs RH Linux 7.2, set up as a nameserver.)

5) Buy a new router (I'm doing that this after noon. The RT314 died on me monday).

 

[bozack]

I am seriously considering buying a new router as this seems to be a pain in the ace....

Might just go out and purchase a Linksys to see how well it does as compaired to the netgear, heck worst case scenerio is that I return it.

Sucks though that I just bought this Router about a month and a half ago and it "was" working fine until they changed my cable modem and my computer name.

Just annoying

 

[MustPost]

I had a similar problem. I have an RT314 although im not sure that was the problem.
The same thing would happen to me on one of my win98 comps. Existing connections worked but new ones couldn't be made. Reseting the computer returned access to net.
My other win98 comp still had internet though.

For some reason this problem went away a couple months ago.

 

[KnickNut3]

Netgear's response:

Turn off your Windows XP built in firewall.

Oh God. Who do they think I am?

I'm bitching to them about their stupidity as we speak. (Heck... I put that I tried that in the letter!)

My internet at home has been down the last few days, so I'll try you suggestions when I get it back, if ever.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

wow i have the same problem, except that i don't have a router. I have three wireless usb 802.11 cards. I have 98 runnin on two machiens and XP running on one machien. I think goddamn XP is causing some problems with the internet, but the problems started occuring only after I got my modem replaced with this new Scientific Atlanta one. I prefer my RCA modem, but they didn't have any. My internet too will just cut out, but i can still download and go on and and play CS for some reason. Really bizzare!!!!

 

[BreakApart]

With the problems your reporting use firmware 3.24, many people including myself stopped having those problems once i loaded 3.24.

Though it does still happen, it doesn't happen nearly as often as it did with 3.25 loaded. With 3.24 the only time i can get it lose connection is when i visit sites that are really slow and cancel the connection, for some reason this sometimes drops the DNS connection, i can still ping ip#'s, just can't ping or resolve names.

With 3.25 and 3.26 this same name resolving problem would occur every other hour for no apparent reason.

 

[TomBilliodeaux]

I have a similar problem, but am not using a router.

I will loose my DSL connection and have to reboot the server to re-establish it.
I am only sharing one computer over 3com hub.
If both puters are online, after 20 or 30 minutes, the connection just quits. (yellow icon instead of green). My LAN still works fine, just the Inet is lost.
I tried other browsers and same problem.

I do not get any errors or warnings logged and all services are still running that were running before the connection.
I have tried restarting the services to no avail.

I have a theory that it is XP, in that both computers think they are the server.
Just a guess.

I am going to try W2k on both machines and see if this continues.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

Guys, i have FOUND OUT THE PROBLEM. IT IS INDEED WINXP. I uninstalled XP from the one machine and put 98se on it. NOw all machines are running 98se and there are no problems.

 

[Thor86]

Ok, lets try a clairfy some things.

"The internet cuts off, but I can still download and play CS online..." This makes absolutely no sense.

Netgear RT311's and RT314's running on NT4 server, Win2k, Win98se, no problems whatsoever. My guess would be there is a problem with the default installation of WinXP, or your ISP has changed settings to not keep home routers working after certain periods of time. It's very easy for ISP's to see what kind of router you are using at home to share your internet connection, and this may not be allowed as part of the "end-user" agreement(s). STBY!

 

[KnickNut3]

Anybody know how I can get my local DNS servers to put in? I haven't tried the pinging yet, but that's possible, but I don't have local DNS servers to use. Comcast refuses to give out any of that information, anyway.

 

[Sukhoi]

I'm running an RT314 with Win98SE on this computer and Win95A on the computer in the basement. I've never had any problems. Occasionally I seem to have access dropped, but always comes back in a few mins without me doing anything, so I think it's my ISP.

I have my ISP's DNS servers manually typed into each PC. I don't use the RT314 for DNS at all. Could this be a clue?