Siemens router, vonage phone, 2yrs OK, but now a glitch

[yellowvespa]

OK .. First, hello everyone.

For 2 years I've run a Siemens SS2604 wired 4 port router with a Vonage phone (through an ATA 186 Cisco) and my computer running XP home. Never a glitch or hiccup.

Well, the old 845 chipset/2.53 computer was due for an upgrade so I built a nice Prescott system on a modern 875P Abit board in a Lian-li case with XP Pro. Very happy, not overclocked, smooth as silk and fast. The problem is that I lost outgoing audio with MSN Messenger. After a quick diagnostic procedure I found that if I eliminate the router and hook directly up to the cable modem (Toshiba PCX2500), I am able to once again talk to my virtual wife (I've never met her) up in Canada.

OK .. so the problem is the firewall in the router or at least, router related. I go to Siemens and run the router wizard, no help. I then configure the ports (using the Siemens wizard/configure page) to allow the router up and down MSN messenger. Updated router firmware .. Still no good. I'm at wits end on this and being retired, all I have to do in life is talk to my honey every morning while I have my coffee. Should I:

A) buy another brand router?

B) (what I want to do) Can I buy another cable modem, put a splitter in the cable line and run one modem to the ATA 186 for the phone and one modem to the computer? Will my ISP (Cox) recognize 2 modems on the system? Will it (can it) work?

Are there any other procedures I should try first, although I think I was pretty thorough in attempting to get it to work. Everything else works fine, just no voice out. I can hear her fine and if I remove the router I have voice up and down.

One last thing ... I hook the old computer up and everything is fine (through the router). Hook the new computer up and she can't hear me but I can hear her. Take the router out of the system and MSN messenger works fine with the new computer.

Thank you

 

[ScottMac]

It's probably not the modem or the router.

It sounds like you swapped in the new motherboard, and kept the same drive and OS load ... please verify that.

My first guess (assuming the above is true) is that when XP made the OS adjustments for the new motherboard, some of the OS components were also swapped in ... overwriting some of the updates that you may have had on the original system.

Have you done a WindowsUpdate since you've swapped in the new mothernboard?

Another possibillity that would (sorta) be modem / router related: Are you using the same NIC, or did the new motherboard have a built-in NiC that you're using? If you're using a new NIC, try pulling the MAC address from the old NIC and put it in the router as a "spoofed" MAC address. Perhaps Cox or some other system is tied to you Internet-facing MAC address (which could be a reason that the old system works and the new system doesn't).

Check it out and let us know.

Scott

 

[yellowvespa]

Thank you for the reply. No, the new computer is a complete new system running XP pro. Works 100% except for upsteam audio in MSN messenger. If I take the router out of the system and run direct to the cable modem, MSN messenger works fine.

If I hook up the old computer .... MSN messenger works fine as it always did through the router. And, I had XP SP2 on it already (which I really liked by the way as I was able to run just Nortons AV and shut the Norton firewall off)

New compuer is totally updated and 100% smooth and functional, just no upstream MSN messenger audio when running through the router.

 

[wlee]

Check if the routers current firmware is UPnP compliant. If it is, also make sure you have the UPnP service installed and active on the new machine. Other than that, you might be able to put your computer in the DMZ. The SP2 Firewall is designed to work with MS Messenger, and should protect you at least as well at the routers "NAT Firewall"

 

[yellowvespa]

Hi, yes, the router firmware is the latest. UPnP is enabled at the Siemens configure page and on the computer. I have even enabled DMZ which shuts off the router firewall and still the one way conversation. Since messenger on new computer works fine when I take the router out of the equation I have to assume there is something that is not compatible with the Abit MB, onboard LAN, XP pro and the Siemens 2604 router. I have just re-installed messenger, re-run the Siemens wizard and even disabled the firewall and authentication in the onboard LAN properties and still the one way conversation. Any other suggestions that I might try?

Thank you for your time

 

[gutharius]

What about the MAC address in the router? Were there any settings enabled that had a MAC address for your old computer? This may be preventing you from sending data. But it is unlikely because you would not have any internet connectivity at all if is was a MAC address issue. Check your sound settings to see if the microphone is setup properly as well as the Mic volume being set high enough. (Start -> Control Panels -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Voice Tab) Also check to make sure you have the Microphone connected to the correct port on the back of the computer. Are you using the same sound card as in your old system or the built in sound card on your Abit Mobo? Make sure you have the latest drivers from windows update for your sound card. Be advised you have to manually select thiese to be installed Windows Update does not put them in for you if you dont tell it to. Look for drivers on the left of the Windows Update site after scanning for updates.