weird router problem

[ultravox]

I need an expert's advice on a weird router related problem.

Here's the deal. I have a Linksys WRT54G wireless router that was running unencrypted for years without problems.

This past Tuesday I decide to enable encryption and it went well except I can't login to one site ...a private forum.

I can get everywhere else I want but not that site. If I connect a laptop straight from the modem I can get into the site but if I go wireless from the router it's a no go.

As I said, I can go anywhere else on the internet except that one site unless I eliminate the router

I tried reseting the router to factory default both by the reset button in back and through the web based config and I disabled the encryption , firewall etc.


You might think the owner of the site banned my IP but in fact he spent a few hrs with my on chat trying to resolve this problem and we're both stumped.

I might have had a window open on that site when I enabled encryption .... that is the only thing I can think of that might affect this one site.
I don't want to go out and buy another router just to be able to login on one site


I'm running WIn XP SP3 and I have 1pc connected by cable to the router and 2 others by wifi ... .none of them can connect when going through the router which is how I determined that the router is causing the problems.


Funny thing is I did the encryption thing in the morning and logged onto the site a few times during the day . Later that night the problems started ...at first I though the site was off-line but was advised by email that it was up and running.

I have never heard of anything like this before and thought maybe someone had run across a similar problem.

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[JackMDS]

Which encryption you are talking about?

If it is the Wireless local security, it has nothing to do with the wired connections, and nothing to do with the Internet whether you use wire or wireless.

May be a starting point is to make sure that the Router has the latest Firmware, and reset it to default.

You can also try flashing it with Tomato ot DD-WRT.

 

[ultravox]

I used wap2.
Trying to chase down the problem I did update the firmware to the latest version and I did do a factory default reset both through the reset button in back and through the web based config panel.

When I bypass the router by running a cable straight from the modem into my laptop. I can login. It's when I pass through the router whether it be by cable or wifi that I can't connect to the site.

What is this Tomato ?

Edit: I found out what tomato is ...

 

[Emulex]

WPA2-AES or WPA-AES are the only still safe protocols. don't use TKIP if you are paranoid - your neighbor might have a pair of FERMI to sniffs you.

make sure your dns settings are proper (router and pc)

 

[VirtualLarry]

This is probably an MTU problem. See what happens if you set the MTU in the router to 1492.

 

[Emulex]

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/233/clear_windows_dns_cache/

also use intodns.com to make sure the dude's dns is correct. it boggles my mind to see how many people can't get dns right. all it takes is one error to cause negative cache errors.

Sometimes routers act as a dns cache. ie

router gives you an IP with dhcp and then gives you its own ip for dns 192.168.1.1

it caches the data so things go faster - but if it gets a bad dns response negative- it could cache that for days (or power off).

you could manually input the ISP's (or opendns) dns entries directly into your network settings to bypass your router acting as a proxy.

dns cache poisoning is a very real situation that alot of old routers never got patched. there is a website out there (i forget off the top of my head) that tells you if you have enough randomness in your dns server to avoid a nasty poisoning attack.

 

[theevilsharpie]

This is probably an MTU problem. See what happens if you set the MTU in the router to 1492.

If the MTU was set too high for the hardware, the OP wouldn't be able to access anything.

OP: Run a tracert on the site you can't get to and post the results.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If the MTU was set too high for the hardware, the OP wouldn't be able to access anything.

OP: Run a tracert on the site you can't get to and post the results.

The problem is that some servers on the internet have the wrong MTU, and lowering the MTU on the router works around that issue.
Basically, it forces the MTU, rather than use path detection.

 

[ultravox]

THanks for the replies ...
I have done a few things mentioned (mtu) and a few things suggested make this really cool whoosh sound as they fly over my head.

I cannot figure out this tracert thing or rather how to run one. To complicate matters more the site in question is a private site and the owner would not appreciate me posting the URL publicly.
Nothing illegal or nefarious but I do respect his privacy as do all the members.

I'll keep plugging away at it.

Have any of you guys heard of such a situation where you can go anywhere on the internet except ONE site.
I wonder if I may have had a window open on that site and it fubared the router vis a vis that site. Is that even possible ?

 

[Pantlegz]

if you're not able to get to one site, try to ping the website. if it doesn't resolve to a number then you have a dns issue. Does this work on any other computers? If so, see what dns server they're using and try that.

to do tracert you just open a command prompt(start, run, cmd.exe) type tracert (name) do the same thing for ping but use ping (name).

 

[ultravox]

if you're not able to get to one site, try to ping the website. if it doesn't resolve to a number then you have a dns issue. Does this work on any other computers? If so, see what dns server they're using and try that.

to do tracert you just open a command prompt(start, run, cmd.exe) type tracert (name) do the same thing for ping but use ping (name).

Any PC in the house that goes through the router be it by cable or wifi cannot login to the site. If I connect a cable directly from the modem to a PC, that PC can connect to the site.

About tracert ... after opening tracert in com. prompt I just C+P the site name in ?

ex: http://whatever.whatever.net/index.php


What am I looking for as an answer ? And what am I looking for in ping ?

 

[Emulex]

tracert whatever.whatever.net
ping -t whatever.whatever.net

should get solid consistent pings without hardly any packet loss
tracert just post it up here

 

[ultravox]

tracert: unable to resolve target system name: whatever.whatever.net

ping: ping request could not find host whatever.whatever.net. Please check the name and try again.


The owner of the site sent me the IP address of the welcome page of the apache server where his site is hosted. I couldn't log into there as well so it's not the forum name but the whole IP address that is blocked for me.

He suggested I try a proxy
I have no idea how to do this.

I did do a 30-30-30-reset/reboot yesterday... didn't change anything.

 

[Emulex]

dns problem. change your pc's dns servers. maybe opendns or some other public dns server


try this at dos prompt:
nslookup whatever.whatever.net ns.mindspring.com

if you get an ip address its your dns servers settings that are whack for sure.

 

[ultravox]

tried nslookup. I got a reply that said :
can't find http://whatever.whatever.net: non-existent domain

when I tried the apache server welcome page I get: basically the same message ...non existent domian.


About this proxy how do I go about trying with a proxy. I have an idea of what a proxy is but not on how to use or get one .

edit:
tried ping again and got a timed out 3 times than a 4 packets sent o returned

 

[ultravox]

I didn't read enough ..
I tried the nslookup WITH mindspring after the whatever and got this:

server: mindspring.com
address: 207.69.xxx.xxx

non authoritative answer:
name: whatever.net
address:207.69.xxx.x and another address with a consecutive number.

(The x's are to protect the innocent)

so what does that tell you ?

I am learning a lot here but I have to admit most of this stuff I know nowthing about ..eg: my PC's dns server

 

[ultravox]

I followed the owner's suggestion and used a proxy server and got into the site.

What does that tell you ?