Help with Home Network

TheGodOfTears · May 19th, 2003, 04:05 PM

Hello all...To begin with, I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not as well versed in networking as I'd like to be, so I hope my ignorance doesn't offend/annoy anyone too much.

As for my problem. We have a cable modem (from Roadrunner), and I recently put in a router (a D-Link DI-604), to give internet access to our two computers (one with Win98 and one with WinXP Pro). Initially, everything seemed to be fine and it all ran well. However, after a couple hours, things go funny and Roadrunner stops working. The odd thing is, it's not the connection. I can still use instant messaging or filesharing programs, but I can't access webpages (with IE or Opera). If I reboot the computer, the internet will begin to work fine again. And after some more time, it will cease to work again. I can't pinpoint the cause of it, but I'm starting to think it might be inactivity.

I'm new to these routers, so I pretty much left the router configurations with their factory defaults (it also has the latest firmware verison). My friend mentioned that it might have something to do with it shutting off ports, but I've never really worked with these before.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

DVNT1 · May 19th, 2003, 04:33 PM

Welcome to TechIMO TheGodOfTears!

Since two different web browsers fail but other things like IM programs still work, first I would try updating the router's firmware.

see http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=966

Do both computers fail or is it always just the same one?

TheGodOfTears · May 19th, 2003, 05:16 PM

Thanks for the welcome.

I have the most recent release of the firmware already on the router.

And yes, the problem does exist on both computers.

Another thing I forgot to mention was that at the same time Roadrunner stops working, so will some games (such as Unreal Tournament 2k3 on-line). I'm not sure if that would help anyone any.

Thanks again!

DVNT1 · May 20th, 2003, 02:16 AM

I'm getting a little confused. When you have this problem, are all Internet related down at the same time? If so, RR may be having problems or even the cabe modem could be. Check the cable modem lin klights when the problems occurs to see if it indicates anything too.

Siliconjunkie · May 20th, 2003, 02:26 AM

Or, fire up a dos window and start a ping www.google.com -t and see what it is saying when it acts up. My guess would be that service is dropping and AIM/MSN/P2P are more tolerant of it. If thats the case it will start dropping pings when it happens. Also, I have seen P2P do this when you saturate your upload. E-mail, P2P, AIM and the like will work, but everything else falls down. If not P2P it could be a virus.

May 20th, 2003, 02:33 AM

Could it be a DNS issue? Try accessing a website by IP instead of URL when this happens (eg instead of www.techimo.com try 66.39.95.116).

Cheers
Mick

Siliconjunkie · May 20th, 2003, 02:40 AM

DNS is an interesting thought, clients with connections already open wouldnt fail since they arent doing lookups, but new connections would.

TheGodOfTears · May 20th, 2003, 10:39 PM

Hey all...

Quote:

I'm getting a little confused. When you have this problem, are all Internet related down at the same time? If so, RR may be having problems or even the cabe modem could be. Check the cable modem lin klights when the problems occurs to see if it indicates anything too.

Okay, sorry for the confusion. When I have this problem, it is ONLY Roadrunner and some games that cannot make a connection.

I tried to ping www.google.com, and it didn't work. I tried to ping the 66.39.95.116, and it went fine. So I went and typed that (the IP address) in the address bar and the site came up.

Another thing, after I did that (use the IP address to access the site), the internet kicked back in and I could then successfully ping www.google.com.

Does this give anyone any new ideas? Thanks all for your help!

May 20th, 2003, 10:43 PM

Yep, it's not resolving DNS addresses. Could be the router settings, or may be windoze (if you set addresses manually, that is).

I'd check what DNS settings are in the router and in windoze. You should have both primary and secoindary DNS addresses to make sure it works. RR tech support should be able to tell you what they should be. If you don't have DNS settings in windoze it may be you get the DNS addresses form the router, so you'll need to check the settings. I don't know enough about hardware routers to tell you how.

Hope you get it fixed.

Cheers
Mick