Author Topic: Help! Any NetGear experts out there? (Read 31,381 times)

lanux128 · « **on:** November 23, 2007, 12:07 AM »

i've having problems with my Netgear router (model: RP614v4) for some time now.. whenever i get to chat-rooms via IRC or IMs, i get disconnected after a while even though i'm active. i'm using windows firewall with normal settings and also have enabled "port-forwarding" (even though i don't know what it does) for these programs after reading about them in some of the threads from the NetGear forum..

so far my google-fu has let me down and i need your help in figuring this out.. anyone?

kimmchii · « **Reply #1 on:** November 23, 2007, 10:18 AM »

see this:
Internet Connection Drops Repeatedly

and

http://www.jainesoutpost.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=13550

Nod5 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 24, 2007, 05:56 PM »

Hi lanux, I have had similar problems with the previous version, RP614v3. A firmware upgrade solved it back then then, though the router now is giving me problems again. Have you checked if there's some updated firmware available that works with your version of the router?

lanux128 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 26, 2007, 03:41 AM »

kimmchii: thanks but i've already to that site but i only get disconnected from IMs whereas other programs work fine. so i'm going to check out the "Internet Connection Drops Repeatedly" link.

Nod5: i could not find any mention of dropped connection in this firmware version but i'll keep checking..

lanux128 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 11, 2008, 05:42 AM »

still unable to resolve the problem, i've decided to get a firmware update but i ran into another problem where the ftp server is inaccessible.. could some kind soul d/l the file and send it to me (PM me for my email). here is the link..

[attach=#]

• http://kbserver.netgear.com/products/rp614v4.asp

Deozaan · « **Reply #5 on:** January 11, 2008, 06:28 AM »

Here ya go

lanux128 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 11, 2008, 06:32 AM »

thanks Deozaan! love ya..

Deozaan · « **Reply #7 on:** January 11, 2008, 08:57 AM »

Quote from: lanux128 on January 11, 2008, 06:32 AM

thanks Deozaan! love ya..

Oh my!

What will my wife think?

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #8 on:** January 11, 2008, 05:31 PM »

Quote from: Deozaan on January 11, 2008, 08:57 AM

Oh my! What will my wife think?

Phew - now I can have a rest?

(Sorry couldn't resist)

lanux128 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 12, 2008, 02:05 AM »

Quote from: lanux128 on January 11, 2008, 06:32 AM

thanks Deozaan! love ya..

err.. forgot to add that i meant in a ~~manly~~ brotherly way..

lanux128 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 16, 2008, 12:43 AM »

hi, i'm back again.. unfortunately the firmware update did not rectify the problem.

i've even posted at the miranda forums and they've managed to drill this down to winsock error.

• Miranda disconnects randomly

f0dder · « **Reply #11 on:** January 17, 2008, 01:10 AM »

Hm, all your connections are reset? And this is a wired, not wireless, router? Sounds pretty weird :-s

I've had weirdness with "efficient networks" (hah, efficient?!) wired speedstream routers, buggy pieces of crap some of them, but I wouldn't expect such behavior from netgear equipment.

Lashiec · « **Reply #12 on:** January 17, 2008, 01:13 AM »

~~Maybe a hardware problem like the Ethernet port is failing?~~ Nah, forget about that, the Internet would be failing as well.

lanux128 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 17, 2008, 01:18 AM »

this is a wired router and here is the product's site. the settings are all factory default except for port-forwarding for one PC and the firmware upgrade i made in an attempt to improve things.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #14 on:** January 17, 2008, 03:09 AM »

From the Miranda form's thread

Quote

btw, hotmail was in invisible mode while yahoo was off-line, the others (Googletalk & IRC) were active.

Between that and the internet still working, I think your router is off the hook. You may want to persue the conversation with nowotny at the Miranda form as they seem genuinely interested in further troubleshooting the issue.

Both HotMail/MSN & Yahoo have in the past made changes to their networks to complicate the use of 3rd party chat clients. I've had fits with them both and the Trillian chat client at odd times forcing the client to jump around from server to server trying to maintain a connection because they were playing games with the config.

It can't hurt to let the guy run with the ball a bit.

lanux128 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 17, 2008, 04:48 AM »

thanks Stoic Joker.. i've tried other clients as well with the same results. nowotny at miranda forums established that it's the router that's giving the problem. i'm of the same opinion but just wondering why this happens & how to rectify it, other than getting a new router..

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #16 on:** January 17, 2008, 12:23 PM »

Hm... Well if the router isn't completely shutting down, it has to be deciding to close that connection. The only way it can do that is SPI or a variation there of.

Go through the router's config and disable anything that is scrutinizing your WAN traffic, and make sure you're pingable. If you're not running any internal public access servers loose the port forwarding as it will only serve to defeat the NAT firewall by letting the box get bombarded with unsolicited traffic.

justice · « **Reply #17 on:** January 17, 2008, 12:34 PM »

As it seem to happen only after you've been connected for a while.. I know that certain netgear routers have automatic blacklisting of ips that try and attack you. I had a netgear router that blacklisted one of my computers on the network because it found some of my connections suspicious. Try and disable and see DoS Attack
Detection (part of the firewall) if that works around the problem

Also check these pages if you haven't done so:
http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/N100772.asp

Do you run any software firewalls or Norton products that could be interfering?

lanux128 · « **Reply #18 on:** January 17, 2008, 03:47 PM »

Quote from: Stoic Joker on January 17, 2008, 12:23 PM

Go through the router's config and disable anything that is scrutinizing your WAN traffic, and make sure you're pingable. If you're not running any internal public access servers loose the port forwarding as it will only serve to defeat the NAT firewall by letting the box get bombarded with unsolicited traffic.

thanks, i will look in the WAN setup & LAN IP setup.

Quote from: justice on January 17, 2008, 12:34 PM

Do you run any software firewalls or Norton products that could be interfering?

nope, only Windows firewall which i had disabled but no change.

justice · « **Reply #19 on:** January 31, 2008, 05:53 PM »

Any luck?

lanux128 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 01, 2008, 04:39 AM »

Quote from: justice on January 31, 2008, 05:53 PM

Any luck?

thanks for asking, justice but unfortunately the answer is nope, none at all.. but it's ok since basically i've given up the hunt for a solution and the only side-effects are IM & IRC are strictly off-limits.

Gothi[c] · « **Reply #21 on:** June 03, 2008, 04:56 AM »

The first thing you should do is try and determine if it's a software problem or a networking problem, or you could be trying to hunt this down forever.

You say they had tracked it down to a winsock error? Did you try from a different computer on the network, or even a different operating system(try a livecd)? If you only have the problem on that one PC, it is most likely NOT your router at fault.

If the problem is OS/computer independent, then you are indeed most likely looking at a router problem.

But it's important to figure out first which of the two you're dealing with, your you'll be chasing ghost's.

lanux128 · « **Reply #22 on:** June 04, 2008, 03:45 AM »

just a footnote: with Gothi[c]'s help we have managed to establish that this is a hardware problem as it persist over different apps and OSes but i have a slight suspicion that my ISP is intentionally blocking all IM and IRC communication since the rest of the internet works fine - web, email, ftp,torrents (i downloaded Kubuntu 8.xx in about 4 hours) & etc. however i have no way of proving that is the case.

so, if anyone has any ideas on this, please feel free to come forward.

steeladept · « **Reply #23 on:** June 04, 2008, 03:55 AM »

Lanux, that is easy to prove. Just disconnect the router and connect a PC direct to the wall. Even if you are using a cable modem, they need to provide the converter (or at least authorize specific models) that will still point to them. If they authorize specific models, you may need to "borrow" a new one from somewhere, but you can still prove the point rather easily.

Gothi[c] · « **Reply #24 on:** June 04, 2008, 04:27 AM »

Quote

Just disconnect the router and connect a PC direct to the wall.

I had suggested that too, but
he has a modem/router-in-one as far as I understand, so that's not an option.

However a similar effect can be obtained by disabling NAT and putting it into bridge-mode.