Comcast + Linksys WRT54G = Not good friends

[AstaLaVista]

I have had my trusty Linksys WRT54G for more than 5 years now w/o a single glitch. I have also had it with Bellsouth (now AT&T) Fiber Optic DSL brodband.

Since I can only go as fast a 1.5 and Comcast was offering me 6MB at almost half the price, I decided to kick AT&T to the curve and browse quicker with Comcast. Well, ever since that happens, I am having issues with No connectivity at times.

I'll give a bit of a history prior to explaining the problem. Wih the Bellsouth DSL, I use to turn my router ON in the morning and turn it OFF before going to bed so and I keep doing this after switching to Comcast.

Now to my issue, it appears that every day or so, I loose connectivity and I either have to plug the cable directly to my computer to gain access to the internet or unplug the Power Cable from the Comcast Box and Router and after I reboot my PC, I am back at having internet connectivity. Well, it is getting harder and harder to achive this as the weeks progress. IF I plug in the cable directly to my PC my kids would be w/o internet, hence, the need for the router of course.

A friend of mine told me that the problem is that the router is not refreshing the DNS that Comcast changes often (or something to that nature) and he advise me to buy a D-Link Gamerlounge DGL-4300 because it was the latest and the greatest.


I know what you are going to tell me, JUST LEAVE THE ROUTER ON 24/7 - 365 and your problem MAY go away but, even if that is true, I want to make this work w/o having to do so if at all possible, unless of course, this is not going to work even if I get the D-Link router because of some wierd requirements with the way Comcast run their Broadband.

Well, before I shell out 100 bucks on a router, I want to see if this is true or can I get away from buying a new router by doing something to my od but trusty Linksys.

 

[AstaLaVista]

Nobody wants to take a stab at this? :eek:

Anybody?

No?

Seriously? :huh:

 

[Barman58]

Hi astalavista,

The Linksys WRT54G has had issues with Vista an it's "new" network stack since before RTM.

Linksys have produced a revised firmware that is supposed to cure quite a few glitches and drop-outs - you might what to have a look at their site, I think they have a support forum and see if you need to update your router before you do anything else.

Also if it is a comcast DNS issue with their DNS servers - don't use them - Google OpenDNS and set the DNS Servers in the router to their servers, they are actually more reliable that most ISP's servers anyway

 

[AstaLaVista]

Hi astalavista,

The Linksys WRT54G has had issues with Vista an it's "new" network stack since before RTM.

Linksys have produced a revised firmware that is supposed to cure quite a few glitches and drop-outs - you might what to have a look at their site, I think they have a support forum and see if you need to update your router before you do anything else.

I don't know what RTM is but I'll take your word for it.

I do believe and I have checked this before and it appeared they had nothing for my router version but, I will give it another try.

Yep, just as I thought, I have had gone to them but they have nothing newer than the 4.21.1, which btw, is the one I am currently using. I hope I have better luck with the DNS option.

Also if it is a comcast DNS issue with their DNS servers - don't use them - Google OpenDNS and set the DNS Servers in the router to their servers, they are actually more reliable that most ISP's servers anyway

Hmmmmm, this is new to me and I hope that after doing this, I don't break more than I fixed!

Thanks for the help, I'll comeback with news later, hopefully... good news! :D

 

[Barman58]

RTM = Released To Manufacturing - The official release version in the fancy box that no one can open

With the DNS servers, I've used them for a long time now and never had them cause any issues. Not saying that they will solve your problem but if it is the DNS servers you are using that are causing the problem It should help

 

[AstaLaVista]

I left the router ON last night and so far, the wife has not call me to nag that she has no internet connection, I am going to leave it on tonight and over the weekend just to narrow it down and see if that was the problem.

Come Monday, I will change to OpenNS.com and turn the router off again to test, even if it means, no love from the wife for a couple of days because she internet-less :D

 

[AstaLaVista]

Well, I lied I couldn't wait and went ahead and changed the DNS on my router and on my PC as soon as I got home last night, although, it gave me the same DNS numbers for both the router & Pc and I find this weird because in the office, it gave me two different sets of DNS numbers, perhaps because I have different router brands?... but I digress.

I also set the IP parameters in my PC but it appears I did something wrong because this morning I woke up to a local access only. took the IP settings to its Default nature, rebooted and I had internet again... so far so good.

This is where it gets interesting, as soon as the computers goes into screen mode or sleep, after waking it up, it does not want to give me access to the internet and unless I reboot, nothing I do will get it back. heck, I can not even get to my router by typing http://192.168.1.1.

Now, I should say that all this happened while my wife was working with her user but, I have given her admin rights so it should be the same as working on my login, right?

I still have my reservation that a new router will take care of this issue but if this persists, I am going to have to waste the money in hopes that it does.

 

[AstaLaVista]

Another day, another problem. It seems the OpenDNS have done the trick but now, I can either have internet but no network printer capabilities or I can print but no internet.

I have a Brother HL-2170W wireless printer and it baffles me because I can install it (wired) from my Vista PC but it is always Offline. If I switch to the regular Comcast DNS addresses, the printer goes Online but I have no internet connectivity.

Since the Internet is more important than the printer, I have switched and even though I have not tried to install the printer to be used wireless, I have a funny feeling that, the same scenario will take place.

I can call in Brother Technical Support but I much rather try to take care of this on my own, well, with help from you guys that is

Any takers?

 

[sygnus21]

Have you seen this tutorial? - http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/195700-printer-connect-wireless-router.html?filter

Also, make sure that everything is using the same workgroup name, including the router!!! I had network fits till Ifigured that one out. Internet providers seldom tell customers using routers this. Why is anyones guess.

 

[AstaLaVista]

Thanks sygnus21... I'll reply tonight when I get to it. Only thing that has me baffled is why the need to use the usb cable if I want it wireless but, I'll follow instructions nonetheless.

 

[sygnus21]

Also, there really is no need to turn the router off. You are creating more problems by doing that as this tends to reset things. In fact one of the troubleshooting techniques is to power down the router when "problems" occur, then power back on.

I understand to need to save power, but those procedures are killing you, plus you're not saving a bunch of pennies doing that since the router isn't using a bunch of power anyway. I also don't think you need to buy another router unless that one is failing.

My two cents.

 

[AstaLaVista]

Well, truth be told, my analitical mind works in misterious ways since the reason behind my turning it off has little to do with saving power, it was more to deter others from using the router when I was sleeping

Even though I use WPA encryption and I can see who is logged in to the router, I keep forgetting to turn it off but, I'll make sure I do that tonight when I get home as ... Enough is Enough! :D

Oh, BTW, I am still having the issue of the network loosing connectivity after the PC wakes up from either Screensaver or Sleep? Any remedies against that?

 

[smarteyeball]

The only thing I can suggest is to go WPA2 (more secure) over WAP and to go through your power options that pertain to sleep / wireless / etc.

Maybe one of the tips posted here may help:
Vista laptop loses wireless connection after sleep - Topic Powered by Eve For Enterprise

 

[mansrm81]

Also if possible use MAC address control and only allow the computers at your home to connect to the router.

 

[AstaLaVista]

The only thing I can suggest is to go WPA2 (more secure) over WAP and to go through your power options that pertain to sleep / wireless / etc.

Well, my pc connection to the router is WIRED so I would think changing the encryption key WPA or WPA2 wouldn't do me any good, or am I totally wrong thinking this?

I am almost 100% sure than my NIC has all this options OFF but, how can I make sure this is so? I am using the NIC that came with my EVGA 780i FTW board and I am using the latest drivers that I installed a few days ago.

Maybe one of the tips posted here may help:
Vista laptop loses wireless connection after sleep - Topic Powered by Eve For Enterprise

Well, this may help me with the issues I am also having with the Laptop as well. Funny thing is that the other 2 XP machines (desktop) in the house run wireless and they never have a problem. The laptop also runs in XP but loosing connectivity every so often is very annoying.

Also if possible use MAC address control and only allow the computers at your home to connect to the router.

Hmmmm, I also have heard of that but setting MAC is just way over my head... I am good at following instructions though!

 

[smarteyeball]

For some reason I got it into my head it was all about wireless... Just set the wireless connection to WPA2 for better security.

Try going through the Windows Power plans and look through the settings there. (start orb, type Power Options and change advanced settings. I'm in Seven atm so I think getting there may be slightly different in Vista iirc :huh

 

[AstaLaVista]

Ok, I'll revisit the thread when I get home and try those Power Options, hopefully, my answer will be there... the missus is holding special & party favors until all is well with her internet! :D

 

[AstaLaVista]

Well, the power options did nothing but, I think I got a handle as to what might be causing the issues with connectivity when the computer goes to sleep.

I have and use a Bluetooth headset. the software installs a bluetooth network as well. for the most part, when I start or reboot my computer, the bluetooth orb is off but as soon as I wake up the computer from Sleep mode, I not only loose connectivity and there is no way to bring it back unless I restart the PC.

Well, today I was here to see this happening and I noticed that the bluetooth icon on the taskbar lighted up as if it was ON. sure enough, after I shut it off and did a Repair on my regular internet network, it came back alive.

All I need to know now is how do I prevent this from happening in the future? I went everywhere that I could but saw no option to make the internet network the default one at all times.

 

[Barman58]

Hi Astalavista,

From network and sharing centre
Change adapter settings
tap the alt key to show the menu bar and select advanced and then advanced settings
on the adaptors and bindings tab ensure that the main network is the top item if not use the arrows to make it so.

This should give your network priority over the bluetooth and may hopefully solve the issue you are having

Also if you do not need the Bluetooth network you could try disabling it in the adaptor settings page

 

[AstaLaVista]

Sorry barman58, normally, I am slow but I can follow orders but, when it comes to Networking mixed with Vista, everything just turns into GREEK for me.

I got as far as Network & Sharing Center, after that, I see nothing about "Change Adapter" settings, let alone the rest of the stuff so I can proceed from here.

Give it to me in layman terms please