Linksys routers cannot go to certain sites

I have noticed lately that some consumer Linksys routers prevent machines behind its NAT to go to certain sites like cnn.com, ebay.com, and even microsoft.com. The solution is to change the default MTU setting (Auto) to 1492. Anyone here has the same problem?

 

No

 

What kind of connection?

A lot of good info on dslreports.com

Type the model number into their search engine.

 

Is it a router or machine setting problem ?

Or a COMBINATION of same ?

Is it a newer or older Router ? ( I am betting on newer )

I have not had any problems with my Linksys BEFSR41 Router.

It has always been Plug in a machine and/or a printer and GO. Except when I had a messed up Firewall. Dumped it and all was well again.

BillyBob

 

I have to change the router MTU to 1452. I'm on DSL and can't go to many sites if I can't manually change the MTU on a router http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks is a simple place to check your MTU. I would do it without the router to check the first time. My Linksys router can be set manually not all of the routers can.

 

OK. There appears to be a difference here.

I am on Cable Internet.

But now that DSL is mentioned my Daughter in Marrieta Georgia has DSL and has problems getting to some sites also.

And when I was online DSL was NO WHERE NEAR a smooth or reliable as my Cable. And she had a much more mordern machine.

But she also had three machine connected via a Hub and was using ICS. Which I also do not use. My three machines are connected via a switch.

BillyBob

 

My same laptop was in Ohio on Adelphia Cable and Linksys WRT54G router and we didn't have to adjust the MTU it worked at 1500 which is the default setting. I can't even do the tweak test on my DSL without adjusting the MTU if I'm hooked through a router. I did lots of pinging before I found that site.

 

It's definitely the router's fault. I replaced an old Netgear router with one from Linksys, the one that supports VPN endpoints. Right away, I could not go to certain sites. After an hour of troubleshooting with the Linksys tech support without success, I exchanged it with a lower end wireless router, the WRT54G. But the same problem happened. However, unlike the last router, the new router's automatic MTU settings was set to manual at 1492 and everything is fine.

Upon some reasearch, it seems that Linksys also ignored advisory from Dyndns.org, making the router's DDNS not compatible with dyndns. I guess when you are popular as Linksys, you want to exert some of your own "standards ".

 

I have this link. Mostly Greek to me but it explains it http://www.netheaven.com/pmtu.html

 

Perhaps my initial post was a bit too blunt. Problem is not with Linksys but with PPPOE MTU setting which has been so clearly articulated in this thread. moboking, your first post didn't identify broadband type and there are some unique differences. Most of your newer linksys routers have a PPPOE setup page and I believe there are firmware updates available for most of the older ones. An MTU setting of 1500 has never worked well for PPPOE and that will be referenced in your manual. Maggies link is a pretty good one and while its pointed out in the article as a Cisco link, its worth repeating - DrTCP is an excellent little utility for fine tuning. Its available at DSLReports along with some great tools for testing and tweaking your connection settings - use them and optimize your connection. There are also a couple of pretty decent PPPOE automatic registry tweaks available in this thread.

 

I am on Cable Internet ( Road Runner )

Where in the world do I find that MTU setting on my BEFSR41 Linksys ?

Or is it on the machine(s) ?

Or could this be a case ( for me anyway ) of It AIN'T broke don't mess with it ?

As I mentioned in and earlier reply. I have never had to anything other than plug a machine/Printer in and GO. Altough I did add a 4 port Linksys Switch. The go from the switch to the Pouter. And everything continued to work fine.

BillyBob

 

BillyBob
Where in the world do I find that MTU setting on my BEFSR41 Linksys ?

With router opened, click on "Advance Tab" and it should open to the "Filter Tab" view already open. My MTU setting is the last listing on the page. We both have the same model router, mine is 3 years old, yours is newer .. hopefully their views are similar.

 

BB - If it AIN'T broke don't mess with it

Technical answer is both although I'll be the first to say i'm no networking guru. Know enough to be just out of the "dangerous" range (argueable - may still be considered dangerous). "Default" machine setup should be just fine, but ...........

I'd personally recommend leaving your XP box alone but you can gain a significant improvement in your 98 boxes with a little tweaking. Go to DSLReports and look at their line tests and find DrTCP and read up on it - good general tool for easy tweaking and you can easily reset to defaults if you so desire. We are talking more than just MTU's here.

The other one I'd point out for cable or DSL with Win98 is the registry edit in HKey Local Machine for Windows Current Version, Internet Settings re HTTP 1.0 & 1.1 defaults - new DWords - MaxConnectionsPerServer and MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server and tweaked values can be very beneficial. Same for dial up but very different settings. PM me if you want some guidance there or look around at The DSLReports site for tweaks that will auto set parameters for your connection type.