Help with a Linksys router? or ...? (edited)

G'day.

I've been having intermittent problems with ADSL internet for some time.... it'll work fine for a month or two and then go south on me with either no or a very slow ( <700/bps) connexion for a few hours or days, then back to ( >120K/bps) again.

Box 1 is
Generic P-IV 2.4GHS on WIN98SE with VIA Rhine NIC (TONS of free space, up-to-date AVG and other programmes, swept daily.) Connected hardwire to router.

Box 2 is
Generic P-III /600HZ on WIN98SE with a RealTek NIC (lots of free space, up-to-date AVG and other programmes, swept daily.) Connected hardwire to router.

Router is a Linksys BESFX41 4-port non-wireless and is "no longer supported" by Linksys. Firmware was an online update a week after I got the unit.

Modem is a Westel Ethernet (Ethernet OR USB) supplied by Verizon when I got the service, connected via ethernet cable to router. (appx 5 years old)

After a three hour marathon with a very nice but somewhat English-challenged lady from (wherever), it was determined that the router was keeping me from getting online, not the modem or Verizon's DSL connexion, which she showed as full speed from the Verizon local office to the modem location.

Seeing as I was (and am) able to get on but at this vastly reduced speed, "I Hae's Me Doots" about that. Yesterday there were spurts of full sped, followed by nothing, then minimal speed, than back to full (at one time I d/l an AVG update at ( >135K/bps), so I thought I'd ask here if anyone knows if it COULD be the router before I go plunking down more money in a bad cause.

Router shows connected using PPPoE,
Firmware: 1.44.11t, Apr 16 2003
VPN is disabled
MTU is manual and (1492)
DDNS is disabled.

It was always my understanding that a router either worked or did not work, with no middle ground. So either I'm wrong on that, Verizon is blowing smoke (again), or I just don't understand the problem, hence my appearance here.

I await your excoriations with cringing interest.

(TIA

Vince

 

It depends what the problem is. Certainly with configuration, it either right and you get connection, or its wrong and you don't. The problem is hardware faults - they can be itermittent.

However, there is a simple test you can do to help track down the site of the problem. That is tracert. This is a sort of specialized ping (it uses the same protocols). It shows the routers you cross between the PC you run the command on and the target node. So if you do:

Code:

tracert www.google.com

You'll see listed all the routers between you and Google's webservers. The output tells you two things - the route taken and the time it takes to go over each router.

What I recommend you do is start to use this to test your connection. Run it a few times when you have a good connection. Then run it when you have problems.

If you use this variation of the command:

Code:

tracert www.google.com > tracert.log

The output will go into a file called tracert.log. This you can then store, for later comparison.

If the problem is your router, the part of your tracert logs that show the path after your router should be fairly consistent - or perhaps show no pattern at all.

However, if the problem is on your ISP's system, then a pattern will appear. Either a particular router taking a long time, or the appearance of an unusual route. If it is your ISP's problem you can send them the logs that demonstrate where the problem is. That will help them track down the problem and fix it.

 

OK: Started a DOS box and ran tracert twice on google...

Got this:
11-03-07-1020
Tracing route to www.l.google.com [64.233.161.104]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 23 ms 23 ms 23 ms 10.7.27.1
2 23 ms 24 ms 23 ms so-0-2-1-0.CORE-RTR2.PHIL.verizon-gni.net [130.81.13.37]
3 24 ms 23 ms 24 ms so-7-2-0-0.BB-RTR2.PHIL.verizon-gni.net [130.81.20.138]
4 24 ms 24 ms 23 ms 0.so-6-0-0.XL2.PHL6.ALTER.NET [152.63.3.81]
5 28 ms 28 ms 28 ms 0.so-6-0-0.XL4.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.0.130]
6 28 ms 28 ms 33 ms 0.ge-7-0-0.BR2.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.41.157]
7 27 ms 29 ms 37 ms 4.68.63.101
8 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms ae-11-69.car1.Washington1.Level3.net [4.68.17.3]
9 29 ms 28 ms 29 ms GOOGLE-INC.car1.Level3.net [4.79.228.38]
10 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms 64.233.175.171 11 35 ms 31 ms 32 ms 216.239.48.190
12 29 ms * * www.l.google.com [64.233.161.104]
13 30 ms 30 ms 29 ms www.l.google.com [64.233.161.104]
Trace complete.


11-03-07-1022


C:\WINDOWS\Desktop> tracert www.google.com

Tracing route to www.l.google.com [64.233.161.99]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 23 ms 23 ms 23 ms 10.7.27.1
2 23 ms 23 ms 23 ms so-0-2-1-0.CORE-RTR2.PHIL.verizon-gni.net [130.8
1.13.37]
3 26 ms 24 ms * so-7-2-0-0.BB-RTR2.PHIL.verizon-gni.net [130.81.
20.138]
4 101 ms 24 ms 24 ms 0.so-6-0-0.XL2.PHL6.ALTER.NET [152.63.3.81]
5 28 ms 29 ms 28 ms 0.so-6-0-0.XL4.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.0.130]
6 28 ms 28 ms 28 ms 0.ge-7-1-0.BR2.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.41.161]
7 28 ms 28 ms 29 ms 4.68.127.25
8 29 ms 28 ms 28 ms ae-41-99.car1.Washington1.Level3.net [4.68.17.19
5]
9 28 ms 29 ms 29 ms GOOGLE-INC.car1.Level3.net [4.79.228.38]
10 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms 64.233.175.171
11 32 ms 32 ms 31 ms 216.239.48.190
12 29 ms 28 ms 29 ms www.l.google.com [64.233.161.99]

Trace complete.

Also ran winipcfg/all and got THIS:
winipcfg/all

IP Configuration:
Host: Powerspec
DNS Servers 151.197.0.39
Node type: Broadcast
NetBIOS Scope Id (empty)
IP Routing Enabled (empty)
WINS Proxy Enabled (empty)
NetBIOS Resolution Uses DNS (empty)
....
Ethernet Adapter Information:
PPP Adapter
Adapter Address 44-45-53-54-00-00
IP Address 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway (empty)
DHCP Server 255.255.255.255
Primary WINS Server (empty)
Secondary WINS Server (empty)
Lease Obtained (empty)
Lease Expires (empty)

Any help?

 

What I said to do was to take some tracert logs when your connection was OK, and then take some when there was a problem. You describe the problem as intermittent. Posting tracert logs for normal connections is no help until you also have logs during the slow times.

 

From downloading updates to AVG... they give you a speed-meter at the bottom of the download popup window.

Less than 2000 feet.

According the Verizon, their "baby" is operating just fine...it's all my fault.

Dunno about them...what are?

I just got another LinkSys 4-port hardwire in case I need to use is, along with two LinkSys NIC 1/100 cards. Waiting in the wings, so to speak.

Doesn't show any problems with the present dial-up adaptors (1) and (2)-VPN support), the Microsoft VPN adaptor or the present NIC card in System/Device Manager page.

Box (2) (the one I'm on now) wired with 100' RJ45 Cat5... Box (1) with a 10' RJ45 Cat5 shielded. Both were working just fine (as was the whole thing) before all this started.

Yeh. Try telling them that. They'll find fifty reasons why YOU ******* it up...from "It rained at your location" to "You ate WHAT at the keyboard? "

What really confuses me is how I'm online at all when the IP address and Subnet masks from IPCONFIG both read all zeros.

 

Sorry, but I haven't had a "normal" connexion for some days now... the tracerts I posted are all at very slow speeds.

Posted in hope they might show something to those more knowledgeable than I.

 

Those tracert outputs look ok. There is a hesitation on one of them but nothing horrendous.

If it wasn't for the AVG speed-meter, how would you know your connection was slow?

OK - let's try something else. You should be able to get the addresses of your ISP's DNS servers from them. Try entering them manually in your network adapter's TCP/IP settings.

Can you do a

Code:

ipconfig /all > ipconfig.txt

and post it here?

 

Windows 98 IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . : POWERSPEC

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . : 151.197.0.39

151.197.0.38

192.168.1.1

Node Type . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast

NetBIOS Scope ID. . . . . . :

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . : No

NetBIOS Resolution Uses DNS : No



0 Ethernet adapter :



Description . . . . . . . . : PPP Adapter.

Physical Address. . . . . . : 44-45-53-54-00-00

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . :

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

Primary WINS Server . . . . :

Secondary WINS Server . . . :

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . :

Lease Expires . . . . . . . :



1 Ethernet adapter :



Description . . . . . . . . : PPP Adapter.

Physical Address. . . . . . : 44-45-53-54-00-01

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . :

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

Primary WINS Server . . . . :

Secondary WINS Server . . . :

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . :

Lease Expires . . . . . . . :



2 Ethernet adapter :



Description . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC

Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-0E-2E-21-E2-AF

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Primary WINS Server . . . . :

Secondary WINS Server . . . :

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 11 04 07 7:30:21 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . : 11 05 07 7:30:21 AM


Incedentally... wierdest thing, but I'm back up to full speed. do you want a tracert?

C:\WINDOWS\Desktop> tracert www.google.com

Tracing route to www.l.google.com [64.233.161.104]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 24 ms 24 ms 24 ms 10.7.27.1
2 23 ms 23 ms 23 ms so-0-2-1-0.CORE-RTR2.PHIL.verizon-gni.net [130.8
1.13.37]
3 23 ms 23 ms 24 ms so-7-2-0-0.BB-RTR2.PHIL.verizon-gni.net [130.81.
20.138]
4 23 ms 25 ms 24 ms 0.so-6-0-0.XL2.PHL6.ALTER.NET [152.63.3.81]
5 28 ms 28 ms 29 ms 0.so-6-0-0.XL4.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.0.130]
6 27 ms 55 ms 27 ms 0.ge-7-0-0.BR2.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.41.157]
7 28 ms 28 ms 28 ms 4.68.63.101
8 28 ms 28 ms 30 ms ae-11-69.car1.Washington1.Level3.net [4.68.17.3]

9 28 ms 29 ms 29 ms GOOGLE-INC.car1.Level3.net [4.79.228.38]
10 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms 64.233.175.171
11 31 ms 34 ms 32 ms 216.239.48.190
12 29 ms 28 ms 30 ms od-in-f104.google.com [64.233.161.104]

Trace complete.

C:\WINDOWS\Desktop>

 

I think Tony's definitely got the right track here. Your latest tracert demonstrates that there is nothing abnormal in your pathways to the internet.

I'd also add that the load on the server will also have a significant impact on your download speeds. The AVG update servers will get a huge amount of traffic due to the popularity of their anti-virus solution. There will be times when an awful lot of people will be updating the systems at the same time. If you hit one of those busy periods, your download will be slow because the server passing the update will be handling hundreds of other requests at the same time.

If your only measure of access speed is the report you get from the AVG update system, then I think your main problem is that you are trying to fix something that is not broken.

Follow Tony's advice because it is good and will help you increase the performance of your system, but do be prepared for the speed of your AVG update to vary as internet loads vary.

 

This one is from my ISP and works pretty good.
http://speedtest.knology.net/

My connection is junk though.

 

Here's a horrible tracert although speed tests show this connection at 1.7 Mbps download speed.

Code:

Tracing route to rc.yahoo.akadns.net [66.94.234.13]

over a maximum of 30 hops:



  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  w2.rc.vip.scd.yahoo.com [66.94.234.13] 

  2  1315 ms  1184 ms  1333 ms  10.1.64.1 

  3  1165 ms  1180 ms  1343 ms  10.246.20.1 

  4  1144 ms  1124 ms  2614 ms  10.246.30.28 

  5  1548 ms  2681 ms  1281 ms  10.246.30.1 

  6  1719 ms  1208 ms  1128 ms  10.246.100.2 

  7  1382 ms  1211 ms  1169 ms  10.246.110.2 

  8  1606 ms  1147 ms  3138 ms  12.117.149.57 

  9  1492 ms  1433 ms  1488 ms  tbr1.dvmco.ip.att.net [12.123.207.170] 

 10  1618 ms  3095 ms  1256 ms  tbr2.sffca.ip.att.net [12.122.12.133] 

 11  1165 ms  2734 ms  1210 ms  12.122.114.77 

 12  1498 ms  1134 ms  1207 ms  12.86.154.18 

 13  1656 ms  1258 ms  1240 ms  ge-4-0-0-p450.msr2.scd.yahoo.com [216.115.106.205] 

 14  1471 ms  1278 ms  1287 ms  ten-2-3-bas2.scd.yahoo.com [66.218.82.223] 

 15  1487 ms  1170 ms  1153 ms  w2.rc.vip.scd.yahoo.com [66.94.234.13] 



Trace complete.

 

I'm still fighting this, although I thnk I have it narrowed down a bit... don;t thing the router is primarily the problem, but #1 still can't even access the router's setup page (although is shows a valid IP address in ipconfig!) much less get online, while #2, whose ipconfig returns an IP address of 0.0.0.0 IS online at full speed. Both boxes connected thru the router to the modem.

Still trying to get my head around that one.

Here's a tracert from a few minutes ago on box #3

C:\WINDOWS\Desktop>tracert rc.yahoo.akadns.net

Tracing route to rc.yahoo.akadns.net [216.109.112.135]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 23 ms 24 ms 24 ms 10.7.27.1
2 23 ms 24 ms 23 ms so-0-2-1-0.CORE-RTR1.PHIL.verizon-gni.net [130.8
1.13.33]
3 25 ms 24 ms 24 ms so-7-1-0-0.BB-RTR1.PHIL.verizon-gni.net [130.81.
20.136]
4 30 ms 30 ms 31 ms 130.81.19.76
5 29 ms 30 ms 30 ms so-6-0-0-0.ASH-PEER-RTR2.verizon-gni.net [130.81
.17.177]
6 30 ms 40 ms 30 ms 130.81.15.170
7 47 ms 30 ms 30 ms ge-1-0-0-p100.msr1.dcn.yahoo.com [216.115.108.41
]
8 31 ms 32 ms 31 ms ge7-2.bas1-m.dcn.yahoo.com [216.109.120.201]
9 30 ms 30 ms 30 ms rc.yahoo.akadns.net [216.109.112.135]

Trace complete.

C:\WINDOWS\Desktop>


I'm confused.

 

Your trace route times are respectable I don’t think the issue is with your ISP. When you’re having this issue have you tried shutting down one or the other computers? If not, try that. You may have a bad NIC in one of the 2 computers causing a broadcast storm.

Also try to ping your router or ADLS modem while this is happing. What are the return times?

Also why 98? It was good in its day but is way out of date today. Most ISP’s won’t even support it anymore.

Good luck,

PBiZ