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Router...need I say more?

PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:30 pm
by Wii
So my Linksys wrt54g v6 is acting stupid - once again - and the errors have been something with the needing to check my DHCP settings or resetting my DHCP or entering a static IP??? I know how to restart the DHCP but I have no clue how to find my static IP. This is the only router (out of three) that our ISP's haven't eaten...killed whatever.... >:(
Any clue what all this means and why it happens all the time?
It disables me from playing multiplayer on ANYTHING except FS9. (Including multi. on other devices such as my wii...) :-/

Re: Router...need I say more?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:42 am
by congo
DHCP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Ho ... n_Protocol

We are concerned with static IP's only for two reasons usually.

First, if your ISP issues your connection an external static IP address, that IP never changes, it's unique to your internet connection. Many ISP's issue dynamic IP's that change periodically, this only affects your gaming if you are running a full time server and people try to connect to the same IP address they used last time you hosted a game, because the IP may now be different under dynamic IP's sent from your ISP.

More than likely you aren't serving games and that is not the issue.

Your router will allocate IP's under DHCP if that function is turned on. When you boot into windows, the router issues your connected PC's an IP address from the available or configured range under DHCP.

If you turn DHCP off, you need to manually set a static IP for each PC, or LAN device in order to connect to the router, because the router and windows no longer automatically configures an IP address for your PC's under DHCP.

I prefer to set a small range of available static IP's for my PC's in my router configuration, then I manually set each PC to an unique IP address within that small range. The subnet for all the IP's needs to be set correctly as well.

By setting a static IP, you can open ports on the router that are configured to that static IP. If you open a port for a game on a DHCP controlled network, there's a chance that the next time you play the game, the IP set in the router for the open gaming port will be different from the IP address DHCP just assigned to your PC the last time it booted up under DHCP.

I have 3 PC's networked..... 2 gamers and a game server. Router DHCP is off and all PC's have a static IP set.

I could rave on and make lots of mistakes telling you how to set up static IP's, but it depends on your router for part of the procedure.

The windows part, where you set a static IP address for your gaming machine is fairly straightforward.

You will need:

1. knowledge of the Static IP range set in your router (so you can allocate a correct IP to your PC within that range)

2. Your router's IP address (gateway)

3.

Re: Router...need I say more?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:42 am
by uncleyuk
:D  I have the identical router and I experienced some of the same problems.  I called linksys and they took me through everything step by step.  It turned out to be a piece of cake and no more problems.

Re: Router...need I say more?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:55 pm
by Wii
[quote]DHCP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Ho ... n_Protocol

We are concerned with static IP's only for two reasons usually.

First, if your ISP issues your connection an external static IP address, that IP never changes, it's unique to your internet connection. Many ISP's issue dynamic IP's that change periodically, this only affects your gaming if you are running a full time server and people try to connect to the same IP address they used last time you hosted a game, because the IP may now be different under dynamic IP's sent from your ISP.

More than likely you aren't serving games and that is not the issue.

Your router will allocate IP's under DHCP if that function is turned on. When you boot into windows, the router issues your connected PC's an IP address from the available or configured range under DHCP.

If you turn DHCP off, you need to manually set a static IP for each PC, or LAN device in order to connect to the router, because the router and windows no longer automatically configures an IP address for your PC's under DHCP.

I prefer to set a small range of available static IP's for my PC's in my router configuration, then I manually set each PC to an unique IP address within that small range. The subnet for all the IP's needs to be set correctly as well.

By setting a static IP, you can open ports on the router that are configured to that static IP. If you open a port for a game on a DHCP controlled network, there's a chance that the next time you play the game, the IP set in the router for the open gaming port will be different from the IP address DHCP just assigned to your PC the last time it booted up under DHCP.

I have 3 PC's networked..... 2 gamers and a game server. Router DHCP is off and all PC's have a static IP set.

I could rave on and make lots of mistakes telling you how to set up static IP's, but it depends on your router for part of the procedure.

The windows part, where you set a static IP address for your gaming machine is fairly straightforward.

You will need:

1. knowledge of the Static IP range set in your router (so you can allocate a correct IP to your PC within that range)

2. Your router's IP address (gateway)

3.

Re: Router...need I say more?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:05 pm
by congo
You could set your router to DMZ and see if that works, it might be a quick fix, at least then you'd know if the router is blocking needed ports through it's firewall etc., and you wouldn't be flogging a dead horse if the router config (ports) isn't really the problem.

Don't forget to change it back from DMZ after gaming or testing, otherwise all your ports are still open. I never use DMZ myself except for testing/troubleshooting.

Some full screen games will cause a Windows Firewall Popup to appear on the desktop, but this popup asking for permission may lie hidden behind the game screen, so crtl+alt+del or alt+tab or Windows key back to the desktop for a peek if multiplayer games stall or have connectivity issues when connecting the first time, particularly if you are the host server and the ports are correctly set.

Re: Router...need I say more?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:26 pm
by Wii
Whatever happened with finding the static IP and changing DHCP settings went...wrong...terribly wrong. Time to call someone for this problem.

Re: Router...need I say more?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:42 pm
by congo
Don't let it discourage you, it's really not hard once you figure it out.

Re: Router...need I say more?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:31 pm
by Wii
Don't let it discourage you, it's really not hard once you figure it out.

I got it to work again but boy did my mom throw a fit over it...I'll have my dad take a look at all this when he gets home tomorrow. :)

Re: Router...need I say more?

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:30 am
by congo
She's probably just worried cuz yer Dad's gonna kill ya when he gets back lol :D

Re: Router...need I say more?

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:17 pm
by Wii
She's probably just worried cuz yer Dad's gonna kill ya when he gets back lol :D

Ehhhhh, no. My mom's the hardcore one. My dad could care less because he knows I know what I am doing...and he knows how to clean up my mistakes... ::) ;D