Strange Networking problem

Compton_effect said:
I need some help in tracing a issue on my Home Network.
On the wired side I have a Billion ADSL modem (BiPAC 5210S RC
- Afrihost), a TP-Link Wireless router (TL-WR842ND configured to use Unotelly DNS), a WD TV Live and a home media PC (Windows 8)
Then I have a Chromecast, two laptops and three Tablets (One Galaxy Tab2 and two Nexus 7).

I had a D-link but it gave me all kinds of trouble - connectivity issues, becoming unresponsive every few days.
The connectivity turned out to be due to my line speed. I had Telkom drop that for me from 10 to 6 (Only have a 4 mb account anyway). But the router still needed to be rebooted every few days. Then it turned out to have compatibility issues with the Nexus 7, so I picked up the TP-Link hoping to sort out two issues at once.

The TP-Link also needs to be rebooted every three days. It becomes completely unresponsive - you cannot connect to it at all.
First thought was that it was faulty (Coincidences happen), and I took it back to the supplier. They ran it for 4 days without issue.

Now - my networking skills suck - I'll be the first to admit it. Where do I start debugging?
Click to expand...

Take anything with the brandname TP-Link on it and throw it in the bin, then get something decent.
You might think im being a bit harsh but I have 20 odd TP-link routers lying in a cupboard somewhere in the office.
We had to replace them at all of our remote sites because of exactly what you are describing, every 2nd or 3rd day we would have to phone someone and ask them to power cycle the router to get it working again.
 
Rocket-Boy said:
Take anything with the brandname TP-Link on it and throw it in the bin, then get something decent.
You might think im being a bit harsh but I have 20 odd TP-link routers lying in a cupboard somewhere in the office.
We had to replace them at all of our remote sites because of exactly what you are describing, every 2nd or 3rd day we would have to phone someone and ask them to power cycle the router to get it working again.
Click to expand...

I have three guys in the office that swear by them. Never a single issue. We'll see what happens. but it sounds like my issues have been identified.
 
Compton_effect said:
Ok. Changes made. So far so good.
'And that, kids. Is why daddy leaves networking to the professionals.'
Click to expand...

Haha... Well, networking is not that hard once you understand the basics. I'm sure you've learnt a lot already. Do some further online reading, play around with your home setup, get involved in forum threads like this one, and you'll learn a lot more.

There are a lot of excellent "Introduction to Networking" tutorials on the web. One day, maybe you can help someone else out on these forums with your new-found knowledge.

In any case, keep us updated after about 1 week, to see if all is still stable. Remember, we haven't ruled out hardware stability issues yet. We've only got your network configured correctly.
 
I always wonder why guys use both an ADSL modem and a router when and ADSL modem is (more often than not) both.

If one stays in the Gauteng area it kind of makes sense (the lightning problems) to have the modem as first line of defense.

Think about it, CE, if you only had the Billion, you wouldn't even have had the DHCP issue.

At my house I have a D-link as my internet facing modem/router into which my main PC and DVR is plugged. It also serves, via wifi, that part of the house.

From it I have a LAN cable running through to the lounge to a different router/modem which my HTPC and and RaspPi is connected. It also serves wifi to that area of the house. Its set up in repeater mode, so it doesn't do any DHCP. Call it a hub if you will.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
Just to touch on the unresponsive router issue. I had the exact same issue at my place with 3 different routers, no idea what caused it but when I installed custom firmware on my TP-Link it hasn't done it since. Note the router is only a wifi router, not a modem.
Click to expand...

This morning my router became unresponsive again. Nothing Wireless could connect to it - it just gave a authentication error.
Wired - my Windows 8 PC was up, could connect to the internet. IPConfig looked fine. But my WD TV Live - also wired - showed no internet access if I ran a system check.
I could ping the Router's IP, but its browser page was also unresponsive.

Next step - OpenWRT.
 
YingYang said:
I always wonder why guys use both an ADSL modem and a router when and ADSL modem is (more often than not) both.

If one stays in the Gauteng area it kind of makes sense (the lightning problems) to have the modem as first line of defense.

Think about it, CE, if you only had the Billion, you wouldn't even have had the DHCP issue.

At my house I have a D-link as my internet facing modem/router into which my main PC and DVR is plugged. It also serves, via wifi, that part of the house.

From it I have a LAN cable running through to the lounge to a different router/modem which my HTPC and and RaspPi is connected. It also serves wifi to that area of the house. Its set up in repeater mode, so it doesn't do any DHCP. Call it a hub if you will.
Click to expand...

I've lost two modem/routers to lighting. both times through surge protectors. Switched to a dual setup after that.
My Modem is at the phone line itself, then my router is on the other side of my study, covers the entire house (And strangely enough, a spot at the back of my property under some grape vines). My Media center is on the other side of the wall from the router, so it made sense to just run a cable to it.

If it turns out to be hardware on the router, I'm going to connect my pc directly to the modem and unpack a HP Bullet I have lying around for the wifi.
 
Compton_effect said:
This morning my router became unresponsive again. Nothing Wireless could connect to it - it just gave a authentication error.
Wired - my Windows 8 PC was up, could connect to the internet. IPConfig looked fine. But my WD TV Live - also wired - showed no internet access if I ran a system check.
I could ping the Router's IP, but its browser page was also unresponsive.
Click to expand...

A few questions:
  1. Is your Windows 8 PC assigned a static IP address, or a dynamic IP address via DHCP?
  2. In fact, besides your modem and router, which other devices have static IP addresses?
  3. Did you try pinging your wireless router and if so what was the result?
  4. To which device your WD TV Live and Windows PC plugged into?
  5. Did you try plugging them into the other device (router/modem)? If so, what happened.
  6. Did you monitor the lights on your router? Was the light on both modem and router green/flickering for the connection between the 2?
  7. The wired devices that were not responding - was the light green/flickering on the modem/router for the port it was plugged into?
 
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Saajid said:
A few questions:
  1. Is your Windows 8 PC assigned a static IP address, or a dynamic IP address via DHCP?
  2. In fact, besides your modem and router, which other devices have static IP addresses?
  3. Did you try pinging your wireless router and if so what was the result?
  4. To which device your WD TV Live and Windows PC plugged into?
  5. Did you try plugging them into the other device (router/modem)? If so, what happened.
  6. Did you monitor the lights on your router? Was the light on both modem and router green/flickering for the connection between the 2?
  7. The wired devices that were not responding - was the light green/flickering on the modem/router for the port it was plugged into?
Click to expand...

Ok. I wanted to wait and see if it happened again before posting. Aaand - it happened again.
Same story - Wired network is up - PC has internet, WD TV can see my Media Server(And the internet - this time). But the Wifi is down with a authentication error for everything (Chromecast, Laptops, Tablets and phones). The Chromecast - is the only Wifi device that is permanently on.

So.
1. and 2. The only devices with Static IP adresses are the modem and router. Everything else is dynamic.
3. I can ping the modem from the PC without issue.
Same with the WD TV Live.
Router gives.
Pinging 192.168.0.2 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.52: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.0.52: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.0.52: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.0.52: Destination host unreachable.

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.2:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Click to expand...
4. My Modem is a Billion BiPAC 5210S RC with only 1 Network point - that is used by the router. The Router is the networking hub for everything.
5. Plugged my PC directly into the modem - everything fine.
6. and 7. All the lights look fine. on the router - Wifi is flickering, so is the lights for the modem, pc and wd tv live.

And the Web-Interface for the Router is down. We'll we are making progress. Still have internet. And after a reboot of the router - everything is back to normal.
 
OK so I think we can clear your ADSL modem of any faults. I suspect that the firmware on your TP-Link wireless router is buggy. Sounds like a classic case of the router running out of memory (RAM) after a few days. Probably this version of your firmware is not doing a good job at garbage collection, clearing out buffers and caches, etc. After a few days of use, everything comes crashing down because the onboard OS doesn't have enough working memory. Rebooting clears everything, and then the cycle repeats itself.

Have you tried updating the firmware yet? And have you checked if your router supports DD-WRT / OpenWRT?
 
Saajid said:
OK so I think we can clear your ADSL modem of any faults. I suspect that the firmware on your TP-Link wireless router is buggy. Sounds like a classic case of the router running out of memory (RAM) after a few days. Probably this version of your firmware is not doing a good job at garbage collection, clearing out buffers and caches, etc. After a few days of use, everything comes crashing down because the onboard OS doesn't have enough working memory. Rebooting clears everything, and then the cycle repeats itself.

Have you tried updating the firmware yet? And have you checked if your router supports DD-WRT / OpenWRT?
Click to expand...

I actually just finished looking at the requirements for DD-WRT. Planning to load it this weekend. Will let you gents know what happens.
And really - thanks for all the advice so far.
 
Well. DD-WRT flashed to the TP-Link. Great frimware - much more versatile than the stock.

Looked good, but after about 24 hours my wifi went down with authentication errors. On the plus side - the router could still be pinged and the Web Interface was still available.Disabled Wireless Security, switched it back on and it was fine. Keeping a eye on it to see if it happens again.

Ironically enough - while looking for instructions to flash it I found a youtube link for the issue. Seems it is a problem with this model. One cause for it might be µTorrent - which I use.http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Router_Slowdown

Either way - last time I buy TP-Link.
 
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Compton_effect said:
Just some feedback. I haven't made a change to my router settings yet. But I did get into the habit of closing µTorrent every time I finished downloading anything. So far so good. not a single issue.
Click to expand...

I have seen this before with connection intensive apps. Seeing as you have already flashed dd-wrt, follow this link to adjust your max sessions and TCP timeout values and check if you can then leave uTorrent open 24/7:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Router_Slowdown
 
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