Linksys Broadband Router - some websites are inaccessible

[Phalanx-Imawano 0]

Recently I bought a Linksys Cable/DSL Router (model BEFSR41 V3) to share my DSL connection with several PC's without having to have a PC turned on to share it (previously that was the setup - 1 PC was directly connected to the DSL modem and utilized Internet Connection Sharing). For the most part it works fine, except that certain websites seem to have become completely inaccessible through the router resulting in the "The page cannot be displayed" message (one of those websites is http://www.espn.com, and at one point using Yahoo mail was also problematic). I've tried a number of things including getting the latest firmware and resetting the router to factory settings, but to no avail. Anything I can do here?

[adamvjackson 0]

Use a different DNS server, and see if that improves? You can manually specify the DNS server IP address in the DHCP/Setup tab of your router.

 

Here are some root server IP addresses, some may be closer/faster than others, you can 'ping' the addresses to see what's closest to you.

 

128.63.2.53

192.33.4.12

128.8.10.90

192.203.230.10

192.5.5.241

 

 

Good luck

[bit_junkie 0]

hey alec this might help :

 

http://www.root-servers.org/

[Sampson 0]

You might also try ipconfig. Bring up a command prompt and type ipconfig /flushdns . Your IPS has a dynamic cache of addresses. However, when you get a message that the site could not be found, that address sometimes remains in the cache. For example, you have typed www.espn.com whereas its real address is http://espn.go.com/ This is supposed to be resolved but sometimes it isn't and you get the message that the page was not found.

[Phalanx-Imawano 0]

I'll see if that works. Just so you know though, after I posted this thread, all of a sudden this very website, http://www.ntcompatible.com , became one of those "inaccessible" websites through the router (so now I'm posting from my office PC). Other websites that became inacessible with the router include: http://www.bluesnews.com, just about every website that starts with http://www.game* (eg http://www.gamespot.com, http://www.gamegal.com, http://www.gamersdepot.com, http://www.gamecritics.com, etc), http://www.3dgpu.com, and the EZBoard forums.

 

I do hope ipconfig or those root servers will help, though I still have a feeling it's the router that's causing the problem - I tried bypassing the router by reconnecting the DSL modem directly to my PC (its previous configuration), and all those websites that were inaccessble could then be accessed this time.

 

 

[Sampson 0]

Normally in setting up the DSL you use one computer to acquire the ip address. Since your computer can get out on the web by-passing the Router, the DSL is still holding that address for the computer. Unplug the DSL (for about 20 seconds) leaving your computers and the linksys on. Then, restart the DSL so it is communicating with the router.

[Phalanx-Imawano 0]

Originally posted by Sampson:

Quote:

Normally in setting up the DSL you use one computer to acquire the ip address. Since your computer can get out on the web by-passing the Router, the DSL is still holding that address for the computer. Unplug the DSL (for about 20 seconds) leaving your computers and the linksys on. Then, restart the DSL so it is communicating with the router.

 

What I meant by bypassing the router was physically disconnecting the router from both the PC's NIC and the DSL modem, and connecting the DSL modem directly to the PC's NIC. Of course I log off the PPPoE connection established by the router before doing so, or if necessary I shut down everything (PC, router, and DSL modem) first before making those changes.

[Sampson 0]

Actually, keep your PC's connected to the Router, but turn the DSL modem off. When you turn on the modem, it will connect with the ISP and get its address which it will pass to the Router. The Router sets up the addresses for each of the computers internally.

[Phalanx-Imawano 0]

The point I'm making is that if I eliminate the router from the system, I don't experience that problem of not being able to see those websites I mentioned, so I'm getting the impression that the router either has difficulty communicating with those websites, or it is blocking them somehow (I read on one review website that the Linksys Router has a hidden ability to block unwanted websites, but I'm not sure how true it is given there's no mention of that ability in the user's guide).

 

My current setup is that the PC's in my home LAN (there are 3 of them) all have static IP's (so I can locate them easily within the LAN by IP address, eg file/printer sharing), rather that having the router assign them. Of course when I was troubleshooting and reconnected my PC directly to the DSL modem, I set my PC to obtain its IP address from the DSL modem, which is how it was originally configured by my ISP.

[Sampson 0]

I understood fully what you meant. You may have a bad router. However, I have never heard of Linksys blocking sites unless you go into its setup and give it those instructions.

In using the router most of the time you set the Lan up in a domain and each computer recognizes one another through that domain. You really don't need to set up IP addresses for them unless it is to troubleshoot. The router is then only like a switcher that allows each computer to see the other. When you plug the DSL into the WAN of the router, it, in turn, assigns a set of IP addresses to each computer.

[Phalanx-Imawano 0]

Given that it's a Home LAN and I don't have Windows 2000 Server or Window Server 2003, there's no domain set up (i.e. it's just a workgroup). I also prefer static IP's because one of the PC's is sharing its printer, and in case the PC's name can't be seen (which happened a few times), it is mapped in the other 2 PC's by IP address (and a dynamic IP address will mean not having a permanently mapped shared printer).

[Sampson 0]

Well, we seem not to be on the same page as to networking. Nonetheless, here are some of the ways you can determine where the bottleneck is, which, it seems is the router:

 

Check Network Communications

If you can communicate between two computers on the local network but not connect to the Internet, you've probably proved that the problem exists in the Internet connection hardware or the Internet connection itself.

 

To check whether you can communicate between two computers, the easiest way is to open Network Neighborhood or My Network Places and try to access a shared resource on a remote computer. Or, you can use the Ping command, with the syntax: ping computername (substitute a real computer name for computername, for example, ping den). If you get an error message, you may have a network communication problem. To make sure, you should also try pinging a remote computer by its IP address. To determine the IP address, go to the remote computer you’re trying to ping and open a command window. Then type ipconfig and press ENTER. The system displays the current IP address (along with other information about the network adapter). Write down the IP address so you can use it with the Ping tool.

 

From another computer on the network, open a command window and type ping x.x.x.x, where x.x.x.x is the IP address of the computer on which you ran ipconfig. If you get a series of error messages, such as “Request timed out” from the ping command, the computer on which ping is running cannot see the other computer. This could mean anything from a disconnected cable to a software crash. But you know that the problem is probably not with your Internet connection equipment.

 

Check the Gateway

TCP/IP networking requires a computer or other device to function as a gateway, which is the device that sits between your network and the Internet. If you are using a router, it's probably acting as the gateway. Otherwise, the gateway is probably your ISP.

 

To determine your gateway, open a command window and type ipconfig. The system displays the IP address of the gateway (in addition to other information about the network adapter). Type ping x.x.x.x (where x.x.x.x is the IP address of the gateway system specified by ipconfig). If you get a series of error messages, such as “Request timed out,” that means that your computer cannot communicate with the gateway.

 

If your gateway is a router, read the troubleshooting section of the User Guide that came with your router (the User Guide may be on the CD instead of a printed booklet). You might have to reset the router by pressing the Reset button and holding it for several seconds. The router will restart and attempt to reconnect to the local network and Internet. If it still fails, you need to contact Linksys technical support (see Appendix C). If your gateway is at your ISP's site, contact your ISP.

 

Disable Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall

 

On Windows XP, if the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) is enabled, you should disable it because it interferes with network communications. To disable ICF, follow these steps:

 

1. Choose Start | Control Panel | Network And Internet Connections.

2. Click Network Connections.

3. Right-click the listing for your Local Area Connection and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.

4. Select the Advanced tab.

5. Deselect the option to use ICF, and then click OK.

 

Invalid DHCP Lease

 

You may see a message about an invalid DHCP lease in Internet Explorer when you're trying to connect to a Web page. It's likely that your Internet access device tries to retrieve an Internet address automatically from the ISP, and sometimes the ISP's DHCP server is slow to respond to your system's request for an IP address. Before the ISP can supply an address, Windows times out (gets tired of waiting) and assigns the network adapter an APIPA number. To fix the problem, follow these steps:

 

1. Choose Start | Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.

2. Type ipconfig and press ENTER. The system displays the IP address assigned to each network adapter on this computer. The network adapter connected to the Internet should have an address of 169.254.x.x, where each x is between 0 and 255.

3. Type ipconfig /release to set the address to 0.0.0.0.

4. Type ipconfig /renew to request a new address for the adapter.

 

[Phalanx-Imawano 0]

The 3 PC's can definitely see each other (remember the shared printer), and all 3 could surf the internet through the router (just not those particular websites I pointed out; eg Friendster.com, MSN.com, Yahoo, and Microsoft's homepage are accessible with no problems, but the Windows Update page for instance is not).

 

The Linksys router serves as the Gateway and local DNS Server, with IP address 192.168.1.1 in the local subnet (configured in all 3 PC's as Default Gateway and DNS Server so they can browse the internet through the router). I've tried resetting the router a number of times and even powering down or resetting to factory settings, but that problem of not being able to surf SOME websites is still persistent.

 

Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall on my PC is disabled, since (for my PC at least) it already has a 3rd party firewall (the one included with Trend Micro PC-Cillin Internet Security, though the Linksys Router itself also came bundled with Norton Internet Security, which I set aside). The other 2 PC's don't have a software firewall yet, but they exhibit the same behaviour as my firewalled PC.

 

I experienced no such message suggesting an Invalid DHCP Lease (I'm sure if that's the case then I would not be able to surf the internet at all, which is not the case). The error message at the bottom of the page when a website is inaccessible is "Cannot find server or DNS Error".

 

[Phalanx-Imawano 0]

Looks like I solved the problem by reverting the router's firmware to its stock version, and being persistent in trying to access those not-so-reachable websites.

[thatsteveguy 0]

sorry I didnt' see this before as I was going to tell you to try that. I just upgraded my frimware to the latest one they have on theeir site and had nothing but problems with it. I had to email them and have them send me the last update before the one that was posted on their site.they sent me the last five!!

 

S

[rks123 0]

exact same problem (couldnt access ezboard, with BEFW11S4 - Wireless-B Broadband Router - Version 4) al of a sudden. The firmware would work for a couple of months, then the problem would appear (where i wouldnt be able to see ezboard now).

 

I sent an email to linksys, and they told me to enable the mtu set the MTU to 1300 in the router setup and that had fixed my problem (I can now access ezboard ).

 

 

Hope that fixes your problem,

 

RKS

[jnequest 0]

Thanks for this website!!!

 

I have been working with Linksys tech support for 7 days trying to figure out why I could not access certain sites.

This site provided the answer so I want to thank you guys and also post this for anyone else who has the same problem....

 

Here is what I did

 

1. access the site where you log in the password "admin"

 

2. go to setup and enable the MTU and use the number 1300.

 

That did it! very simple!!!!

 

Thanks everyone!

 

 

[jnequest 0]

Yeah, Jonny Quest was my favorite cartoon as a kid, so I was in heaven when the DVDs came out!

 

I cant say how much stress has been releived at our house. One of the sites we could not access was a site critical for my wife's business and we were at our wits end!

 

So once again let me say THANKS!!!!

 

Isnt the internet great!?....1 week of endless hours of technical support and I do a search and hit this website and it takes 1 minute to fix the problem!!!

[jnequest 0]

I have AOL dsl. and I am using the Linksys wireless G

[jennanemone 0]

jnequest:

 

Hi! I registered for the boards here, simply to enter this forum and tell you this:

 

After several frustrated hours of belaboring the very same problem shared by others in this thread, I began patrolling google, and found my way here. Thanks for your simple, amazing advice. I set the MTU to "manual" and adjusted it to 1300, just as you said, and voila! eBay, 1up.com, and metafilter have returned to me!

 

I can't thank you enough. My boyfriend and I are singing your praises, and we are about to eat some popcorn shrimp, gleeful that we needn't bemoan the Linksys any longer. Thank you thank you thank you, friend!

 

--Jenny

[alpha2zee 0]

Thanks for this exchange - the info on MTU helped me too to solve the router problem. I also did some search to know more about MTU. This is a brief with the new-found information; please pardon and correct any mistake:

 

TCP/ IP, for internet browsing, etc., is a four- layer protocol. The Ethernet standard of local area networking is at the lowest or primary level.

 

Ethernet protocol is for transmission of blocks of data called frames. Frames have to be 64-1492 bytes in size. 1492 bytes is the maximum size of a frame and this defines the maximum transmission unit or MTU for Ethernet. Larger blocks of data must be fragmented to fit within the MTU and then reassembled on arrival at their destination.

 

Suppose the server computer sends informations with certain MTU. If a downstream router uses a smaller MTU, then the data sent by the server is fragmented to the lower MTU. This fragmentations slows down the data transfer. Thus, when two computers interact (like a website server and the browsing client computer), the smallest MTU of the two, also called the path MTU, is critical. In case of internet, a website server and a browsing client computer actually interact through many other computers, like ISP computers, routers, etc. So, the path MTUs will vary from day to day depending on all the intermediaries that the interactions happen through.

 

Identification of path MTU is crucial for proper data transmission. A protocol called ICMP is used to identify the path MTU. However, ICMP may be blocked by firewalls, etc., leading to randomly occurring problems in browsing websites.

[jmmijo 1]

Interesting read this thread was

 

I too have the same Linksys router listed but I have an older firmware rev, so I must not have come across this issue. Now thanks to everyone, if I do upgrade then there seems to be a quick fix for it