Linksys Wireless Router Lag Spikes

Lead_Head · 27 Mar 2006 at 08:46

OK, I've got hold of a different wireless PCI card (A Buffalo one if it makes any difference).

I reset my router (by pressing the button underneath) pressed the SES setup on the front of the router and updated to the latest drivers for the wireless card.

Good news - the lag spikes have disapeared. So it appears the Linksys wireless card is faulty, so I am RMA'ing it. However, I get disconnected every so often.

For instance, if I play a game of Pro Evolution Soccer online, it sometimes disconnects. I'm running a ping www.bbc.co.uk -t in dos to see what happens and it says that 'Request timed out.'.

It also throws me out of MSN, so I'm guessing it completely disconnects me.

I've got the wireless security setup OK and I haven't really changed any other settings except put it to channel 11 instead of the default 6, and changed the name of the SSID.

Any suggestions fellas? It's incredibly frustrating!

jpmonkey69 · 27 Mar 2006 at 10:09

looks like your DHCP reservations are set to renew after a short time... In your router there should be a setting to set your DHCP address fvor a certain amount of time; try to set this to zero if it'll let you (as this should never renew your address) or as high a number as you can (so it'll only be infrequent).

Let me know how you get on.

/edit just checked your manual... in the router setup there should be a "Client Lease Time" under "Network Address Server Settings (DHCP)"

Set this to 0 so your lease is a day.

Lead_Head · 27 Mar 2006 at 10:19

From memory I believe it is 0. Or it could be 3600, I'll check at lunchtime when I pop home.

Lead_Head · 27 Mar 2006 at 12:17

OK. Here what it says.

I can either enable or disable DHCP server and the client lease time is 0.

Any other suggestions mate?

tolien · 27 Mar 2006 at 12:40

If you set it to 0, I'd expect it to lock up constantly renewing the lease - set it as high as you can (though renewing the DHCP lease shouldn't disconnect you anyway...)

Lead_Head · 27 Mar 2006 at 12:48

OK, I'll take a look when I get in later (back at work now).

Any idea what the highest value could be? Or should it prompt me if I enter a number too high?

By the way, I can connect to the internet, browse websites normally but just not hold a sustained game. It's quite random, really bizarre. I played 8 straight games against 3 different people in one gaming session with Pro Evo and then I want to play my mate and it disconnects whilst choosing the teams.

It's very annoying and it's a problem I shouldn't have! You should just be able to plug in your router, connect with your wireless card, setup security and away you go!

Networking :mad:

tolien · 27 Mar 2006 at 13:11

Unless it's the game opening too many connections.

Lead_Head · 27 Mar 2006 at 13:25

Thing is, it would chuck me out of MSN and Ventrilo if I had them open as well, so it's as if my internet is completely disconnected for around 30 seconds to a minute.

My uPnP is on, so it should allocate ports as / when required. I checked using TCPView to see what is using which ports.

Hmmmm, just had a thought actually. What would happen if:

MSN was open (how many ports does this use?)
Ventrilo used as voice comms,
Pinging a website to check connectivity,
Pro Evo 5 (2 ports - 1 local I believe)

If I have a limit of so many ports I can open, would it then close all apps and reallocate ports, therefore chucking me out of the game?

tolien · 27 Mar 2006 at 13:43

It isn't ports, it's connections.
Would expect either a) the router would lock solid (which it could be), or b) everything would break that wasn't already connected.

Lead_Head · 27 Mar 2006 at 13:46

Sorry, I'm not too clued up on all this networking lark

I thought every connection needed a port.

OK, so how would I remedy the problem, if this was the case?

tolien · 27 Mar 2006 at 13:57

Lead_Head said:
I thought every connection needed a port.

Your web browser connects to port 80 on a webserver. You think you're the only one connecting at a time?

If that's the problem, trying a different router (or just a modem) should fix it.
You're on cable? Try the cable modem direct.

jpmonkey69 · 27 Mar 2006 at 15:25

tolien said:
If you set it to 0, I'd expect it to lock up constantly renewing the lease - set it as high as you can (though renewing the DHCP lease shouldn't disconnect you anyway...)

Dude, in my above post I said I'd looked at the manual for his W/less router, and as I mentioned above 0 sets it for a day.

Lead_Head · 27 Mar 2006 at 16:18

I'm on Cable. How do you mean Cable direct??

Burbleflop · 27 Mar 2006 at 16:23

Removing the router from the equation and connecting the cable modem directly to the PC.

Lead_Head · 27 Mar 2006 at 16:57

The internet and game works fine going to the cable modem directly.

tolien · 28 Mar 2006 at 12:16

jpmonkey69 said:
Dude, in my above post I said I'd looked at the manual for his W/less router, and as I mentioned above 0 sets it for a day.

I was speaking generically :shrug:
Setting it to 0 isn't the cleverest of ideas, whether the router bodges it or not. Better idea setting it to a day (24 hours = 86400 seconds, for what it's worth).
If it works without running a specific app, it pretty clearly isn't DHCP anyway, so you're on a hiding to nowhere.

"Dude, in my above post I said":

tolien said:
(though renewing the DHCP lease shouldn't [read: won't] disconnect you anyway...)

If it's fine without the router, you've got your problem. Try a different router, or if you want to persist with making sure it isn't DHCP (though it's ultimately pointless), try setting a static IP...

jpmonkey69 · 28 Mar 2006 at 12:43

Whilst you are in the process of a DHCP renew, there is a point when the IP address of your adapter is 0.0.0.0

This will mean you are unable to access networks and are disconnected for any networks you ARE connected to....

You can test this by going to command prompt, and typing ipconfig /renew all and trying to access the internet/other networked PCs while it is in the process of renewing the IP.

tolien · 28 Mar 2006 at 12:45

jpmonkey69 said:
Whilst you are in the process of a DHCP renew, there is a point when the IP address of your adapter is 0.0.0.0

Not when the machine's on it isn't, unless it releases the IP first...

To be sure, just did it. Nothing changes. SSH session(s) stay up, the lot.

jpmonkey69 · 28 Mar 2006 at 13:06

tolien said:
Not when the machine's on it isn't, unless it releases the IP first...

To be sure, just did it. Nothing changes. SSH session(s) stay up, the lot.

A DHCP renew using the above command in a DOS box releases the IPaddress to 0.0.0.0 before it reassigns it.

This is true unless your PC has a DHCP reservation, in which case it'll pick up the IP address straight away due to it knowing the MAC address and IP address tie in.

tolien · 28 Mar 2006 at 13:09

jpmonkey69 said:
A DHCP renew using the above command in a DOS box releases the IPaddress to 0.0.0.0 before it reassigns it.

tolien said:
To be sure, just did it. Nothing changes. SSH session(s) stay up, the lot.

Unless you use /release, then /renew, nothing changes.

This is true unless your PC has a DHCP reservation, in which case it'll pick up the IP address straight away due to it knowing the MAC address and IP address tie in.

Which if the machine already has a lease, it will...

tolien said:
If it works without running a specific app, it pretty clearly isn't DHCP anyway, so you're on a hiding to nowhere.

Soooo, we're going round in circles for nothing. Yay.