 FlogatorPremium,MVM
join:2003-01-19
Cantley, QC
kudos:1 | reply to redblkjck
Re: BEFSX41 Firmware 1.52.3 - POST YOUR RESULTS HE The BEFSX41 WAN port is known to be flaky with some modems. Especially the Motorola ones but also some RCA ones too. The funny thing though is that this flakiness does not occur predictably meaning lots of SB4200/BEFSX41 combo will work while few others will not. Very strange but seems to be related to the electrical characteristics of the ethernet port on the WAN side of the BEFSX41. Just to confirm that you are hitting one of these bad combination, just insert a hub or a switch between the router and the modem. If the problem goes away, then you've found it. If the problem does not go away, then likely I am in the woods and the problem is something else. Nevertheless, I would very much appreciate if you could execute this experiment and report your findings here. |
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EkoPremium
join:2004-05-04
Slovenia | Also LAN ports could be flaky; I recently had problems connecting Linksys PCMPC100 ethernet PC card to my BEFSX41.
Link light just keep going on and off hence no link whatsoever. Even manually set to 10half didn't do.
It looks just this particular combination didn't work. I finally inserted a switch and voila - link OK. |
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| reply to Flogator
Just to ask something that probably nobody can answer...
Is it the BEFSX41 the component being flaky or the devices being connected to it? Not that it is important, but I remember distinctly when the BEFSX41 was first released and these problems surfaced we were told by Linksys techs that the BEFSX41 strictly adheres to ethernet standards & some products are loose enough in the implementation of the specs that the BEFSX41 doesn't tolerate the deviance(s).
Maybe this part of our discussion is better suited for a separate thread, but I'll go ahead and list all the equipment I have had hooked up to the BEFSX41.
A Nortel DOCSIS 1.0 Cable Modem 100
A Toshiba DOCSIS 2.0 PCX2600 Cable Modem
3Com 3C900B-TPO EtherLink 10 NIC
Intel Pro 10/100 PCI NICs
Realtek 8139A 10/100 PCI NICs
A Dell 8400 with mobo-integrated Broadcom Gigabit NIC
A Dell XPS Gen 4 with mobo-integrated Broadcom Gigabit NIC
Netgear Tulip-based 10/100 PCI NICs
SMC 10/100 PCI NICs
All have worked just fine with no tweaking or diddling. |
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FlogatorPremium,MVM
join:2003-01-19
Cantley, QC
kudos:1 | You are correct. It seems my statement was misleading. I said the BEFSX41 WAN port is flaky. However, I should have said that the BEFSX41 WAN port is more rigid when it comes to the ethernet electrical specifications. As a result, the BEFSX41 WAN port does not tolerate modem with slightly out-of-spec ethernet port. |
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redblkjckPremium
join:2001-11-07
Millersville, MD | reply to Flogator
said by Flogator: Nevertheless, I would very much appreciate if you could execute this experiment and report your findings here. Yeah, I am thinking this is caused from an older firmware on this modem. I am trying to find a revision history on the firmware of these modems. I found a few post where certain firmwares were causing problems with other routers. Trying to get the ISP to push a newer firmware to it.
But yeah I can try out a hub in line to the WAN port. I'll give it a whirl over the weekend.
jack |
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| reply to Flogator
Re: BEFSX41 Firmware 1.52.3 - POST YOUR RESULTS HERE Flogator,
I think it has something to do with the auto-sensing ports on the back of the BEFSX41 & how every LAN port can auto-sense and become an uplink port at will depending on what you plug into them. I think the very next model Linksys came out with removed that feature. Personally, I'm glad the SX41 is so strict. I'd rather it not work at all then be out of spec & then have mysterious problems due to the modem or NIC being just far enough out of spec to be a sourc of occasional irritation. 
redblkjck,
Good luck with your firmware endeavors. Some ISPs are very stubborn and/or stupid when a customer asks for a firmware upgrade to be pushed out to their modem. May end up being easier on you to just buy a new modem. If you are partial to Motorola modems you can find SB5100s on sale for $40. |
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| reply to Flogator
Re: BEFSX41 Firmware 1.52.3 - POST YOUR RESULTS HE I don't know if this is the right place to post this. I have an SB4100 and an SX41. Ever since I got them if I lost pwer to the SB4100 or the wan cable got disconnected, I would have to leave them connected and wait overnight to re-establish a connection. I tried all versions of firmware and settings. I could make it worse but no better. I just put a 50FT cable between them and it came up immediately!
Hope that helps someone else not become a member of the "Hair Club for Men!
Bob |
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| reply to Flogator
I didn't specify it in my last email, but I am running 1.52.3 firmware. I tried the experiment with a Hub and that works as well as the 50FT cable. Another problem I have had is it taking may tries to connect to the linksys from explorer and when changing pages. I put a 50 FT cable between the computer and the Linksys and I almost always get a good connection the first time. I guess it is picky on the Ethernet card too!
Bob |
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| reply to Flogator
This firmware is fine with me. It's finally holding the internet connection properly! I previously suffered from constant DNS death. My provider is MTS ADSL PPPoE.
notes for other MTS users:
* set domain name to mts.net
* set keep alive to 45 secs
* use an MTU of 1392
* specify the DNS servers manually
* stick with defaults where possible |
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| reply to Flogator
Re: BEFSX41 Firmware 1.52.3 - POST YOUR RESULTS HERE I'm a lightweight on this stuff but I'm on DSL. I ran 1.52.3 for a bit but when one computer on the network stopped responding I went back to 1.45.7. Haven't had any problems since. Didn't have time to futz with it to help diagnose why. |
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| Same symptoms here, when I tried it... (looked like a DNS problem, could ping IP of destination, but not connect via www)
--
Looking for 1939 Indian Motocycle |
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PARC
join:2003-01-27
Philippines | Just installed this firmware yesterday, still up and running for almost 24 Hours, no problem what so ever.
BTW I'm using an ADSL connection. I noticed a little improvement on my internet connection speed.
Just not sure whether to use the QoS function, Can anyone explain what this is for?
Thanks! |
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| reply to Flogator
Re: BEFSX41 Firmware 1.52.3 - POST YOUR RESULTS HE Well,
the new firmware doesn't work in Germany with DSL service.
Reboots is all you get when there's traffic on the WAN interface.
The 'old' firmware befsx41_v1.51.01_000_0909_code.bin does work, however.
Further on, you /have/ to use MS-Internet Explorer to fill in the config data. Firefox wasn't able to even input my DSL user name or password (took quite some time to figure out why the user name field was still blank after 'safe')
But it was fast with displaying local pages and with turning on all front panel lights 
Cheers from over here
jahonix |
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PARC
join:2003-01-27
Philippines
1 edit | Oh great!?! Now I'm getting this report from my Log viewer:
2005-03-11 20:02:31 1447/TCP from 24.42.40.217:61681 to 192.168.1.10:1447 Invalid TCP packet received, dropping packet
2005-03-11 20:03:55 3/ICMP from 62.35.58.185 to 210.213.230.234 Dropping ICMP error message. Original UDP from 210.213.230.234:6346 to 62.35.58.185:6346
2005-03-11 20:04:38 3/ICMP from 206.74.22.87 to 210.213.230.234 Dropping ICMP error message. Original UDP from 210.213.230.234:6346 to 210.213.230.234:6230
2005-03-11 20:06:45 6346/TCP from 68.6.104.78:3231 to 192.168.1.10:6346 Invalid TCP packet received, dropping packet
2005-03-11 20:07:35 3/ICMP from 213.227.33.14 to 210.213.230.234 Dropping ICMP error message. Original UDP from 210.213.230.234:6346 to 213.227.33.14:6346
2005-03-11 20:08:55 3/ICMP from 200.140.89.184 to 210.213.230.234 Dropping ICMP error message. Original UDP from 210.213.230.234:6346 to 200.140.89.184:6346
* only a part of the log report I got.
Should I worry? Anything to resolve this?
Thanks! |
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FlogatorPremium,MVM
join:2003-01-19
Cantley, QC
kudos:1 | reply to PARC
Don't bother about using QoS, it is not working. Only the GUI was introduced. Functionality doesn't seem to be there yet. Let's hope that next firmware will change that . |
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FlogatorPremium,MVM
join:2003-01-19
Cantley, QC
kudos:1 | reply to PARC
About those strange logs, I would not worry. This simply indicate that the router did its job by dropping those packets. I get some of those every once in a while. |
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| reply to PARC
I believe those ICMP type 3 packets are a response to one of your local PCs (hosts).
ICMP type 3 are IP error messages. Type 3 code 4 is used as part of PMTU (Path Maximum Transmission Unit) discovery and should be considered normal. XP will send test packets to determine how large to make its MTU when booting. Unfortunately the log doesn't enumerate the code along with the ICMP type.
see
»www.networksorcery.com/enp/proto···msg3.htm |
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| I forgot to mention this:
/FLAMEON
the router drops response packets destined for your host that may influence its behaviour. For instance, when these RESPONSE packets are dropped, your PC is waiting for a response to one (or more) of its probes that will NEVER arrive and probably incur a timeout and/or fallback to a default setting. What setting, you might wonder? Who knows, only the ICMP type (and not the code) appears on the log! ICMP Type 3 indicates "Host Unreachable" but the CODE tells you WHY the host was unreachable. I wish the code would also be listed in the log (so you could really determine why the packet was dropped) and possibly an option to allow these packets through rather than depend on the dubious competency of the Linksys programmer(s).
/FLAMEOFF |
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PARC
join:2003-01-27
Philippines | Thanks guys!
Atleast now i can relax . BTW Running this firmware almost 2 Days now, no problem what so ever. Even the Filter is running properly.
PARC |
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1 edit | reply to Flogator
I was just wondering if anyone knew how the UPNP was broken in this firmware release (v1.52.3)? Does it not work at all or are there certain parts that don't work?
I was wondering if they fixed the IDENTD (port 113) issue with this firmware. So far I haven't found any firmware that allowed you to run an IDENTD server behind the router with SPI enabled. I have basically stopped using IRC, becuase I prefer to have SPI enabled. (and yes I have tried all the tricks suck as port forwarding). It irritates me that such a simple issue keeps getting ignored, my software router had no problem with this, but I hated having a pc on 24hrs a day, so I bought a linksys router.
Is there an official linksys forum? I tried searching for several hours and no luck. Anyone know?
I am wondering if the BEFSX firmware will ever be released GPL? Anyone have the scoop on that? Everytime I try to email opensource -at- linksys.com, my emails get rejected. I have tried an unbelievable amount of email addresses, and still, they are all rejected. If someone would be so kind as to ask them for me I would be greatly appreciated.
Also, how do I get signed up to receive beta firmware from linksys? I have asked several times and I seem to be ignored.
Just a few more questions, - Is there a freeware util that can rip the log files out of the BEFSX, and display it in a nice formatted way?
Does the router act as a time server? I thought that it was supposed to act as a time server for the lan clients. Also, Multicast - what would be the consequence of blocking it or allowing it? I know what the literal definition of it is, but I am not sure about what applications would actually use multicast, except for a live vid or mp3 stream. Am I mistaken? I always thought that multicast was a security hole, if any experts whish to clarify for me =).
Regarding Nat table timeouts, am I right in assuming that this would drastically affect certain 'always connected' devices like an VOIP device? I currenly have a UTStarcom, and it constantly looses its connection, resetting the device always restores it. I keep a ping log to make sure its not the server or path to the server that is causing the problem. So far it seems to be the router itself.
Thanks for the responses! |
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