Equipment Support > Hardware By Brand > Linksys > Heres an Interesting Problem

Heres an Interesting Problem

Very well documented. Sorry, I have no idea why shutting down 1 computer would kill the others but have seen the BEFSR41 switch get "lost" on occasion and it often happens when taking a connection down and more so when swapping ports (which makes sense since ethernet MACs get switched around).

It sounds completely LAN based. That is, WAN (like the WAN MAC or PPPoE) shouldn't be involved at all.

When this occurs, can the PCs ping each other?

Any indication/changes on the lights when this occurs? What activity shows when things are attempted?

Does the same thing happen if you unplug the network instead of power down your machine?
EDIT: I predict not - I'm guessing the process of going down probably emits something on the LAN the LinkSys switch doesn't like.

Swap ports - same machine cause the same problem?

I assume "UpLink" is not used (better not be if port 1 is).

Many NICs get lost at the drop of a hat when in "Auto-Sense" mode. Try pointing their nose by setting their mode to 100mbps/FullDuplex (assuming that's what you should be running). Alternately, maybe 10mbps/HalfDuplex is more stable.

My 2 Cents for starting a dialog.
[text was edited by author 2002-04-01 21:00:20]

reply to Jiminey
Bill, thanks for the quick response. I'll try some of your suggestions one at a time once I complete my 363 MB download of a beta game. Ugh... I've also seen a couple other threads which suggest disabling UPnP. I don't use it yet, so I might try that too. I'll do each item in order and attempt to troubleshoot this darn thing. ALL very good suggestions though, thanks again. I'll post back my results.

Also, keep your eye on the DIAG light for any activity. In my own experience there's many hangs that have occurred and the DIAG light may or may not flash.

Good Luck!

reply to Jiminey
Could it be something screwy with the router getting messed up trying to send the log entries to your machine after it's turned off? Try disabling the log once and try it?

Good thought but unlikely. The SNMP UDP packets behave like a 1-way broadcast that can also be address-directed. Since it's not a TCP connection, the LinkSys doesn't care if it's heard or not.

But this is a unit with a switch that gets lost a lot in my experience. Worth a try!

[text was edited by author 2002-04-01 21:14:58]

reply to Jiminey
Also a good suggestion KeithAA. I'll try that as well. As a matter of fact I was thinking the same thing as I was writing it. I'm also going to try setting it back to the default of 255 (broadcast to all computers on LAN), and since I'm the only one with the software installed, I'll still be the only one getting the actual data until I shut my computer down, but it will still broadcast to the other computers they just won't be logging it. Still waiting for my download to finish...

I tried the logging, set it up to send to another PC on my network, then shut that PC off. Everything is still working 15 minutes later. Must be something else.

reply to Jiminey
May be I am way off on this, but time intervals would suggest that Wake-On-Lan has something to do with this. Or... Another option/solution(if Verizon is keeping track of MACs) is to clone/set an identical MAC for all NICs, unless you have tried this already.
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..MISTAKE RECOGNIZED IS HALF CORRECTED..

reply to Jiminey
Wake on Lan is turned off on all machines. I've already tried cloning the MAC address as stated in my original post. Nice try though. I'm almost ready to troubleshoot. Even at 768/128 connection it still takes over an hour to download 353MB.

Hmm wait..Clone the MACs of the NICS? I wouldn't think they'd even be able to see my NICS. Besides that I doubt the router could handle NICS will all the same MAC. Can you even clone a MAC on your NIC???

said by Jiminey:

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Can you even clone a MAC on your NIC???

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reply to Jiminey
KeithAA, did you have a logger set up on the PC you set it up to to receive the packets? If there was no logger to receive the packets would the router care? I'm still gonna try this option.

reply to Jiminey
Ok heres an Update. I powered my computer down, waited for connection loss watching the router. NO Diag light. Everything seemed to be business as usual from the LED standpoint. the Act light flashed at regular intervals, as did the LInk/Act lights for the two other computers that were on as if they were trying to talk to each other.

This is interesting though. I could ping the computers from each other several times. I'd ping the router, however, and get variuos degrees of replies and time outs in the same reply. I.E. First ping 2 replies, 1 time out, 1 reply. Second ping, 3 replies, one time out. Third ping, 3 replies, one time out...fourth ping 1 reply 1 time out, 1 reply, one time out...you get the idea.

Booted up my computer...soft reset, and off an running again. All this is with NO router setting changes. I'm off to try first fix. (Hopefully my wife won't get too upset at me dropping her conn ever ten mins though)

First attempt to fix (I'll do the easy one first) Disable Logging.

Wish me luck!

reply to Jiminey
Ok, its definately NOT the log. I diabled the log, and timed the timeout this time. Almost exactly one minute. Again, no Diag lights, or any LED indications that anything was wrong. On reboot, however of my machine, It froze right about the time the lights on the linky went out indicating it was communicating and resetting (my computer that is). Wierd eh?
Ok on to thenext step. Unplugging my cord from port one. By the way Bill, you are correct. Nothing is plugged in the uplink port, however my machine IS in port one.

Here we go.

reply to Jiminey
Another Update. Ok, unplugged my machine, and this time it took 5 minutes to lose connection. (My wife is now beginning to hate that she told me about this problem) . While I was down I double checked that my Wake on Lan is indeed OFF in my bios. Last step...after this I'm open for more suggestions.

Changing all the NICs to 100mbpsFullDuplex.

Here goes.

While things are fresh on your mind, don't forget to experiment with 10mbps/HalfDuplex. What this may do is slow down transient switch-buffering if something is getting overwhelmed by that mysterious power-down (like a switch buffer).

reply to Jiminey
Its amazing how repeatable this is. I forgot to mention I'm using firmware 1.42.6. Ok, had all computers switched to 100mbpsFullDuplex. My wife's computer was already set this way, while the other two I"m experimenting with were set to autosense. Restarted mine to let settings take effect (Rememeber windows ME, not xp like the other two), during restart connection was kept. Shut down my computer....BAM 3-4 minutes later, she lost conn AGAIN. One more try. I'm going to disable UPnP in my router and remove UPnP in my machine. I don't use it anyway. We'll see how this works.

If this doesn't work, I'll set all the NICs to 10mbpsHalfDuplex and see how it goes. I also have a hub that is currently unplugged and not in use (I said NOT in use), that I will try plugging the machines into to see if they work through that not utilizing the switch in the Linky, and see how that goes.

Ok, Disabling UPnP....

reply to Jiminey
Just wondering...

What firmware version are you running?
Did anything change recently, like a firmware upgrade?
When exactly did this problem start happening?

reply to Jiminey
Curious,
Version 1.42.6. I believe this problem has been around forever. Its like my computer is acting as some kind of server. Whereas before the firmware upgrade (the DAY it was posted on the Linksys website) The connection would drop like flys whenever it wanted to, almost as if another computer on my network was assigned this "master computer" status. Sometimes it would lose conn all day after 15 mins, sometimes it would stay up for hours. Makes me wonder if one of the other computers had this status at one point.

Ok heres what I did, uninstalled UPnP from my computer, none of the other machines had it installed. Restarted mine for settings to take effect, then shut it down. Lost connection again. One lil tidbit. When I bring mine back up, and soft reset the router to regain the connection, The first attempt to soft reset NEVER works. I have to hit it twice to get the red diag light to blink before it connects again. Interesting...no?

Ok, next step...disabling UPnP in the router, then shutting my computer down.

To be continued....