D-Link → DI-704 rebooting itself? Or is it damaged?

Hi there, i need some expert advise. i have 2 computers (Win98se and XP-Home) connected to a DI-704 router (firmware is 256b20), which connects to the modem (cable). i am not truly sure what is happening, so before i go much further in troubleshooting i thought i might ask some of the experts here for advise.

The M1 light blinks are about a second apart..so it's ok, and the M2 light will stay solid when i refresh a page...but dims out when i am idle (say just reading a page after about a minute) The M2 i am concerned about.

The WAN light blinks ok, and the LAN light stays solid green and does not go out. So those lights are both ok.

The two port linklights are on ok for each computer, so they are working correctly.

What i am noticing though is when i am idle on the net (just reading) the M2 light dims out after about a minute...that seems to be when i get the 0.0.0.0's in the Device Information in the router's webpage. i am still connected to the net though and when i do a refresh of the browser for the site i am reading...i get the IP numbers back and i notice the M2 orange light comes on and stays on for about a minute..then dims again. So it seems i am not losing connection to the internet once i refresh a page or attempt to connect to a site.

What i am getting in my router's log looks like this, continuously:

DHCP:discover()
DOD:TCP trigger (my IP to website IP i am going to)
DHCP:discover()
DHCP: offer (gives 10.202. IP)
DHCP:request (gives the IP i now have)
DHCP:ack(DOL=604800,T1+86400,T2=29200) --i don't know what that means
Connection is broken
DHCP:release
and on it goes like that.

This started about a week ago when i turned on my computer and discovered i had a new IP (the previous one i have had for almost a year). i now have a different one again as i went through the releasing and renewing, recycling, rebooting modem and router thing while trying to figure this out. i believe i have tried everywhichway to get it fixed...even though i am not losing any connection to the net yet, i know this isn't right because the router logs look like the router is constantly rebooting itself...?

i have the upgrade firmware (di704firmware257b3.zip) downloaded but not installed yet, as i wanted to find out first where the problem is....and i believe it is with the router and not the nic cards on my computers (they are both different).

Before i go and install the new firmware (which looks a bit complicated when i read the troubleshooting guide at the DLink page)..i thought i might ask here first if other's have seen this and maybe it's a disfunctional router that i have now, and installing the new firmware isn't going to make much difference? i have had this router since March '02...so maybe it's burnt out. LOL

Any advise or opinions would be greatly appreciated because i am fairly new to this router stuff. It all worked so nicely for almost two years, that i never really had to look more into it before now.

thank you,

snap

Absolutely you should upgrade to 2.57b3. It should not be too difficult, just execute the EXE that is contained in the firmware ZIP.

Hard to say what's causing your problems. There is indication your ISP's DHCP isn't responding quickly enough, and definitely the disconnections shouldn't be happening. Maybe the firmware update will help resolve something. To de-mystify what you posted, here's some descriptions:

discover()
That's your router making a DHCP request.

DOD:TCP trigger (my IP to website IP i am going to)
Something on your LAN tried to make a WAN access before the DHCP reply was received.

DHCP:discover()
The router is asking for DHCP again. It hadn't yet gotten a reply from the earlier request. That implies there may be problems with your ISP's DHCP servers.

DHCP: offer (gives 10.202. IP)
That's a reply from DHCP. The IP is that of your ISP's DHCP server. It's normal for cable systems to use a 10.*.*.* IP for their internal DHCP servers. Mine does the same thing.

DHCP:request (gives the IP i now have)
The DHCP server may have tried to issue a different IP than you had previously, so the router is asking to retain the same one that it had before.

DHCP:ack(DOL=604800,T1+86400,T2=29200)
Those are the DHCP retention periods of how long you can keep that IP. They are a count of seconds. (Typo on T1, the '+' should be a '='). Your router should use the T1 interval (86400 seconds is 24Hrs) to request DHCP renewal.

Connection is broken
The router senses a broken connection, probably at the physical transport layer. That could mean a bad cable between it & your modem, or a modem problem, or something else.

DHCP:release
It always does that in response to detecting a broken connection.

Hi inTulsa, and thank you for your reply. i followed your advise and installed the new firmware and it installed smoothly just like you said it would...:) But it didn't change anything...i was still getting the same thing happening in my first post....dang, i was hoping.

i checked the Roger's forum here to see if there were any posts with similar problems, but i didn't see any. Then i went through all the troubleshooting pages at the Roger's site, re-checked all my settings so many times i think i have them memorized now..lol.

So to narrow the possible problem down further, i bought a new cable and replaced the one going from the modem to the router, then replaced the powerbar the router plugs into, with a new one. i also plugged the modem into a different wall outlet just to be sure it wasn't a wiring problem with the outlet. Recycled both the modem and router (i hope that's the right phrase? Turned them off - checked lights - rebooted computer, etc) ..but nothing made any difference. But at least i know what isn't causing the problem.

i am going to get another DI-704 tomorrow and try that one. If it works, then i'll know it was my router....if it doesn't, then i'll know the problem is with my ISP's DHCP servers as you mentioned that possibility in your post.

i'll post back what happens when i try the new router. i do have a software firewall installed, so if i am not protected by the router when it does that release/discover thing, then my software firewall will stop anything from getting in.

Thank you again inTulsa, for your help. i've been wondering about some of those words now for a long time, and you solved that mystery for me....and now i've got some more experience with settings, modems and routers to-boot (opps, i think that's a pun) LOL

Many thanks!

snap

Good luck to you. FYI, there's a "TechTool" guide for it at: »support.dlink.com/techto ··· ?RowID=1
I doubt it will be much help in your situation, but it's a pretty good source for trouble-shooting.

Also, just wanted to mention keeping it as cool as possible. I stuck a couple of pencils under mine to help the air flow a bit.

Hi inTulsa, i thought i would post back to thank you for that link (i read it through several times) and to let you know how it went with the new router.

Well i replaced my 704 with a 704P, and the 704P is working just like the 704 was...lights blinking normally, etc. i have the last 2 days reading and re-reading the DLink support site, the manual, comments on other forums, and anything else i could find that would help me figure out why my router is going through this "discover, offer, request, ack, connection broken, and release" thing.
i have done everything possible from replacing the router, setting it back to default and starting over from scratch (actually did that a few times with both routers) pinging the router successfully, recycling the cable modem, re-doing all my settings on each computer (btw, they are not networked..they are both stand alones), and i have come to the conclusion it is not my computers nor either router, and i am pretty sure it isn't my cable modem either, since it is working according to the settings guide for it on the Roger's toubleshooting page.

But from a few things i have read on the Roger's forum here at dslr....i am thinking it has to do with the changes Roger's has been doing over the past two weeks or so, since it is within the same time this started happening. i turned on my computer tonight and found i had yet another new WAN IP number. LOL That makes 6 different IP #'s since Oct 16th. geeze LOL

i'm puzzled..lol..but i still have access to the net and the 0's turn back to numbers in the router's Device Information page everytime i refresh a web page; there's just a li'l lag time when i refresh a web page and the connection is made again. i am also showing full stealth on every scan test i have tried, so this is good. It's just un-nerving not knowing what is going to happen the next time i turn on my computer....or if i am "stealth" when the number's turn back to 0's when i am not refreshing a page.

But my Sygate firewall isn't alerting to anything and stays pretty quite...i just wish my router's logs were able to show more than just a few "hits", like it use to, right now it only logs just a few hits inbetween the "release" cycle.

Thanks again for your help

best regards,

snap

I agree it sounds like something totally outside your control. Below is thread to a similar problem with Comcast, and contains a post to when I had it occur with Cox.
»DI-704 DHCP failure after 90 seconds idle

In my case all signs of it vanished after a couple of days. It wasn't specific to the 704 or 704P, the same disconnections were happening with a non-Dlink router too.

You might have to call Rogers support. The problem may be local to your cable node and not experienced by all the other Rogers users. It might even be caused by something a neighbor is doing on the same cable node.

sounds like the modem is lossing connection, and the router is just renewing ip that the modem is sending... I would check the modems log.

Hi bsr500,

i am not sure what you mean by checking the modem's log? The cable modem has a log?? i have a "LANcity Personal Modem"...but i was unaware it maintains a log? How would i find these log entries?

Thank you for your post bsr500

regards,
snap

i get the same exact thing a few (dozen) times a day on my DI-704, its like my connection dies (cant go nowhere) but only for a min or so....

get the discover thing in the logs..

I'm on verizon dsl, modem never loses sync and if i plug the modem directly into the computer the problem does not happen..

also hooked up a DI-614+ router/AP and i do not get the problem.. its like the 704 knows its getting old and needs to be replaced/upgraded