Linksys → New Firmware - 1.44

That person was just trolling. HE had to be.

This bothers me, because once a thread begins to wander aimlessly, much of the work of the rest of the people who are posting trying to document a problem is lost.

Can someone moderate or delete those comments that are obviously beside the point?

Thanks.

With the UTMOST respect who asked YOU??? Had a problem, needed an answer, don't remember asking you for the solution. BTW the answer came from a Google search and I knew W2K didn't have a gateway icon. And yes, TRIPLE BOOT! But if I do have an overwhelming, unanswerable inquiry you will be the first person I ask, Darthanubis no it's ROFLMAO

Point taken, you are right and I apologize to the group as a whole for letting this thread become entirely off topic. It was started to discuss the merits, or not, of the Linksys firmware v1.44 and I now ask, Does this firmware address any of the previous problems of 1.43.x???

Hold on, folks......
UPnP device recognition is not set as default in WinXP. Activating is easy to do. Go to control panel, add/remove programs and select the add/remove windows components icon. Then scroll down to Networking services, click on Details and then select UPnP and then OK. Your system will then search for compatible (properly flashed Linksys routers, for example) devices and indicate recognition. If all works as supposed, you should see that previously referenced icon when viewing network connections.

CBL

I MADE IT APPEAR. I didn't even care before but you guys got me hooked.

At the "network connections" screen, the one where you are looking for the icon, run "set up a home or small office network" Use the "This computer connects to the internet through another computer on my network or through a residential gateway". Finish the wizard and it will require a reboot and when it does THE ICON IS THERE!

BUT......... Then you will notice that the XP firewall boxes on the other connection(s) are now unticked. Check them off again and reboot and like magic the gateway icon is gone again!

said by cblaufer:

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Hold on, folks......
UPnP device recognition is not set as default in WinXP. Activating is easy to do. Go to control panel, add/remove programs and select the add/remove windows components icon. Then scroll down to Networking services, click on Details and then select UPnP and then OK. Your system will then search for compatible (properly flashed Linksys routers, for example) devices and indicate recognition. If all works as supposed, you should see that previously referenced icon when viewing network connections.

CBL

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I assumed that everyone knew that?

Anyway, my question still remains about the disconnects, are those who experienced the disconnects with 1.43.3 still experiencing them with 1.44?

I tried it a few times

XP firewall on = no icon
XP firewall off = icon

have to log off or reboot it seems after making the firewall change to make the icon appear or disappear.

Never assume!

ON TOPIC:

Has the new firmware v1.44 addressed and/or fixed the problems of v1.43.3? I almost forgot what I came here for!

hagbard,
using 1.44 i seem to get kicked off irc less so i'm now sticking with that even though UPuP does'nt work in 1.44.

Cheers

said by Darthanubis$:

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There are too many Winblows users in here too many.

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lol learn how to use that linux you have installed first before trolling windows users !
[text was edited by author 2002-12-01 15:55:30]

and i just flashed to 1.44 so far there has been no problems and everything is working fine.. but, time will tell

Hey billjones, I think the disappearing icons are a known bug. The simplest way to make them appear after a restart is to log off, and then log back on. Annoying, but it works.

Edit: I also have a Santa Cruz, nice choice .
[text was edited by author 2002-12-01 16:37:57]

Thanks for the heads up. I have found no mention of this in my google searches, can U point me to your source? Thanks

said by n4cer:

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Hey billjones, I think the disappearing icons are a known bug. The simplest way to make them appear after a restart is to log off, and then log back on. Annoying, but it works.

Edit: I also have a Santa Cruz, nice choice .
[text was edited by author 2002-12-01 16:37:57]

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Yeah, UPNP is definately gone HOWEVER when I Flashed the router, reset both the router & modem I noticed UPNP was still functioning normally on my XP box that had not changed status, so I rebooted the computer and then it was gone.

Not that it really bugs me since I don't do anything with UPNP but something is definately going on

billjones, I seem to remember coming across this info on Microsoft's newsgroup server. Can't remember the exact newsgroup.

Here's a rather long URL based on a search I just did with Google on microsoft.public.windowsxp* newsgroups.

»groups.google.com/groups ··· =d&hl=en

This may be a dumb question, but with my stable LAN, what does UPnP do for me? What's the big deal, anyway? I've been running my network, and growing it slowly, for quite some time, and I haven't needed UPnP before. What am I missing?

Basically, UPnP enabled apps will configure UPnP enabled firewalls themselves, thus avoiding some of the worries of manually configuring firewalls. You can also administer UPnP devices from within Windows XP natively.

I'm sure other posters here will be able to expand on this better than I can.

Upgraded BEFSR41 V2 to firmware 1.44Z with no problems. Everything works. I've not had any problems with router or any firmware upgrades since purchase a year ago. Using DSL and Windows XP Pro.

Please refer to this website for more insight (possibly biased) on UPnP and its impact on WinXP and security issues.

»www.grc.com/

Hereafter refered to as Plug 'N Pray

"This may be a dumb question, but with my stable LAN, what does UPnP do for me? What's the big deal, anyway?"

Its this simple - as soon as you connect a UPnP-enabled device to the network, your Windows PC (there is also Linux/etc support), enabled with UPnP Control Point support, will pop up an icon in your systray area, informing you of a newly detected device (just like Plug and Play), but instead of needing drivers like PnP, it automatically configures Windows appropriately for whatever services the device is "offering" and "advertising".

So, connect device, get pop-up dialog box, use features/functions of device.

Simple, eh?

In regards to IGDs (Internet Gateway Devices - your Linksys gateway), it provides for automatic configuration, automatic discovery, seemless control, and automatic management of firewall and NAT Traversal port mappings.

This of course assumes you have it enabled in the device, and that you have a UPnP-enabled Control Point (Windows XP, or Windows 98/SE/ME with DirectPlay8.1+ and netsetup.exe installed).

So, for example, Windows/MSN Messenger, can automatically create port forwarding and firewall mapping entries such that you, the user, dont have to go and manually add port forwarding entries to your Linksys, which is tedious and time consuming.

Also, you can monitor your connection status of your Linksys gateway (WAN side) from the systray (assuming you have it enabled) icon, for things such as connection status, connection time, packets/bytes sent/received, and real time activity information.

You can even enable/disable the WAN connection of the Linksys gateway for the entire LAN, right there, from your systray, if you want. Or check to see if some major downloading/uploading activity is occurring.

If you want to access the admin pages of your Linksys, you can go into "My Network Places", and open the shortcut icon you see for it there - that automatically opens IE and takes you to the device (appropriate password provided of course), for administration.

So, UPnP adds significant automated functionality and ease of administration configuration and control that doesnt exist without it.

"I've been running my network, and growing it slowly, for quite some time, and I haven't needed UPnP before. What am I missing?"

Pretty much everything i mentioned, and more.

There are UPnP Printing/Scanning standards now, such that, you can add a UPnP Printer/Scanner, and use it with any UPnP-enabled Control Point and/or UPnP-enabled printing/scanning application.

As a side note, one doesnt "need" lots of things (like the original PnP standard), but they sure do make administrative and end-user life much easier and efficient...

So, if you want added functionality, automated configuration, increased control and efficient administration, then you want UPnP.

If you want UPnP enabled apps, like Windows/MSN Messenger, MS Game Voice/Share, Windows Media Player 9, all sorts of connectivity modules of Windows XP, and future UPnP-enabled apps to fully and completely work, then you want UPnP.

C og it a te,
H of br au

I finally upgraded to 1.44 from 1.43 and had no problems (yes, I disconnected all ethernet cables except one for upgrading, and reset router after). I never had a problem with firmware upgrade since I brought this v2 router almost a year ago, and I upgraded a lot. Of course, I have problems with this router since I 1st brought, sometimes it'll lose its DNS, and it crashed only once, which was 2 weeks ago.

About the Gateway Icon, I haven't seen it in a while, I guess I had it back in the earlier firmwares, but with the recent firmwares, I haven't seen it.

Of course, I don't use MSN, AIM, etc. file sharing feature, so I don't know if I have a problem with it.

GRC.COM shows that I have port 113 CLOSED and everything else stealth. I'm kewl with that.

BEFSR41 V.2 Running 1.44 with no problems at all since 8pm last night.

Just an aside really regarding the new firmware. There seems to be a lot of talk about the apparent loss of UPnP. Interestingly out of the 140 odd messages that are in this thread not one I have noticed is from one of the Linksys techs. Would one of them care to comment on the state of this latest firmware.

Thanks to Hofbrau for explaining the reason for UPNP.

We just got a BEFSX-41 for testing purposes, the installed firmware rev is 2.40.2 (Oct 23 2001). If I try to upgrade to 1.44 or 1.43 I get invalid image errors in TFTP and the web UI just stalls out. Any ideas? Is this box on a completely different code tree?

Does this router use the same firmware version as BEFSR41 or does it have different firmware???

The SX uses different firmware than the SR.
»New Firmware - 1.44

Just upgraded to 1.44 and lost all forwarding. I tried to reset, re-apply, nothing. I also am unable to roll back to 1.43

Any ideas?

Welcome to the wonderful world of Linksys tech support - they've completely stopped replying to my emails. I asked for information regarding firmware upgrades for the BEFW11S4 v1 router and was told the new firmware was in testing. Not two days later on this forum I saw a message from a linksys tech saying that development on that router had been suspended and no new firmware was in the works. I've now written and asked four times for clarification and they just ignore me each time.

I will *NEVER* buy Linksys gear again. It's crap and it has crap support.