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[FireGryph]

Im at a loss here in all honesty.   Im running a single DGL-4500 in my home, with a desktop PC and a wireless laptop (among other devices, such as a PS3), and Ive had it running smooth for a few years.   But as of a couple days ago, Ive noticed that my laptop has been losing its wireless connection to the internet.  THe desktop, wired, has been slowed down immensely while the laptop is disconnected, but the wired connection still remains active.
After a minute or so, the wireless internet returns like normal, but after a few more minutes again, it cuts out.

Im running A1, firmware 1.23NA.   Ive already been to my ISP, replaced the modem (free of charge, it was under warranty) and Ive tried connecting directly into the laptop with the cable from the modem, and it works fine.

Oddly enough, as well, there is another computer that is connected to the modem via a switch, and it gets slowed down as well when the connection gets choppy, even though its not behind the router.  And there are no indications in the router logs saying anything about losing a connection of any sort.  The wireless still works for local networking, but I lose all internet.

Any suggestions or ideas?  Im at a loss...  it worked absolutely perfectly up until a couple days ago, for months and months.

[Hard Harry]

Well we know its not the router, since when you have the problem it effects the PC on the switch too. So that leaves either ISP>Modem, or Modem>switch. Why do you have a switch before your router though? Perhap if you could give a full breakdown of your network, and who you have as a ISP, we could start from there. But so far I have a feeling we might be going back to your ISP.

[FireGryph]

I know its a wierd set up, and Ill be trying to go to the router before the switch next.   My ISP is Shaw, though.

Modem goes to a switch, brand new.  Switch splits it to one desktop1 and to my router.  Router provides wireless for the house, and connects to my own desktop2 and a weak little PC Im using as a webserver, desktop3.   The wireless connectn is used by my laptop, my Android phone, PS3, a second laptop, etc.   

As I said, we did just replace the modem once and that didnt solve anything.     So far, the only time we have issues is when the router is brought into the system.   I can connect directly from the modem to my own laptop, or to desktop1, no issues are had. 

My own next step is to move the router up in place of the switch and see what happens.  Then...  well, I did find that the rj45 cables is a bit damaged at the connector, so I was also thinking it might not be sending a full, clean signal.

[FurryNutz]

To gain proper connection, You need to set up in the following manor:

ISP Modem--->WAN port in back of DGL-4500--->LAN port in back of DGL 4500 to Switch port.---> connect alll other wired devices to Switch.

Is Shaw Cable or DSL?

[FireGryph]

It is set up like that now, Ive swapped the switch and the router around.  Shaw is Cable, though.

[FurryNutz]

Ok, your ISP modem should be giving the 4500 router a public IP address which is good for gaming and other things. Should work well for you.

[FireGryph]

Well yeah, but as I said, I didnt have problems at all before a couple days ago, even with the strange set up I had.  Everything ran perfectly fine.

[FurryNutz]

Ya, it's amazing that it lasted that long, LOL

[Hard Harry]

First, even though Shaw is cable, its not your basic Comcast clone. Shaw is Candian, so they do things a bit different. First, strict bandwidth caps I believe. Second, they use modem/router combo's. Third, their infracture is a little different.

A couple questions

1. What kind of modem do you have?
2. Why did you have a switch before router? Does Shaw assign you two IP's? If so, are they static or dynamic?
3. What are the signal levels of your modem? More info will be supplied on how to find out once I know what kind of modem you have.

A couple statements

1. Just because things were fine before, that does NOT rule out or suggest that anything in particular is the cause. Its that whole "assuming" thing ya know?
2. Just because your ISP says everything is ok, doesn't mean it actually is. Most technical support is very hit or miss. Its better to ask them for data then opinions, and use that data to draw your own conclusions.
3. Having your wired connection get slow and your wireless kick out is a different situation then having your wireless kick out and your wired be fine. Wireless amplfies any issues, so your likly to feel the effect of problem on wireless first and more, even though its effecting both.   

[FireGryph]

Heh, thanks for clearing that up, but yes its very true that Shaw is Canadian, I shouldve mentioned that before.

1.  Its a Motorola Surfboard, model is SB5102
2.  It used to be a hub up there instead of a switch.   It was used before we got any wireless devices in the home, then when we got the router I just figured it would be easier to keep running and set up if I kept it in my room, and didnt care to include my parents computer into my own personal lan.  Yes we get two IPs from Shaw, they are dynamic as far as I can tell.
3. Calling up Shaw, they told us the signal levels were all good with the old modem, but I didnt trust that, hence why we went out and got it replaced.  It was under warranty, so no cost for the modem replacement.  I would expect(assume ) that the signals are still good, according to Shaw.


As a bit of an addition now, Ive moved the router upstairs, been testing it, and it all worked fine for a good while.   Some periods of slowness occurred, but there was what appeared to be someone trying to access it from an unknown mac address, so I blocked that MAC address and the slow down is gone.
However, when I plugged my webserver back into the router, as I had forgotten to do, the network went down right away again.  Wireless disconnected, and all wired connections dropped to tumble-weed speeds.  So this leads me to think its my webserver doing something funny...   MySQL, Apache and Filezilla, as well as a ventrilo server, so now I get to spend time trying to figure out whats going wrong there.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions, though!


I still dont understand whats so wrong or bad about having the switch before the router, FurryNutz seems to think its the most horrible thing ever.  XD

[FurryNutz]

  Well, just saying. If it works for you man, by all means. 

Technically speaking however. 

[Hard Harry]

First, how to check your signal levels. Even if that isn't your problem, its a good thing to know how to do.

Go to http://192.168.100.1

Click on the signal Tab on the left or the top (depending on firmware)

Downstream Power level should be +5 to -10, or as close to 0 as possible. Signal to Noise Ratio should be above 33, the higher the better. Upstream Power level should be between 40 to 50, around 43 is the sweet spot.

I think the confusion stemmed from you have 2 dynamic IP's. Thats not seen much in the States. If you didn't have two and was using a switch before the router, the router and the PC running off the switch wouldn't be usable at the same time. But since you do have 2, having the switch before the router is the easiest way.

With that said, someone was trying to access your router from a unknown mac? Is it not secure? Don't depend on Mac filtering to protect you. Its pretty easy to packet sniff and see a mac address on your network and just clone himself. Or easier still, if you just block HIS Mac, he just has to change his mac broadcast.

Now, if your server is what is causing the problem, it could be a couple things. First, are you forwarding 80 to 8080? Are you using DDNS? Whats the adverage traffic like for it. And does your ISP even allow for such a thing? It could just be them throttling the heck out of you.

[FireGryph]

http://192.168.100.1 does not give me anything of the sort, nothing but a blank page actually.


BUt yeah, that makes sense about the IPs.   Ive had the issue before when Ive plugged new devices into the modem or hub/switch the way it was, where I couldnt get enough IPs for all of them.

Also, I thought a MAC address was specific to a piece of hardware, but I suppose its possible to mask pretty much anything, eh? 

As for the webserver, my ISP allows it in terms of bandwidth.   I dont think they have any specific ruling on hosting servers.    But I use practically no bandwidth anyways, its just a simple server I use for sharing pictures with my friends and such, so I dont need to use photobucket or anything like that.   No one uses the ventrilo server.  Its not really handling all that much traffic at all.
Port 80 was opened specifically for my webserver.   Im not using any ddns functions of the router, afaik, but Im not sure exactly how to check.
Still, as mentioned, Ive run this all for months with no issues.  Nothing changed that I can think of, it all just went kersplodey on me one day. 

Thanks for all the help though!   I am getting closer to the problem, I think.   I did some testing yesterday, and found that if I run only the apache service from xammp, the issue continues.   However, if I turn off that service and run only MySQL and filezilla, no issues arise at all.  So far.     Hence, I think Im closing on on the fact it may be something happened with APache to cause this.

[FurryNutz]

Try direct connection with the modem then try the IP address again. Your pc should display the modems web page. Mine does. Unless the ISP has something to it, it should display in the browser.