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[Yanta]

Hi,

I wasn't sure whether to post here or somewhere else. There seems to be no DSL-526 forum, so please forgive me if this the wrong place, and feel free to move this post to the correct forum if required.

Firstly, my configuration; ADSL2+ @ 21Mbps comes in via Telstra. Fibre optic cable trunk to main road, copper to the house, total distance 246m, hence good speeds. The phone is connected to a dual port filter with a phone and fax connected through double adapter to one port, and DSL-526B connected to other port.

DSL-526B connected to DIR-655 Hardware A4, firmware 1.30. The two are set up in bridge mode, with a static IP. The DIR-655 connects to a DGS-1016D and a DGS-1008.

I am running WIndows 7 ultimate x64 w/8GB ram, I5-2500K, and all MS patches.

four days ago I reinstalled my windows system. At that time, I uninstalled Tablet PC components and Windows search. I use FreeDownload Manager for my download needs, and it includes a BitTorrent client. I installed the latest version.

From that point on, whenever I download any torrents the connnection to the internet resets and takes about 1 - 3 minutes to re-establish itself. I have tried going back through the several versions of the program to get back to the version I was running before I re-installed all to no avail.

I replaced the cable between wall socket and filter, replaced filter, replaced phone cable, also to no avail.

I have tweaked the program settings now with only three half open connections, and I've reset the modem donezn of times. I've reset the DIR-655, and done factory resets on both and reconfigured them. Nothing has worked.

I use MAC address filtering and I have ACLS which block access to various sites because of kids, and I use OpenDNS web content filtering too.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on where I might stat looking for a solution. I'd rather not spend time re-installing windows agfain.

thanks
Tanya

[FurryNutz]

The Torrents are probably maxing out the connections thru the router so you need to lower who and what your downloading and sending out. Need to refer to the Torrent program for this. Set your seeding and download maximums to a lower value.

Might set up a QoS rule and use a low priority number like 200.

Some things to try:
Ensure DNS IP addresses are being filled in under Setup/Internet/Manual? You can find these under Status/Device Info/Wan section.
Turn off Advanced DNS Services if you have this option under Setup/Internet/Manual.
Turn on DNS Relay under Setup/Networking.
Setup DHCP reserved IP addresses for all devices on the router. Setup/Networking
Ensure devices are set to auto obtain an IP address.
Set Firewall settings to Endpoint Independent for TCP and UDP.
Enable uPnP and Multi-cast Streaming under Advanced/Networking.

[Yanta]

Hi FurryNutz, thanks for your reply. Great stuff!

For some time...
I have all the devices set up with mac address filtering and I have created DHCP reservations for them. Advanced DNS services are disabled.
I'm using OpenDNS for my DNS servers.
All devices auto-obtain IP addresses.

The only differences are ;

uPNP is disabled. I was recommended to turn it off. Can I ask what the advantage of turning it on will be?
I also have multi-cast streaming turned off as well.

The Endpoint stuff is over my pay-grade.. I mean I dont understand it. Would you be kind enough to explain what this means, or point me to a good explanation. My settings are UDP(Address restricted) and TCP(Port and address restricted)

Can I also ask, please, the computers here are used extensively for online gaming (kids!), and I do website development, general surfing, photoshopping, downloading, in my case, from Microsoft as I'm a technet subscriber and beta tester, I have a server which runs a web site, and I use WSUS to keep my systems up to date, and have SQL and Firebird databases used internally.

Do you think the settings you recommend are suitable for this sort of environment?

I will be guided by your expertise.

thanks
Tanya

[FurryNutz]

Having uPnP turned off wont allow the router to open ports as needed by some of your device and allow them to connect seamlessly to various services on the internet. Specially gaming.

If you have any gaming consoles, please review the gaming, QoS for XBL if you have any xbox. I'm still updating one for PSN.

You should enable multi-cast streaming as it allow connections internally and externally for streaming video from servers and services online.

It's recommended to set Endpoint Independent as it works well with common services and works better for gaming and still provides secure Firewall options.

I would make sure that your Torrent program is adjusted for seeding and downloading at a minimum. Since you stated that you use the router and modem for other connections, having those and Torrents going, is probably hammering the system and thus your experiencing some problems.

I have set up and helped other set up similar systems using my recommendations and they work well. It's up to you to take it and run with it.

Maybe someone can review your router settings with you using teamviewer.If you need addition help.

[Yanta]

Sounds good. thanks for your assistance.

I will make all the changes you have suggested.

The torrent is set for 750 download connections, as 1 upload connection. It was 1000/20. I know this is a bit rude leeching like that, but hey, if it's not good enough then he can just stop using torrents!

Will let you know how it goes.

thanks
Tanya

[FurryNutz]

wow, I would even lower the 750 to like say 50 or less.

[Yanta]

wow, I would even lower the 750 to like say 50 or less.

lol. If you believe what you read at torrent sites they say use 1000 or higher. Anyway, he has had it at 1000 for at least 12 months.

I made the changes and the connection is still dropping.

What I did find in my connection list though that a Steam game called garry's Mod opened 681 TCP connections on port 27015 (The steam client port). I've contacted steam to see if that is normal, but for one game it seems a little high. He reckons that he has been playing Garry's mode the same way for 5 years, and that neither steam or Garry's mod have changed in 5 years (cough, cough). So he says that if he's opening 681 connections now, then it has always opened 681 connections. I'm rather skeptical.

I have also lowered the torrent connections to 50, and it is still dropping. Also, I noted that torrent download slowed from 388KB/s to 7800 B/s. But that could be due to availablity of seeds... Coincidence maybe.

Will continue my investigations

[FurryNutz]

I would, if you can, turn everything off or stop the Torrents and gaming.
Then test with one or 2 PCs, do some general Internet and surfing.
Then graduate other PCs ON. Test.
Then try the game first. Might have to set up a QoS rule for this particular game and test.

Then turn of the gaming and turn on the Torrents and test. See where, if any the connections are breaking down. Might help you narrow down whats going on.

Feel that something is bogging down the system here.

[Yanta]

Ok, I've been through all that testing. Have even reinstalled windows on the PC that is running steam.

I had one situation where just stopping torrents dropped the connection.

When downloading via http or ftp no problems occur, with or without steam running, or even when the other son is playing runescape.

When downloading from technet using their download manager, or updating from adobe.com using their updater, with steam, runescape or any other game going there are no problems.

With torrents downloading, and steam running problem occurs. Even with torrents with a maximum of 4 connections. Yet, two weeks ago it was set at 1000/20, it's now ata 4/1 and still dropping. Steam is opening hundreds of connections on ports 27015 - 27018.

I opened a steam ticket almost a week ago, but they haven't responded to it as yet. However, it may be another wild goose chase.

A couple of things happened at the time the problem occured;

I reinstalled windows on my computer, which included updating all programs to the latest versions
My son added a couple of extra servers to monitor in HLSW

He removed them, but I've reinstalled his windows anyway, and he hasn't been using HLSW since the problem started. That just leaves my PC.

So it's next on the list. Will let you know when done.

[Yanta]

Reinstalling my pc did not good.

Ok, I set up ping program on my server so email me whenever the connection dropped. With all computers turned off except the server I got a few emails about the connection dropping.

It clearly isn't the torrents specifically, or the online gaming.

So I contacted my telco and asked them to do a line test. It failed. The guy injected a test signal across the line, then called me and demonstrated the problem. The service is faulty, and when putting load over the line with torrents, online gaming or any other connection intensive application it pushed the service off the edge and dropped the connection.

At least, that it what the telco is telling me.

They are sending a technician to fix the line later today.

Yay!!

Hope it fixes the problem. Fingers crossed.

[FurryNutz]

Kewl, glad they found the problem and are proactive in getting it fixed.
Keep us posted.

[Yanta]

Actually, the fist technician didn't fix the problem. Within 24 hours I had four more problems. I escalated the matter to level 2 support. This guy said he basically gave me a complete new line at the exchange and c-mux ends? The only thing then that hadn't been replaced is the cable between the c-mux and the exchange. So far it seems more stable.

thanks for your help.

[FurryNutz]

Sounds like a big mess on there end. Keep is posted on it. Hope it keeps working well.

[UN.TIGRU.NET]

any updates? same problem