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[SmplyUnprdctble]

I think this is a little difficult to search for, so I apologize in advance if this has already been covered somewhere.  I've tried searching, but there's so many things going on, I don't know what to search for.  So, I'll list symptoms and everything else required and I hope we can go from there.

I bought my DIR-651 back around Thanksgiving.  I purchased it because I have always liked D-Link products and I wanted both the Wireless N features and I wanted Gigabit since the rest of my network is Gigabit.  Sure, it's pointless when my N connections usually stick around 72 for some reason, I could do a 100, but my wired stuff wants to be faster.

What's going on:
  - My router seems to do some kind of "soft reset" quite often.  The best I can describe it is my Internet connection drops temporarily.  Causes streaming to fail.  Causes Pandora to skip.  Causes YouTube to stop.  Causes AIM to hiccup.  Remote Desktop Connections to work [VPN] disconnect constantly.  Wireless stays connected, so it's not a reboot.  Maybe a better description is it seems like it's doing an immediate release then renew.
  - It appears when these "hiccups" happen, my router's "connection time" resets.
  - I do not believe it my Internet provider because if I connect to my 2Wire wireless, I do not get disconnected.  But, using my 2Wire alone, I cannot do the Virtual Servers.
  - When these hiccups begin, the web interface becomes unusable.  Switching pages sends you back to the login page  Makes it impossible to reboot the device via web interface.
  - The only way to resolve this is to go downstairs, into the utility closet, and unplug the router and plug it back in.  It resolves it for a short period.
  - It began happening last week.  Thursday to be exact.  Possibly Wednesday.  Prior to last week, everything appeared fine.  No hiccups [although YouTube was still acting up a bit.  I was blaming that on UVerse, but it appears I was wrong -- so, there may have been a longer process happening].
  - The "login timeout" has always seemed suspiciously short.

Timeline:
  - Purchased router the Saturday after Thanksgiving [Maybe it was Sunday.  Doesn't matter]
  - In January, updated the router to 1.10NA
  - End of February, upgraded from BellSouth DSL ["6Mbps" (only was getting 4)] to ATT Uverse [12Mbps]
  - Videos were stuttering
  - March 23, I was getting constant disconnections.  Couldn't keep anything up for longer than 2 minutes.  Discovered a TON of connections happening.  Thought I had a virus or malware.  Later learned it was Bittorrent and the Linux images that were being downloaded & seeded [I find this really weird as it is, but I digress].  I kicked my laptop off the network and things were mostly smooth again.  Turned off Bittorrent, and the "mostly smooth" stays.
  - "Mostly smooth" is defined as "It stays up for the most part, but still does a large number of disconnects during the day"


Configuration:
  - AT&T UVerse line is set to give my Router a public WAN address -- Followed instructions here:  http://forums.att.com/t5/Residential-Gateway/U-verse-for-BUSINESS-2Wire-3600HGV-bridge-mode-or-another-AT-amp/m-p/2707755#M182
  - Router IP is 192.168.16.1 [Different from default]
  - DHCP Server is disabled as I have one on the network
  - Virtual Server set up for SSH & HTTP
  - Both the router and UVerse Modem are plugged into a UPS for both some power outage protection, and power surge protection [We had an outage a month or so ago and my laptop stayed on, but I couldn't get online to follow the tornado's path that was about 3 miles away, so I added this]

(Note: Above is my "basic" configuration [with the exception of the UPS].  I factory reset this weekend in order to test if it was some QoS thing going wrong.  These settings have been the same for any previous router I've had.  Items in red below were things tried, and are to be included in the configuration at the endpoint of this post where things still are not working.  If the red item is that way by default after a factory reset, it's always been that way, otherwise it was changed)


Your standard questions:
What ISP Service do you have? Cable or DSL?  ATT UVerse 12Mbps
What ISP Modem do you have? Stand Alone or built in router? Built in router - Bridge Mode
What ISP Modem make and model do you have?  2Wire 3600HGV
If this modem has a built in router, it's best to bridge the modem. Having 2 routers on the same line can cause connection problems.
To tell if the modem is bridged or not, look at the routers web page, Status/Device Info/Wan Section, if there is a 192.168.0.# address in the WAN IP address field, then the modem is not bridged.  Bridged;  Router has external IP

Some things to try:
Turn off ALL QoS or Disable Traffic Shaping (DIR only) GameFuel (DGL only and if ON.) options.   Advanced/QoS or Gamefuel.  Off
Turn off Advanced DNS Services if you have this option under Setup/Internet/Manual. Off
Turn on DNS Relay under Setup/Networking. On
Setup DHCP reserved IP addresses for all devices ON the router. Setup/Networking DHCP managed elsewhere
Ensure devices are set to auto obtain an IP address. They are
Set Firewall settings to Endpoint Independent for TCP and UDP under Advanced/Firewall.
Enable uPnP and Multi-cast Streaming under Advanced/Networking. Enabled

What wireless modes are you using? Under Setup/Wireless/Manual. n/g/b [It was n/g pre-reset]
Try single mode G or mixed G and N? Tried G only.  No change
Channel Width set for Auto 20/40Mhz or try 20Mhz only. Set to 20
What security mode are you using? Preferred security is WPA-Personal. WPA2/AES Only. Some WiFi adapters don't support AES, so you might want to try TPIK only or Auto. WPA-Personal, Auto -- Wireless connectivity not an issue
What wireless devices do you have connected? Dell laptop; Samsung Galaxy SII.  The latter has been disconnected and same problems;  The former has been network-banned and same problems
Any cordless house phones? What's a house phone?
Any other WiFi routers in the area? Use InSSIDer to find out. A large number of 2Wires are popping up in the neighborhood, but nobody new in the wireless range
Turn off Short GI and Extra Wireless Protection if you have it. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless. Turned off

Turn off all anti virus and firewall programs on PC while testing. 3rd party firewalls are not generally needed when using routers as they are effective on blocking malicious inbound traffic.  Problems occur on all machines -- Windows, Linux, etc, regardless of firewall & antivirus
Turn off all devices accept for one wired PC while testing. Same thing

Check cable between Modem and Router, swap out to be sure. Cat6 is recommended.  Cat6 -- brand new -- 3' cable



I've thought about bringing out an old router to test for a while.  That is on my agenda this weekend if I cannot get any further thoughts from the community here.

Does anyone have any ideas?  Am I missing any information I can provide?

Thanks in advance!

[FurryNutz]

Looks like your using the 651 as an AP since you have the DHCP server disabled on it.
How is the cable from the DSL modem connected to the 651? Using the WAN port in back? If so, you need to connect the cable from the DSL Modem to one of the LAN ports in back.

I would turn off everything on the 651, i.e. WPS, WISH, SPI, QoS and Traffic Shaping and any filtering you might have set up.

This really isn't a recommended use for these routers however is a work around.
Is there wifi on the DSL Modem? If so, turn it OFF. 

Channel Width set for Auto 20/40Mhz or try 20Mhz only.
Try setting a manual channel to a open or unused channel.
What security mode are you using? Preferred security is WPA-Personal. WPA2/AES Only. Some WiFi adapters don't support AES, so you might want to try TPIK only or Auto.
Any other WiFi routers in the area? Use InSSIDer to find out. If there are many other WiFi near by, you could be experiencing WiFi congestion. I recommend testing a 5Ghz AP.
Turn off Short GI, WLAN Partition and Extra Wireless Protection if you have it. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.

[SmplyUnprdctble]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm actually using the 651 as a router, not just an AP (I'm doing Virtual Servers and that).  So, it's connected to the WAN port and getting the external IP address (just like every router I've ever owned).  Connecting it to a LAN port won't give me these options, would it?

I have a separate machine providing DHCP & DNS.  I do it more because I like to be lazy and just type "http://subsonic" in my browser instead of "http://computername:8080/subsonic" -- I found it easier a few years ago to move DHCP & DNS off of the router onto a separate box.

There's no traffic shaping.  Everything is the default except where I identified.

Wifi is turned off on the UVerse Modem.  I'm having connection problems whether wired or wireless [although, I understand your concern].  I've turned all WiFi off in the house [even on the router] and forced every connection to be wired.  The connection was still doing intermittent drops.



I couldn't handle it anymore today [I worked from home today and the constant dropping of my Remote Desktop connection was driving me batty], so I brought out my DI-524.  I haven't been disconnected since.  The configuration is the same changes as in my initial configuration [excluding items in red which were used as testing options for thorough sake based on existing posts I saw in here]


So, my current state gives me the impression that there's something physically wrong with my router based on the following assumptions:

  - Both devices were freshly factory reset today.
  - The ONLY configuration changes from defaults on each are:
    . Change Internal IP of router to 192.168.16.1
    . Turn off DHCP
    . Set up Virtual Servers for HTTP & SSH
  - My DI-524 has no connection hiccups
  - My DIR-651 will hiccup after a short period

I guess I'm now wondering if my impression is correct and if I should contact DLink for an RMA, or if there's still something I'm missing.

[FurryNutz]

Would be a good test to run the 651 after a factory reset and run the router out of the box and leave DHCP ON and test to see if this continues. How you have this router set up right now could be effecting it possibly.
Any other WiFi routers in the area? Use InSSIDer to find out. Can you tell us how many?

Also I would test with the WiFi radio turned off on the 651 and see if a wired connection does the same thing.

[SmplyUnprdctble]

Now, more fun!

I tried to perform the factory reset.

Now it's broken.

I'm getting a page that says:


So, I'm guessing I apply the 1.10NA firmware file I downloaded a month ago?  Or redownload it?  There's no way to go back to 1.00?  (Or whatever version was preinstalled on my router?)

[FurryNutz]

Ya youll need to load the 1.10 image file on that screen.

[SmplyUnprdctble]

I loaded the 1.10 image.

It restored it's settings (I found that kinda weird, but I digress)

You asked for inSSIDer -- Rodents is the router in question:



here's a video of what it's doing now:  http://youtu.be/nVFp7m4vE64  (which is what I was describing it doing earlier).  I think that's a product of the problem of connection dropping.

[FurryNutz]

Glad you were able to get the router recovered.

OK, so when your testing and using the routers web UI, how are you connected? Wired or wireless?
What browser were you using on the routers web page? Did you clear the cache as well?

[SmplyUnprdctble]

I was wired;  That test was Chrome;  Same thing happens in IE.

[FurryNutz]

IE with compatibility mode?
If you disconnect the modem cable from the 651 and reboot the router, can you still access the 651 web page and does it still exhibit the same behavior? Besure to empty the browsers cache before testing.

Can you test with a different PC as well?

[SmplyUnprdctble]

It's been tested on Windows 7/IE9
And also on XP / IE7

Also on Linux & Firefox.

It doesn't do that until the connection oddities start.  Meaning I can reboot it and it'll be fine for a short while (10 minutes?  Two hours?) then the connections start going wonky and the admin pages start acking up.

[FurryNutz]

Going to recommend that you RMA this unit. Seems that this unit is not work as expected and needs to be reviewed by DLink.

[SmplyUnprdctble]

Thanks!

I needed a second opinion just to make sure I wasn't going insane.

I thought RMA would be the route.

Now to find the way to get it RMA'd

[FurryNutz]

Might be a RMA form online or a contact number.
Hope you get it resolved. Keep us posted.

[SmplyUnprdctble]

Just to give you a quick update, my device did need to be RMA'd.

It took four calls [due to the standard D-Link debugging, and I suppose I can accept that], but I finally got my RMA information and I did the cross-shipment method.  My replacement device arrived today, and in the half hour I've had it connected, I've had no disconnects [old router would drop every 2-5 minutes]

Thanks for your help pre-debugging.  I just wish I could have skipped D-Link's debugging.  But, if you'd like to add their additional debugging steps, here they were:

Call 1:
  - Do a "different" kind of reset -- While the device is plugged in, hold down the RESET button for 15 seconds.  After the 15 seconds is up, keep holding down the RESET button and unplug the device.  Keep unplugged one minute. Start back up.
  - Monitor for 24 hours

Call 2:
  - Change WAN speed to 100 (from Auto)
  - Change channel to 11 (from Auto)
  - Monitor for 24 hours

Call 3:
  - Change channel to 5
  - Change channel to 1
  - Monitor for 24 hours

Call 4:
  - RMA


I don't recall those items in the giant set of steps you suggest, so I figured I'd let you know them as a courtesy.  Might help a future person get to an RMA a tad faster.