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[aardvark7]

Mine is a tale of woe, of not enough know-how or maybe a little knowledge being a dangerous thing!

Anyway, for my network I had been using a Zyxel P660HW, which was 'okay' but only 10/100, connected to 2 NAS 4TB drives. After getting a new laptop I found the wireless would drop out after a short interval and needed everything rebooting to reconnect. This I have never been able to resolve and it is unacceptable.

I had a DIR-655 so thought it made sense to get a DSL320 and a bunch of gigabit cables so that I could up my file transfer as well as remove the dropped signal issue.

Now I can set it all up and everything connects as expected. Internet is solid and so is wireless.
However, wired transfer of files is impossible between the PC and the NAS drives (35kb is normal...yes 'k' not 'M'!!!).

I've looked at all the possibilities I can think of, but nothing works improves matters for long.

Initially, I thought it may be the Windows 7 problem, so tried the suggested resolutions to no avail.
For a brief spell, swapping NIC seemed to work, but network utilization was at 65% and the speed was still slower than the Zyxel (10MB compared to 15MB)

Perhaps foolishly, I thought I would try some tweaks to see if it improved matters, but the old issue returned and even resetting the fields don't bring back the previous rate.
Changing back to the Zyxel allows the previous file transfer ability, but I'm still stuck with the dodgy wireless.

My only other thought is that the DSL320 is interfering somehow. Should this have an active DHCP, or should it be set as a bridge?
Doing that doesn't seem to work at all but I might be using the correct settings, so if anyone has a suggestion to what I might need to look for, along with any other ideas of what to do would be most helpful.

Thanks.

System: Asus P5E Motherboard, Intel Q9650 CPU, 8GB Ram, 3 x 250 GB 1 x 500 Gb Raid 5 drives, Marvell 88E8056 PCIe Gigabit LAN

[FurryNutz]

How about a external Gb network switch in between router, PC and NAS? The switch will eliminate any router or modem interferences caused by some router management and processing. The switch will allow for a better clean xfers at better speeds. I use a 24pt with my router.

[aardvark7]

Thanks for the quick response.

I suppose I was hoping to solve the relatively minor but annoying issues and get an improved network, yet not spend too much more. As I had the 655 it seemed easiest to get the DSL320 (and they both appear to have solid reputations).

Unfortunately, I think I must be one of the unlucky ones where a set of circumstances owing to the innumerable possible combinations of hard/software has left a conflicted system.

I might try again, but it does get tedious after a while!

Please do let me know if you have any quick tips to try or check my settings.

[FurryNutz]

I would hightly recommend getting a Gb network switch installed. This will definitely help file xfer speeds.

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.
If the modem can't be bridged then see if the modem has a DMZ option and input the IP address the 4500 gets from the modem and put that into the modems DMZ.

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.
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 under Advanced/Firewall.
Enable uPnP and Multi-cast Streaming under Advanced/Networking.

What wireless modes are you using? Under Setup/Wireless/Manual.
Try single mode G or mixed G and N?

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.
Turn off Short GI, WLAN Partition and Extra Wireless Protection if you have it. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.

[aardvark7]

Cheers,

The DSL320 is just a modem so not conflicting routers (although it does have an active DHCP setting so will that have the same effect?) but I'll give the rest a whirl and get back to you if things work out or not.

[FurryNutz]

I would look at the user manual to see what the Active DHCP setting does.

Keep us posted.

[aardvark7]

Well, I gave it one last try using the steps you suggested and even updated the firmware and nothing has helped.

The really odd thing is that at various points, after settings have been changed, it will run at about 11MB and report 65% network utilization. However, as I continue to tweak or try different settings to get the speed I would expect, it quickly falls and becomes impossible to use at 35kb.
Swapping back to the Zyxel immediately, without any special tweaks, gives 15MB and 95%.

Is there anything that can behave like a shower plug getting clogged with hair in a router???

I'm completely perplexed.

The only thing I have done which seems to have given fixed benefits (although I can't for the life of me see why) is ticking the Connect even if not broadcasting SSID box on the Zyxel. The wireless dropping out seems to have gone, so I can only assume that the SSID has gaps when it is sending and allowing that option keeps the connection intact. It's not a problem/solution I have heard anywhere else but it seems to have fixed that niggle.

Of course, if I could get the DIR-655 working on gigabit I would be much happier. I know the HDD speed would be the limit then, but it would be higher than the max of 15MB that I get now.

[FurryNutz]

You should see better speeds on Gb connections, CAT6 and exnternal Gb Switch.

[aardvark7]

You're probably right, but it does seem crazy, frustrating and a waste to have to buy another piece of kit when the DIR-655 already contains a gigabit switch.

That would leave me with the modem, wireless router and switch, when most people just have it all contained in one and have no issues! Indeed, the Zyxel P660 I have is in that mould, but is just not gigabit (the dropped connection seems fine now).

I think I am going to leave the Dlink kit behind and look elswhere. Once bitten, twice shy.

Thanks anyway.

[FurryNutz]

You should understand that the network switches built into these routers have more processing going on then external switches. The router is having to process and manage many things which effects any thing connected to the ports in back. This processing is seen in ALL routers and is the nature of the beast. Thats why external switches help in this area.
Good luck in your endeavors.

[aardvark7]

I have the answer!!!!

I had been looking at this from the point of view of the router, given that the Zyxel 10/100 worked fine.
However, I was double checking the NAS specifications on the Seagate site, just to make sure there wasn't anything slow about the internal NIC of the drives and I have discovered that there is a longstanding and well know issue of compatibility between Seagate Blackarmor and Dlink router, with the DIR-655 being a particularly bad case in point.

So, please regard this thread as closed as I feel it will be more relevant if I start another thread seeking an answer as to why the two devices have such a problem talking. I though the protocols were standard, fixed and well understood, but perhaps I'm mistaken...