Home Networking Help. Frustrated

[Scoobz0202]

I posted this on another forum yesterday and have yet to receive any real feedback so I figured I'd try and tap into the collective here. I am going to essentially copy and paste the post.

I purchased an Asus RT-N16 router after I thought my old one was going bad. It turns out, the problems in a way are persisting. The router reboots for some reason. I notice in the log of the router it is actually rebooting I believe, because when I go to the settings via web browser the log shows its up time as being just a couple minutes, which is a couple minutes after the internet comes back.
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Basically, the Asus RT-N16 was plugged in and no adjustments made. Basically, plug and play. I'm sure thats stupid to do, but hey, the internets worked! But what happens is it randomly... reboots? Maybe it's not so random. I'll be browsing on a desktop in another room and it will stop loading. I look down and see its trying to connect to the internet. It will eventually do it. I have looked at the router as it's doing this and it looks like it is still on, maybe the wireless light is dimmer/off. Some things i've noticed:

1.) On this PC I occasionally, usually after a "reboot" I get a windows error that comes up saying there is another pc sharing the same IP. This does not always happen. As a matter of fact, it just did it and it didn't pop up.

2.) Sometimes when it is trying to reconnect it takes a minute or so. In that time I hit troubleshoot and windows does its thing and "resets the network card" or something. It works, but I think that's minor maybe.

3.) All day today it didn't do it. Nobody else was home. My PC was the only pc doing anything. Obviously the less action on it the easier time it has? What could be causing this?

4.) I've noticed it maybe happens when theres a lot going on. I've seen it happen when I start to download a major torrent. It's happened when I go to play Counter Strike and I believe there is another PC in the house that was on WoW at the time. I have my PS3 hooked up right now to my desktops monitor. I turned off my PS3 after playing Battlefield for the first time with the new router and the minute I turned it off and turned my monitor to DVI I noticed the network had reset again. Had to have happened just as I turned off the PS3

5.) Household consists of 2 desktops, 2 laptops, PS3, and my cell phone connecting to the network.

EDIT: 6.) This may be the observations of a dumbass and mean nothing. In the Asus page it says of the current devices connected there is the ip of 192.168.1.1, 192.168.1.4, and 192.168.1.5. In the LAN - DHCP server settings there is a box for Starting IP that says 192.168.1.2 and one that says Ending Address that says 192.168.1.254

7.) THIS IS NEW FOR FOFC. I have my printer hooked up via usb to the router to have it on the network. For some reason the printer came unplugged from the wall. I got home from class and went to print something but noticed it wasn't on. I plugged it back in and when I went to the desktop in the other room guess what... the network was reconnecting.


Anybody familiar with this router for settings I can look at or change, or just anybody familiar with networking. I'm willing to bet it's something a person familiar with networking can diagnose. I'm in over my head, though.

Final EDIT: I figured this may give some people some idea of what my settings look like. Here are some random settings that I thought may be important, or maybe they don't mean anything.


Security Level: WPA-Auto-Personal selected. WPA2-Personal, WPA2-Enterprise, WPA-Auto-Enterprise also avail.
WPA Encryption TKIP+AES. AES by itself is avail also

Under Internet status:
WAN IP: Totally different then anything I ever see so that may mean jack shit
DNS: Two different 209 #s with one ending in .61 and one in .62.
Connecting type: Automatic IP

General Wireless Settings:
Channel Bandwith: 20mhz and 20/40 mhz. 20 is selected
Wireless Mode: Auto, b/g mixed, b only, g only, n only. Auto is selected.
Channel: Auto is selected. That and 1-11 are available.

Wireless - Wireless MAC Filter
MAC Filter Mode: Disabled


LAN-DHCP Server:
Starting and Endign address's as mentioned above.
Lease time: 86400

LAN-Route
Use DHCP routes? yes
Enable multicast routing: yes
Enable static routes? no

WAN - Internet Connection
Wan Connection Type: Dynamic IP

[QuikSand]

I wonder who might be able to help... (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/member.php?u=3537)

[Scoobz0202]

I saw Quiksand posted and thought, this man knows everything. He must have the solution.


DAMN YOU QUIKSAND DAMN YOU ;)

edit: hey router help guy.. help me :(

[rowech]

We had something similar happening for a couple of months and I read something about routers rebooting if the outlet they are plugged into is bad. I switched the outlet I had it plugged into and haven't had an issue for four months since.

[SteveMax58]

Have you looked at your electrical outlets? It sounds like you could have a short or something as you shouldn't have a network issue making routers (or any devices) reboot with regularity (or at all...but a bug like that would be rare...a bug like that on 2 different routers sounds impossible).

You should try powering things up & down (not the router) and watch the power light on your router. If it flicks off or anything, either try a different outlet (even if that means a power strip with a cord long enough to reach elsewhere) or grab an outlet tester for a couple bucks from Home Depot & see what it tells you.

The other thing (if not a power problem)...are any of your devices set to a static IP setup? IDK if your router is including itself as the 192.168.1.1 (usually they dont) but that could be conflicting with your router. Especially since your range for DHCP begins at 192.168.1.2. I'd power things down until you determine what the 192.168.1.1 device is if you aren't certain how to check the IP config for it.

[JediKooter]

I know I had a problem with a router doing that (powering off and on) when I had the wrong power supply plugged into the router.

[stevew]

Easy possibility you switched power cords with the router and the modem.

[g206029]

Your power cord is likely bad / going bad or you have the wrong power cord attached; I had this happen on a FIOS Actiontech router right before the PS went totally

[Scoobz0202]

Thanks for the input folks. I'll be giving this a lookover later tonight

[Scoobz0202]

Checked the power cords. They were not mixed up. Plugged it into a different outlet and set the router in an open area as to prevent overheating. This did not fix the problem. Actually, right now, it's really acting up.

When it started messing up tonight there were two desktops, a laptop, and then the PS3 was turned on and it caused it to mess up. This is another time when a device being used causes the problem.

When it happened I ran to the router to see what it was doing. It doesn't look like it's turned off. Actually, the lights are all on when it happens.

With the PS3 remaining on, the internet was never able to return for some reason. My computer would find it, try to connect, wouldn't. Then the SSID would disappear and it would say no connections found. This went on for 5-10 minutes. I turned off the PS3 and within a few moments it found it and connected. With the PS3 off, though, while typing this post for about 10 seconds it lost the internet again.




The other thing (if not a power problem)...are any of your devices set to a static IP setup? IDK if your router is including itself as the 192.168.1.1 (usually they dont) but that could be conflicting with your router. Especially since your range for DHCP begins at 192.168.1.2. I'd power things down until you determine what the 192.168.1.1 device is if you aren't certain how to check the IP config for it.

I checked both desktops, the laptop, and the PS3. They are all set to automatic in the TCP/IPv4 and TCP/IPv6 settings. The PS3's settings all have it doing it automatically. All the devices when they connect are either 192.168.1.2, 1.3, ..1.4, range. Nothing is ever 192.168.1.1. In the web browser utility for the Asus router it says the Lan IP of the router is 192.168.1.1 if that means anything.



I'm frustrated.

Not sure that these will do anything but here's a couple screenshots of the router page. If anybody sees any area of the settings they'd like me to check just ask.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk203/homan9118/settings.png

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk203/homan9118/mainrouter.png

[stevew]

My PS3 fucked up my Internet I think. It locks onto an IP and it tends to be the most common. It will sometimes duplicate. I started unplugging it, and haven't noticed an issue. I think it is a PS3 setting.

[stevew]

Unplug the PS3 instead of just turning it off and see if the problem stops.

[jbergey22]

Try changing the channel.

I actually just had this issue. I reset it, changed the channel, changed password and the problem is gone. Im not certain that the channel change is what solved it though. I think I had neighbors stealing my signal giving the router a "heavy load." I have read that certain routers will re-set randomly when the load gets to heavy.

Id try changing the channel though, it doesnt hurt. Ive read that as a possible solution.

[gstelmack]

Are you losing just the internet, or the entire network? Can you still connect to other devices on the network? If it's the entire network, it's certainly a router issue. If it's just the internet, especially if this is the second router to do this, it may be the modem or the cable into the house. I've had routers that I had to manually reboot periodically because they could not handle the cable connection or the modem disconnecting and reconnecting.