Failing routers... halp~

loft

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 10, 2004
Messages
258
I've been going through routers left and right since October 2012; same symptoms across each one. Works fine for X amount of time (X is anywhere from 1 week to 6 months) and then randomly I cannot access information outside of the network via lan or wlan. I've used two D-Link routers (DGL-4300, DIR-655), TP-Link TL-WR1043ND, and now an Asus RT-N16.

I am able to transmit without issue to my NAS and 4p folding rig, but outside of the network goes no where. Releasing/renewing/flushing dns only fixes the problem for 10-60 minutes, and then the same issue pops up.

I'm at the point of pulling my hair out - anything else I can try to narrow this down and hopefully resolve it?
 
did you call your isp?

are you able to ping outside address by IP when this happens (for example ping 8.8.8.8)
 
It's not my isp - if I directly connect the modem to any of the systems I am able to connect to everything outside of my home without issue.

Will try pinging an external ip address once the problem happens again, just rebooted so should be within the hour.
 
There we go -- went down again and tried to ping an external address and it timed out.
 
Is a new router always an immediate fix, e.g return to stability?

What if you go back to an old router? Assuming you have kept one.
 
New router regains stability but only for a short time, old router still does the same thing (works for several minutes then no access)
 
New router regains stability but only for a short time, old router still does the same thing (works for several minutes then no access)
I also run d-link routers and have had similar issues in the past. In my case, the cause seemed to be an electrical spike that would wipe out my settings. I did the same thing as you, tried 3 different routers until I put an APC UPS with line conditioning on that outlet to clean up the power. I've been running clean for several years. It's worth a shot.
 
Any Torrent programs open. They spawn a very large number of connections and it's too much for most home routers to handle.
 
I also run d-link routers and have had similar issues in the past. In my case, the cause seemed to be an electrical spike that would wipe out my settings. I did the same thing as you, tried 3 different routers until I put an APC UPS with line conditioning on that outlet to clean up the power. I've been running clean for several years. It's worth a shot.

This is honestly what I'm thinking is happening. I've literally narrowed it down to just the routers but the one thing I am worried about now is if the router is damaged seeing as it did work perfect for a week.
 
What has bufferbloat got to do with it? It's not about latency or jitter, it's about complete non-function.

And yet he can access his LAN devices?
 
And yet he can access his LAN devices?

Which don't go through the routing table at all? Why not?

Edit: Since Internet traffic stops completely, the overflowing NAT table is actually a more likey theory than randomly shouting "bufferbloat!" without thinking for one second.
 
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Which don't go through the routing table at all? Why not?

Edit: Since Internet traffic stops completely, the overflowing NAT table is actually a more likey theory than randomly shouting "bufferbloat!" without thinking for one second.

You are correct, that's what I was thinking, but came up with the wrong term in my head. The problem was, I *did* think for one second.
 
If you narrowed it down to Torrenting you could flash your router to somewhat eliminate the "artificial" connections limit placed by most manufacturers. Newer models tend to raise the limits into the thousands now instead of limiting you to hundreds.

Another thing to consider is understanding how to set up the connections in the torrent client itself. A lot of people put unnecessarily high numbers and it eats up more connections than is needed and can also cause slowdown in torrenting in and unto itself, let alone connection issues with the router itself. DD-WRT (if they support your models) will allow you to raise that to 4,096 connections which my 10 year old Linksys WRT54G does with no problems, eliminating that issue. Plus you'll be able to tweak the TCP/UDP timeout settings. Dropped my UDP timeouts to 2 minutes and TCP to 30 minutes and have never had any issues related to connections.
 
...or you could properly setup your torrent client, even if you have a 100mbit connection (which I doubt he has) more than 400-500 global connections are way more than needed also turn off DHT/UTP and you'll be fine on just about any router. It's by the way in most cases not the router hw itself that's the issue, rather very long timeouts for TCP and UDP that causes it to run out of memory. These can usually be adjusted in the webui under andvanced settings or such.
//Danne
 
So just to be sure, have a 2nd computer on the router with a wire, see if the problem is the same when you connect the two computers, disconnect one, test the network, reconnect one, test the network, disconnect the other, test the network, etc etc.

Is the wireless enabled ? Is is open ? Perhaps someone is stealing your signal and downloading torrents on your network.

Lastly be sure that you have you modem and router on a working power outlet, I live in a very old condo and the electric job has to be remade. So put an APC UPS with line conditioning on that outlet like suggested above and I solved my problems.
 
Wireless is encrypted and mac filtering enabled, only systems online are my NAS, 4p folder, and gaming rig. Only wireless devices are my printer, phone, tablet, and tv's. No other clients connected.

Happens with one pc disconnected, etc, like in your suggested scenario.
 
I wonder if my surge protector is failing if it will cause voltage fluctuations.
 
The triplite UPS will do the job, if its the problem ;) . I bought a cheaper one and it worked. Checking your surge protector is wise, try running your setup on a different outlet.

In my case, I had a UPS on my basement on my personal computer, so I tested it before, once I was sure this was the problem, I bought another one.
 
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