Verizon MI424-WR Port Forwarding Problem

[misterg]

I recently switched to Verizon FIOS, and got a MU424-WR installed.

Firmware: 4.0.16.1.56.0.10.11.6
Model Name: MI424-WR
Hardware Version: D

After it was installed, I configured it to connect to my Dynamic DNS account, and to forward incoming traffic from port 8001 to an Ubuntu Linux web server inside my network. Everything worked great, for about a week.

While troubleshooting a problem connecting one of my laptops via wireless, I reset the router using the reset button on the back of the router. I went in and reset all of my settings for DynDNS and port forwarding, but now it won't pass traffic through the router from the Internet.

If I try to connect to my web server by domain name from inside the network, the port forwarding works and it goes to the web server. I turned off the forwarding and that stopped working on the inside. So I feel pretty good that the actual forwarding setup is correct.

What I can't figure out is how to get it to forward from traffic coming from the Internet into my server. I know it can, because it worked for over a week before the reset.

If I turn on additional logging, I see this as a result of trying to connect from outside: Blocked - Illegal Packet options.

I also lost the ability to program my DVR from the Internet, and I know that also utilizes port forwarding through the router.

Any help greatly appreciated. Verizon Tech Support hasn't helped much yet.

[johnwill]

Verizon may block HTTP incoming traffic connections. I had a simple web server setup on my FiOS, and it worked for a couple of days, then stopped working.

OTOH, my FTP server has run for months with no issues.

The MI424WR will allow you to do an on-the-fly translation of ports from any port to port 80 within the router. You can use DynDNS to translate from ports from commonly used ports to a unique port if one is blocked by the ISP.

[misterg]

As I understand it, Verizon blocks incoming port 80. That was part of my reason fro redirecting it to another port.

I also had ssh working on an alternate port. And the web access to program the DVR also uses forwarding.

All of those stopped with the reset of the router. So my guess is that some setting on the router needs to be flipped, but so far I can't find it.

Thanks.

[johnwill]

Well, the MI424WR is a complicated beast, many more moving parts than the typical SOHO router. It's somewhat daunting when you first go into the configuration screens.

Exactly how long did you hold that reset button? Did you check the port forwarding after resetting the router?

[misterg]

I held the reset for about 10 seconds. All settings (SSID, encryption, password, forwarding) reset to the default. When it first comes back up I have to create a new login user/password. At first, the forwarding to my DVR box doesn't show in the port forwarding section, but after a bit (10 minutes maybe) I see an entry added that forwards port 63145 to my DVR box. I am assuming that is for the interent accessible programming.

From the default, I change my SSID, change my encryption from WEP to WPA, and setup port forwarding. I also have tried (without success) to establish parental controls with schedules to limit access for some of my laptops.

I also have my old linksys WTRG54 router connected. This is being used so I can get the older laptops connected to the wireless, as they don't work with the WPA encryption on the FIOS router. (They do work with WPA on the linksys, but that is another issue.) I have it set to 192.168.1.200, to not conflict with the FIOS router (at 1.1), and have turned off DHCP on the old router.

[johnwill]

Let's see a screen shot of the Firewall Settings, Port Forwarding section in your router's configuration.


To post a screen shot of the active window, hold the Alt key and press the PrtScn key. Open the Windows PAINT application and Paste the screen shot. You can then use PAINT to trim to suit, and save it as a JPG format file. To upload it to TSG, open the full reply window and use the Manage Attachments button to upload it here.

[misterg]

Here it is. I am using a Windows computer as the web server now, so the address:port is different. But I have verified that from another computer inside the network I can connect using the domain:port combo, when the forwarding is turned on, and can't when it is turned off. Still can't hit it from outside.

[misterg]

I guess looking at what I just uploaded, my last test I didn't specifiy the incoming port, but left it open to anything. But that does work from inside my network.

[misterg]

Here it is set to only forward the specific incoming port.

[johnwill]

That looks right. Here's my FTP forward, and it works just fine from the WAN side at remote locations.

[misterg]

Yeah, I really think some switch setting in the router is turned off (or on) as a result of my resetting the router. Or for some reason the router firewall isn't working correctly.

[johnwill]

Try something like FTP, which I know isn't blocked.

[ellimistd]

I'm having the same problem, with the same router. Im trying to set up a ubuntu server, and have ssh running on it, a dyndns account & ddclient running on it, and a game server. If i ssh in locally, with either the local static ip or my dyndns adress, it works fine. However, http://www.dyndns.com/support/tools/openport.html reports ports 22(ssh) and 25565 (the game server) as refused.

I've done mostly what misterg has with my router as well. I had forgotten my password, so I reset the router, set a new one, reconnected my network, forwarded ports, and it was working fine. Then I started having problems with my printer, perhaps for unrelated reasons, so I reset the router again, forwarded ports again, and this time it didnt work.

Any ideas?

[misterg]

It is interesting that you say it happened after a second reset. Mine was a similar circumstance. After the first time I reset it, everything worked fine, but after the second reset it didn't work. Unfortunately I still don't have a fix, but it has been a low priority for me to date.

Let me know if you find anything.

[ellimistd]

Actually, just reseting the router again and reentering my configuration seems to have worked for me. I have no idea why, but it did. Hope this works for you as well!

[misterg]

After a couple resets my router began working again.