Hello,
I have a little problem on my hands. I frequently host small LAN parties at my house where about 6-7 friends will get together and just sort of hang out and play games together. We don't exactly do anything hardcore, and our internet usage is nothing more than you'd expect from 6 people on a network.
Here is the problem: I have a four-port Linksys BEFSRV4 router, and some Linksys 5-port 10/100 workgroup switch that we use to connect everyone. Usually, we have one or two people with long enough cables plugged directly up to the router, and then everyone else is connected to the switch. Well, its not very uncommon for our internet to blank out and die on us when the switch is full up. By now, I have figured out that when everyone is connected, the internet will randomly short out and the problem can usually be found in the router settings.
While the internet is down, my router will do all sorts of things. First, when I login to the router, the blanks usually contain larger than usual numbers or strange ASCII symbols. Sometimes the Keep Alive time will be something like 3586, when the max value possible is 180. Once I change the settings back to normal, the router gets confused on what type of internet it's using and changes to "Obtain IP Address automatically." Once I put it back on PPPoe and save the settings, the internet comes back and everything is fine again.
At a regular LAN, this happens between 4 to 20 times. It can be really annoying at times. I'm wondering, what can I do to fix this problem? Is the problem in the switch, or is my router dying? The firmware is updated on my router, and the switch is plug-and-play as far as I know.
Any help would be great, as this greatly annoys me at LAN parties. Thanks.
I have a little problem on my hands. I frequently host small LAN parties at my house where about 6-7 friends will get together and just sort of hang out and play games together. We don't exactly do anything hardcore, and our internet usage is nothing more than you'd expect from 6 people on a network.
Here is the problem: I have a four-port Linksys BEFSRV4 router, and some Linksys 5-port 10/100 workgroup switch that we use to connect everyone. Usually, we have one or two people with long enough cables plugged directly up to the router, and then everyone else is connected to the switch. Well, its not very uncommon for our internet to blank out and die on us when the switch is full up. By now, I have figured out that when everyone is connected, the internet will randomly short out and the problem can usually be found in the router settings.
While the internet is down, my router will do all sorts of things. First, when I login to the router, the blanks usually contain larger than usual numbers or strange ASCII symbols. Sometimes the Keep Alive time will be something like 3586, when the max value possible is 180. Once I change the settings back to normal, the router gets confused on what type of internet it's using and changes to "Obtain IP Address automatically." Once I put it back on PPPoe and save the settings, the internet comes back and everything is fine again.
At a regular LAN, this happens between 4 to 20 times. It can be really annoying at times. I'm wondering, what can I do to fix this problem? Is the problem in the switch, or is my router dying? The firmware is updated on my router, and the switch is plug-and-play as far as I know.
Any help would be great, as this greatly annoys me at LAN parties. Thanks.