ET knocking routers offline

(WiGgLeRiCe) #1

Hi guys, I have a problem that I dont know if anyone else has. When ever I start up my ET program, it knocks my routers offline. I had a linksys router connected to a linksys WAP and this problem would occur with this set up now and then. The only way to get the router to work was to unplug it and plug it back in. Many times doing this enabled me to play ET again. So I figured this router was on it’s way out so we picked up a Blitzz BWA711 super g wireless router and this problem now occurs every time I start up the game. I did a search but couldn’t find anything helpful. Any ideas? :banghead:

Pooter Specs:

2.0 ghz Celeron
128 mb ATi Raedon AGP V.C.
768 mb ram
Motorolla g wireless pci card
Windows XP home

(BondyBoy007) #2

I have a similar problem sometimes with my router/connection: -

I leave my PC on 24/7 with no connection losses, but sometimes when playing ET (maybe after an hour or so) I will get connection interrupt, have to quit to the desktop only to find my connection and the two other PCs connections are down - the only way to get them back up is to reset the router.

LinkSys BEFSR-41 wired router, latest firmware, default admin password changed

This only happens in ET, like I say the connection can stay up for weeks without interruption if ET is not played

(Sauron|EFG) #3

This is caused by firmware problems, and sometimes the latest isn’t the best.

I remember a lot of people having problems with Linksys in particular when ET came out, and according to this page it works in 1.44.2 (which is old and of course has other bugs).

WiGgLeRiCe: I’d suggest that you try the latest firmware, and if that doesn’t work contact tech support. They should be very interrested in correcting a bug that hangs the router (unless it’s a really old model).

(SCDS_reyalP) #4

Essentially, this is caused by crappy routers or firmware. ET traffic is plain old UDP, but it seems that a lot of cheap routers have trouble handling the high volume of packets.

Note that I have also had the firmware on the other end (usb wireless adapter for example) cause problems. Furthermore, in that particular case, installing the default windows driver would downgrade the firmware :banghead:

(BondyBoy007) #5

cheers spoof, it was this issue that prompted me to upgrade the firmware about a year ago but it didn’t help and I’ve lived with it since

I’ll try 1.44.2 on the weekend :banana:

(eq-Shrike) #6

I have the same issue as Bondy … every now and then I will get connection interrupted and when I go to the desktop I can see my wireless connection is down. Only happens like 2% of the time so I have lived with it …

Dlink router with Dlink wireless card

XP2700
1 gig RAM
Ti4600
XP Pro

On a different note, for some reason MSN Messnger totally kills my router. As soon as I start MSN the connection dies and I have to cold reboot the router … weird … MS = evul !!

(Sauron|EFG) #7

MS is indeed evul, but a router that dies from normal usage is even evuler. :wink:

(mortis) #8

I also have a Linsys BEFSR41 router than also shows the same periodic locking up behavior. I definitely think it is a firmware/hardware flaw, because it works seamlessly under normal usage and only crashes under Wolfy, never under UT. Once locked up, only power cycling the router will restore function.

(no_shad) #9

I use firmware version 1.44.2 in my BEFSR41, it’s never missed a beat in atleast 6 months.
Not tried any newer ones since about Christmas, but I have tried most of the other firmwares and had problems with ip leases dropping, not renewing etc.

(WiGgLeRiCe) #10

I think I may have found where the problem might be occurring and a possible temporary work around. It appears to be when ET searches the internet for available servers, it will cause the routers to stop responding. So what I did was set the connection on the server list screen to Local and then restarted the router. The router came back online and I entered the server IP I wanted to go to. It connected fine and played fine. But if I allow it to search for servers again, it’ll stop the router from responding. Try this trick and see if this works for you guys. The only problem will be that you wont be able to find a new server without the server list tho. I think this is a serious ET bug which the Splashdamage team needs to investigate, especially with Quake Wars coming out soon.

(SCDS_reyalP) #11

It is not a bug in ET. It is a bug or limitation in the routers. ET uses perfectly ordinary, valid UDP traffic. If your router cannot handle this without freezing, your router is defective.

If your diagnosis is correct, it seems like the router chokes when it gets a lot of UDP packets very quickly from many sources (this isn’t surprising, because to do NAT it needs to track each invidual connection). You may be able to work around this using a third party browser like All Seeing Eye. ASE lets you limit the number of packets per second it sends when querying. (options -> network)