Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Fumz]

Hi guys,

I've had the 4100, the 4300, and now the 4500. I have 4 pc's attached at all times: personal machine (wired), which is always on and connected (usually running jdownloader); an htpc (wireless), which only sometimes uses internet; the wife's machine (wireless), which hasn't seen much use since she got an iphone; my gaming machine (wired).

A few times a month the niece and nephew come over. They each have ipods/phones/laptops.

I haven't had a single issue with this router in years. It had been on and up for so long I could not tell you the last time I had to reboot it, or even refresh it. It was just solid. That all changed about a week 1/2 ago. Now it looses connection routinely; sometimes several times a day with more wireless activity.

Is this a sign of a dying router? Could there be a correlation to added wireless activity? We have had a house guest who is also using an ipad and a laptop wirelessly?

If indeed this turns out to be the router's last days, I am looking to get another dlink. However, I was wondering if, with the increased wireless traffic, I should be looking at the dir 827, or stick with my trusty dgl and go with the 5500?

Flat out, my primary concern is gaming. I assume the dir 827's wireless is more robust and can better handle all the traffic, but does its HD Fuel compare to gamefuel? Are any of my assumptions correct/incorrect?

Thanks in advance for your time.

[FurryNutz]

Link>Welcome!

• What Hardware version is your router? Look at sticker under router.
• Link>What Firmware version is currently loaded? Found on the routers web page under status.
• What region are you located?
• Has a Factory Reset been performed?

Internet Service Provider and Modem Configurations

• What ISP Service do you have? Cable or DSL?
• What ISP Modem Mfr. and model # do you have?
• Is ISP Modem/Service using Dynamic or Static WAN IP addressing?
• What ISP Modem service link speeds UP and Down do you have?

There may have been some external conditions thats changed in your area that may have recently moved in and may cause some WiFi problems on the router.

Save off the routers current configuration to file then try a factory reset first.

[Fumz]

Hi Furry,

Hardware v A1
Firmware v 1.15
California.
No factory reset has been performed.
ISP: sonic.net dsl ~ 4.5 down/1 up (1067 uplink speed reported in gamefuel).
ISP modem/router: Pace 4111N currently set as a bridge.
Dynamic.

I should note that if I lock everyone out of the house (preventing them from using wifi) it seems to be just fine. I'm on my way to a bbq, so I'll do a factory reset when I get back. I will also be back with houseguests that use a lot of wireless, so that would be the perfect environment.

Also, side question... if I'm downloading on my personal machine (jdownloader) gamefuel kicks in and I can game with no issues whatsoever. However, when the niece and nephew come over and fire up their iphones/pods, gaming for poor ole uncle erick is over. I've set the priority for their devices to 255 and 254, but even then, they just hog every drop of my bandwidth and I can't figure out how to overcome it.

Again, thanks a lot for your time.


**edit***

For the factory reset, should I use the paper clip method or use the tools in the router's tools/system page?

[FurryNutz]

Wireless Configurations
Links>Wireless Installation Considerations and Managing Signal Congestion and Good Neighbour Policy

• Ensure the default (dlink) SSID name is changed. Can be anything and not something that's already in use by any neighboring WiFi routers. Under Setup/Wireless/Manual.
• What wireless modes are you using?
• 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz routers: Try single mode G or N or mixed G and N on 2.4Ghz and single mode N or AC on 5Ghz?
• Try setting a manual Channel to a open or unused channel. 1, 6 or 11. 11 for single mode N if the channel is clear. 13 for EU regions.
• What security mode are you using? Preferred security is WPA-Personal. WPA2/AES Only. Some WiFi adapters don't support AES, so you might want to try TPIK only or Auto TPIK and AES.
• Any 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz cordless house phones or WiFi APs near by?
• Any other WiFi routers in the area? Link> Use InSSIDer to find out. How many?
• If you have any of these options, Try turning OFF or ON Short GI, WLAN Partition, Extra Wireless Protection and HT 20/40 Co-existence if you have it. Also testing with HT20/40Mhz Co-existence enabled will impact results as well. I prefer to use this option OFF. Recommended settings are default. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.

Is Gamefule Enabled?

[Fumz]

Yes, gamefuel is enabled.

SSID name is changed.
Wireless mode: mixed. The wife's machine and the htpc are using dlink xtreme n adapters. I think everything else, iphone/pods/laptops are using g or b?
Channel: 11
Security: WPA/WPA2 - Personal
We have a 2.4GHz phone close.
Other wifi: yes. Will check later (bout to head out).

Advanced wireless: wlan partition = off. wmm = enabled. Short gi = enabled.

Will turn off and test after factory reset.

[FurryNutz]

Test Mixed G and N mode as B mode may not be needed,
Can test Short GI disabled and see.

Might set up some Gamefule rules as per this:
DGL-4500 Gaming and Gamefuel for XBL

Look at the ALL OTHER DEVICES rule example. If your gaming with this router, set a rule up for your gaming PC and set another one up to include everything else. Use a priority of 50 for the gaming PC and 128 for everything else.

[Fumz]

Router is factory restored and set up appropriately: renamed, passworded, wpa personal, etc.

Wireless is now using mixed n and g, channel 11.

Added all devices (cept niece the and nephew's machines) to dhcp reservation list. Set gamefuel rule for the gaming rig and then copied your "multi devices" example where everything has an ip within a range of ips.

Now all I have to do is wait for the bandwidth hogs to show up and test this out. I take it the first thing I should do when anyone else comes is to first reserve their device and assign it an ip within the multi device range?

Also, out of curiosity, why priority 50 and not 1 for the gaming rig?

Thanks a ton for your time; much appreciated.


**edit**

I forgot one thing... the kids just suck bandwidth. They seem to be capable of downloading the entire internet in a sitting. Can I create another more draconian rule for them of priority 255? I had already tried to accomplish this by creating rules for their devices and setting it at 255, but for some reason it didn't work. As I said, when they come over my gaming ends unless I ban them from the internet... or at least the downloading/youtube/whatever it is teenagers do part? When we're all gaming everything is fine.

[FurryNutz]

setting 1 would starve the other connections so we recommend using 50, you can try maybe 10 if you really need it. I game on xbox and Mac and don't see any issues with 50. Yes if you think the lower priority users don't need that much priority, set 255...Test the priorities out as you go and see what works best for you.

Keep us posted.

Router is factory restored and set up appropriately: renamed, passworded, wpa personal, etc.

Wireless is now using mixed n and g, channel 11.

Added all devices (cept niece the and nephew's machines) to dhcp reservation list. Set gamefuel rule for the gaming rig and then copied your "multi devices" example where everything has an ip within a range of ips.

Now all I have to do is wait for the bandwidth hogs to show up and test this out. I take it the first thing I should do when anyone else comes is to first reserve their device and assign it an ip within the multi device range?

Also, out of curiosity, why priority 50 and not 1 for the gaming rig?

Thanks a ton for your time; much appreciated.


**edit**

I forgot one thing... the kids just suck bandwidth. They seem to be capable of downloading the entire internet in a sitting. Can I create another more draconian rule for them of priority 255? I had already tried to accomplish this by creating rules for their devices and setting it at 255, but for some reason it didn't work. As I said, when they come over my gaming ends unless I ban them from the internet... or at least the downloading/youtube/whatever it is teenagers do part? When we're all gaming everything is fine.

[FurryNutz]

Any status on this? 

[Fumz]

The niece and nephew came over today. On the plus side, she was the class valedictorian; on the downside, when they and the wife were on their iphones my connection just died... literally 5 minutes ago.

At the time the downstairs machine was off; the wife's machine was off; my personal machine was running jdownloader (limited to 350kb/sec) and irc, and it was remotely connected to the tv room pc looking through a backup drive I just pulled from the wife's machine (windows hibernation just bricked her vertex 2).

The kids were texting, looking at stuff. The wife wasn't actually doing anything, she was just connected.

When they came over I put their 2 devices into the dhcp list; all was good. I went downstairs to turn on my machine and browsed newegg for another drive. Tried to page back and the connection was dead.

Came upstairs and, as usual, when they kill the connection I can't even log into the router. I had to pull the plug and let it sit for 30 seconds, plug it back in and let it do it's thing.

I had not had to touch this thing since we last spoke. No resetting the router, no rebooting, nothing. Today, bam...

[FurryNutz]

Can you post a pic of your GF rules and settings?
I think we need to have a look at that and see if we can get those devices under control...

[Fumz]

[FurryNutz]

I suggest that you take the 2 devices for niece and nephew and put them into there own GF rule and set the priority for 200 or 255...adjust the all other devices rule so the rules don't over lap in the local IP address range. Leave the All other devices at 128...

Also test with Dynamic Defrag disabled under GF...

[Fumz]

Done.

Quick question... I thought if you had low upload then dynamic defrag was good?

[FurryNutz]

I think it depends...just thought you could try it as a test to see...I see your UL is 1Mb, I don't think it's needed. I believe anything less than 1Mb, it could be used.