[Phalanx-Imawano]

Recently I bought a Linksys Cable/DSL Router (model BEFSR41 V3) to share my DSL connection with several PC's without having to have a PC turned on to share it (previously that was the setup - 1 PC was directly connected to the DSL modem and utilized Internet Connection Sharing). For the most part it works fine, except that certain websites seem to have become completely inaccessible through the router resulting in the "The page cannot be displayed" message (one of those websites is http://www.espn.com, and at one point using Yahoo mail was also problematic). I've tried a number of things including getting the latest firmware and resetting the router to factory settings, but to no avail. Anything I can do here?

[adamvjackson]

Use a different DNS server, and see if that improves? You can manually specify the DNS server IP address in the DHCP/Setup tab of your router.

Here are some root server IP addresses, some may be closer/faster than others, you can 'ping' the addresses to see what's closest to you.

128.63.2.53
192.33.4.12
128.8.10.90
192.203.230.10
192.5.5.241


Good luck

[bit_junkie]

hey alec this might help :

http://www.root-servers.org/

[Sampson]

You might also try ipconfig. Bring up a command prompt and type ipconfig /flushdns . Your IPS has a dynamic cache of addresses. However, when you get a message that the site could not be found, that address sometimes remains in the cache. For example, you have typed www.espn.com whereas its real address is http://espn.go.com/ This is supposed to be resolved but sometimes it isn't and you get the message that the page was not found.

[Phalanx-Imawano]

I'll see if that works. Just so you know though, after I posted this thread, all of a sudden this very website, http://www.ntcompatible.com , became one of those "inaccessible" websites through the router (so now I'm posting from my office PC). Other websites that became inacessible with the router include: http://www.bluesnews.com, just about every website that starts with http://www.game* (eg http://www.gamespot.com, http://www.gamegal.com, http://www.gamersdepot.com, http://www.gamecritics.com, etc), http://www.3dgpu.com, and the EZBoard forums.

I do hope ipconfig or those root servers will help, though I still have a feeling it's the router that's causing the problem - I tried bypassing the router by reconnecting the DSL modem directly to my PC (its previous configuration), and all those websites that were inaccessble could then be accessed this time.

[Sampson]

Normally in setting up the DSL you use one computer to acquire the ip address. Since your computer can get out on the web by-passing the Router, the DSL is still holding that address for the computer. Unplug the DSL (for about 20 seconds) leaving your computers and the linksys on. Then, restart the DSL so it is communicating with the router.

[Phalanx-Imawano]

Originally posted by Sampson:

Quote:

Normally in setting up the DSL you use one computer to acquire the ip address. Since your computer can get out on the web by-passing the Router, the DSL is still holding that address for the computer. Unplug the DSL (for about 20 seconds) leaving your computers and the linksys on. Then, restart the DSL so it is communicating with the router.

What I meant by bypassing the router was physically disconnecting the router from both the PC's NIC and the DSL modem, and connecting the DSL modem directly to the PC's NIC. Of course I log off the PPPoE connection established by the router before doing so, or if necessary I shut down everything (PC, router, and DSL modem) first before making those changes.

[Sampson]

Actually, keep your PC's connected to the Router, but turn the DSL modem off. When you turn on the modem, it will connect with the ISP and get its address which it will pass to the Router. The Router sets up the addresses for each of the computers internally.

[Phalanx-Imawano]

The point I'm making is that if I eliminate the router from the system, I don't experience that problem of not being able to see those websites I mentioned, so I'm getting the impression that the router either has difficulty communicating with those websites, or it is blocking them somehow (I read on one review website that the Linksys Router has a hidden ability to block unwanted websites, but I'm not sure how true it is given there's no mention of that ability in the user's guide).

My current setup is that the PC's in my home LAN (there are 3 of them) all have static IP's (so I can locate them easily within the LAN by IP address, eg file/printer sharing), rather that having the router assign them. Of course when I was troubleshooting and reconnected my PC directly to the DSL modem, I set my PC to obtain its IP address from the DSL modem, which is how it was originally configured by my ISP.

[Sampson]

I understood fully what you meant. You may have a bad router. However, I have never heard of Linksys blocking sites unless you go into its setup and give it those instructions.
In using the router most of the time you set the Lan up in a domain and each computer recognizes one another through that domain. You really don't need to set up IP addresses for them unless it is to troubleshoot. The router is then only like a switcher that allows each computer to see the other. When you plug the DSL into the WAN of the router, it, in turn, assigns a set of IP addresses to each computer.

[Phalanx-Imawano]

Given that it's a Home LAN and I don't have Windows 2000 Server or Window Server 2003, there's no domain set up (i.e. it's just a workgroup). I also prefer static IP's because one of the PC's is sharing its printer, and in case the PC's name can't be seen (which happened a few times), it is mapped in the other 2 PC's by IP address (and a dynamic IP address will mean not having a permanently mapped shared printer).

[Sampson]

[Phalanx-Imawano]

The 3 PC's can definitely see each other (remember the shared printer), and all 3 could surf the internet through the router (just not those particular websites I pointed out; eg Friendster.com, MSN.com, Yahoo, and Microsoft's homepage are accessible with no problems, but the Windows Update page for instance is not).

The Linksys router serves as the Gateway and local DNS Server, with IP address 192.168.1.1 in the local subnet (configured in all 3 PC's as Default Gateway and DNS Server so they can browse the internet through the router). I've tried resetting the router a number of times and even powering down or resetting to factory settings, but that problem of not being able to surf SOME websites is still persistent.

Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall on my PC is disabled, since (for my PC at least) it already has a 3rd party firewall (the one included with Trend Micro PC-Cillin Internet Security, though the Linksys Router itself also came bundled with Norton Internet Security, which I set aside). The other 2 PC's don't have a software firewall yet, but they exhibit the same behaviour as my firewalled PC.

I experienced no such message suggesting an Invalid DHCP Lease (I'm sure if that's the case then I would not be able to surf the internet at all, which is not the case). The error message at the bottom of the page when a website is inaccessible is "Cannot find server or DNS Error".

[Phalanx-Imawano]

Looks like I solved the problem by reverting the router's firmware to its stock version, and being persistent in trying to access those not-so-reachable websites.

[thatsteveguy]

sorry I didnt' see this before as I was going to tell you to try that. I just upgraded my frimware to the latest one they have on theeir site and had nothing but problems with it. I had to email them and have them send me the last update before the one that was posted on their site.they sent me the last five!!

S

[rks123]

exact same problem (couldnt access ezboard, with BEFW11S4 - Wireless-B Broadband Router - Version 4) al of a sudden. The firmware would work for a couple of months, then the problem would appear (where i wouldnt be able to see ezboard now).

I sent an email to linksys, and they told me to enable the mtu set the MTU to 1300 in the router setup and that had fixed my problem (I can now access ezboard ).


Hope that fixes your problem,

RKS

[jnequest]

Thanks for this website!!!

I have been working with Linksys tech support for 7 days trying to figure out why I could not access certain sites.
This site provided the answer so I want to thank you guys and also post this for anyone else who has the same problem....

Here is what I did

1. access the site where you log in the password "admin"

2. go to setup and enable the MTU and use the number 1300.

That did it! very simple!!!!

Thanks everyone!

[jnequest]

Yeah, Jonny Quest was my favorite cartoon as a kid, so I was in heaven when the DVDs came out!

I cant say how much stress has been releived at our house. One of the sites we could not access was a site critical for my wife's business and we were at our wits end!

So once again let me say THANKS!!!!

Isnt the internet great!?....1 week of endless hours of technical support and I do a search and hit this website and it takes 1 minute to fix the problem!!!

[jnequest]

I have AOL dsl. and I am using the Linksys wireless G

[jennanemone]

jnequest:

Hi! I registered for the boards here, simply to enter this forum and tell you this:

After several frustrated hours of belaboring the very same problem shared by others in this thread, I began patrolling google, and found my way here. Thanks for your simple, amazing advice. I set the MTU to "manual" and adjusted it to 1300, just as you said, and voila! eBay, 1up.com, and metafilter have returned to me!

I can't thank you enough. My boyfriend and I are singing your praises, and we are about to eat some popcorn shrimp, gleeful that we needn't bemoan the Linksys any longer. Thank you thank you thank you, friend!

--Jenny