Hi,

Hoping someone can help!

I have a Linksys WRK54G router, which is connected to two PCs and a cable modem. Everything works fine apart from when we try to stream media through RealPlayer or Windows Media (say a sound clip from amazon). If we try this, nothing plays, and the router will lose connection to both the PCs. The only way to bring it back is to reset it. Streaming from the second PC is fine.

I've no idea what could be causing this. Can someone help?

Cheers!


K

When you say "Connected" do you mean through the wired side or wireless? Also Can you check to see what firmware version you are running and post here?

On the PC's that are connected to it, can you tell us their specs (and how they are connected)? Thanks.

The firmware version of the router is 1.58.03 (pretty sure it's the latest).

The PC that seems to have the problem is connected to the router via cable. It's running XP. 512MB of RAM. 2GHZ Processor.

The other PC is on a wireless connection. It's also running XP, and has 384MB RAM. 800MHZ Processor.

Whenever PC1 tries to stream a file, almost immediately both PCs lose connection to the router. Pinging from both just times out.

I've run a virus and spyware scan on the off chance of a problem, but both were clear.

Is your configuration stock on the router? i.e. have you configured one of your PCs to be a DMZ host or have you changed the gaming options on your router. Also can you look to see what your MTU is set for?

Both the DMZ and the MTU settings are disabled. I haven't touched any of the gaming settings. Nothing is setup in there at all.

OK... this shouldn't be a permanent fix but lets try to narrow the problem down. Change your MTU to 1492 and test. If that doesn't work then change it to 1462 and test again. Let us know what happens.

Also, does this happen on any other type of download? i.e. downloading a large file or an ISO. Also, can you give me a link of a sample download that locks up your connect? I have a similar router that I can test with.

Setting the MTU to 1462 resulted in the media clip playing, but we still lost the connection immediately afterwards. 1492 didn't help.

The clip was from http://www.amazon.com/Space-Big-Star/dp/B000ALLLRK/sr=8-1/qid=1159716073/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4478525-9860921?ie=UTF8&s=music

Thanks for your help with this!

OK try the following MTU settings in order:

1400
1362
1300

Another question... have you ever changed your network card settings perhaps to improve performance? Or ever ran a "performance improvement" software of any sort?

I'll try those settings shortly.

I actually forgot to confirm earlier that other downloads work absolutely fine. I've downloaded firewall and windows updates recently without error.

Regarding the network card, I've never changed the settings or used any software that would effect performance.

I tried the other settings, but no luck :-(

I've done some more research on that particular model and apparently it had a lot of issues. What you're running into specifically sometimes was fixed by lowering the MTU settings. Obviously it didn't work in your case. I think you have a bum router my friend. At this point I would recommend that you dump it and replace it with a better wireless router that you buy from a store and not as part of any bundle. Apparently that particular model was bundled together with either a laptop or some other combo deal. Was that how you got it by any chance?