Oh how I love LD's!!

[Logic_Dingo]

Just in the past couple of weeks, I have slowly gotten more and more LD's. It has gotten to the point where it is about every 5 minutes. I have contacted my ISP, SoE, yada yada shmada yada and the only answers were that I need to NOT use a firewall/Router and directly connect the cable modem into my EQ machine. Of course this negates any use of seq. BUT it doesnt go LD when I connect it directly to the box...sigh. BTW the configuration I have been using has worked fine for months. No issues whatsoever with no changes to my configuration. The connection isnt lost either when I go LD. Web pages/Applications and so forth are still fully connected. Its just EQ.

So I was wondering if anyone else has been experiencing this lately? Is it something they have done recently to make it more sensitive? Any ideas as to what this could possibly be? I am beating my head against the wall on this one......

I like the fact also that just several months ago SoE came out with a spam mail about purchasing additional accounts to promote 2 boxing yourself. On the other hand, their only solution to LD problems is to disconnect any routers you may be using. What are you suppose to do? Buy an ISP account for EACH box you run? LOL

Anyways any help or insight on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

[fgay trader]

Do you have a Linksys router? If so, did you update its firmware just before the LD problem started? I had the exact same problem a few months back and could only solve it by reverting the router's firmware back a version ot two.

[MisterSpock]

Dingo,

I have not noticed, personally, any increase in the amount of LD's I've been getting. However, it does seem that every few patches, they introduce something that either adds lag or increases LD conditions.

That said, I'm going to ask the normal questions:

What kind of firewall/router are you using, what is your LAN config, what other software on your side could be eating bandwidth?

Have you experienced slow-downs or drops on other internet apps / sites?

Also -- are you are using one of the keysniffers, and if so, which one? Are you experiencing the same number of LDs when you do not run the sniffer?

[Logic_Dingo]

I havent had any different results from running a keysniffer. I go LD on my vendor as much as or more than my regular account. I have removed any and all programs that could possibly be eating bandwidth. ALL other applications work fine and just as well as they did before.

BTW I am using the keysniffer I wrote. The VB one.

What I am going to try now is switch out my router to a linksys and give it a try since there are specific instructions to opening ports on that router. Quote from eq forums



Hello all,
Disconnecting every 10 to 15 minutes while behind a Linksys router is a common issue.

1. Open Internet Explorer, enter http://192.168.1.1/Forward.htm in the address box and press enter.

2. You will be prompted for a username and password. By default there is no username, and the password is admin.

3. Once you've gotten past the log in you should be at the Forwarding tab. Click on the Port Triggering button.

4. Once you've done this, a new window will appear. Fill out the ports as follows:

Application name: everquest
Trigger port range: 1024-65535
Incoming port range: 1024-65535

If your firmware shows the options, check the TCP, UDP and enable boxes, then click APPLY.

Best Regards,
Jonathan Caraker
Sony Online Entertainment
http://www.everquest.com



I guess we will see. The thing with it working directly connected to the EQ box and only failing when I have a router/firewall connected suggests that they changed something on the last patch, cause that is when it really all started.

[Cryonic]

Only one problem. With the router forwarding ports 1024-65535 to your EQ box, all your other machines will be unable to get out to the Net.

[Logic_Dingo]

it doesnt specify a machine IP in there anywhere though...so i dont think it is specific. It should apply to any machine on the network.

Kinda stupid I think. Its like saying "So when I say take out the trash, what I really mean is take out the trash. So when I say take out the trash be sure to take out the trash."

[Dedpoet]

A note on the Linksys thing...the newest firmware solves the problem that the last version broke. So if you get the newest, you're cool. I don't recall the version number, so I won't even guess, but I can confrim it works.

[Logic_Dingo]

OK! Here was the solution:

Got rid of my netgear RT314 router and bought a new Linksys. Used the above Port Triggering settings and also found a setting for MTU which is to change it from 1492 to 1092. Works great. Problem solved. I sure saw alot of people pulling their hair out on message boards having the same problem since last patch. Seems to be something they did with UDP /shrug

[The Sage]

I live with two other people, two of us using SEQ, the other has no desire to set up a linux bos to try. =)

Funny thing is, both of us SEQ users never have any crashes/LD problems. The one that doesn't however, has recently been crashing/LDing like nobody's business. Even on a fresh install of WinXP Pro, and only EQ installed, still crashing. (Albeit not as much now).

Not sure exactly what they did. I know they updated the eqmain.dll just a while back, I need to find that post again to see if anyone ever figured out exactly what was updated. Kinda weird though that alot of ppl having the same probs all of the sudden. Kinda makes me wonder if they are doing something behind the scenes that tries to monitor network traffic and if it sees a certain something then it disconnects the computer from the EQ servers temporarily.

*Shrug*

[fgay trader]

Well, after a year of loyal service my Linksys 4-port router/switch died last week, so I had to replace it with something real quick, which happened to be a D-Link DI-604. Pretty nice all around and very reliable. Also makes much less noise than the Linksys did. In other words, I highly reccomend it.

[Edit:]
Hmm... the above might be taken by newbies as an advice on the whole router/switch vs. hub topic, so just to clarify: SEQ does NOT work if I plug my EQ and SEQ boxes dirrectly into the D-Link router. in order to get that to work I plug them both into a true hub (Intel InBusiness 4-port) which is in turn uplinked to the router.

[Logic_Dingo]

Still going strong btw. No issues at all. Works perfectly with the new router and those settings above. :D