Router/Firewall cuts out after 2 days

I have an odd problem and I'm hoping for some advice on solving it.

I have wireless internet service with a static IP address. I purchased a
Linksys firewall/router (BEFSX41), which ATM I have only one computer on.

I have the router setup to use the static IP address, with the mask,
gateway, and 3 DNS servers from my ISP. Because I need port forwarding, I
have the DHCP server turned off. I have a couple of ports forwarding to the
machine at 192.168.1.100.

On the computer side, I have WinXP and have it set to obtain the IP address
and DNS servers automatically.

This setup works just fine for about 2 days, then cuts out. I have to reset
the router (hold in the button at the back for 30 seconds to return to
factory settings) then restart the computer to get a connection back. I
then set up the router again with the exact same settings and it works fine
again for another 2 days.

Any ideas on what could be causing this? It seems like some sort of DHCP
thing might be expiring(?). Should I try to set the computer to use a
static address as well? I've messed around with this some, but I cannot
seem to get it to work with a static address setting (and if so, what should
I set it to? The WAN address? The LAN address? And what about the mask,
gateway, DNS servers?). The manual only says I should have the machine set
to automatic, but I'm not sure I believe it

Thanks for any advice.

Ron

On Thu, 11 Sep 2003 07:37:01 -0700, "Ron Hiler" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I have an odd problem and I'm hoping for some advice on solving it.
>
>I have wireless internet service with a static IP address. I purchased a
>Linksys firewall/router (BEFSX41), which ATM I have only one computer on.
>
>I have the router setup to use the static IP address, with the mask,
>gateway, and 3 DNS servers from my ISP. Because I need port forwarding, I
>have the DHCP server turned off. I have a couple of ports forwarding to the
>machine at 192.168.1.100.
>
>On the computer side, I have WinXP and have it set to obtain the IP address
>and DNS servers automatically.
>
>This setup works just fine for about 2 days, then cuts out. I have to reset
>the router (hold in the button at the back for 30 seconds to return to
>factory settings) then restart the computer to get a connection back. I
>then set up the router again with the exact same settings and it works fine
>again for another 2 days.
>
>Any ideas on what could be causing this? It seems like some sort of DHCP
>thing might be expiring(?). Should I try to set the computer to use a
>static address as well? I've messed around with this some, but I cannot
>seem to get it to work with a static address setting (and if so, what should
>I set it to? The WAN address? The LAN address? And what about the mask,
>gateway, DNS servers?). The manual only says I should have the machine set
>to automatic, but I'm not sure I believe it
>
>Thanks for any advice.
>
>Ron
>

Let's review. First you said:

>I have the router setup to use the static IP address, with the mask,
>gateway, and 3 DNS servers from my ISP. Because I need port forwarding, I
>have the DHCP server turned off. I have a couple of ports forwarding to the
>machine at 192.168.1.100.

But then you added:

>On the computer side, I have WinXP and have it set to obtain the IP address
>and DNS servers automatically.

Exactly how does the computer obtain an ip address when you have turned off
the DHCP service on the router?

I could be way off, but after reading your post I bet what's happening is your
computer obtains its ip assignment from the router just before you disable the
DHCP service (again). Then the lease expires two days later, but there's no
DHCP server any longer. Then the whole mess wedges and you repeat the loop.

btw, there's no reason to actually disable the DHCP service on the router just
because you have told your computer to use a fixed address within the private
subnet you've chosen. Just set the router to assign addresses from a pool that
doesn't conflict with any fixed-address devices on the LAN and you're good to
go....

/daytripper

"daytripper" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Let's review. First you said:
>
> >I have the router setup to use the static IP address, with the mask,
> >gateway, and 3 DNS servers from my ISP. Because I need port forwarding,
I
> >have the DHCP server turned off. I have a couple of ports forwarding to
the
> >machine at 192.168.1.100.
>
> But then you added:
>
> >On the computer side, I have WinXP and have it set to obtain the IP
address
> >and DNS servers automatically.
>
> Exactly how does the computer obtain an ip address when you have turned
off
> the DHCP service on the router?

A good question I was trying to figure that one out myself and came to
the conclusion it was magic, heh. The reason I turned off the DHCP was
because the manual says (in bold, no less) that the router's DHCP function
must be turned off to utilize port forwarding. My particular situation
requires that certain ports be forwarded to a particular machine, so I
turned it off. This was why I was attempting to assign a LAN address to the
XP machine, but whenever I did so, nothing worked. The connection *only*
works when the XP machine is set to get it's address automatically. I don't
really understand why.

>
> I could be way off, but after reading your post I bet what's happening is
your
> computer obtains its ip assignment from the router just before you disable
the
> DHCP service (again). Then the lease expires two days later, but there's
no
> DHCP server any longer. Then the whole mess wedges and you repeat the
loop.

Sounds reasonable. I turned on the DHCP service on the router and we'll see
what happens. Strangely (and contrary to what the docs say), port
forwarding is still working properly, but I haven't restarted the machine
yet. I'll give it a couple of days and see if anything breaks.

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully it will work.

-Ron