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jonahfish7 · Nov 23, 2002, 08:04 PM

I just bought a Belkin 4 port cable/dsl gateway router for my Quicksilver Mac. I have Mac OS 10.2.2 and 9.2. In both systems the router will work for a short time, then my connection slows down, and stops all together at some point.

I configured it just like the manual says. Any ideas on what is going on would be appreciated.

ghporter · Nov 23, 2002, 09:06 PM

What sort of broadband connection do you have? There are some issues to think about when working with the various kinds.

jonahfish7 · Nov 23, 2002, 09:38 PM

I have cable modem connection through Time-Warner's Roadrunner.

The ip address is dynamic.

arclight · Nov 23, 2002, 11:09 PM

I'm having the exact same problem with my setup (adelphia cable). I have three macs and one PC on an Asante FR3004LC router and I have to reset the router on an hourly basis to keep the speed up. It won't completely stop but I do lose my AIM connection consistently. I can browse at nearly full bandwidth (3Mb) but after and hour I'm down into the 56k range and eventually it goes under 1k/sec. It pisses me off to no end. The network I have in the house was installed by a friend and he's checked it. He thinks it's the router but i have my doubts.

I have two macs running OS X (one 10.1, one 10.2), another 8600 running 9.2, and a Dell running XP. I've tried the old hard reset and reboot (unplugging everything) but that does the exact same thing as simply resetting the router through the browser. I don't know what to do now that I see you are having a similar problem. I started a thread requesting router recommendations since I thought that was the problem.

Anybody care to enlighten us?

CRASH HARDDRIVE · Nov 24, 2002, 04:56 AM

Just curious, have you folks updated your firmware to the latest versions?

I wouldn't recommend updating it if you don't have any problems, but since you are, I'd make sure I had the latest firmware available from the manufacturer's website and read how to install it from a Mac. (That is if you haven't already done this).

I had issues with my old Linksys router that a firmware update cured completly.

jonahfish7 · Nov 24, 2002, 05:40 AM

Yes, I upgraded the firmware.

ChrisF · Nov 24, 2002, 10:27 AM

Originally posted by jonahfish7:
I just bought a Belkin 4 port cable/dsl gateway router for my Quicksilver Mac. I have Mac OS 10.2.2 and 9.2. In both systems the router will work for a short time, then my connection slows down, and stops all together at some point.

I had this exact problem with a Belkin wireless 4-port router. The solution I used was to switch to a Linksys router which works fine for weeks on end. I've switched to using the Belkin as a regular ethernet hub/wireless access point without using the WAN port on the router and it works fine that way. Seems to be a problem with Belkin's router firmware.

ghporter · Nov 24, 2002, 04:13 PM

The reason I asked about what sort of connection you had was that most cable providers authenticate their users by reading the Media Access Code (MAC-nothing to do with Macintosh) address from the computer's network card. Putting a router between the cable modem and the computer means that the modem reads a different MAC address, and doesn't authenticate the user. Some providers simply refuse to provide a connection, while others cripple the connection. And sometimes it's just the modem choking on a new MAC address.

First, turn off everything-modem, router, and computer. Turn on the modem and let it sit for a couple of minutes (really-two or three minutes). Next, turn on the router and let it sit for about the same amount of time. Finally, turn on your computer and see what kind of connection you have.

If you still have the same symptoms, here are two options for you to pursue. Either call your provider and give them the new MAC address-realizing that some providers consider using a router a breach of the customer agreement-or use the "clone MAC address" option many routers provide and tell the router to pretend to be your computer's network card.

jonahfish7 · Nov 24, 2002, 06:25 PM

I was already cloning my Mac address through the setup provided by Belkin.

ghporter · Nov 24, 2002, 06:28 PM

Ok, try the shut down-start up procedure, and if that doesn't work, try just hooking your computer straight to the modem. If THAT doesn't work, call your cable company (and hide the router for the timebeing).

jonahfish7 · Nov 24, 2002, 06:37 PM

Soon after I got the router I started having problems. I didn't immediately think it was the router because Roadrunner doesn't exactly work all the time, but when I had problems on Saturday I took the time to try and diagnose the problem when I figured out that this had been occurring ever since I got the router and roadrunner wasn't the problem at all.

So, first I shut everything down and that worked for a few minutes.

Next, I plugged the computer directly to the cable modem, not using the router and it worked fine.

Then, I spent a couple of hours going through the procedures to correctly hook the router up through Belkin. I disabled my software firewire, and still the router would shut down. I then used the system in 9.22 to see if the same problems occurred with Mac OS X, and yes the router would shut down.

Maybe I'll try it one more time, but it seems that other people are having the same kind of problem with this brand of router. The reason I liked this product was that it included good firewall protection, which I tested, and it works pretty good. But, if it is going to prevent me from using the web, well, I think I am going to return the product.

ghporter · Nov 24, 2002, 06:55 PM

Others might argue with me, but I've had great success with a Linksys BEFSR41. A friend was originally given a BEFSR11 (the one port version), but he decided it was worth it and bought a -41 not too long after getting started. Some people have problems with every brand, and Linksys is no exception. On the other hand, since I'm not hosting games, expecting to host a web site, or running an FTP server, and because (this is CRITICAL) I don't upgrade the firmware just because a new version has been released, I haven't had so much as a stutter for over a year.

I am in no way related to Linksys, nor am I compensated (darn it!) for voicing my opinion.

arclight · Nov 25, 2002, 08:27 PM

OK-

It seems that others are having this same slowdown problem with all brands of routers. There are posts with the same slowdowns using Linksys, Belkin, and Asante products. Has anybody come up with a fix?

I've emailed Asante but received no response just yet. I was going to get a BEFSR41 today but after seeing that others are having similar problems it leads me to believe there is something else going on. I'm just rebooting my router hourly for now. I never had this problem with DSL, I had many other issues but no slowdowns (just sync). Another flaky thing is the DHCP table doesn't show everyone on the LAN. Then when I reboot the router, it shows the missing ones and drops one or more of the previously listed workstations. It's bizarre, I have access on every computer in the house but they never ALL show up in the DHCP table.

I remember reading a post earlier in the week claiming that systems running different versions of OS X would have horrible network performance. Anybody remember that one?

FYI - I've tried all the fixes listed in the previous posts. MAC address cloning to full shutdown. Nothing seems to work. After rebooting, i can get upwards of 300Kb/sec. Later in the same hour I get barely 8-10Kb/sec.

jonahfish7 · Nov 25, 2002, 08:53 PM

I solved the problem with BELKIN router by getting a NETGEAR cable/dsl router. So far the NETGEAR router works all right.

The salesperson (actually I got a business rep. for compusa who has experience in setting up networks) at compusa said the netgear cable router is superior than the other products (Linksys, and by the way he didn't even try to defend the Belkin router) because it has a hardwired firewall.