Help a frustrated rdm

[Kirsteena]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

Nope, old Georgian house with nice thick walls. /sigh I guess it could well be being interrupted. I guess the best way is to try a cable. God I hate shared houses at times.

[Nuriko]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

A little while back, for 10 minutes I was d/ced from FFXI and POL, but able to browse the net, similar to this ... my first thought was that the server was down, as it was right on the hour. Anyway, I'm on ADSL with no router. It hasn't repeated, so I can't test anything and am not worrying about it, but it may be related to the OP's issue.

For that matter, I have a new RDM ... maybe that's the connection?

[Feba]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

oh, this is reminding me of a problem I used to have.

Check your router logs (usually at 192.168.0.1, check google for details), this is a lot like the UDP floods I used to get. I fixed it by getting a new IP (look up ipconfig /renew for instructions, or call your ISP), you might need a new router.

EDIT: And ifrit, most likely, however websites need a far less stable connection than AIM and FFXI, so I was tossing it out there.

[Heartily]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

I have a similar problem running FF on Vista laptop- wireless at home. When I switch caracters, it goes through normal sequence but stops at " downloading data". After about 3 min. a message " cannot connect to POL server" comes on.
I close out POL and log back in and everything is fine until I switch caracters.
Sometimes it doesn't freeze and when caracter is displayed, red circle by name is displayed about 2 seconds and then everything is normal. My PC runs on high speed connection and doesn't have this problem. Other than that, my midrange HP laptop with Vista runs FF wireless as well as my PC does.

[Feba]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

That sounds more like a software problem. are you using vista POL, or still using the workaround?

[Kirsteena]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

FFXI and IM services both require accounts, and are possibly sensitive to IP address changes. (Both systems only permits one login at a time, so if you change IP address, they may get unhappy.).

But MSN logs in no problem. And my flatmate can play WoW, and have no issues whatsoever at the same time. Which makes this even more wierd.

[Feba]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

Like I said, check your router logs, sounds like a UDP flood of some sort.

[neokaril]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

If it wasn't connected and then loosing connection I would say try clearing your arp table (from cmd type arp -d), but since you are connected and then it is going buggy that leaves me to believe that possibly someone else has hit your accounts?? Since you said your BF also play is it possible that he inadvertantly hit in to your accounts as a last log on?

DHCP lease shouldn't be an issue since she is connected and then drops, if your lease expires while active it should re assign at same IP reservation unless someone else grabs it first, highly unlikely to happen esp more than once.

[Kirsteena]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

Never said my b/f plays. I play FFXI at his house, with no problems, that is all. His is a non-wireless network. At home, wireless, and the trouble.

I'll check on what you guys say next time I am at home (probably Thursday with maint tomorrow). Though bear with me, cause a lot of this is out of my league...

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

since you are connected and then it is going buggy that leaves me to believe that possibly someone else has hit your accounts??

That wouldn't explain the AIM, though.

DHCP lease shouldn't be an issue since she is connected and then drops, if your lease expires while active it should re assign at same IP reservation unless someone else grabs it first, highly unlikely to happen esp more than once.

That is what I used to think, but how do ISP's usually set up their DHCP servers? I mean, if a DHCP server goes down, do they usually have a backup one ready to go online? What if the DHCP server process is restarted automatically on detection of certain errors? I just don't know enough outside of simple textbook scenarios to make an educated guess. =/

Can't hurt to check the WAN IP to make sure it stays the same, in any case.

Still, I'm guessing it's some sort of intermittent, short duration connection failure, and different protocols with different robustness means some would fail while others would stay 'live'.

[Nazo]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

Even if a new IP was assigned for whatever reason and this caused a disconnect, it wouldn't prevent further reconnection.

I think Feba's explanation sounds pretty plausible, I often see UDP floods in my router logs, especially if I have torrents or something downloading at the same time. It could be your router is blocking off the ports FFXI / AIM etc is using as a security measure.

Next time it happens, check your router logs, and cart your PC over to your router and connect with a cable, that will at least eliminate 2 of the possibilities.

[Kirsteena]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

Ok most of that went "whooooooosh", but will give it a go next time it happens. I'll post results/bug people/anyone who has a MSN account could get bugged too.

[Feba]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

You can look it up more effectively on wikipedia under "UDP flood attack", but basically FFXI and AIM use UDP, so when your router shuts down UDP functions or is unable to process them, FFXI and AIM go byebye. MSN, I believe, uses TCP.

This sounds almost exactly like my old problem, so check it right away. Also, you should be able to check your router logs at any time since you last powered up your router and see the results.

[Kirsteena]

Re: Help a frustrated rdm

To further this - it happened again tonight. I have done the ipconfig /all, everything is exactly the same before it starts and after. I can't get into my router to check the logs, as my dear housemate has the password, and I don't have it (something I will be resolving asap). MSN is a tad flaky, but still works.

It may be something like my wireless adaptor fouling up, I'm getting a cable and trying that way. Other than that, I seriously don't know. And I am getting very frustrated with it.