Oh Belkin FD7230-4 router, how I loathe you

[kperovic]

I've gone to portforward.com and followed every step religiously.

I've Google'd just about every source to remedy this problem, obviously to no avail.

And now I'm here.

I've tried disabling the firewall. Setting up virtual servers. Enabling DMZ. Static IP, port forwarding, whatever, nothing.

I have been using uTorrent forever. I used to live with my mom and with her Linksys router, I had no problems downloading anything. Now that I've moved out, I've got a Belkin FD7230-4 router and have had to stare at the yellow and red exclamation-points-of-death on uTorrent.

My connection is perfectly fine until I start up uTorrent. And then it only downloads at a couple of KB/s max. Then the entire network will go down for a while unless I unplug the router, wait 10 seconds, and plug it back in.

Help?

[GTHK]

So no other computers function on the Belkin based network after starting µT? Might be the Belkin then, search this forum for that model, also consult http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=15992 and what software firewall do you have? Also, according to the Belkin, what's the first half of your IP address? And finally, did you set the static IPA of the computer outside the DHCP range and entered that address for forwarding, both TCP and UDP?

[kperovic]

I use Avast Firewall.

First half of IP address is 71.250.

I set it to TCP originally but did try both on a hunch and that didn't work either.

EDIT: Also on Vista, if that matters at all.

[GTHK]

And the other questions? Also, does the Belkin have a bridge mode (for testing purposes)?

[kperovic]

Sorry, I thought I adaquately addressed the rest.

No, the other computers on the network will not connect to the internet; the network will still be up sometimes but with local access only, if anything.

I'm consulting the thread (and that which it links to) as I type this. I only wanted to respond as hastily as possible to get an equally hasty method of resolve.

The range is 0-100. I tried it at both 99 and 147 (not to exceed 240-something-or-other) just to experiment. Neither yielded any sort of resolve, obviously.

Oh, and because I think it's relevant: I'm staring at the red exclamation point right now, not the yellow triangle.

[GTHK]

254. Anyway, only local access? Hrm, what's the Belkin connected to? Make an' model. Can you try connecting to it directly and see how well your connection works? Then for the "Connection Type" of the Belkin set it to bridge mode and have only one computer connected the the Belkin, power cycle the other device and your computer?

If you can, save the Belkins settings first (shouldn't be necessary though, but, just in case (I wouldn't )).

Red exclamation point, does it say listen error when you mouse over?

[kperovic]

Westell Model 6100; DSL modem.

I've yet to take the ethernet cable from my modem and stick it into my laptop. I figured I'm not going to be doing that regularly so why bother trying to set it up that way?

I don't know what you mean by power cycling.

And when I hover over the red exclamation point, it says: "Not connectable: A firewall/router is limiting your network traffic. You need to open up a port so that others can connect to you."

[GTHK]

The point of trying it is to see if your connection functions normally, if it does, then your Belkin is screwing up and you need to try reconfiguring it and µT to prevent it from breaking down under load, or, preferable, purchase a new router. Power cycle = Unplugging and plugging back in on routers and such, for computers, Windows restart.

[kperovic]

This might help:

Obviously, the port I'm trying to open is 12452.

[GTHK]

You did update your forwarding IPA from 101 to 2 right? Also, if the Internet access stops working, then what you want to determine is whether or not the Belkin is crappy. Update the firmware on it, if it still breaks down, try the things I mentioned already in post #6.

[kperovic]

I had it at 2. Put it to 101 in an experiment. Forgot to put it back. Did just now. Nothing has changed.

The Belkin is good; my dad has been using it with 0 problems and when I don't run uTorrent I never have a problem. In fact, I'm running uTorrent right now - downloading at a lame 5kb/s, though. The whole "network crashes" thing wasn't an all-the-time thing. Just a some-of-the-time thing. Didn't post this to focus on that, really. Posted this to get my port forwarded properly and put me in the green.

I have updated the firmware.

How do I change the Belkin to bridge mode?

[GTHK]

Well the port forwarding is correct then, though you should use both.

First half of IP address is 71.250.

You got this from the Belkin correct? Website doesn't count. If that is correct, then the problem is likely your computer (in terms of port forwarding). avast! has a firewall? Or do you mean the firewall like functions of avast! anti-virus? If so, what components did you install?

Once you have port forwarding though, it might just break down again. Try an http://distribution.openoffice.org/p2p/ torrent to see if you can break it down immediately, if you can, the router may need replacing anyway, there are steps that can be taken to prevent that however.

[kperovic]

I didn't get that from Belkin. I got that from whatismyipaddress.com.

And uh, I guess you're right. I don't think Avast has a firewall. I just kind of assumed it did. I guess I'm protected by Windows Defender/the router's firewall/whatever comes standard with Vista.

EDIT: I started downloading a torrent from there. I'm chillin at a friendly 19.2% right now and it just stopped downloading. Red turned to yellow, hovering over it reads: "No incoming connections: Unless this icon turns green, it could indicate a problem with your network configuration."

EDIT: It decided to start up again. Downloading at a semi-respectable 60 kb/s right now.

EDIT: Just to note, this is not unusual. One minute I'll get decent speeds. The next 10 minutes there will be no downloading at all.

EDIT: It finished downloading.

[Switeck]

What settings are you using in uTorrent?

From what I understand, Belkin routers often cannot handle more than 60 connections at once...and unfortunately old connections and UDP packets can count against that limit!

[kperovic]

I didn't hear anything about 60; but I did set my total number of connections limit to 100 (as it was 200, I think, before).

EDIT: First half of my ip address has changed to 70.111.

EDIT: Still getting the "Error! Port 12452 does not appear to be open." message. No Green lights on uTorrent, either.