LinkSys Routers and Firewalls

[cgannon64]

I have a nice little LinkSys wireless router in my house, so my laptop can go online. I really loved my LinkSys, until I decided to play Age of Mythology online. I was all excited, and then I tried to join games. My game I hosted didn't come up in the list (I asked a friend). I tried to join games, but each time it kicked me or "Lost Connection, try again in ... secs". Pretty damn annoying. I'm pretty sure that LinkSys routers come with a built in firewall, or something like that.

Can someone help me with my firewall/playing behind a router? Thanks in advance.

CG

 

[CrackedCrystal]

You would have to ask this specific question wouldn't you. Being a Network Tech it is bugging the bejeezus out of me that I cannot give you an exact answer because I never used a Linksys router.

But do this.

In order to control your router, you need to enter its setup. This is done by going into the routers web server. This is done by opening your web browser and type 196.168.1.1 in the address bar

Then log in to the router with your user name and password. This will bring you to the setup menu. Go to the advanced setup options and into port forwarding. Then here is agian where I cannot help you. I do not know which ports you need to forward (the ports that Age of Mythology uses) or the exacts of the button to press on a linksys.

I could tell you how on a D-Link, but that would not be useful to you.

 

[CrackedCrystal]

Found those port numbers for you.

80, 2300, 28800-28805, 6073, and 2302-2400

You need to open all these ports.

 

[CrackedCrystal]

I was thinking, port triggering probably would be a beeter choice for you. It would be more secure. The difference is that Port forwarding would keep your computer open to the internet at all times, triggering would only allow it when Age of Mythology needs to use it.

Basicall those list of ports I gave you, have them all triggered when a one of them is used.

 

[CrackedCrystal]

Now I am all excited. Its all your fault cgannon. I just love working with computer networks.

You better tell me how its going

 

[cgannon64]

I'm running into problems now. For one thing, in the Port Screen, there are a few options you didn't specify. For each of the numbers, I can choose either UDB, TCP, or Both. After that, they have slots for two numbers (0 - 0). If the number is 80, do I put in 80-80 or 0-80 or 80-0?

This is what I put in:

Both 80-80
Both 2300-2300
Both 28800-28805
Both 6073-6073
Both 2302-2400

When I put these in, AoM would freeze when I tried to log on to ESO (AoM MP) and the internet no longer worked. Obviously I took these out.

CG

strike one

 

[CrackedCrystal]

You only have the space for the one group? Are you in port forwarding or triggering? Is there an option for both a trigger port and incomming port? Sorry, I do not know what your screen looks like. Like I said, I have not used Linksys.

as for the UDP / TCP thing, both should work fine, but for completeness they are as follows:
TCP 80
UDP 2300
TCP 28800-28805
UDP 6073
UDP 2302-2400


The reason your internet shut down is because you forwarded your ports to a non-existing source. I am assuming because from what I hear it should have been asking for IP addresses as well. If you left them blank, the router would have gotten confused and thus your internet connection goes away.

 

[CrackedCrystal]

I read up a little on linksys routers.

* Find your way to the screen called "Port Range Forwarding"

* There should be a button labeled "Port Triggering", press it

* You should now see a screen with three columns "Application name" "Triggering port range" "Incoming port range"

* You will need to put in two entries:

Application: AoM
Trigger Port Range: 6073-6073
Incoming Port Range: 6073-6073

Application: AoM
Trigger Port Range: 6073-6073
Incoming Port Range: 2302-2400

* Click the Apply Button

* Click the Continue Button

OK, this may be all that is needed. There are other things that could be stopping you, but lets go one step at a time. There is more to this network thing than you thought huh

 

[Jeratain]

CrackedCrystal: Good looking out, your instructions are very good and thorough.

Maybe I missed it, but I might also suggest that you download the latest firmware as well.

 

[CrackedCrystal]

Thanks Jeratain. I just love to fix network connectivity problems. Probably a little too much

I am currently studying to get my CCNA certification. I just wish Cisco routers were not so expensive. I was thinking about getting a Cisco 91 SOHO router. Its one of their cheepest at $300. The good ones are in the thousand dollar range.

 

[damunzy]

Try to find one used on Ebay?

 

[cgannon64]

Here is what happened since yesterday. I tried those ports, CrackedCrystal. They got my internet running again, at least, and it stopped freezing on start up to try to get into ESO. I could get into ESO again, but I had the same problem with hosting/joining games. I talked to someone who had the same problem on ESO, and they said I should put hostPort3001 in my Desktop Icon path, or something like that. They were German, learning English, so we had problems there. I forgot that plan, because I didn't know what he was talking about. I went to the ES website. They said it should work fine if you are behind most routers, but some won't. They said that AoM uses UDP 2300 and UDP 64520 for gameplay. I opened those, but I still had the same original problem, so I'm back at square one. Your original ports didn't work, your second set of ports didn't work, and ES' ports didn't work.

Maybe I'm putting the numbers in wrong. I'll take pics of the place where I put them in so you can get an idea.

strike two...or is it three? maybe four

 

[cgannon64]

Here it the screen where I tried the first set of ports you gave me and the set of ports ES gave me:

And here is where I tried the second set of ports you gave me (the ones with the Application):

The ES FAQ also said that I could download the latest driver for my router; I think I'll try that now.

CG

 

[CrackedCrystal]

Ok, check back in about 30 minutes. I am making a write-up now

 

[CrackedCrystal]

Ok, here we go. The first of your screenshots is the wrong screen. This screen is used to block access. You want to go to your second screenshot. That is where you allow access.

The German man is not lying to you, but I believe you have slightly different problems. I think he needs to get more than one computer to play AoM at one time, you are only trying to get one computer to play. If I am wrong about this, please correct me.

Please upgrade your router first. Several manufactures have these settings built in. I know mine has Battlenet built in for Warcraft 3.

Now, it is important that you realize I am working under the assumption that there is not any other security on your network besides the router. If you running a firewall on your computer, you will need to open ports in that one as well. Also, I am running under the assumption that you have no computers in a Demilitarized zone (if you are not sure, you probably do not).

Here is where I got my port information:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;331410

First, make sure anything you have in the Port Filtering screen (your first screenshot) is cleared out.

Now, to what you should try. In the Port Triggering screen (your second screenshot) enter these values:

Application: AoM
Trigger Port Range: 2300-2300
Incoming Port Range: 2300-2300

Application: AoM
Trigger Port Range: 64520-64520
Incoming Port Range: 64520-64520

Then reboot the router. Try a game.

If that does not work, add in the ports that I told you in my last step-by-step post, but leave the two I just said. This will give you a total of 4 entries.

Then reboot the router. Try a game.

If it still doesn’t work, we can try to forward the ports instead of triggering them. This is a little more in depth. But if it still does not work with all 4 entries, I am reluctant to say it is your router at all. I think you may have some other security features.

If that does not work, we can set your computer in a demilitarized zone (I would prefer not to do this though, it leaves your computer open to attack, I would advise against it for most people).

 

[CrackedCrystal]

I am posting this to explain what is going on here. There is no specific ways to work with routers in this post. It is ment just for people who are curious about the network aspects that are happening.

Disclaimer: I am shooting more for a conceptual understanding here, not a technical one. Thus some things should not be taken literally of how it works.

Lets talk about what happens with the internet. Lets also start out assuming there is no router and its just your computer connected to your phone jack.

Every piece of data your computer recieves is tagged with two identifiers. The IP address of your computer and the port number. The IP address is for the data to find your telephone jack (note I said telephone jack and not computer, that is important), the port number is for your computer to know which program the data belongs to. Everything is hunky-dory because your computer recieves every peiece of data sent to your telephone jack because of the cable connecting them.

Now lets throw in a router and a second computer. Remember how I made the big deal with the telephone jack thing? Well, now your computer is no longer connected to the jack, thus is does not recieve every peiece of data. Instead your router recieves every piece of data.

Now a problem occurs. How does the router know which computer the data is ment for? After all, the IP address can only get the data to your telephone jack, and the port number is to determine the program that uses it. The answer is a process called Network Address Translation. The router will remember when a computer sends data to the internet and will pass the reply from the internet back to the computer. But what happens when the computer does not send data to the internet first, but the internet wants to send data anyway? The roputer does not know which computer to give the data to so it throws the data away. That is what is happening to cgannon.

In order to solve this, you need to tell the router "If you recieve a piece of data with its port identification set to 14534, send it to computer B". That is what port forwarding is. Thus, all data sent to port 14534 will go to computer B.

The difference in port triggering is "If you recieve a piece of data with its port identification set to 14534 AND computer B has sent data out on port 2343, send it to computer B". As you can see, port triggering is a little more secure because it only allows access from the internet when the computer is running a program that uses port 2343.

Port filtering is when you tell your router "If you recieve a piece of data with its port identification set to 14534, throw it away and don't send it to anyone"

Hope the people who wanted to, learned something.

 

[cgannon64]

Same old, same old. I don't think I'm good enough to play online, anyway. Thanks for the help. This is really puzzling me, I can't even think of what else could be doing it.

One last thing: I tried to get the latest firmware for my router (no new drivers) but when I d/l'd it, the folder was empty! It was supposed to have ZoneAlarm in it - would that have helped or hurt my cause?

strike three

 

[Jeratain]

Originally posted by cgannon64
One last thing: I tried to get the latest firmware for my router (no new drivers) but when I d/l'd it, the folder was empty! It was supposed to have ZoneAlarm in it - would that have helped or hurt my cause?

The latest firmware helps to fix some problems sometimes. The ZoneAlarm thing is just for added protection so that it can work with your router in order to prevent hackers really. (And that pretty much applies only if you are running ZoneAlarm.)

 

[CrackedCrystal]

Well, like Jeratain said, Zone Alarm is another firewall. Adding Zone Alarm would only make it require more configuration, it would not make the connection work.

From your tone, you sound like you want to stop. Is that the case?

If you wanted, you could enable remote access to the router and I could configure it from my computer. ** I can hear all the people who know about networking gasp right now ** I will do it if you like, however, letting someone remote connect to your router essentially lets them do anything they want to your network. Personally I would never let anyone do that, and I will not feel bad at all if you don't want me to. In fact, I don't think you should. It would require you to do some configuring to both let me in, and after I leave so no one else could get in. If its not done right, you would be a candy jar for hackers. It is however, your call.

My guess is that its not your router that is the problem at all. I think it is some peice of software (probably a firewall) on your computer itself.

 

[cgannon64]

Originally posted by CrackedCrystal

My guess is that its not your router that is the problem at all. I think it is some peice of software (probably a firewall) on your computer itself.

Thats what I'm thinking too. What common programs are firewalls? I'm not sure if the ones I have would be firewalls.

Oh, and no thanks about the remote access. Not that I trust you, but if something goes wrong, my mom will kill me... And yeah, I'm kind of giving up on the router, anyway. I can't even beat Medium in AoM yet, so I'd be killed in MP.

norse rule