I knew this would happen...

[Chrispy]

Man yesterday was a bummer...

Jckl guided me through setting up a static IP (since it had a dynamic one), and we managed to GET to the point where I could play DF1 online - the problem was related to DMZ however. I then was told it can be a bit dangerous, so I disabled it, saved and rebooted, and ultimately, the internet hung...

So I tried undoing the crap but no luck. I then rang up the ISP to ask for help. The guy resetted the password several times for the broadband account, and I tried putting it into the PPPoE/PPPoA - but no luck. At the end when we couldn't EVER suss it out, he told me to wait 20mins since he was gonna "reset" something for me - I found out that was BS and never happened... I also restored to factory default settings and nothing as well...

I rung up the second time and some other man told me it was related to the exchange (their hardware). They told me it would get sussed in a few days or so.

The third time, this woman answered, and said it was RESIDENTAL SERVICE!!! And told me that I should have rung this certain 0800 number - but the number she told me was the number I rung!!! So that was no help...

But mum came to the rescue (meh, a newb but I'm suprised), and managed to fix it through the help of a techie on the phone. It was the password that was the problem!!!

But wait, what made the internet hang in the first place? It wasn't the pass - I had nothing to do with it...

Jckl, I was thinking we can still narrow down the probs. BUT I don't want to do any of that static IP setup stuff and all - it's not that I don't trust you or anything, but it's just I don't wanna muck anything up. You said something like "before you save and reboot" - I should have listened and not saved and rebooted yet - if I didn't save and reboot, none of this crap probably wouldn't've happened...

Also, what if I type in the dynamic IP into the DMZ, and enable it? I have a seperate firewall already on the system instead of the modem firewall - you think it's safe?

Chris

[Jckl]

well what we did could not have cause this as he never lost access to the router.. He lost connection to the ISP.. Anyways we talked and sorted out some ideas.

The story about the techs, that sucks.. I worked for an isp and have had many customers complain about this same type of thing.. I dont understand why people will tell someone something and not do it

[Xx_jet_xX]

If you have a good software firewall (not windows, but that enabled as well) then you dont truly need the hardware firewall. most users dont have a firewall installed and since broadband is "always on" modem and router companies include a firewall on the modems/routers as well as the switching software for user protection and better sales.

Most attacks if you have Zonealarm's free version and the windows firewall enabled will give up and find an easier open target. just having those 2 running can negate needing the hardware firewall. It is high profile targets that need the maximum protection. so since you have a software firewall i say go for the DMZ.

[Chrispy]

Me and Jckl were discussing this over MSN, and we found out using a dynamic IP won't work for DMZ since if you enable DMZ, you'll have to save and reboot the modem - thus having a new IP - which is a hit and miss.

However, he told me a WAY more user-friendly way of setting up a static IP which shouldn't cause any probs. We reckon our problem with the net last time was that we saved and rebooted too much in a small amount of time and the ISP locked the router for a while.

Luckily, I saved the settings today onto the computer from the router if we ever need to reset settings or we happen to stuff up.

When I do this new way of setting up a static IP, I'm gonna get confirmation from a techie from the ISP on the phone. It's not that I don't trust Jckl or anything, but I'm curious and all. If the techie says it's okay and reckons it should be fine, I'll do it.

And also, we found out in the Virtual Servers section, the DF1 ports were wrong - so we made a new Virtual Server rule to fix this problem.

I'll really be sh*tting myself setting up this static IP, because I don't wanna put up with another modem problem again - even if I've got the current working settings saved on the computer for future.

Chris