Okay, we've got a wireless network set up under Win XP, blah blah blah. It has a habit of disconnecting every hour or so and then reconnecting, which is mildly annoying, but sufferable.
The pain started when I went to play Age of Mythology with a housemate over the connection. We get about 5 minutes in, and then the connection goes down on one computer and he gets thrown off. And we have no idea how to resume this game.
This is annoying. It angers me. Has anyone any ideas how to either fix it, or at least let us resume our saved game?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
From a three-week-and-two-day absence, you return only to be all full of angst and bitterness? For shame. For great shame.
(Does that network of yours give your mate/you the finger in any game, or just when playing AoM? ((Both of you have downloaded the 1.10 patch, right?)) Which one of you is usually host? Can you/your mate ping your mate's/your computer after a disconnect? Why has your PC Format review still not been published? Can't whoever hosted the game reload the last save and let the other person join it again? I shouldn't drink so much coffee.)
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
The first one was published. The second review gets published in another three weeks. I have a new job and am very busy. We both have the 1.10 patch. These are out of order and annoying me now. Why have you been stalking me so obsessibely.
Okay, my internet connection will drop about once an hour. It then immedietly reconnects. Since my only experience of wireless networking is this one, I assumed that that was fairly normal.
When one person gets disconnected, the other person gets a screen with "blah blah is not responding. Do you want to wait or save". If you click "wait", the other person has 30 seconds to get back on, or the game quits anyway. Which wouldn't be a problem, except that when the other person's connection reconnects, he gets a message saying "you nned to restart because your IP address has changed". And by the time we've run between rooms with the one CD we've got, the 30 second time limit has run out.
We've both tried being host. It lasts longer on mine, but still bombs out.
And when we reloaded the old game, the computer was playing as the other person. I didn't realise you could rejoin. How do you do that?
Oh, and this is the first game we've tried multiplayer with. Apart from Championship Manager, which allows you to reconnect.
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
What model is your wireless router?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
It's a Belkin something something something 11g.
Someone at work has pointed out that the problem might be because all the versions of Win XP on our network use the same serial number (for some completely legitimate reason, obviously). Likewise, we're running the same copy of AoM on both machines. Is that likely to have anything to do with it?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Ignore this. Stupid double posting stupidness.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I've been thinking of getting the Belkin wireless unit that supposedly connects to my Belkin ADSL modem by the Ethernet cable, but the more I read of Liam's travails the less keen I am.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
But according to the reviews, they're suppossed to be good. I just assumed that all wireless networks dropped their connection about once an hour. Or am I wrong?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Yes. It's actually caused by a flaw in XP's Wireless Zero Configuration service. SP2 is supposed to fix the problem, but, erh, it doesn't. Microsoft, meanwhile, wash their greedy corporate hands in total innocence. The fuckers.
"...you need to restart because your IP address has changed."
Hmm. If your router really does assign a new IP address to each client every five minutes, its DHCP settings probably need adjustment. So, y'know, check them first.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Yeah, your router should be able to assign the same IP address consistantly to the same MAC address whenever it connects. I've got some software on my laptop that came with my wireless NIC that handles wireless configuration instead of Windows, which might eliminate your problem. Unfortunately, I can't think of the name of it, nor do I know if it's free. I think it had "Zydas" in the name.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
It doesn't every five minutes, just when someone gets kicked off, which for me is about once an hour.
The IP address is largely the same. The first 3 blocks of numbers don't change, just the final digit, which varies between 1 and 5 (we have 5 people on our network).
If the problem is caused by Win XP's wireless zero configuration service, should I install and use the third party software that came with the network cards instead of letting Windows handle it? It's called RAConfig.
And maybe they just didn't upload it to the web-site. It was just a half page review. Not like the new one, which is an entire page!
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
The IP address is largely the same. The first 3 blocks of numbers don't change, just the final digit, which varies between 1 and 5 (we have 5 people on our network).
Yeah, there are only certain IP address blocks that are non-routable. Just saying if you want the same computer assigned the same address all the time, you can do that.
If the problem is caused by Win XP's wireless zero configuration service, should I install and use the third party software that came with the network cards instead of letting Windows handle it? It's called RAConfig.
Mine's called ZDConfig, might be a regional thing. Definitely worth a shot.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Half-page reviews don't count.
"It doesn't every five minutes, just when someone gets kicked off, which for me is about once an hour."
Wait, now you are confusing me. Two separate things are going on here, IIANMWIAICBOMGWTFBBQ:
1) LAN-internet traffic is interrupted roughly once every hour, but only for those people running XP. Interruptions are also confined to a single machine, so if person X w/ XP gets the shaft due to the WZC bug, it doesn't affect person Y w/ XP (until said bug kills his connection as well, but by then X will be back on track again) and person Z w/ 2000 just keeps on funking like nothing happened. Intra-LAN traffic between an affected and an unaffected client is also interrupted, but when the affected one reconnects, it's assigned the same address (assuming you've set the DHCP IP range from 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.5) as before the interruption, since the other four are already leased.
(OK, maybe not ALL four of them, if your mates aren't in the habit of leaving their computers on 24/7, but...)
Install RAConfig or the utility Omega suggested on each XP box, and you should be rid of this problem, at least.
2) The AoM snafu, which always manifests itself five minutes into the game. I still think that's a DHCP artefact, especially since you mentioned that you had to reconnect in CM, too. What's your router's IP lease expiration time?
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
I have the problem where I get disconnected from my wireless network now too... but not because I'm playing a game, just surfing the net.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I can't test to see if it's an XP-related issue, since all the computers in the house are running XP.
I do know that the user with a laptop gets a flakier connection in the living room, where it states that his connection quality drops to 30-40% (from +80%).
You're pretty much correct with the first point. However, the four computers that are connected wirelessly are usually only on when the person is using them. Sometimes they leave them on downloading stuff, but not always. The only computer that is on 24/7 is the one directly connected to the router.
Oh, and I haven't actually gotten around to setting up the LAN, because I am just that lazy. I'll try and do that tomorrow though.
I can't check teh routers IP lease expiration time, since the person who has the router in his room has locked his door. Again, I'll check tomorrow. Anything else I should look for? And I don't think that the CM users have to reconnect after 5 minutes. For them, it's the once an hour thing.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
While my experience with routers isn't too in depth, shouldn't you just be able to pop in the router's IP address and play around with settings?
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
I'm not so sure of the Belkins. Already, I have had several problems with the Belkins holding down a connection.
I am on wireless right now. I'm currently connected to a DLink router. Where I used to work, it was a Linksys.
If you can, try a different router.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Topher: Yes, you can. If you knew the IP address. Which I don't. There's probably a dead easy way of finding out, but I've no idea.
Trying a different router isn't quite possible at the moment, Tahna. Are you on XP? Does your connection ever, ever drop (remember, mine just drops for about 3 seconds)?
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
Never drops. I also use Windows XP.
I've played Counterstrike on it, no problems whatsoever. The only time there is a problem is when my landlord uses his cordless phone, the signal sometimes interferes with the connection.
Keep in mind that I don't simply play a LAN game, I play online. For hours at time. For great comfort and violence.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Do you have 5 people connected to it, a house with two fridge freezers and 5 television sets, and 6 mobile phones?
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Yikes. With all that EMR flying around, no wonder your connection gets mucked up...
The router's IP address should be 192.168.0.1 or something like that, with the computers being 192.168.0.2-6, no?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"The only computer that is on 24/7 is the one directly connected to the router."
Why is that computer connected through an ethernet cable, anyway? I mean, wires kind of defeat the purpose of having a wireless network, so... buh?
"Anything else I should look for?"
There are a few other things you could try. You really shouldn't, though, unless overriding the WZC service doesn't work at all.
1) Configure your AP to broadcast its default SSID.
2) Uncheck "enable IEEE 802.1x authentication" in Control Panel ==>> Network Connections ==>> (your connection) ==>> Properties ==>> Wireless Networks ==>> Available Networks ==>> Configure ==>> Authentication. Do this if you're not being asked to connect to another network when your connection drops.
3) Turn off power saving on all network cards.
"And I don't think that the CM users have to reconnect after 5 minutes. For them, it's the once an hour thing."
Hmm. I'm pretty sure it's a game quirk, then.
"There's probably a dead easy way of finding out, but I've no idea."
Open a DOS box. Type "IPConfig /all". Press enter. Read the IP displayed in the Default Gateway row (which ought to match the IP in the DHCP Server row, and should be 192.168.1.something). Then enter that address in Explorer. Then play with the settings. Then wait an hour. Then... well, I don't know. RTFM. B)
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Well, as speedy as modern wireless networks are, you still can't beat a good old fashioned wire for bandwidth (and reliability and security). Especially if you get 1000 base-t...
Actually, thats a good question. Does the guy on a wire ever have any disconnection problems, playing AoM or otherwise?
That can at least narrow down your search.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Thanks. I'll check some of that stuff when I get home from work.
The guy on the wire never loses his connection, although he hasn't actually played AOM yet. The reason he's on a wire is that his computer was originally plugged directly into the cable modem. When we got the router, and plugged THAT directly into the cable modem, we figured that we might as well then plug the router directly into his computer, since it was right next to it.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Okay, the ip addresses all appear to be correct. We got the machine that's directly plugged in to host, and the game ticked along fine for an hour. One computer lost the connection briefly during that time, but then it picked it up and carried on.
However, at shortly after the hour mark another one disconencted, and when the bloke tried to ALT+TAB to get back to the Windows desktop to click "repair", the computer froze for about 15 seconds. And then by the time he'd actually repaired the connection, the 30 second time limit had expired.
Anyone have any idea how we can change that 30 second limit to something more reasonable, like a couple of minutes? Then we'd have no problem.