Internet connection problem (firewall related)

I hope I'm posting this in the right topic. I've been noticing lately I've been getting disconnected from online games rather often. Eventually, I realized that each time the computer connection fails, there is a corresponding log entry in the firewall (Norton Personal Firewall) software. Each entry has the message "Rule 'Block Windows File Sharing' blocked communication". Selecting these entries to see the details shows:

I've been wondering if this is related to something I had the firewall block because it looked suspicious. Now I'm wondering what it was. Here are the details from the firewall log:

I don't even recognize the ip address listed as local, which I have edited out. What is this thing trying to access my netbios with the process name of "system"? Anyone have any idea what this could have been? And if this is something that should not have been blocked, how do I undo the automatically created firewall rule?

 

Wait a minute. Based on what I read from another thread in here, it may be significant that the ip address I didn't recognize started with 169.254. Does this piece of information help at all? I don't know what's going on, but it's driving me up a wall. Some nights, there's no problem and some nights it can disconnect 3 times or more per hour.

Also, if there's any additional information needed to figure this out, let me know.

 

yes if youre getting an ip address starting with 169.254 that means your computer is not getting an address youre able to use to get to the internet. the 169.254 is called an APIPA address. though i believe youre able to use standard networking with the Automatic Private IP Address(APIPA), you will not be able to connect to the internet.

what kind of internet connection do you have? what is your modem connected to? do you have other computers on your network with the same problem?

you might not be getting valid ip addresses from your modem, which some apparently have the abbility to provide DCHP. i wasnt aware of this until a few days ago. you might need a router that will provide your dhcp, but if your computers have been working before and this is a new problem, that might not be the case. Please answer those few questions and we'll see whats up.

 

I do not think that this relates to you Firewall.

You get disconnected because you lose your IP, or vice versa.

What type of connection have you, and how are you connected?

 

First of all, just to be clear, only the ip address when I created the firewall rule began with that 169.254. The ip address I see in the logs every time my connection goes down I recognize as one of the entries under ipconfig.

As for the network, this computer is actually hooked via cable to a Belkin wireless router. The original purpose was to allow internet access upstairs, which is no longer needed. The wireless connection seemed unreliable on this computer, possibly because the router has always sat on top of the tower. Hence, the cable, which was worked fine 99% of the time. The only other things on this network are my father's work computer and a shared printer. I don't know if this is related, but it seems the HP software for the printer has been crashing a lot lately. I'm not quite sure if my father would notice these brief disconnections on his work computer, but it's definitely apparent when online gaming. The router is hooked up to a Motorola Surfboard cable modem. Internet access is through our cable company, Charter Communications. Nothing in this setup has changed for probably well over a year.

 

are you just getting disconnected from games or is it constantly? and are you noticing it happening at the same time each time it happens?

i ran wireshark packet sniffer on my computer and was getting some udp packets, nothing too unfamiliar. i didnt recognize the ip it was comming from so i went into my command prompt and ran a PING on it and sure enough got a reply. then i ran a tracert on it and figured out the udp packets were a part of Valve/Steam for counterstrike and halflife, a couple FPS games i play. i exited out of steam and ran another packet sniff and of course was not getting the udp packets.
what might be happening with you is for some reason your firewall could be blocking a udp packet responsible for keeping the connection going with your game server. but then again if youre getting disconnected from the internet, not just your game server, this might not be the case. its something you could look into, and maybe youll stumble accross something that you didnt notice before.
if youre familiar with packet sniffing, you could run Wireshark on your computer and see what these UDP packets are doing and where theyre from. that would help to troubleshoot it.
also look into your firewall settings and see if there is something that could be blocking these packets. if its saying you created a rule to block the udp packets responsible for keeping your gaming connection going, there will be problems. if the connection fails, youll get booted.

 

I'm fairly certain it's being disconnected from the entire internet, not just a game server. If it's not a full screen game, I notice a bubble appear over my taskbar soon afterward that says I'm now connected. I'm usually playing World of Warcraft full-screen though. One of the last nights I experienced a lot of disconnections, I happened to be on Ventrillo. And both would cut out at the same time.

 

I recently had to replace a newly purchased belkin wireless g router, pos constatly would crash and need rebooting, plus constant connection issues. I called them and the tech told me that there were having issues with that whole series, some having random issues some not. Don't remember the model number but it was a wireless g model.

 

It seems to me like Belkin isn't a very reliable company for their routers and what not. Theres been quite a few people on here that i've noticed that have been having problems with their Belkin. Maybe try a different kind?

but anyway, if its not your router having the problems, the problem is probably beyond me at this point. the last idea i had was in my last post.

 

Well, I tried looking at Belkin's website. One thing it recommended for disconnections was to try changing the channel, so hopefully that did something. Is it possible whatever I blocked had to do with the router itself, though?

 

Changing the channel may well have fixed your problem if your connecting by wireless. You may have a neighbor that has a router on the same channel. You could run NetStumbler on your wireless machine to see what channels are in use in your area.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/NetStumbler_d4447.html

If your problem persists, you might try restarting your entire network including your modem. You should restart you cable modem once in a while just to refresh the connection, just as you need to restart your computer to refresh it.

 

Hmm... I may have to give that a try. As for changing the channel, it seems the first change hasn't worked. I see 6 entries in my firewall logs where this happened again.

I may also try to send emails to Belkin or Charter to see if they have any idea what this garbage is. This whole "process name is 'system'" thing is really confusing me.

 

hey shnerdly, where in minnesota are you from?

 

Hey KingSteve

I'm in Lino

What part of Mpls are you in?

 

northeast near columbia heights. good to see another minnesotan

 

All right, I tried downloading that NetStumbler, but after reading those help files, I'm afraid to run it for legal reasons as well as the fear of just making it worse. And I don't really know what I'm looking for anyway, even in the case the setup is such that the program does work.

I'm posting again for 2 reasons. One, the problem has gotten ridiculous tonight. The firewall log is full of blue arrows, each signifying something getting blocked. Each one is a disconnect. Twelve in the past 2 hours. The second reason is I noticed something new, which wasn't clear before. There is a corresponding entry in the System log. It keeps telling me some IP address has disappeared and is no longer being protected. Then seconds later, I get a log entry "Protecting your connection to a newly detected network on adapter 'Belkin Wireless G USB Network Adapter #4 - Packet Scheduler Miniport'". These log entries share the same timestamp as the "Rule 'Block Windows File Sharing' blocked communication" entries in the Firewall log.

I apologize if I don't understand a lot of this stuff. I did take a Networking class once, but I never went because it was in a fire hazard of a trailer. I'm going to try changing the channel on the router again. As for restarting the network, any special order I should do it in? For now, I guess I'll just unplug the cable modem for a few minutes and plug it back in.

What exactly is the netBIOS and what would have to access it? Could this thing I've blocked be some sort of communication between the router and the computer? I guess I'll finally email Belkin about this, but I don't know how good their technical support is. I get sick of canned responses.

 

NetStumbler is a tool you would use to determine what channels are not being used in your area. It's use is NOT illegal. What would be illegal is connecting to networks you discover without the owners knowledge or permission.

It sounds more like you have someone getting into your network though. Try enabling WEP