Strange router problem

Brainiac hath wroth:

Which hardware version of the WPN824? v1 v2 or v3? They're all very different inside.

Duz it crash with other forms of streaming video?

Have you done a download speed test with your ISP? Is it close to the rated download speed, or is it noticably slower? That will show if there is any packet loss, congestion, or DSL problems.

Sure there is a way. Diagnosis by substitution:

1. Did you try it with a different wireless laptop or computer?
2. Did you try it with a direct ethernet wired connection?
3. Can you borrow a different wireless router and see if that magically fixes the problem?
4. If it screws up with an ethernet connection, did you try plugging your MacBook directly into the modem, eliminating the Netgear router completely?

What do you mean by "only affects the new MacBook"? What other laptops or computers have you tried, how were they connected, and what were the results?

Check the firmware on your WPN824 and make sure it's the latest. Make sure you use the firmware for the correct hardware mutation. I had similar problems with a WPN824 v1 that was solved with a firmware update:

A light does not shed. A cat, dog, and my balding head, sheds.

It's v1.

Nope

No that's not the problem

As I said the problem isn't there when I use a wired connection. I haven't tried a different router.

Again, please read the post!

Thanks, I will try this. Do you have any idea what specifically can cause a router to hang by loading embedded flash videos? Seems pretty weird to me. Anyway, thanks for advice!

A light may not shed, but to shed some light (on a subject) is a common english expression.

/B

On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 23:59:41 +0100, Brainiac wrote in :

That was a joke.

I had to upgrade the firmware on one of those just to get it to work reliably. Check the firmware version.

Just flash? Weird.... Usually router firmware goofs have problems with all type so streaming video.

Ok, I'll assume that your ISP is wonderful and not throttling anything by source or type of service. Please not that this is your problem, not mine. I'm trying to help, but am limited to offering suggestions. I think you'll find it more useful to test, and then judge, rather than the reverse order.

That's number 2 on my list of things to try. What about the other 3 things to try? Some might be a bit awkward but all are worth trying.

I like to fix such things by substitution. That means a different laptop, different connection type, different router, and possibly a different location. For example, have you tried viewing Flash videos using a neighbors connection or coffee shop hot spot? If that also fails, it's your laptop. If it works, then it's probably your router.

I did. There are apparently other computers available. Do they do the same thing? If NOT, then it's not the router. If the do, then it's probably the router.

Firmware update is probably the culprit.

I have some guesses, but nothing specific. I usually sniff the traffic to see what's being sent. If I see jumbo packets, I generally look to see if the router or the computers IP stack is having a problem dealing with them. It's unlikely with UDP streaming protocols like Flash, but it's possible. Usually, when this happens, almost any streaming protocol will hang the router. There are also buffer overflow issues, flow control, semaphores, and similar programming issues that I barely understand.

Hanging a router is easy enough. Try some of these and see what happens:

Well, thanks for trying! I realize I'm posting from a Mac perspective and you like most others out there are PC guys, but this problem really bugs me and I think it is a combination effect (OS/ router). I like to think I can solve any issues but this really beats me.