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Windows Live Messenger causing drop-outs

First let me state for the record that I do not use or recommended this stuff to anyone else. Its just that I have two daughters who love it. They log on and chat to their friends and each other. But every now and then, and only when they are both chatting on MSN, the router dies.

Its a Netgear WGR614v5, Both the PCs are connected via ethernet cable, so technically this isn't a wireless issue. I'm generally in the other room connected wirelessly via my notebook when the dropout happens, so maybe that makes it a wireless issue after all.

I'm thinking that it something to do with IP addresses. The incoming traffic might only see one IP with two different account simultaneously.

Both PCs are running XP SP2, nothing special about the configuration.

I searched the archives for this group and there were a few issues regarding MSN chta, but they seemed to be sepaarte issues.

We have absolutely no problem with a single user on MSN, its only when a second user logs in on the same router and starts up MSN.

any ideas?

Reply to
vossaka
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"vossaka" hath wroth:

I use chat, VoIP, remote video, and other forms of internet abuse regularly. It's actually very handy but also quite disruptive.

It's a common problem, but usually associated with file sharing programs such as Bitorrent. What happens is that the the programs open a large number of simultaneous streams in the router. MSN chat also uses UPnP which creates and breaks down open ports with each connection. The small routers have a limit to how many streams and ports they can handle. Run it long enough and it might hang.

Nope. NAT is very common and well known. MSN chat can handle multiple LAN side IP's through an NAT router if UPnP is enabled.

Are you *SURE* they're both using different accounts/logins?

This is a wireless group. Your question is not a wireless problem, except that you're using a wireless router.

Yep... probably something wrong in the router firmware.

  1. Verify that you have the latest firmware in your router.

Be sure to reset the router after loading new firmware.

  1. Make sure UPnP is enabled in the router.
  2. Test the router for hangs using:

  1. Monitor the router status page with a 3rd computer to see if the log files show anything useful. Also check the Windoze "Event Viewer" for any clues.

  1. Replace the router temporarily with a different model and see if it helps.
Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Thanks Jeff, your advice is much appreciated

Vossaka

Reply to
vossaka

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