Network Blues (Warning: Longwinded Geek Content)

I’m posting this in the hope that someone having a similar problem will find their way here by way of a search engine and thus be spared some of the aggravation that I went through a few weeks ago. (How very altruistic of me!)

So, anyway, I have a Windows desktop and laptop, a Linux fileserver, and a TiVo all networked through a Linksys BEFSR41 (v2) ‘Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port Switch’. I have SBC DSL ‘Pro’ (I get about 2.5 - 3 Mbps down, 512Kbps up) which connects via PPPoE through a Speedstream 5100 modem.

Okay, so now that I’ve introduced the players (AKA potential search terms), here’s what happened. This won’t be an exact chronology of the events, because I was quite sleep-deprived for much of the festivities and some of the particulars are therefore a bit fuzzy.

Monday upon arriving home I went online and everything was fine, for a time. Then I lost my DSL connection. I fought and fiddled with it, checked the router configuration, etc… I could get the connection going for a few minutes then I’d lose it again. I could see the rest of the LAN just fine, I just couldn’t connect to the outside world. Finally I tried connecting the DSL modem directly to the desktop. This worked perfectly, but as soon as I reintroduced the router to the mix the problem recurred. Obviously the problem lay with the router (either a hardware or configuration problem).

I pored over the SBC online support, which was no real help (it never is). The Linksys website was a bit more promising, but didn’t supply a solution either.

Tuesday it was more of the same… I was at my wit’s end, thinking it must surely be a problem with the router. Having conceded this point and resigning myself to having to purchase a new router; I was still searching dejectedly online for any info regarding my particular combination of hardware when I stumbled across a webforum posting that mentioned PPPoE location.

A lightbulb began to flicker, then… Eureka!!
Sure enough the problem was PPPoE location. Somehow the modem had reset itself as the PPPoE location, with the router also running PPPoE, thus creating my world of PPPoE woe.

I logged into the modem’s configuration, disabled PPPoE on the modem and hooked everything back up, problem solved!

Strangely, I continued to have intermittant problems with dropped connections; (re)enabling PPPoE on the modem and setting the router to “Obtain an IP Automatically” took care of it. So, it looks like there must be a problem (of some sort) with the router. I’ve got the latest firmware, so I dunno. The good news is; aside from the PPPoE issue, the router continues to function just fine.

So now you know! (Although I can’t imagine why you would care, unless you’re having the same problem.)