Hey, I apologize if my jargon isn't up to snuff. I'm new at this. What I want: I want to know how to make my router work, such that I don't loose all of my hair trying to fix the thing. So, I purchased a linksys cable router recently and it seems to disconnect randomly. I'll be surfing the net and then for some reason the page won't load and I get that IE(Internet Explorer) page that everyone gets when their internet isn't hooked up. For reference, here is the equipment I am using: - Linksys Cable Router - Model No:BEFSR41 PT1.- PIII 777mhz (256+RAM) PT2.- PIII 733mhz (382 RAM) PT3.- XBOX - Shaw@home Cable internet - Good Cables (tested) - Internet explorer on both comps In regards to the troubleshooting I have already done, here is a short list: - Checked cable connections - Ran setup (linksys) - Spoke with linksys reps and was relegated to the "Mess with your MTU setting" pile - Messed around with MTU enabled (but I don't have a clue what that does because the techie I talked to from linksys was not very helpful at explaining MTU) So then, if anyone can help me figure out why my router is hiccup'ing, that would be great. Thanks for reading

First check that you have the current level of firmware installed in the router. There are several different versions of that model of router, so you will have to compare the firmware version and date displayed on the routers setup screens, with the information on the Linksys web site, downloads, firmware section. Last updates were in July and November. Ver 2 router is the 1.45.7, Jul 31 2003 or the 1.44.2z if AOL version ver 3 router is the 1.04.17, Nov 26 2003 Avoid the AOL version and replace it with the other version if yours came with it. When discussing Linksys router problems always try to include the router model BEFSR41, the version number and the firmware version level and date. This help tell what you have. The BEFSR41 should work just fine with a cable modem with its default settings. No need to change anything in the router. MTU is just the maximum packet size that TCP/IP is allowed to use. You should not have to set a value for this in the router. So that setting in the router should work just fine as Disabled. There was some problems with this on older versions of the firmware, which is why everyone ends up in that useless box ("change the MTU until it works") if there is a problem. Linksys does not like to admit it, but one out of ten of these routers have some sort of problem (that they don't understand) and has to be replaced if it does not start working after a few weeks. On a Cable Internet you should be using the default MTU= 1500 on all systems. Use any TCP/IP setting tool you want, but set each box's Network cards TCP/IP settings for MTU to 1500, and then reboot them. Then power both the cable modem and the router off for a few minutes. Power on the modem first and when it sync's up, power on the router. In this configuration, if you have trouble, contact your ISP tech support and ask them to check your configuration and tell them what modem and router you have. You did not say what modem you have, so I assume it was one provided by the ISP. Try to access it at http://192.168.100.1 if you can. If you can access it, open a DOS window on you machines and try PING commands. You should be able to PING the router at 192.168.1.1 and then the modem at 192.168.100.1 IP address. If both work OK, then when it hangs, try ping'ing them. Also run the Winipcfg program and click the More Info button. Note the DNS values displayed. When the Internet hangs, run WinIPCFG and check these values. Then do a release All and Renew ALL and check that the DNS settings are correct. Most common problem is not being able to access the DSN servers. Try PING of these by IP address.

Great! I'll try that, and thankyou for your very detailed instructions! One thing. I have updated the firmware, but you mentioned that there is an AOL version? Did I read that correctly? Should I search for a firmware version that is not AOL? Also, thanks for the info that 1/10 of the routers don't work. Do you know any other good types of routers that are more reliable?

Oh yeah, the firmware version is V.3. Also, I attempted the fix you suggested (disabling MTU, rebooting both units, powering down, etc) and everything seems to be working fine. Could you explain to me why that works?