RT-N66u + HD + Gaming consoles???

[Jamster001]

Hoping someone has a fix for my issue pertaining to this router. Here is my situation...

I have a Motorola 6120 modem and pay for cable speeds of 30/5. Attached to the 6120 modem is the Asus rt-n66u router. The only wireless devices that access the router are a laptop and occasionally an iPod Touch. Wired connections consist of an Xbox 360, PS3, Blu-ray player and my TV. In the hopes of increasing connection speeds, I enable DMZ and set an IP address (.5) outside the range of DHCP. (range is: .25-.255). I only assign the DMZ IP to my PS3 as I try to game. LOL

Anyways, I connected my 1.5 TB external hard-drive containing a few .avi files. Prior to adding any files to the hard-drive, I formatted the drive using my Windows 7 laptop into exFat format. All wired devices and my wireless laptop can see the hard-drive that is connected to the router, but when I try to view any folders or files they are MIA. For example, when I try to view the hard drive from my PS3 or Xbox360, they both see the router but when I go to view any of my .avi files they are not displayed on the hard drive. To makes matters more confusing, the files were watchable and found when I first connected and setup the external hard drive to the router. But all of sudden, neither gaming console can see or find any of the .avi files. Any suggestions?

 

[RMerlin]

Asuswrt does not support exFat (in fact, I don't know if Linux supports it at all). Reformat it as NTFS.

 

[tamalero]

or, just build a small HTPC or MINI NAS (like I did) with Windows Server (any version) and install PS3 Media Server.

that way you can easily stream everything, including Ps3 incompatible Mkv files.

 

[Jamster001]

Asuswrt does not support exFat (in fact, I don't know if Linux supports it at all). Reformat it as NTFS.

Thank you for your suggestions.

By reformatting the external hard-drive back to NTFS and then re-adding the files, my problem will be fixed? I will try this tonight and keep my fingers crossed.

Here are my latest questions that I struggle to understand...

With the rt-n66u router, should I keep the routers firewall enabled even though my ISP provides a firewall through the SB6121 modem? Isn't this bottle-necking?

With DMZ enabled and a static IP given to my PS3, should I receive a more reliable connection versus port forwarding for individual games/software usage?

When it comes to having the router "Automatically assign DNS" IPs from my ISP's modem...is it better to use other DNS server IPs such as OpenDNS or GoogleDNS? I researched many of these questions and cannot get any straight forward answers.

Finally, are there any other features or suggestions I can enable or disable on the rt-n66u router to better my connection when it comes to speed, quality of connection and/or lower ping?

Thank you all so much.

 

[RMerlin]

With the rt-n66u router, should I keep the routers firewall enabled even though my ISP provides a firewall through the SB6121 modem? Isn't this bottle-necking?

The Motorola SB6121 is just a modem, with no routing or firewall function that I know. So yes, you do need the firewall of the router.

With DMZ enabled and a static IP given to my PS3, should I receive a more reliable connection versus port forwarding for individual games/software usage?

There is no need to put a PS3 in the DMZ nor to forward any port. The PS3 connects to PSN - this is an outbound connection, so no need to open an inbound port.

When it comes to having the router "Automatically assign DNS" IPs from my ISP's modem...is it better to use other DNS server IPs such as OpenDNS or GoogleDNS? I researched many of these questions and cannot get any straight forward answers.

Use your ISP's. Your ISP are close to you, so when you query for a location-aware server (such as Youtube), the DNS will return the closer server. If you use a third party DNS, it might point you at a Youtube server that is much further away from you, resulting in slower performance.

OpenDNS is only useful if your ISP's DNS are unreliable, or if you want to use their filtering capabilities. Otherwise performance-wise, ISP is almost always better.

Those so-called DNS benchmarks usually mean nothing BTW. You spend a few ms to query the DNS, and then that answer gets cached for an extended period of time by your router, your OS, and even your browser (Chrome has a DNS cache). You don't query the remove DNS for every single connection attempts (or every single webpage element).

Finally, are there any other features or suggestions I can enable or disable on the rt-n66u router to better my connection when it comes to speed, quality of connection and/or lower ping?

In general: keep QoS disabled unless you specifically need it, try to use 5 GHz rather than 2.4 GHz when you can (provided the device isn't too far away). Use a tool like InSSIDer to determine the least occupied channel in your area, and manually set your router to that channel rather than using "Auto" channel.

 

[Jamster001]

The Motorola SB6121 is just a modem, with no routing or firewall function that I know. So yes, you do need the firewall of the router.



There is no need to put a PS3 in the DMZ nor to forward any port. The PS3 connects to PSN - this is an outbound connection, so no need to open an inbound port.



Use your ISP's. Your ISP are close to you, so when you query for a location-aware server (such as Youtube), the DNS will return the closer server. If you use a third party DNS, it might point you at a Youtube server that is much further away from you, resulting in slower performance.

OpenDNS is only useful if your ISP's DNS are unreliable, or if you want to use their filtering capabilities. Otherwise performance-wise, ISP is almost always better.

Those so-called DNS benchmarks usually mean nothing BTW. You spend a few ms to query the DNS, and then that answer gets cached for an extended period of time by your router, your OS, and even your browser (Chrome has a DNS cache). You don't query the remove DNS for every single connection attempts (or every single webpage element).



In general: keep QoS disabled unless you specifically need it, try to use 5 GHz rather than 2.4 GHz when you can (provided the device isn't too far away). Use a tool like InSSIDer to determine the least occupied channel in your area, and manually set your router to that channel rather than using "Auto" channel.

Thanks again RMerlin for your knowledge and support.

Although, I do have a few questions...

My PS3 and other consoles are all hardwired to my router. I was told to use DMZ to improve connection quality and therefore minimize lag while multi-player gaming. Also, on the router side, I do have the DNS server IPs coming in automatically but on the PS3 I set the DNS server IPs to exactly that of my ISP. Should the router too be given those static primary and secondary DNS IPs that my ISP gave me rather then having them automatically looked for by the router? Is there anymore I can do on the router side to better the quality and speed of my connection while hard-wired to router? I have tried all I know, even stepping up my Ethernet cables to cat7, only to still have lag in multi-player games both on the PS3 and Xbox.

_________________________________________________________________

Here is the information I read regarding PS3 and network connectivity issues...

"Port Forwarding

If disconnecting and reconnecting your router fails to solve the "Downloading Game Settings" problem, you may have to resort to port forwarding, a process which will open more communication ports, thus increasing your PS3's connectivity. The guide titled "Putting your PS3 in a DMZ," will walk you through this process

Lag

Many CoD4 players have complained about lag and connection errors, which can impair hit detection and result in player death or disconnection. Unfortunately, other than ensuring that your connection is good, there is little you can do, since the peer to peer hosting system means a game can only run as smoothly as the host's connection allows.
_________________________________________________________________

 

[Jamster001]

The following forum describes my problems exactly....

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r26630364-Modern-Warfare-3-Xbox360-PS3-Best-Solutions-and-Testing

 

[RMerlin]

DNS: I recommend you let your router automatically obtain them from your ISP. Some ISPs that are country-wide (like Teksavvy here in Canada) will push different DNS servers depending on if you are on the West coast or the East coast of Canada. The PS3 should be set to just automatically obtain them from your router.

I don't see how DMZ could have any impact on latency. Generally, very little latency is created inside your network, as the 1-3 ms of latency at home will be minimal compared to the 20-100 ms from outside your home. The most common issue comes from packet losses caused by bad wiring - looks like you got that part covered already. Make sure the cable between the router and the modem is also Cat 5e or Cat 6.

I would suggest you do a traceroute test from a computer on your network. Try doing a traceroute to www.playstation.com for example (ideally it should be the IP of a PSN server, but I have no idea what those would be). See if you get packet loss issues somewhere along the way.

Also, try turning your modem off for 5-10 mins to ensure your connection between the modem and the ISP gets fully reset, then turn it back on. Also see if your ISP recommends that you use MAC cloning on your router - some ISPs do, most of them don't.

Keeping QoS disabled will give you the best performance, as it will allow your router to use hardware-accelerated NAT. I believe that in previous firmware versions, using the DMZ could also cause issues with HW NAT - another reason to keep the DMZ disabled.

 

[Jamster001]

My problem is still unresolved and it is driving me nuts!

I currently have an external hard drive with its own power supply plugged into the Asus rt-n66u router. At first, I formated the HD into FAT32 but RMerlin suggested that I re-format the drive back to the default NTFS; which I did and re-transferred all my .avi files back to the NTFS formatted HD. I mounted the HD to the rt-n66u router and am able to see the HD files wirelessly on my laptop by going to "My Network Places" on my Windows 7 laptop. BUT HERE IS THE ISSUE:

When I go to my Xbox 360 or my PS3, both of which are hard-wired to the router, sometimes the router is found and other times it is not found. Even if the HD is seen and located by either console, the .avi files are no where to be seen. The consoles cannot see anything on the HD. Any suggestions?

BTW, I enabled sharing through the router and followed the routers manual on sharing files on the HD through multiple sources. Is this a known problem with this router? I am lost!

 

[leeishom]

"I only assign the DMZ IP to my PS3 as I try to game. LOL"

And What compelled you, to configure in that approach?

 

[nubyOz]

Hi,
Which version of Firmware is the router runninng.
Also any device in DMZ should not be able to see any LAN based shares.
As you say you can 'see' the HD but not the files it could be either that you have a permission problem or that you can't see some filestypes (eg DLNA surpresses some filestypes).
Recommend to verify that you can see those same files when they are placed on another share.
Also check prermissions on the drive.
BTW does the router support EXT3? Just a thought.

 

[RMerlin]

BTW does the router support EXT3? Just a thought.

Yes. In fact it's preferred to use Ext3 when possible, and this is also required if you want to use Optware/Entware.

 

[Jamster001]

Thanks for the replies.

I am currently running the latest Firmware Version 3.0.0.4.260. Although, this problem with the wireless laptop being able to see all HD files and the game consoles not being able to see any of the HD files, even though they are both hardwired to the router, happened with earlier firmware versions. When I setup the HD to the router, I used the wireless laptop to set permissions. BUT, I just used all default permissions. Here are the steps I took to setup the HD to the router:

1. Clicked on USB Extensions
2. Clicked Go on the AI Disk Wizard screen.
3. I selected "LIMITED access rights" .
4. Created a domain name and accepted the Terms of Service.
5. Clicked Finish

Then, I selected:

1. USB Extensions.
2. Clicked on Servers Center
3. Turned ON "Enabled DLNA Media Server" (as the manual states to do)
4. Turned off laptop and rebooted the router.
5. Once router was fully up, I turned on my wireless laptop, went to "My Network Places" and was able to see the HD on my network. I clicked on the HD icon and was able to see and open all video files.

I then went to the XBOX 360 and PS3 and was able to see the networked HD BUT no files were there. Again, all the files are .avi extensions which both game consoles will play.

Any other suggestions as I am at a loss.

 

[Jamster001]

Oh yea, forgot to mention that the hardwired XBOX 360 is using just dynamic IP address found by the router and the PS3 is setup using a DMZ IP. I have my DHCP IP range from .50 to .254.

 

[Jamster001]

*a mystery I assume.

 

[Jamster001]

* bump....

 

[Jamster001]

Can anyone please help? Is this a known issue? Should I return the router for another? Lost here and really need to have the HDD work with the router.

 

[Jamster001]

bump bump bump

 

[Jamster001]

Wow! Nobody knows anything about this issue? Any help would greatly be appreciated.

 

[Jamster001]

Thanks for the replies.

I am currently running the latest Firmware Version 3.0.0.4.260. Although, this problem with the wireless laptop being able to see all HD files and the game consoles not being able to see any of the HD files, even though they are both hardwired to the router, happened with earlier firmware versions. When I setup the HD to the router, I used the wireless laptop to set permissions. BUT, I just used all default permissions. Here are the steps I took to setup the HD to the router:

1. Clicked on USB Extensions
2. Clicked Go on the AI Disk Wizard screen.
3. I selected "LIMITED access rights" .
4. Created a domain name and accepted the Terms of Service.
5. Clicked Finish

Then, I selected:

1. USB Extensions.
2. Clicked on Servers Center
3. Turned ON "Enabled DLNA Media Server" (as the manual states to do)
4. Turned off laptop and rebooted the router.
5. Once router was fully up, I turned on my wireless laptop, went to "My Network Places" and was able to see the HD on my network. I clicked on the HD icon and was able to see and open all video files.

I then went to the XBOX 360 and PS3 and was able to see the networked HD BUT no files were there. Again, all the files are .avi extensions which both game consoles will play.

Any other suggestions as I am at a loss.

Anybody? I still cannot get this drive to work successfully with this router. I am trying to watch videos I have stored on this NTFS formatted 1.5 TB external HDD wirelessly on my xbox 360 slim. No videos are found but the 360 can see the HDD. Anything???