Game Server - Wireless LAN works but NOT ethernet LAN!

[Mezmorki]

I've been messing with this for a while and it's time to beg for help!

I'm in the process of getting a Quake (one) server up and running. I have a cable modem connected to a router/wifi-gateway (Netgear WRN2000v3 running DD-WRT firmware). The "server" computer is wired to the router with an ethernet line (LAN IP for the server is 192.168.1.20, static IP).

The server appears to be working correctly. People outside my local network can connect + join the server (the required ports are forwarded). Within the local network, computers can connect to server if connected to the routervia wifi.

However, other local computers CANNOT connect to the server when using a wired ethernet connection to the router. They can only connect when using wifi. This is REALLY bizarre and I can't imagine why this is the case. Two separate laptops cannot connect via ethernet but can with wifi. Internet and other online services work fine with the ethernet connections.

My wifi signal is flaky at times and I get bad lag spikes (that also spike the server for all clients!), so I really want to get the wired connect working, but cannot for the life of me figure out the issue.

Any ideas or suggestions?

- I've disabled all firewalls
- I've open large port ranges
- I've used static IP's vs. DHCP ...

- Is it a router configuration issue? Or a computer ethernet specific issue? i just don't know.

Here's the IP config from one of the client's

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : MezMSI
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : hsd1.mi.comcast.net.
System Quarantine State . . . . . : Not Restricted


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.mi.comcast.net.
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : [hidden MAC]
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::d99a:a50c:df71:ba75%29(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.12(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, September 13, 2015 9:31:03 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, September 14, 2015 10:12:12 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : [hidden]
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : [hidden]

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
75.75.76.76
75.75.75.75
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 4:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.mi.comcast.net.
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100 AGN
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : [hidden]
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.hsd1.mi.comcast.net.:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.mi.comcast.net.
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

 

[Mezmorki]

Some follow to myself as I go here.

Is this a problem with Gateway settings? E.G., the wifi and the ethernet card both trying to have a default gateway or something (my knowledge here is fuzzy). If I try to assign a static IP to my win 7 computer (client), e.g. 192.168.1.30 I get a windows error about trying to have two default gateways. Where are these two defauly gateways being specified from? Could this be the issue?

 

[RaDiKaL_]

The two default gateways will appear when you have 2+ network interfaces configured with a default gateway (your ISP router), but that doesn't really cause the issue you're having.

"Internet and other online services work fine with the ethernet connections."

That's the part where it gets bizarre as you said. Can you try the following:

1.- disable the wireless interface in your laptops.
2.- after that check your laptop's IP address.
3.- Make sure firewalls are disabled in all your pcs/laptops.
4.- try to ping from each device to your router.
5.- try to ping from your server to your laptop.
6.- try to ping from your laptop to your server

If all of your devices can successfully ping your router, they should be able to ping to each other as well, unless for some reason they are in a different subnetwork, if that is the case compare your laptop's IP address and subnet mask with your server's IP address and subnet mask, post all results here so we can take a look at them.

 

[Mezmorki]

Sorry for the delay - I got pulled away out of town.

So.

1 - I turned off wi-fi and plugged in my ethernet on my laptop.

2 - Client laptop's ipconfig info:

===============================================

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.mi.comcast.net.
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::d99a:a50c:df71:ba75%29
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.10
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 4:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.mi.comcast.net.

Tunnel adapter isatap.hsd1.mi.comcast.net.:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.mi.comcast.net.

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

================================================

3 - Disabled all firewalls on client + server

4 - All computers can ping the router (192.168.1.1) successfully, under 1 ms

5 - Server cannot ping the client (Request timed out)

6 - Client cannot ping the server (request timed out).

Regarding #5 and #6 - If I put the client back on wifi, I can ping client to server and server to client successfully.

Here's the ipconfig for the server:

==================================================

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.20
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

===============================================

Any suggestions? Why do I have a connection specific DNS suffix?

 

[RaDiKaL_]

Hmmm that Connection-specific DNS Suffix shouldn't really be a problem, however it makes me think that some additional config in your router is what's causing you your problem.

Try for a moment to set your server to use DHCP instead of static, make sure it gets a valid IP assigned from your router, to force this, from cmd type:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

See if now you get a proper response from your laptop to your server and of course viceversa.

 

[Mezmorki]

No, I still can't ping between client and server (server was assigned a valid IP, 192.168.1.14). Either direction now says "destination host unreachable" for four attempts. Switching back to wifi works.

I have also tried uninstalling my ethernet adapter and letting windows reinstall it. No dice there.

The server is running XP and the client is on Win7.

Is it an issue with IPv6? Routing tables?

 

[Mezmorki]

I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at ... but below is the routing table for the win7 Client:
========================================================

===========================================================================
Interface List
29...40 61 86 b0 90 d1 ......Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
15...00 22 fb c4 70 84 ......Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100 AGN
1...........................Software Loopback Interface 1
20...00 00 00 00 00 00 00 e0 Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
16...00 00 00 00 00 00 00 e0 Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
===========================================================================

IPv4 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.10 20
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 On-link 127.0.0.1 306
127.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 On-link 127.0.0.1 306
127.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 On-link 127.0.0.1 306
192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 On-link 192.168.1.10 276
192.168.1.10 255.255.255.255 On-link 192.168.1.10 276
192.168.1.255 255.255.255.255 On-link 192.168.1.10 276
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 On-link 127.0.0.1 306
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 On-link 192.168.1.10 276
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 On-link 127.0.0.1 306
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 On-link 192.168.1.10 276
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
Network Address Netmask Gateway Address Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 Default
===========================================================================

IPv6 Route Table
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
If Metric Network Destination Gateway
1 306 ::1/128 On-link
29 276 fe80::/64 On-link
29 276 fe80::d99a:a50c:df71:ba75/128
On-link
1 306 ff00::/8 On-link
29 276 ff00::/8 On-link
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None


==============================================================


And here is the routing table for the server:


===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x2 ...00 18 de 02 b0 b4 ...... Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
- Packet Scheduler Miniport
0x3 ...00 17 31 ed f1 21 ...... Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
- Packet Scheduler Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.14 20
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.14 192.168.1.14 20
192.168.1.14 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 20
192.168.1.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.14 192.168.1.14 20
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 192.168.1.14 192.168.1.14 20
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.14 192.168.1.14 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.14 2 1
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None

 

[RaDiKaL_]

Hmmmmm... that "On-Link" statement in your client's table... never seen that before, dunno if that has something to do with your issue really, but you could try clearing your PC's route table with the "route /F" command, better if you do it with all interfaces disconnected (unplug your ethernet cable), then restart pc and then connect it again.

Other than that...... it could be some weird configuration in your router, if you have all the required data to reconfigure it so it can connect to your ISP try resetting it to default values.