[SOLVED] i can't port forward between two routers anymore ?

[undlien]

I am trying to open port 25565, so my friends can play on my server, but it won't work, I used to be able, but I have tried so many things, I have had this problem for half of a year.
I have tried factory resetting the main router, but not the router I'm connected to, I have so many devices that are connected to my router, so I don't wanna factory reset it.
But I have probably made over 100 Minecraft servers, I know how to port forward, but now it just won't work, and I'm getting angry that I can't fix it

 

[bill001g]

Life is much easier when you only have 1 router when you are doing port forwarding.

Why do you have 2 routers. If the main router has a modem in it can you run it as a bridge.

If I assume you know the complexity of setting up 2 routers to port forward are you sure the main IP has not changed. Check the IP you see on the wan port of your main router and 1 make sure that is what you are using and 2 make sure it is actually a public IP. If the ip on the wan port of the main router does not match sites like whatsmyip you do not have a public IP.

 

[Math Geek]

is this second router new to the mix or have you always had it?

i've done it through multiple routers before and it's not hard just got to pay attention. i am assuming you're layout is something like this

isp router ->> second router ->> server

you have to forward the main router port to the second router address first. then forward from that second router to your actual server. it's also possible the server has a firewall which also needs to be opened.

you've not said how you have tried so i'll start with how it is supposed to be before, troubleshooting what might be going on.

please give a bit more detail as to how it was when it worked vs now if there has been a change. and go into detail of what you are trying now including ip's set and so on so we can get an idea what everything looks like.

 

[undlien]

Life is much easier when you only have 1 router when you are doing port forwarding.

Why do you have 2 routers. If the main router has a modem in it can you run it as a bridge.

If I assume you know the complexity of setting up 2 routers to port forward are you sure the main IP has not changed. Check the IP you see on the wan port of your main router and 1 make sure that is what you are using and 2 make sure it is actually a public IP. If the ip on the wan port of the main router does not match sites like whatsmyip you do not have a public IP.

the IP on my main router matched with what I got when I searched on whats my IP, and I have tried to set the profile on the other router to bridged, but it still are not working, my head Is exploding

 

[undlien]

is this second router new to the mix or have you always had it?

I've done it through multiple routers before and it's not hard just got to pay attention. I am assuming you're layout is something like this

isp router ->> second router ->> server

you have to forward the main router port to the second router address first. then forward from that second router to your actual server. it's also possible the server has a firewall which also needs to be opened.

you've not said how you have tried so I'll start with how it is supposed to be before, troubleshooting what might be going on.

please give a bit more detail as to how it was when it worked vs now if there has been a change. and go into detail of what you are trying now including it's set and so on so we can get an idea what everything looks like.

ok, so when we moved into the new house we just had one router, but we have a big house, and I couldn't reach the wifi form the 3d floor, so I bought Asus ac11000 router, and I watched a video (how to port forward when you have two routers), and I was able to port forward between two routers, but I think my router or something just changes IP sometimes, so I have to edit the port forwarding, but this time when tried, it just stopped working.
I port forward from the main router to the second router port 25565, to IP 192.168.0.56, then from the second router to my computer with the same port and the IP 192.168.50.50.
and i have accepted the port 25565 throw inbound rules on my firewall, and i have tried to turn of firewall, but it still wont work

 

[Math Geek]

it's possible your second router is not a static ip address. thats what it sounds like to me. that's the first check is to make sure that asus router has a static ip address that you set. this way once you get it working, it does not change on you.

same thing with your server, it needs to have a static ip address as well. nothing can change as port forwarding does not change with it. check those first to be sure you have static ip's for both. check to ensure the gateway for each is also right. the server should point to the second router as it's gateway and the router should have the first isp router as it's gateway.

on that asus router be sure you have the static ip and that it's gateway is set where you think it is so that the server can get internet access through it.

 

[bill001g]

If you don't actually need the router function in the asus just run it as a AP then you don't need to port forward except on the main router. Asus actually has a AP mode but you can run almost any router as a AP.

 

[undlien]

it's possible your second router is not a static ip address. thats what it sounds like to me. that's the first check is to make sure that asus router has a static ip address that you set. this way once you get it working, it does not change on you.

same thing with your server, it needs to have a static ip address as well. nothing can change as port forwarding does not change with it. check those first to be sure you have static ip's for both. check to ensure the gateway for each is also right. the server should point to the second router as it's gateway and the router should have the first isp router as it's gateway.

on that asus router be sure you have the static ip and that it's gateway is set where you think it is so that the server can get internet access through it.

ok so I tried setting my router IP to static, then my internet stopped working, so I had to factory reset it, I also tried to set my main router to ap steering mode, but it don't seem to work, idk what can be wrong now, it has do be something wrong with my computer

 

[bill001g]

Do not set the main router to run as a AP set the asus router to run as AP.

You should then be able to set port forwarding rules on the main router and point it directly to your server the asus device will be completely transparent.

 

[undlien]

Do not set the main router to run as a AP set the asus router to run as AP.

You should then be able to set port forwarding rules on the main router and point it directly to your server the asus device will be completely transparent.

yeah I did this now, still not working

 

[bill001g]

So now it should be the same as if you plugged directly into the main router.

The asus router pretty much act as simple switch when it is running in AP mode.

Not sure you have pretty much eliminated everything but the server. You said you have a public IP. You have port forwarded before so it is likely working, you could try the DMZ option just in case, This leaves that the data is getting to the server but it is not responding. Check that the program is actually active on the port you think it is. You could try to access the server on the local lan using the local ip address. You want to do this from a different device, you do not want to try to access the server from the server itself.

It gets hard because you don't know where the traffic is being lost. I would try to load wireshark on server and see if you see incoming sessions from internet ip on the port you have setup. Wireshark can collect massive amounts of data so try to only run the server and ask someone to test or use a different device to try to test or run port scans. This is purely to make it easier to see what you need without learning all about wireshark display filters.

 

[undlien]

idk, am still not able to port forward, but I got this on Wireshark (79450 183.348817 51.89.233.47 192.168.0.151 TCP 62 25565 → 57271 [PSH, ACK] Seq=5338551 Ack=26156 Win=35376 Len=8)

 

[bill001g]

What you are looking for really is a SYN packet. That is the very first packet in a communication stream.

There does appear to be some communication on that port. The question would be did the server initiate it or is it actually a incoming session. This packet is confirming receipt of some data. If I read it correctly the server is sending a confirmation from port 25565 to port 57271. But I am not sure it is easier to read when it is actually in wireshark.

This is looking more and more like a server issue. Wireshark captures the data before any firewall so maybe there is something blocking the traffic from the application.

Maybe use DMZ and use a web based port scanner and scan a large range of ports. Wireshark should see a large stream of data come in from some location, None of it will be responded to but if you get it you know the traffic is coming through the router. Other wise keep trying your current port you should see SYN packets coming in when it is using a tcp session.

 

[Math Geek]

next step i was thinking is to try to traceroute to the server from both inside and outside the network. this hopefully can shed some light on how far the traffic is getting as it enters your network.

start from something connected to the first router and see if it can get to the server. if it can, then you know the main router is keeping traffic out. if it does not get there, then you know the second router is likely the problem. if it gets to the server but gets no response, then you know it's the server.

you can also try from another device connected to the second router to see if it is sending traffic right on a basic level.

then try from outside the network and see what happens. if i was sitting in front of it, this is what i would try now that it appears it is configured correctly. i am assuming it is based on your posts but of course can't verify that for myself. somewhere in how these tests respond is the answer. may take a while but you're not trying to do something basic really.

 

[undlien]

What you are looking for really is a SYN packet. That is the very first packet in a communication stream.

There does appear to be some communication on that port. The question would be did the server initiate it or is it actually a incoming session. This packet is confirming receipt of some data. If I read it correctly the server is sending a confirmation from port 25565 to port 57271. But I am not sure it is easier to read when it is actually in wireshark.

This is looking more and more like a server issue. Wireshark captures the data before any firewall so maybe there is something blocking the traffic from the application.

Maybe use DMZ and use a web based port scanner and scan a large range of ports. Wireshark should see a large stream of data come in from some location, None of it will be responded to but if you get it you know the traffic is coming through the router. Other wise keep trying your current port you should see SYN packets coming in when it is using a tcp session.

do you think its my computer, if I do a reset where I keep my files but delete everything else, do you think it will work, because this is getting a bit advance for a 15 year old, I have used two web based checkers https://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/ and canyouseeme.org, but nothing, I have tried to disable my windows firewall, but still nothing.

 

[undlien]

i fixed it by switching my main router to bridge HSD, then switching my port forwarding to HSD to lan, I'm so happy now

 

[bill001g]

Good to hear. It is always better to only have 1 router. I get confused between so many of these threads. It doesn't work well when people are trying to increase wifi coverage since a device running as modem can't really use its wifi.

 

[undlien]

Good to hear. It is always better to only have 1 router. I get confused between so many of these threads. It doesn't work well when people are trying to increase wifi coverage since a device running as modem can't really use its wifi.

yeah I understand, I hate network problems, I have been trying to fix this for a year now, and I couldn't do it, so that's why I contacted some forums. Thanks for the help

 

[Math Geek]

glad you came to a solution. i have built many multi-router home networks and it usually goes well. but there are always cases where for some reason, what usually works fails over and over.

my extender was originally set up as a separate network, but it kept adopting the main router settings and making itself an extender. so i just left it and accepted it was not worth the trouble to keep changing it back to how i wanted it. lol