Some sites inaccessible

[Scotto1971]

Hi all,

Just joined after having used Gargoyle for a while and really enjoying the features. I do seem to be having a problem however and I'm not sure where the issue stems from.

Everything was going along nicely but recently I cannot get to certain websites, they just sit there loading forever while others are fine (this one for instance).

Of note, one of the pages I can't get to is www.ninemsn.com.au but there are others, some of which I obviously haven't come across yet.

I spoke to my ISP tech support and they suggested I enable the MTU and set it to 1492 but this had little, if any impact.

I've checked my previous router's settings and everything seems to match up. The only thing I could see different was the UPnP was enabled on the old one but not in Gargoyle so I enabled it but again no luck.

I'm frustrated as it's hard to see where the problem is stemming from, the router or my ISP. I have done a couple of tracerts to a couple of sites which had timouts in them (will post details if required).

The router is an ASUS WL500GP V2 and I'm running version 1.1.2 of Gargoyle. Running Windows 7 Ultimate.

Hope somebody can help!

Thanks

[DoesItMatter]

More troubleshooting needed!

You specified it worked with your other router.

So:

1) With your older router, you never had issues getting to those websites in question?

2) Do you currently have any issues if you connect the computer directly to your DSL modem or other type modem?

3) have you reset Gargoyle to all defaults and LEFT it at defaults, and tested to see if you can get to the websites?

If #3 works fine, then it might be some rule or access restriction thats blocking.

If #2 has issues, then it may not be the router, and it may be the routes to the websites... i.e. somewhere the DNS resolving is messed up or some routes along the way may be busy or just not working right now, but could resolve iteself in a few days.

[Scotto1971]

The olde router didn't have these issues however the new setup didn't either until just recently.

I haven't reset Gargoyle yet but will give it a go.

The only restrictions I have in place are for the kids net to cut off at 11.30pm and I've done this by giving their PCs static IP addresses and applying the rule to only them. There is a separate rule for all other hosts (my PC and the wife's) that has no cut-off time. This rule is set up so that the kids' computers are excluded and therefore fall under the original restriction set for them.

The sites I can't get to are loading fine from my work PC.

One thing that is in the setup is I had to set the timezone to a place other than where I actually am. We don't have daylight savings here in Queensland so I set it to Guam which is the correct time (but wrong zone). Would this be having any sort of adverse effect?

[Scotto1971]

Update.

I connected my previous modem/router and there is no problem so it's obviously something in the configuration of the Gargoyle setup - whether that is to do with the hardware or firmware is the question.

Could it be something to do with the hardware? Like maybe the router to the modem is causing some sort of issue? What IP should I have the router set as - I had it as 192.168.1.2 as the modem was 192.168.1.1 - would that cause any problems?

Is it possible to use the router with Gargoyle in bridge mode and make use of the scheduling functions?

[Scotto1971]

Further update.

It appears to be isolated to the machines that are connecting via ethernet cable to the router. The wireless connections are having no such trouble.

I guess maybe it's something in Windows? Not entirely sure where to start looking...

[DoesItMatter]

Did you reset the router to default settings and then try to connect to those websites?

You have to reset to defaults and then try.

If the reset works and allows you to get to everything, then its gotta be one of the rules you've setup.

Unless you have a 3rd party add-on for Internet Explorer
or Firefox, or whatever browser you're using, it should not block
any websites normally.

Do you happen to have any comprehensive antivirus installed that
allows website rules on those wired pc's ?

[Scotto1971]

I think I've found what is causing the problem!

Reset the settings to default and then went through each setting one by one. When I set up an exception rule which basically allows full access to the net except specified IP addresses, certain sites are blocked/inaccessible. When I turn the rule off, everything is fine

So now I have to ask, if I have 3 IP addresses set up to be on a time restriction, do I need to have an exception rule to allow other PCs in the network access or should the restriction only apply to those IPs I specifically select?

I only ask what looks like a bleeding obvious question because I thought I had done that at some point and I got a complaint from one of the non restricted IPs that their net shut off. It's possible that I had stuffed the original rule up and had it set for All Hosts which would explain it but I honestly can't remember

Anyway, I suppose the Exception rules must be a bit buggy for it to do what it did? Not that I'm complaining mind you!

Thanks for the help to get this sorted.

[Eric]

I am would be very interested to know what is causing this... but I need more information. I've tried to replicate the error you describe, but so far have failed -- the site you list above seems to work fine whether or not exception rules are active.

It's really strange that wireless clients are unaffected -- the rules should apply equally to both wired and wireless clients. The wireless interface is bridged to the wired interface, so they should be treated in exactly the same manner. It makes me think it could be something to do with hardware/drivers... but it is altogether strange. Especially since only a few sites are affected.

Also, even though I have failed to replicate the problem, this is the second time I've heard this behavior reported -- last time it was on a much older version (pre 1.0), and after I found a few errors with the exceptions back then, I thought it was working. Evidently not... but I still can't replicate this error (I tried today on both 1.1.2 and 1.1.3). Also, last time the difference between wireless and wired clients was not reported.

So... if you could determine the absolute minimum configuration necessary to replicate this, it would be a great help in tracking down what is going on. If I can't replicate the issue it's going to be impossible to fix it.

In answer to your other question, if you have 3 IP addresses set up to be on a time restriction you don't need to add an exception for the other hosts to have access. If this configuration isn't working either, please report the details of this configuration as well -- if I can replicate the issue, I will fix it as soon as possible.

[Scotto1971]

Sorry for the delay in replying Eric, my stupid motherboard on my stupid computer has just died Ah well, good excuse for an upgrade!

Anyway, thanks for the tips you gave, I'm learning more about this firmware every day and I really do like it.

One quick question before I reply to the initial problem - is it common for the router to 'forget' how to get on the net? I only ask as a couple of times I've had to restore the firmware to default and re-enter all the info to be able to get back online. For some reason the connection was lost and despite the router having all the right info it simply would not go online. Any clues?

As for the inaccessible sites issue, all I can tell you is that it only happens when I have an exception enabled and it is only the wired clients that get affected. As soon as the exception is turned off there is no problem. From memory the exception was to allow full access all day every day with the exception of specified IPs which were bound by a restriction.

I now know I don't need this exception so everything is ok but it is an interesting quirk. I would have assumed it was my computer being strange but my wife's was also affected and as mentioned, none of the wireless clients had any problems. All machines run Windows 7. The only real difference between them except for the connection type is that I haven't assigned IP addresses to my wife's and my PCs however on further investigation it didn't appear to make a difference either way. I also tried different DNS servers to no avail so I dunno.

I'm sorry I can't give you more info.

In your next release can you please include an option to switch daylight savings time off? Or put a timezone in for Queensland Australia which doesn't adopt DS and are therefore 1 hour behind the rest of the East Coast of Australia during DS months.

Keep up the great work!

[FRiC]

I ran into the same problem earlier (Eric was probably referring to me), and one of my problem sites is www.lme.com

For me, the problem also happens when an exception is enabled. i.e., I have all *.zip blocked in the restrictions, but I want my user to be able to download antivirus updates in the form of zip files, so I have my antivirus site put in the exception.

Unfortunately, the problem seems to be really hard to replicate, since if I keep on reloading a problem page, it might load partially with missing graphics or missing layout. It might even load completely once in a blue moon, but when I refresh again immediately, it doesn't load again.

This problem also happens on the ALIX x86 build. In fact, it's the exact problem I was testing on and when I saved a new rule, and suddenly the ALIX board wouldn't respond and can't finish booting. I've been too busy to find my old computer to connect the serial cable to find what's wrong...