Windows 7 Troubles

[zerodelocke]

Hello,

I recently installed Windows 7 and downloaded BitComet so I could continue my downloading habits on my new OS. However, I have been having severe issues trying to get my ports open to allow BitComet to download at its full potential.

Currently I am running:

BitComet 1.19

Windows 7 Home Premium

AVG Free Edition 9.0.733

I have ADSL from Embarq / CentryLink

Modem: CentryLink 660 Series

Router: D-Link DIR-615

I have followed every tutorial for port forwarding for my router. I am using no software firewalls except for the default Windows Firewall and I have added the "rules" into it for my ports. My AVG has no built in firewall so there is no issue coming from there.

My problem is, that after everything I have done to ensure the my ports are open and ready to go, I am still getting the "Your listen port is blocked" Yellow Icon from BitComet.

I am using port 58881 as the port for my BitComet.

Any help in this matter as to what is going on would be greatly appreciated. I am at a loss to what the issue is.

Thanks

[cassie]

The "yellow/green/gray" light is very similar to the turn-signal indicator light inside your car - it normally works all right, but sometimes it doesn't (as in the case of a burned-out bulb).

Just so you can really verify if your listen port is open or not, try this simple test: go to cannyouseeme.org and type your chosen port in the box provided. Any response other than "Success", means that your port is definitely blocked.

What is your result?

[zerodelocke]

Error: I could not see your service on 67.xxx.xxx.xxx on port (58881)

Reason: Connection refused

I know for sure that it is still being blocked somewho from somewhere because my download rates are only around 15kb/s which is extremely low compared to my old rates.

[kluelos]

I like that service because you don't have to invert the answers: yes means yes and no means no. Your port is definitely blocked. That's good to know because you can waste a lot of time trying to fix something that isn't broken.

Ok, now you will need to make a temporary connection directly between the computer and the modem, removing the router from the circuit. Remember that you will need to reconfigure your network connection to use the modem instead -- or, if you don't need to reconfigure/didn't know you need to reconfigure, that was your problem right there and you can stop now.

I realize that may be a big chore for you. It was for me. "Do I HAVE to haul all this crap downstairs just so I can hook directly to the cable modem?" Yeah, you do.

Assuming you proceeded, do you now have an unblocked port?

• If so, then you know you misconfigured your router/connection and that's definitely the problem. You should start again, you're missing something.
  
• If not, then you know for certain that there is at least one other firewall in operation. It may be in your computer, it may be that your modem is not just a modem and has a firewall in it, it may be that your ISP has you firewalled. Whichever is so, you need to find it/them.
  

If the latter, that does NOT also mean that your router was properly configured. That could easily be an "also" and not an alternative.

[greywizard]

Well, my guess is that your modem is a router too.

In order to verify that, you should connect your PC directly to the modem, taking the router out of the loop, just to test if you still get a blocked port. If you do, you've found the culprit. In that case, you'll have to access its web interface and configure port forwarding for it too. You can find some details in the links below (in case your web interface corresponds with that of the other 660 models).

I'm not very sure what firmware you modem uses, but they seem to be pretty similar between Century Link, Embarq and Zyxel.

Here are some links about port forwarding for the 660 series of the models above. See if they fit to your case.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20399919

http://www.centurylink.net/files/embarq/support/Routers/660_portFowarding.php

http://forums.techguy.org/networking/613662-embarq-660-modem-port-fowarding.html

LE: It might be the age catching up with me or because I was very sleepy, but I've missed your post, kluelos. That's why I've "doubled" it.

[zerodelocke]

Thank you all for your responses.

I hooked my computer directly to my modem and followed the instructions provided by greywizard.

The modem I use does also play as a router so I configured the port forwarding and tested the port with the provided website from cassie. I got green lights and it said I was ready to go. Great. So hooked my router back up and changed the configuration on the modem to apply to my new IP on my computer that is given when my router is hooked in. Now I am getting errors again. It is saying my port is not forwarded now.

So the conclusion is either I setup my router configuration wrong or I am missing something on my computer that is acting as a firewall. I am fairly certain my router is setup correctly but I can provide screenshots if needed to help out. Also below is a list of all the running applications I use on my computer in the case that you may think that one of them is causing the issue.

Running Programs:

IObit Security 360 v1.41

Advance System Care v3.5.0.706

AVG Anti-Virus Free v9.0.733

Any continued help in this is greatly appreciated.

[greywizard]

You have at least 3 options here:

1. The cable is hooked in the Ethernet port of your modem and to the WAN port of your router.

Is this your case?

You need to keep this in mind:

1. on your modem you have to forward the traffic incoming on the listen port, towards the IP address of your router's WAN interface.
   
2. on your router you have to forward the traffic incoming on the listen port from the WAN interface, towards the IP address of your PC.
   

You need to understand that in this case you have 2 LANs here (2 different collision domains). One is made up of your modem's Ethernet interface and your router's WAN interface.

The second one is made up of all the Ethernet ports of your router and the wireless switch. There is NAT being performed between these 2 networks even if they may be using the same base network address (i.e. 192.168.1.0).

The first LAN is regarded as a "WAN" by your router.

If that's your setup, then on the NAT page of your modem you need to input the IP address of the WAN interface of your router (the address which you bind on the modem NAT page, to the port you forwarded), not the IP address assigned to your computer by the D-Link router (as you say you did).

That way all traffic incoming on that/those port(s) will be forwarded to your router WAN interface. From there it's taken by your router which will forward it to your IP address.

The issue is that, at present time, the WAN interface of your router, most probably, gets an IP assigned dynamically by DHCP from your modem. That means that the IP of your router's WAN interface can change (when its lease expires or one of the devices gets unplugged or in case of power shortage, etc.). That will screw the NAT performed by your modem.

You will need to either access the the web interface of your router and set a static IP for the WAN interface, from the same network range your modem uses (if that's possible) or to try and set in the modem web interface so that your router's WAN interface always gets the same IP assigned from the modem (if that's possible). Then check what is the WAN address of your router and input it on the NAT page.

If setting a static IP for the WAN interface isn't possible neither on the router side or on the modem side, then this won't work because your modem needs a fixed address (for the WAN interface address set on the NAT page) to forward the incoming traffic on the listen port to. (Well, it will work but only until the IP of your WAN changes.)

2. Another simpler solution would be to put your modem in bridge mode (if that's available through the web interface or CLI commands). This way it would act as a simple modem (NAT/routing disabled) and you won't need to perform port forwarding on the modem anymore.

3. You could also try to bypass the router part of your D-Link router by connecting the cable coming from the modem to a LAN port of the router instead of the WAN port and thus use it as a simple switch. You will need to disable the DHCP server on your router in this case and let all devices get IP addresses from the modem instead. This way you would have a single LAN (subnetwork) and perform port forwarding only on your modem.

I wish there were more specific instructions but it all depends on what the web interfaces of both devices allow you to do or not.

[zerodelocke]

Thank you so much greywizard.

You were correct in your first step implying that I had used my listening port for both my router and my mode. Once I changed the modem forward port to my routers WAN IP address the ports immediately opened up.

Thank you so much for all your help and I hope this helps someone else in the future.

Cheers

Edited February 28, 2010 by zerodelocke (see edit history)

[kluelos]

The D-Link works a little differently. It's firmware identifies the computer by its name, in order to try to avoid the hassle of setting a static IP. Instead, you pick the right computer by name, from a dynamic drop-down list during the rule-creation process. Thereafter, the rule follows your computer around rather than the usual reverse. This does mean you're dependent on that firmware to work properly, though there's no easy way to test it.

[greywizard]

Kluelos, you're right.

That's the way my SpeedTouch works and it seems to be doing it's job just fine for 2 years now.