I have a 5 year old Linksys router, model BEFSR41; that is the wired router, not a wireless. I am about to purchase a new pc and thought that this would be a good time to also purchase a new router. I went to the Linksys website and discovered that the wired model is still BEFSR41. Only difference is that I have version 3 while the latest is version 4. Now I'm thinking that I do not really need a new router. I have never done any firmware updates on my router (if any were ever created). Do I need a new router? (Yes, I changed the password long ago).

Thank you,
Acadia

No, you don't need a new router, but you should check for firmware updates for the one you have.

Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.

My searches show that anything below version 4 is not compatible.


Can't provide any links though, because Linksys royally screwed their website.

Visit the Basement

ablib, not compatible with what?

Acadia

Vista

Visit the Basement

How does a router know what OS is on the computer?

Yarddaawg

"Only two things are infinite, the universe
and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

Albert Einstein
(1879-1955

From what understand, Vista has some new features that will not work with older routers.

Nightly Reader

.

Visit the Basement

Thanks, ablib, but this is only for XP. If that is a link that you posted above it is not working for me, thank you.

Acadia

No link posted, just a double post.


Forgive me for the confusion then. I assumed that you wanted to know if the old router would work with your new PC. I also assumed the new PC would have Vista on it.


You should have no worries.

Visit the Basement

Yes, that would definitely be the logical assumption, unfortunately or fortunately, I rarely operate with logic.

Acadia

The only reason that a router wouldn't be compatible with Vista is because of IPv6. If a PC running IPv6 is connected to some older routers or switches, it will cause problems because the older devices don't know what to do with the IPv6 protocol. The simple solution is to turn off IPv6 on Vista and not even install it on Windows XP.

I don't know why Microsoft thought it was necessary to enable IPv6 by default in Vista. It isn't widely used in most parts of the world yet.

Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.

Sounds easy, but IPv6 isn't the only thing that older hardware hates about Vista.

Tricks to get Vista to work with older hardware that I have used with success are disabling IPv6, disabling the IP helper service, disabling the broadcast flag, and one other regedit or two that I can't think of at the moment.

Sometimes all it takes is one of those and we're in business, sometimes two, and sometimes in an act of desperation I do all the fixes and there still is no internet.

If someone has a router that is that old, I usually just tell them to buy a new one rather than go through all of those Vista bullshit band-aids.

Visit the Basement

I've never had any problem getting a wired connection with Vista. Are you seeing these problems with wireless or wired?

The problems I've seen with IPv6 are that the computer running it will connect but it will knock any other PCs off.

Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.

It's Vista's implementation of TCP Window Scaling that these older routers are barfing on. The receive window size is the maximum amount of data that can be buffered on the client. The server (device sending the data) will only send that much before waiting for acknowledgment. Modern TCP/IP stacks automatically adjust the size of the TCP window. This is called "Window Scaling". Vista is apparently very aggressive about it.

Best solution is to get the latest firmware for the router. If the problem persists, get a new one.

Alternatively:

netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

P.S. The symptom of this problem is having to reset routers a lot. Usually just remove power, but it can actually corrupt the stored data when some of them crash and they have to be reset with the button and reconfigured.

Grogan

Autotuning! That's the other one I couldn't think of earlier. This happens either wired or wireless. Firmware, autotuning and the famed Broadcast Flag fix are the 3 main fixes to get Vista working with older hardware.

Like I said before, sometimes none of these fixes will work especially if the latest firmware update is 2004 or some crap like that. A new router is sometimes inevitable. I'm sure Windows 7 will be the same way.

Visit the Basement

Thanks Grogan and Ablib!

I'll file that info for future reference.

Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.

I had the same router but with the increase in download speeds from Comcast, I needed faster throughput so I got one. TTech suggested a D-Link Gamer router. I have never had a problem with it.