Wireless Router/IM Problem

[kaje]

I have a Uniden WNR2004 router that I have connected to my main PC and that I connect to with my laptop. For some reason, on my laptop I can connect to anything except an instant messenging service. AOL/MSN/Y!/ICQ, none work. I can connect fine on my PC, and I can connect fine on my laptop when on other wireless networks or when I connect my laptop with a wire to my router, but wirelessly it just won't work. Sometimes when I open the IM program, it'll connect for a second and then disconnect right after. I've contacted Uniden about this before and they had me upgrade the firmware but that didn't fix it. So does anyone happen to know the problem?

[neouser99]

sounds like something is wrong with the NAT protocol on the router, things just aren't getting passed back and forth correctly...not really sure what you can do about it other then getting a new router

-neo

[mbossman2]

as a quicky test, try hardwiring your laptop into the router and see if that solves your problem...otherwise neo is right, the NAT tables are getting screwed up somehow, use the reset button to go back to factory defaults (if not already done so) and if the problem persists, visit the retailer where you bought it and get a new one.

[kaje]

what is the NAT protocol and why would that effect just IM services? And there's no way around it? And my router is reset isn't the fix

[mbossman2]

NAT is network address translation. NAT is the protocol that allows multiple users to share a single IP address. the software/firmware that controls the router creates a table for all inbound/outbound traffic so it "remembers" that PC #1 is headed out to ESPN.com and will be recieving port 80 traffic back and PC #2 is using an IM service and is expecting IM traffic back. If this protocol is screwed up, the router will not know who sent what traffic where and flaky things can happen: like webpages that you never requested (but someone else on the network did) pop up.

One more thing: do you have a personal firewall on your laptop? if you do, check and make sure that the port your IM service is using is open and not closed.

[kaje]

well my laptop is an ibook running mac os x, so with it being unix and all, i'm not sure if it is running default firewalls built into the OS, but as for 3rd party, i'm not running any. But i doubt that is the problem since I can connect to other wireless connections (such as my college's) and connect to my IM program fine.