So I got my new gaming rig up and running a few weeks ago, and it was all sunshine and daisies until a few days ago.

My dad works at home now, contracting for a company, connecting to their servers through a VPN using a computer they provided us. We couldn't set up a machine of our own due to 'security reasons' or some such shit. The VPN client is of their own design as well.

Anyway, whenever I connect to the internet using my new computer while his work PC is hooked up to the VPN network, both my dad's and my connections go caput. My computer manages to reconnect a few seconds later, but his either becomes so painfully slow that it might as well be turned off, or cannot connect entirely.

Our other computers, both Macs, also lose their connections, but then are able to reconnect on their own in a few moments (this doesn't happen when I connect to the internet on my PC while my dad's work PC is turned off).

We were already planning on upgrading our internet connection anyway (as our current service is set to be shut down in a few months), so we're thinking of investing in two separate lines for each of us, so there's no conflict (there's also the matter of convenience when I move to the apartment downstairs if/when my grandma kicks the bucket), but I'd like to explore other options before any decisions are made.

Any ideas, DLP?

EDIT: Also, I run Windows 7 64bit Ultimate on an i7 960, with 12GB of RAM, while the work machine is an Intel E8400 @ 3.00 GHz, on 2GB of RAM running XP SP3 ver. 2002, if that helps any.

 

What kind of network do you have? I suppose you've got a router, to which computers are connected either wirelessly or with an ethernet cable, right?

I have never set up a VPN, but I think you need to tweak the router's settings to have a fixed IP address in your network - which you can do by turning off the DHCP on the router.

In that case, you'd need to assign fixed different IP addresses on each computer, otherwise the router will be confused each time he detects a computer trying to connect to it and tries to assign the same IP to different computers.

It's just an idea based on an assumption - I may be completely wrong.

Edit:

When you loose the connection with one computer, try Start > Run > type "cmd" and in the command window type "ipconfig". Obviously, it has to be one with Windows on it.

Do you get a network IP address which begins with 169.254.xxx.xxx? That's generally the IP you get when your router has trouble giving your computer an IP address.

 

I want to confirm the symptoms. The VPN'd PC and the two macs will happily co-exist on the network. When your win7 box connects to the network, all 4 boxes get kicked off. The win7 and two macs reconnect alright, but the VPN'd XP box has a very poor connection to the VPN and sometimes won't connect at all. The Win7 PC and two macs will happily co-exist on the network when the VPN'd PC is not connected.

Is all of that correct?

I'm not sure how much VPN knowledge we've got here at DLP, but some extra info about the network would be very helpful.

1. 2 macs, 1 win7, 1 winXP [vpn'd work machine]. Which of these are wired into the network and which are wireless?

2. What model modem/router are you using precisely? Can you login to it and tell us the firmware version?

3. What's your internet connection? ASDL1+, ADSL2, WiMax, cable, other?

4. If the 2 macs are offline, does your win7 box still cause the VPN to be disrupted when you connect?

5. Does the VPN computer have any trouble connecting when your Win7 box is connected first? Do the Macs still get kicked off when the VPN tries to connect in that situation?

6a. What IP address does your Win7 box see here: http://www.whatismyip.com/ ?
6b. What IP does the VPN'd machine see on the same site? [note: only give us the first two octets in the IP if you want to keep your dad's company a secret, eg. just give us 123.456.xxx.xxx leaving the last two octets x'd out.]

If 6a and 6b show the same IP, then it means the VPN'd box is using split tunnelling, so that external sites are visited from your home network, and internal sites are kept within the VPN. If the IPs are wildly different, then the VPN'd box is surfing external sites via the company network.

7. Can the VPN'd box surf external sites [wikipedia, google, dlp, etc] normally? Can it do it when the Win7 box is connected/offline?

8. Is the Win7 box wired into the network? Does it also have a wireless card? Try disabling whichever one of these you're not using [via your BIOS]. If your PC is attempting to connect twice to the same LAN [via ethernet and wireless], then all kinds of weirdness can happen. Massive, professional networks involving thousands of computers have been offlined when this has happened in the past.

I've got more questions, but I think you've got enough for now.

 

As said before are you using DHCP or static IP-addresses, both cases can actually cause problems. DHCP looks for a free IP-address from a limited amount of addresses assigned for each connection provided by the ISP. It is possible that your contract does not have enough addresses for each computer and that might be the cause of the problem.

The other possibility is that you are using static IP-addresses and more than one computer is trying to use the same IP, technically it should be impossible for two computers to use the exact same IP, but I'm no expert. Though for a secure remote desktop static-IP usually works the best.

VPN and other remote desktop connections also usually require certain authentication codes and what not for the connection to work, so it is possible that while a VPN-connection is open it might consider your home network to be a part of the secure network at your fathers workplace and your computer is causing problems with that network by being an unauthorized computer.

I would suggest that you have your dad contact the network admins from his workplace since it is their computer and security that is at least partially involved and they know its settings.

 

Huh, that is completely wrong.

You get only one internet IP address (per internet connection from your ISP) - since you can't have a single internet IP address on two different computers (that's like having two different houses with the same address, how can the mail carrier (ISP) decide in which house to put the letters?).

That's why routers exist in the first place - to share that single internet IP address.

The router creates another network between the different computers, and to recognize them assigns them an IP address, which has nothing to do with the internet IP. Generally, those network IP addresses are in this format: 192.168.xxx.xxx, though it can vary with different router manufacturers.

In Lutris' case, apparently his router has trouble giving different network IP addresses to each computer for some reasons (DHCP wrongly configured, perhaps); therefore the internet traffic can't be shared.

TL;DR: Internet IP Address =/= Network IP

 

One similar issue which I read about [but wasn't involved in], was caused by an overlap between the VPN's IP-range, and the local LAN's IP-range. In that case, one of the computers on the LAN had the same IP address as one of the computers on the VPN and the router couldn't handle it.

It's possible that Lutris' Win7 machine's network IP is being used by a machine at his dad's workplace. The solution could be as simple as changing his Win7 box's IP. You can't be sure that the new IP you want to try is not also being used by work [I have no idea how large this workplace network is], so I'd recommend offlining one of the macs and assigning its IP address to the Win7 machine to test.

 

Hmm, since Lutris didn't reply to this thread and posted regularly since, I think he no longer experience issues with his connection so our assumptions will never be verified and the solutions never tested.

I hate unsolved mysteries >_>

 

Sorry for not replying.

Yeah, I think it's an issue of overlapping IPs, but I can't be sure- the problem hasn't surfaced again since I started the thread, for some reason.

Anyway, it's a moot point now since apparently we're getting a new internet connection- two of them, in fact. One for my dad's shit plus TV and phone lines, and the other for me and my connection hogging gluttony.

Sorry for the trouble :/

(Although, I did manage to score a 200Mbps, unlimited bandwidth connection by spouting shit from the thread at my dad until he got confused enough that he buckled, so I guess that warrants a thank you :awesome)

 

You complete cunt.

I don't know how you can stand to even look yourself in the mirror. And you had the temerity to call Nuhuh, of all people, a nig-jew.

A 200Mbps unlimited connection isn't all that. I'm not jealous at all. My super-fly 8Mbps connection which has been shaped down to dialup speeds until the monthly rollover because I've hit my data limit is PERFECTLY FINE. There are starving kids in Africa who'd kill for my connection.

 

And it costs us approx. only 5500Y a connection. Five years ago, that would've been about $38. Nowadays, it's worth about $70.

:awesome