Very weird Steam problem

[DiscoDave]

I would post on the steam forums but last time I did i didn't really get mature answers..

Anyway. Here's a good one for you all.

Steam is the only game that does this so far. I will load it up, fire up a game and collect a list of servers using the games in built server browser.

I'll double click on a game to join and it won't connect. I'll quit out of steam and I wont be able to do anything on the internet.

At this point I can't even ping my router... but i can ping 127.0.0.1 fine. My instinct says its a hardware problem but seeing how it's only Steam that's doing this...its very weird...

Firewalls are off and when i get disconnected everyone else on the network is fine and unaffected. No new drivers on the system but I have re-installed windows due to a new hard drive (it happened before I got that as well).

Any help will be appreciated

[^misantropia^]

Drop to the command line and type `route print`. Post its output here. Sounds like Steam is messing up the internet routing tables. It doesn't turn off your NIC altogether, does it?

[Foo]

or the high number of requests from the server scanner is making your router shut you out as a suspected flooder.

try pinging another pc within your network when this happens and it'll prove it one way or another

[DiscoDave]

Drop to the command line and type `route print`. Post its output here. Sounds like Steam is messing up the internet routing tables. It doesn't turn off your NIC altogether, does it?

Here is the route prints when everything is fine and just after steam apparently causes problems:

Code: Select all

E:\Documents and Settings\David>route print
===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x2 ...00 50 8d 7c fd 48 ...... NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller - Packet
eduler Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0      192.168.1.1     192.168.1.6       20
        127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0        127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1       1
      192.168.1.0    255.255.255.0      192.168.1.6     192.168.1.6       20
      192.168.1.6  255.255.255.255        127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1       20
    192.168.1.255  255.255.255.255      192.168.1.6     192.168.1.6       20
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0      192.168.1.6     192.168.1.6       20
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255      192.168.1.6     192.168.1.6       1
Default Gateway:       192.168.1.1
===========================================================================

E:\Documents and Settings\David>route print
===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x2 ...00 50 8d 7c fd 48 ...... NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller - Packet Sch
eduler Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0      192.168.1.1     192.168.1.6       20
        127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0        127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1       1
      192.168.1.0    255.255.255.0      192.168.1.6     192.168.1.6       20
      192.168.1.6  255.255.255.255        127.0.0.1       127.0.0.1       20
    192.168.1.255  255.255.255.255      192.168.1.6     192.168.1.6       20
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0      192.168.1.6     192.168.1.6       20
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255      192.168.1.6     192.168.1.6       1
Default Gateway:       192.168.1.1
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
  None

Nothing changes inbetween but I have noticed that an address 192.168.1.0 is in there but my router address is 192.168.1.1

[DiscoDave]

or the high number of requests from the server scanner is making your router shut you out as a suspected flooder.

try pinging another pc within your network when this happens and it'll prove it one way or another

Interesting..

Im pinging my laptop fine while these errors are occuring.

when i done a ping -t to my router i got some very odd results:

Code: Select all

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=916ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2465ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2879ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2607ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2404ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1418ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

If i leave my pc for a while it returns to usual.

Looks like i'll have to get the password to the router off my brother and have a gander at the logs..

[Foo]

Yar, I think the router is throttling your connection OR the router is overloaded with the number of requests steam throws at it.

You can do a further test by running a 'ping -t' from one of the other PCs to the router while you run the steam list... if the other PC shows dropped packets like the log above, then the router is struggling to process all the connections. On the other hand if the ping remains stable then the router is deliberately ignoring requests from your PC only.

Depending on the model there'll be a setting somewhere in the web interface for setting the level of security on the device. On my netgear it's just a tick box in the security page. On some devices it's a case of setting the firewall 'level' to 'off'. Be careful though, the outcome of these settings depends entirely on the device.

[Tormentius]

Its quite possibly the DoS (Denial of Service) protection on the router setting this off because it is viewing the amo0unt of connection attempts from that source as a DoS attack.

[DiscoDave]

Yar, I think the router is throttling your connection OR the router is overloaded with the number of requests steam throws at it.

You can do a further test by running a 'ping -t' from one of the other PCs to the router while you run the steam list... if the other PC shows dropped packets like the log above, then the router is struggling to process all the connections. On the other hand if the ping remains stable then the router is deliberately ignoring requests from your PC only.

Depending on the model there'll be a setting somewhere in the web interface for setting the level of security on the device. On my netgear it's just a tick box in the security page. On some devices it's a case of setting the firewall 'level' to 'off'. Be careful though, the outcome of these settings depends entirely on the device.

I have a Netgear router and the only option i can see is "Disable SPI Firewall" which i have done but the problem still persists =\

[AmIdYfReAk]

what app's are you running locally?

Peerguardian? firewall?

[AmIdYfReAk]

Do you have another nic that you could try?