| Some bugs in the Actiontec GT701-WG/GT704-WG DSL/Router modems: |
Bug #1. (This bug has only affected Linux users) The DHCP server in the modem causes the networking system in the client computer to pick up the modem's gateway IP (192.168.0.1) as the first DSL server. The second DSL server IP becomes what the first should be. That causes the Internet connection to slow to a crawl as every time a request for a page, picture, or anything else must wait for the networking services to time out on the first DNS IP and move on to the real one.
The workaround for this is to shut off DHCP and hard-code your IP's in. Some Linux distros, like SUSE/OpenSUSE will allow you to do these separately, so that you can DHCP the client IP while hard-coding the DNS. Others, like Mandriva, don't allow that degree of separation, so you'll have to hard-code everything. A last resort, should the distro's control panel program be buggy enoogh that it won't work that way or stay saved, is to manually edit /etc/resolv.conf:
nameserver first.DNS.IP.address
nameserver second.DNS.IP.address
search domain.actdsltmp
Remember, you need root (administrator) privileges to do this.
Update: I have discovered that this bug hits Windows XP (and probably Vista) machines. (This establishes beyond a doubt that it is an Actiontec bug, not a Linux one.) To see it, open a command prompt: open Start menu, click on run command, then type "cmd" and press enter. When the black window comes up, type ipconfig /all and press enter. Look for the first DNS IP address (something like DNS1, I think) it will be 192.168.0.1. This is not an IP address for any DNS server on the planet. It is the default gateway for the Actiontec modem. The reason it doesn't seem to cause a problem surfing the web is Windows has some sort of strategy for quickly bypassing bad DNS servers and homing in on the one that works. Remember that Windows is only seeing one real DNS server, the ISP's backup is never reported to the operating system at all. The problem with this affects both the ISP and the end user. While it is rare for a DNS server to go down (most of them are Linux, after all!) if it does happen, there is no fallback for the user and the ISP's secondary never ever, ever, ever gets used (except for, of course, that tiny minority (like me) who manually plug in DNS IP addresses).
I have also found that Kubuntu, as of version 7.04 and OpenSUSE, as of version 10.3 have activated a fix that does the same thing as XP. I hope this is what all the distros are doing, and not just Ubuntu/Kubuntu and OpenSUSE.
Bug #2. (Affects anyone, regardless of OS, trying to serve their website/pages from their own home computer) When you try to call up your own website, from a computer connected to the modem, all you can get is the Actiontec setup routine. Even if you type in your static IP for the website, you still get nothing but Actiontec's modem setup.
The workaround only works for the computer you're using. If you have two or more computers connected to the modem/router, you have to do this for each and every one of them. Further, I only know how to do it for Linux (may be similar for FreeBSD and Unix also). On my OpenSUSE box, the quickest way is to open Yast (yast2), click on "Network Services" in the left-hand column, then click on "Hostnames" on the right. This brings up "Host Configuration." Click on the "Add" button at the bottom and a dialog box with three labeled dialogs appears. The first one is labeled "IP Address," the second one "Hostname" and the third "Host Aliases." Your computer should already have an entry in the Host Configuration for "localhost." On all I've seen, the IP associated is "127.0.0.1." If you use any variation of "127.0.0.x" it should work. Remember, the "listen on" address (assuming you're using Apache web server) should be set to "any," otherwise you'll have to tell Apache about this separately.
If you're running Windows, the following is the best workaround I can find:
Type the router IP (192.168.0.xxx) for the computer serving the website into the address bar of the browser. If you're running multiple virtual web servers, this may or may not work -- that is, you may not have access to all the websites. This workaround may also work for Mac's, but I can't swear to it.
Just like the first bug, there is a totally manual workaround. Open etc/hosts (remember, root privileges) and add the following line at the bottom:
127.0.0.2 www.mywebsite.com mywebsite.com
(I'm assuming anyone reading this is actually smart enough to substitute their own domain name for the "mywebsite" stuff here. :-} )
Bug #3. I (and my ISP) actually discovered this one by accident: There's more than one way for an ISP to connect to your modem with a static IP. The first, of course, is for you to type it into the correct box when you do the setup and they compare it with what their own server says, then it all connects and you're on line. The next is for the ISP to tell your modem what its IP is, and load it automatically. This also works -- until you want to use a computer on your end as a web server. It seems if you don't type your static IP into that little box, regardless of how your ISP connects, your modem blocks outside requests for anything, http, https, ftp, etc., associated with your static IP.
The fix/workaround (I don't know how to classify that) is to manually put the static IP into the appropriate box on the "Broadband Connection via PPPoA" page in the Advanced Setup.
Bug #4. I'm not sure if this is a bug or some kind of strange interaction between the DSL modem and SUSE, but here it is: I have been having trouble receiving RealNetworks streaming video or running BitTorrent using any client. I played with all the settings in the modem, and finally just shut off Actiontec's firewall and rebooted the modem. Everything works properly now. It's a good thing SUSE has a firewall enabled by default (and is probably better than the one in the modem).
I will add to this page if I find any more issues with these devices. (As well as edit what's here for content.)
Joe
