Steam causes my entire internet to crash.

**Interests** · 06-28-11, 11:29 PM

Whenever I load up Steam, my connection suddenly breaks, disconnecting me:

1. Randomly during games.

2. As I load up a Steam-based game.

3. When I refresh a server list.

4. As I connect to a server.

This affects not only my game, but my entire connection, meaning I can't use browsers or any other Web-based software. TF2 has become practically unplayable for me, and I was wondering if anyone had any idea what the issue could be.

Router: Linksys WRT54G2
ISP: Comcast.

The problem cropped up for no apparent reason last saturday. A couple of things happened which coincided with this problem, though I don't know if they are related.

1. A fuse blew in the section of the house my computer is in. The games seemed to run fine immediately following this, however.

2. Spiral Knights, another Steam game, got an update that apparently allowed people with my router type to log in, where I was blocked from doing so before. I uninstalled it trying to figure this out.

3. I downloaded and began to use Dropbox. I uninstalled that as well, but neither change seems to have made a difference.

Anyone have any advice/experience/possible diagnoses? I would very greatly appreciate it, as I'd like to be able to play TF2 reliably again

**Alundil** · 06-29-11, 04:11 PM

Couple things/questions:

* Do you have any logs (Windows Event logs, Steam, logs from router) that might help in identifying a possible cause?
* Are you connected to the router via ethernet cable or wirelessly? Have you tried switching either of these for the other connection type?
* If you're connected via cable, have you tried a different port on the router?
* When you lose connection, do you still have an IP address assigned to you by the router (e.g. 192.168.xxx.xxx)? Or is it an auto-configured IP address (e.g. 169.254.126.69)?
* Does it reconnect on its own? Or do you have to manually reconnect it?
* Are there other devices connected to the same router? Do they lose connection at the same time that you do?
* Is there a specific time of the day when this occurs? Or is it random?
* Have you tried plugging in directly to the modem (cable/dsl/etc) and running Steam to see if it is modem related or router related? The WRT54GS/2 is an old Linksys model.
* Is the firmware on the router up to date?

Depending on the answers to these - there might be other questions that arise. Welcome to the world of troubleshooting

For a primer on the layers of complexity and why the myriad questions see:
http://www.teamplayergaming.com/pc-h...ml#post1484643

**SmokenScion** · 06-29-11, 06:00 PM

Are you connected to an Open Wifi access point? Did you enable WEP?

**Interests** · 06-29-11, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by Alundil

Couple things/questions:

* Do you have any logs (Windows Event logs, Steam, logs from router) that might help in identifying a possible cause?
* Are you connected to the router via ethernet cable or wirelessly? Have you tried switching either of these for the other connection type?
* If you're connected via cable, have you tried a different port on the router?
* When you lose connection, do you still have an IP address assigned to you by the router (e.g. 192.168.xxx.xxx)? Or is it an auto-configured IP address (e.g. 169.254.126.69)?
* Does it reconnect on its own? Or do you have to manually reconnect it?
* Are there other devices connected to the same router? Do they lose connection at the same time that you do?
* Is there a specific time of the day when this occurs? Or is it random?
* Have you tried plugging in directly to the modem (cable/dsl/etc) and running Steam to see if it is modem related or router related? The WRT54GS/2 is an old Linksys model.
* Is the firmware on the router up to date?

Depending on the answers to these - there might be other questions that arise. Welcome to the world of troubleshooting

For a primer on the layers of complexity and why the myriad questions see:
http://www.teamplayergaming.com/pc-h...ml#post1484643

1. Unless there's a specific place I should be looking for them, I don't have any logs of this (I'm actually a complete noob at this troubleshooting

)

2. Connected via ethernet, but we do have both in the house.

3. No, but I shall!

4. I still have the assigned IP.

5. Usually it will reconnect on it's own, but once I did have to restart the router to restore the connection.

6. Yes, laptops and iPod Touches connected to the router wirelessly (because we have both wireless and cable connections) will also lose connection.

7. No specific time of day for the occurrences, but it's not random- it only happens when I'm connected to Steam, sometimes immediately afterwards and at random points in between, but most of the disconnects occur in-game (BC2 and TF2 both have this issue). However, a game running without Steam (i.e., my disc copy of WaW) has no issues whatsoever.

8. I haven't tried a direct connection, and I will.

9. It should be, but but considering how old it is, it hasn't gotten one in a while as far as I know.

This is the first time this has ever happened to me, and I can't think of anything that may have coincided with this other than game updates. Thanks for noticing, guys

**Interests** · 06-29-11, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by SmokenScion

Are you connected to an Open Wifi access point? Did you enable WEP?

1. No sir, using ethernet cable, although we do have a wireless connection in the house (which the big computer can't connect to). A laptop and an iPod Touch which utilize that get disconnected, as well, when my cable-connected rig gets disconnected.

2. Hmm, never used WEP before, to be honest. Like I say, I'm not very experienced with this sort of thing, I'm just trying to provide whatever info I can.

**Alundil** · 06-29-11, 09:15 PM

Originally Posted by Interests

Originally Posted by SmokenScion

Are you connected to an Open Wifi access point? Did you enable WEP?

2. Hmm, never used WEP before, to be honest. Like I say, I'm not very experienced with this sort of thing, I'm just trying to provide whatever info I can.

I believe that what scion was referring to is (correct me if I am wrong) are you using any encryption at all on the router's wireless connection? He might have mentioned WEP as that is the simplest to setup and is at times enabled by default (but it is almost the easiest for someone to "crack" past and so therefore almost useless from an encryption standpoint nowadays). But I digress. If your wireless connection is not encrypted (read: secured) then it is possible that there might be other people (neighbors perhaps) who are also connecting to your wireless network and "Stealing" your connection/bandwidth.

**Interests** · 06-29-11, 10:18 PM

Hmm, I believe it is encrypted, but wouldn't there be effects when I wasn't on Steam if I were being stolen from? It seems to only occur when Steam is in use, unless someone has very specific and well-timed uses for my connection

*Rob · 06-29-11, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by Interests

Whenever I load up Steam, my connection suddenly breaks, disconnecting me:

1. Randomly

this has been happening to me
my provider is at&t
i have been going back and forth with tech support
they sending service guy to my location
hopefully it will fix it
will post update if i find anything meaningful