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[LUG] D-Link, ISDN and UKFSN



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Just to let others know about problems I've experienced with a D-Link router 
and with UKFSN ISDN.

1: D-Link. I bought an ISDN D-Link router but couldn't get it to work :-
Problem:
It is a BEAST. It uses 100% Javascript - the <body> tag is completely empty
in all pages. The Javascript tries to identify the browser and displays
nothing unless it can find IE5/6 or Netscape6. Netscape6 doesn't show all the
link buttons, IE6 is OK for a few clicks then suddenly comes up with Page Not
Available. Mozilla can cope with some of the pages but no better than NS6,
Konqueror is refused entirely. Opera brings up a constant string of
Javascript error alerts that make the entire browser unusable. 
Plus, when the router was first powered up, it DISABLED my Windows ethernet 
device! Turns out that the router is factory set to 192.168.0.1 - it seemed 
daft to me because anyone with an existing LAN (and therefore in need of a 
router) would have the first IP of the range allocated already! I had to 
reboot Windows 6 times - change the IP of the Windows box to enable the LAN 
connection to the router, change the router IP and reconnect, change the IP 
of the Windows box again and reconnect again.

Solution: The D-Link ISDN router shipped with the WRONG FIRMWARE - when I 
finally RTFM, none of the pictures of the web browser configuration tool in 
the PDF manual were even similar to what IE (sometimes) displayed. I located 
a firmware update on the CD that came with the router, installed it and 
suddenly the whole config. page set was transformed. It now works in any 
browser, even Lynx can access a lot of the pages. 
The preset IP of 192.168.0.1 is still a potential hiccup though. If I have to 
do a factory config reset, I'll have to power off the main box and telnet 
into the router from another box to change the IP of the router.

Overall, a very poor show from D-Link - shipping hardware with inoperable 
out-of-date software. Tech. Support at D-Link offered no clues to the 
firmware problem or to the second problem of connecting the router to UKFSN.  
D-Link Tech. Support passed the file on my problems on to the technical team 
(Duh? Tech. Support isn't technical?) but no reply is forthcoming so far.

2: The router won't connect to the internet via the UKFSN ISDN number - it 
fails to receive a valid IP to use and tries to use 0.0.0.0 at the internet 
end of the connection. Not surprisingly, it then drops the line.

When I eventually corrected my error in my Demon configuration, Demon 
connected fine and the router displayed a usable IP as part of the 
connection. The connection is maintained for as long as traffic continues. 
All OK there now. I haven't tried UKFSN again today but when David (Johnson) 
mentioned problems with a D-Link ADSL router with out-of-date firmware and 
UKFSN+ISDN he also suggested posting to the main list. 

All I can say is that anyone considering purchasing a D-Link unit (ISDN/ADSL) 
should look for a firmware update on the User's Manual CD BEFORE looking too 
far into 'problems' with the connection / HTML and always bear in mind that 
the router will be preset to 192.168.0.1 so any machine using that address 
needs to either be temporarily changed or shutdown until you use the telnet 
connection to change the IP of the router.

With the firmware updated, the router appears, so far, to be working well. 

With UKFSN, they have provided excellent dial-up access for the last few 
months for me but this 0.0.0.0 problem doesn't appear to be unique to me. 
Anyone else had similar problems with UKFSN / other ISDN ISP's? (It'll help 
if I have more than just one instance to bring to UKFSN.)


- -- 

Neil Williams
=============
http://www.codehelp.co.uk
http://www.dclug.org.uk

http://www.wewantbroadband.co.uk/

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