Anyone know of any compatibility issues with Windows 8 and RV series routers?

[sailboggs]

I have a small network with a Windows 8 laptop, a Windows XP desktop, and a MyBookLiveDuo networked storage device. I have sharing enabled between these devices. All was working well on a network switch. I replaced the switch with the RV110W VPN Firewall Router to add better security to my network before I expand it. Since then I am having intermittent connectivity from the Windows 8 laptop while connectivity from the XP desktop shows no problems.

On the Windows 8 laptop I ran the network troubleshooter and it complained that two devices on the network are doing Network Address Translation (NAT) and the symptoms it described match what I am seeing. Trouble is I do not have a network analyzer to look at the network in more depth. I looked at the online documentation for the RV110W and though NAT is listed as one of the features, there is no discussion in the documentation about how to manage this feature within the router.

I can connect to the Windows 8 laptop from the XP desktop and access shared content. I can connect to the Duo from the XP desktop without difficulty. However, except for when they periodically reappear under my network section in file explorer on the Windows 8 laptop, I cannot access either the XP desktop or the Duo from the Windows 8 laptop. Oddly enough, however, I have one part of the Duo mapped as a network drive on the Windows 8 laptop and I can access it even when everything else is gone. Also the management interface for the Duo shows up on the Windows 8 laptop and I can access the Duo to manage it. I just cannot access the shares on the Duo. Then suddenly they will reappear under Network in file explorer and I can then access them. I think it must have to do with the NAT issue, but I cannot find anything out about it.

If it is something I can turn off on the router long enough to see if the problem goes away I would like to try it, but I cannot find it in documentation and I cannot find it when I look aroiund in the management interface.

The fact that I am not having the problem form the XP desktop makes me think there is a compatibility issue with Windows 8. Does anyone know if Windows 8 does anything with NAT? I am trying to get help from Microsoft Tech Support, but their Tier 1 tech told me to call Tech Support Pro when they open later this morning. Cisco chat support will not be open until Monday at 9 am.

Also, throughout this problem Internet connectivity from the laptop through the router is never interrupted. It is strictly connectivity with other devices on the internal network that comes and goes.

[Tom Watts · Accepted solution]

Hi Gregg,

NAT should not be coming in to play unless you are making requests over the internet. The "Internet port" or "WAN port" is a NAT port which converts your ISP public IP address to your LAN subnet addresses. NAT allows several computers on a network to use 1 public IP address.

If your devices are connecting to the ethernet "LAN ports" they are not affected by NAT unless they are making internet requests. The 4 "LAN ports" are layer 2 switch ports. Meaning all local requests are forwarded by the switch ports.

What device did you replace exactly? The XP, DUO and Window 8 computers, are these products using static IP address or are you allowing the RV110 to assigned an IP address automatically? What IP address are you using on the LAN of the RV110?

-Tom
Please mark answered for helpful posts

[sailboggs]

Hi Tom,

It has been a long time since I had to deal with network issues and my memory is not helping. I only began looking at the NAT issue because the Windows 8 troubleshooter indicated two devices doing NAT and flagged this as a problem. I can only say with certainty that the problems with connectivity are only from the Windows 8 machine and only began when I added the router.

The only static address is the ISP device. Everything else is using DHCP. Below shows router status. Does this look correct to you?

At this point I think it is something with Windows 8. As I said in original post I could still connect to the Do to manage it. I found that if I select "Add a Network Location" the Duo and the XP desktop would sometimes show up to be selected and upon opening this window the Duo and the XP desktop would also reappear under Network in file explorer and i could access them. I also notices that the tie to open the device is probably 30 seconds or more. It seems like it should be faster. If I restart computer, the devices are not there. Each time I have to go through this ritual of selecting Computer in file explorer, then selecting "Add a Network Location", and then hoping the devices show up in that selection window and reappear under Network in File Explorer. This was never necessary when i was connected via the network switch. It is not consistently that i have to do the above every time I restart my computer. It does not matter how long I wait after a restart. The devices never show up without the above steps, and often it takes more than one attempt before they show up. This has to be related to how the Windows 8 laptop is communicating with the router since it is the only change I introduced before this started. I am tempted to initil a restore on the Windows machine to before I added the router just in case something on the Windows machine is out of whack.

Sorry for the long respone, but I believe the new information is relevant and needed to be fully explained. Perhaps it is not that two devices are doing NAT, but should there be two?

Also, earlier when I looked at "connected devices" on the router everything showed up. When I ust checked it, the Duo is not displayed even though I see it from the laptop after having done the above ritual again earlir today.

I am truly at a loss for how to explain this. If I do the restore on Windows 8 the only things effected ar Firefox installation and the most recent Windows update. What do you think? Should I try it? I have noticed some very sluggish behavior on the laptop, but also since I added the router.

I hope you have some ideas, I am fresh out.

[sailboggs]

Tom et al,

Sorry about the screen image. It looked fine when I downloaded it before posting the reply It is a jpeg. Should I have use a bitmap format?

[sailboggs]

When I view the discussion as a PDF the image is crystal clear. I am new to this forum. Sorry to display so much ignorance, but what is the best way to include a screen print so it wil be clear?

I replaced the image wth a gif instead of a jpeg and it looks better.

[Tom Watts]

Hi Gregg, what was the switch you were previously using?

When you use the image insert icon, it makes the picture clickable. So you're fine.

Can you try to assign static IP addresses to all 3 devices, the XP, DUO and Win 8.

-Tom
Please mark answered for helpful posts

[sailboggs]

I was using a TRENDnet "fast ethernet switch". Everything worked fine, but I wanted the added security of a hardware firewall before I expand my network further.

I will try assigning static addresses and see what happens.

[sailboggs]

I hate to report that static IP addresses changed nothing. Continue to have no problems with connectivity betwen XP desktop and Duo, but Windows 8 laptop still problem. I tried the restore I mentioned earlier and it did not help either. I am temporarily gpoing back to TRENDnet switch to se if things improve.

[sailboggs]

Reconnecting to the TRENDnet was not as helpful as I had hoped. The computer continued to behave abnormally, therefore so I am not chasing more than one problem at a time, I used an earlier restore point from last month when I know everything was working smoothly on the laptop.

I am back to using the RV110W with DCHP turned on and with my laptop and the DUO on the network using DHCP. I am in the process of reinstalling Norton Security after the restore. There are other programs that will have to be reinstalled, but I am taking them one at a time to see if one of them is causing all or part of the problems I am encountering.

I cannot imagine why the problems began when I installed the router without it being at least a contributing factor, but we shall see. As of right now, with DHCP turned on an both the laptop and DUO using DHCP (I am leaving the XP machine off for the moment to reduce number of variables), I was able to see the DUO from the laptop as soon as I rebooted in normal mode after the restore. After the Norton installation I will create another manual restore point and do the same after each new installation until I am back where I began on Friday. I hope I have eliminated something on the laptop that was the culprit, but this remains to be seen.

More after I have Norton back.

[sailboggs]

Well, after several more hours, things appear to be better now. I used an older restore point and reinstalled several applications with new restore points in between in case I need to back out again.

I also upgraded the firmware in the DUO. The firmware in the router is the latest so no need for upgrade there. The DUO is tempermental, but I am hoping the firmware upgrade corrects this. It took it an hour to set itself up after the upgrade, but all seems to be working now.

I am suspicious a virus got past Norton Security and was wrecking havoc on my machine and with connectivity. Perhaps it was coincidental to the router installation or perhaps the virus was netowkr related. Since Norton couldn't find it and it is gone after the system restore, I guess I will never know.

Thanks for you help in trying to troubleshoot this nonsense. I have not yet put the XP desktop back on the network. But hopfully it will be fine. I will probably wait for a few days before sharing files with the XP machine again. Since Norton is not finding this virus or malware, it is possible the XP machine is infected and cross contaminated my laptop.

Unless things act up again, I am considering thiss closed. Thanks again, Tom.

Gregg.