Help with port forwarding please.

[steve23094]

Hi,

I have an ASUS RT-N66U running Merlin 374.33. My ISP is Virgin Media, cable modem hardware v2 running R38 in modem mode (i.e. bridge).

I have OS X Mavericks and Windows 7 in a Bootcamp partition.

I can't for the life of me get port forwarding working. I cannot connect to Games for Windows LIVE under Windows, it's telling me that that there is a connection error. I can browse the internet fine via IE or Firefox.

Using various online port scanning sites they are telling me that ports 3074 and 88 are closed. These are the things I have tried and all failed:-
1. Port forward set up on router.
2. Windows Live Marketplace program included in Windows Firewall exceptions.
3. Opened the specific ports in Win FW.
4. Disabled the Win FW completely.
5. Disabled the router FW completely.
6. Tested all ports via the grc.com website, all closed.
7. Tested ports on mobile phone to see if it was my laptop. Still blocked.
8. Port tested in OS X, still blocked.

So it seems the port forward fails at the router, cable modem or ISP. So... where do I go now to test this and resolve the issue?

Thanks.

 

[Txdk]

have you tried to connect your computer directly to the virgin cable modem.
by doing that you can see if its the n66u that's the problem or if the problem lies elsewhere

 

[steve23094]

I tried running straight off the Super Hub, still can't get it to work and so that suggests it's something on that end.

I know this is an Asus forum but do you have any ideas what I can check? (I have left a message on the Virgin forums too).

I was reading something that a port will show as closed unless you have an application that is reading it, is that correct? Does that mean I need a program on my Mac to open the port before I try using one of the online port scanners?

Thanks.

 

[RMerlin]

I was reading something that a port will show as closed unless you have an application that is reading it, is that correct? Does that mean I need a program on my Mac to open the port before I try using one of the online port scanners?

Thanks.

Correct. You need something to actually answer to that port, otherwise the computer to which you forward that port will reject the connection attempt.

 

[mstombs]

I would have thought windows would work fine without explicit port-forwarding - by using upnp (NAT-PMP fo the MAC) but I assume low port numbers such as 88 still blocked by default

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/forums/showthread.php?p=52780

To check superhub working correctly in modem mode - make sure the Asus router gets a real internet IP address on the wan port.

For specific issues with superhub see official virginmedia forums or the friendly folk at http://cableforum.co.uk/

 

[steve23094]

Correct. You need something to actually answer to that port, otherwise the computer to which you forward that port will reject the connection attempt.

Ah, ok. Do you know any app that I can use where I can select to activate a particular port? Preferably OS X, but I also have Win7 under Bootcamp.

 

[steve23094]

I would have thought windows would work fine without explicit port-forwarding - by using upnp (NAT-PMP fo the MAC) but I assume low port numbers such as 88 still blocked by default

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/forums/showthread.php?p=52780

To check superhub working correctly in modem mode - make sure the Asus router gets a real internet IP address on the wan port.

For specific issues with superhub see official virginmedia forums or the friendly folk at http://cableforum.co.uk/

Yes, the RT-N66U is being passed a valid IP address. Virgin uses a dynamic IP but they are pretty stable and when using the online testers they check the IP at the time.

This all started because Windows LIVE Marketplace is having a communication error and I'm working through Microsoft's fault finding document. I'm at the stage of port forwarding and that's where I got stuck.