Port Forwarding Problem

O

onearmedbandit

Geek Trainee
Hey guys, I've set up a wireless network in my house now, and was just wondering how I can open some ports up to allow a few programs to work (mainly Steam for HLII & Counterstrike!).

I've been to portforward.com and followed their instructions. I've been to my router's IP and added a few port entries but it's still telling me the port is blocked & I'm not sure why?

I've already given all the computers their own static IP addresses and I have a Belkin F5D7231-4 router. I've also checked and can't find any firewalls which could be causing a problem. I tried putting my computer in the DMZ but that didn't work either so I'm quite perplexed!

A few screenshots are attached. They might be able to help you, hopefully!

Thanks a lot for your help :)
 

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Well regarding soulseek;
The best way to get P2P programs to connect is to assign a high numbered port in the range of 30,000 to 65,000. This assures getting around your ISP blocking commonly used ports such as 6346. It might also be worthwhile to make sure the port you want to use isn't being used by anything else. A Google search will confirm that. You also need to enter the same port numbers for TCP and UDP seperately like This example. Make sure you assign the server IP Address as your computers IP eg- 192.168.2.2. That's basically all there is to it.
If trying to open ports for Steam etc.. Make sure you get the port numbers to be used and the protocols aswell.
 
I've tried a few ports and a few port numbers. I found a program that tested whether your ports are open or not, and I tried a few simple ones.

It even told me that 21 (FTP) was shut. It still told me this after I had deliberately enabled it. :ohah:

The problem, whatever it is, doesn't seem to concern the ports themselves, although I admit I know little about this area.
 
I also have a belkin modem so might be able to help more as I have port forwarding setup.

Could you check what comes up in the security log on the router? I didn't have to setup port forwarding for steam on my belkin, so I think possibly could be XP firewall blocking, have you disabled it completely?
 
Hmm I'm not totally sure how to check the router's security log :o Can I do it from the command prompt?

Also I've not been able to locate any XP firewall which is strange. All indications here point towards a firewall problem, but if there is one then I don't know about it! Normally it's in the control panel under 'windows security centre' or something isn't it? My copy of XP doesn't have that.
 
Regarding the Security log:
Look at the firewall column to the left of the page, it's at the bottom of that section.
 
Try This test if you wan't to test your firewall. It actually gives you a visual of what's open, closed or stealthed.
 
Okay here are the test results...

Results from scan of ports: 0-1055

0 Ports Open
0 Ports Closed
1056 Ports Stealth
---------------------
1056 Ports Tested

ALL PORTS tested were found to be: STEALTH.

TruStealth: FAILED - ALL tested ports were STEALTH,
- NO unsolicited packets were received,
- A PING REPLY (ICMP Echo) WAS RECEIVED.



I also downloaded the firewall leaktest program. Here's the result of that:


Unable To Connect
LeakTest was unable to connect to the GRC.COM Web Server.

If your computer is currently connected to the Internet, the most likely cause for LeakTest's inability to connect is an aggressive and properly working firewall. If so, it is preventing LeakTest from connecting to our web server's port number 80 (HTTP).
 
Click Start -> Control Panel -> Network Connections > Right-click the desired connection, then select Properties -> Advanced tab -> Click settings button

here you should see the option to disable the windows firewall.
 
Nope, not there. :( There's "Internet Connection Firewall" under the advanced tab, but it's unchecked already.

I ran a search on my computer for all files/folders with 'firewall' in it and found a 'control panel extention' which looks like it should be windows firewall. When I tried to open it I got this message: "Due to an unidentified problem, Windows cannot display Windows firewall settings".
 
No, everything else is still the same. I actually downloaded a new version of msn. That's probably why it won't connect anymore.

It's like I have an invisible firewall or something.
 
Heh I just figured it out. I uninstalled zone alarm about 6 months ago, and it seems the firewall was never properly dismantled. That's what I'm guessing.

I deleted all the zone alarm files I could find but it still did it, so I downloaded the latest version and installed it, which seems to have restored the invisible though active firewall to what it was before, so now I can give permission to programs to work. I don't even need to both forwarding ports, though it's nice to know a little bit about it.

Anyway, thanks for all your help even if it did turn out to be a small and silly thing in the end. :)
 
how odd! thanks for the update, this thread should serve as a reference to other users who might have a similar problem!
 
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