PS3 Networking issues... PS3 itself?

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

If it's a PS3 problem why are even more people not having this issue?

It's a bit like Internet Explorer, previous versions were so broken that web developers wrote broken code so that their websites rendered, functioned properly in IE. Now unless they wrote unbroken code and detected browsers that conformed properly to web standards, those browsers would render broken code seemingly worse than the broken IE.

Some networking equipment may handle other bad network equipment better than others. Stab in the dark, but that's just what you did.

I have to agree as I believe its the networking equipment.

I was having issues with my PS3 connecting until I bought a new router. Same issue with a friend of mine who couldn't get his PS3 to connect until I lent him one of my routers laying around the house.

Sure we all could go back and forth saying if its the PS3 or router's fault, but at the end of the day if you have the right combination of networking equipment it all works.

[SkantDragon]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

OK...... I dropped the MTU to 768. In the test that immediately follows.. I got an IP address and internet connection but failed to connect to PSN. So I raised it to 1,000, and connected to PSN. I then tried to stream a music video and got three DLNA error popups over the course of the music video. Remember, these never actually stop the streaming... they just pop up and are a nuisance. I then tried to sign in to Home. An update was required. I made several attempts to DL the update and was signed out of PSN each time with an error code 8002AD23.

My suggestion for a small MTU to start at may have been too small. Please continue to experiment with MTU sizes. Try 1300, 1400, 1452, 1492, and 1500.

You've also mentioned that you've made many changes to the router configuration in an attempt to make the PS3 work properly before. If these changes are still in effect, you should try undoing them. Some change you made may actually be having an adverse effect. Try to return the configuration as much as possible to 'typical default'.

And turn uPnP back on.

A quick internet search of that code shows that I am NOWHERE NEAR the only person having these issues..... but I find no resolution. This is extremely frustrating that the PS3 is the only device I own that can't play nice with my network.

I would hold off on blaming the PS3 until you can determine the cause. Admittedly, PC's have a lot more experience as network devices and the 360 is a PC in disguise, so that's an advantage in that respect. That experience means they have a lot of workarounds to get them to work on broken and misconfigured networks.

The PS3 probably doesn't have so many workarounds. But that doesn't actually make it the PS3's fault when it doesn't work because the network it is connected to is borked.

However, when the PS3 is the only device that isn't able to work, people will see it as the PS3's fault.

From reading all of the other people that have these exact same issues... it's obviously a PS3 problem...... so why don't they acknowledge it and issue a fix?

Here is the exact same issue being discussed accross multiple forums.

Whoa. Hold your horses there. I looked over the threads you've linked to, and these people are not all having the same problem. They are getting the same error messages, yes. But that doesn't mean they're all experiencing an across the board PS3 bug which Sony won't acknowledge.

When two people both have a fever, does that mean they both have the same illness?

That's what's going on here. In these threads, these people are assuming that vaguely similar symptoms indicate identical causes. But a whole variety of different problems can lead to the same error message, just like a whole variety of different ailments can lead to fever.

For example, one of the posters was talking about how he has exactly the same problem, and it got much worse when he moved his PS3 to another room. Well, that's not the same problem at all, actually. If moving the PS3 to a different location makes the wireless connection much worse, then the problem is almost certainly too much distance and/or too much signal blockage between the PS3 and the wireless router. In my experience, people often place their routers in very bad locations where huge shadows will be created by nearby large metal objects like refrigerators. And then they'll buy 2.4Ghz wireless phones that interfere with their wireless network. And then blame their PS3 (or whatever device) for losing the connection periodically and never notice it happens whenever their phone rings.

In almost every case, it's going to be a problem with the network, not the PS3. As some other posters have commented, if there really was a systemic PS3 bug, _a lot_ more people would be running into it.

Instead, what you're seeing is people with unhealthy networks having problems and blaming it on the client device at the end of the chain.


And, by the way, in case you're wondering, I do have some idea what I'm talking about. I'm a software engineer with two patents under my belt in the field of telecommunications.

I really wish I could just come over to your house and check out your network. In person, it would probably only take me a few minutes to discover the cause... even if I had to haul out a sniffer and look at the actual bytes at the packet level.

If the MTU experiments don't work, then it's probably something misconfigured either on the router, the PS3, or your network provider (in that order). The possibility of a hardware problem somewhere in the chain is very unlikely considering what you've tried so far but not 100% ruled out either.

The trouble is... there's a good chance that the actual cause is some configuration somewhere that hasn't even been mentioned. And I may not be able to help you spot it just posting comments over the internet. If you have any techy friends... or maybe one of your friends has a techy son that might be willing to look things over?

From what you've posted, you seem to be easily savvy enough to avoid most technical problems yourself. You'll have run into some more esoteric configuration problem here, I'm guessing. The MTU is the most likely, based on what you've said. But there are others.

I'm happy to help as much as I can.

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

If it's a PS3 problem why are even more people not having this issue?

It's a bit like Internet Explorer, previous versions were so broken that web developers wrote broken code so that their websites rendered, functioned properly in IE. Now unless they wrote unbroken code and detected browsers that conformed properly to web standards, those browsers would render broken code seemingly worse than the broken IE.

Some networking equipment may handle other bad network equipment better than others. Stab in the dark, but that's just what you did.

The links I posted show there are TONS of people having this issue. I'm guessing that very few home networks are perfect.... but why is it that some gear has a much easier time of working in a non-perfect network than others?

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by SkantDragon

I would hold off on blaming the PS3 until you can determine the cause. Admittedly, PC's have a lot more experience as network devices and the 360 is a PC in disguise, so that's an advantage in that respect. That experience means they have a lot of workarounds to get them to work on broken and misconfigured networks.

The PS3 probably doesn't have so many workarounds. But that doesn't actually make it the PS3's fault when it doesn't work because the network it is connected to is borked.

However, when the PS3 is the only device that isn't able to work, people will see it as the PS3's fault.

I get everything you are saying.... but a person shouldn't HAVE to be a networking genius just to get their game console to maintain a reliable internet connection. I like to think that I have above average tech skills... but this has been a huge PIA for me. I don't consider my network to be borked..... when it works properly for every other device I have. My Wii has no such issues... and it isn't a disguised PC. Maybe my network isn't perfect..... but the WRT54G HAS to be one of the top five routers in people's homes...... it's a very popular router. It seems like reliability with popular routers would be something that would be addressed. I'm just very frustrated with the whole thing.

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by Bluoholic

I can also bet that your entire network goes down for a couple of minutes when PS3 is booting up. I also have the same issues as you do but I'm using a wired connection. Did you try opening up some ports and check DNZ on you router? I also have WRT54G btw.

It used to before I assigned a static IP for every device on my network. Invariably... I'd turn on the PS3 and it would grab an IP address that was already in use by another device on the network. I have opened up the ports that I could find listed for the PS3 on the net...... and I have tried DMZ.

[209Mason]

I'm pretty sure I had the EXACT same problems with the WRT54G using wireless... essentially you have to TELL your computer what information to use... basically hardwire the lines open for the PS3...

Prior to this, the PS3 would get about halfway through a download and give me that DNS error... so I could never update anything... no demos... online play lasted a round or two if I was lucky... etc. etc.

I used the step by step guide here almost exactly, and it worked perfectly on both mine and my brother's PS3. No issues downloading and Warhawk works like a champ for hours on end!


>>>>>> http://boardsus.playstation.com/play...read.id=197899 <<<<<<<<

[reiella]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

The links I posted show there are TONS of people having this issue. I'm guessing that very few home networks are perfect.... but why is it that some gear has a much easier time of working in a non-perfect network than others?

Because that's the way PC equipment tends to work.

There's alot of variability between components. And a ridiculous number of moving standards that don't always play nice with each other.

The problem HDMI switching equipment is similar, but not nearly as exasperated as the environment with networking can be.

It sucks, but that's the way of things with the PC world. A single component may break when it's expectations aren't meant by another component, yada yada.

Oddly enough, I have more trouble with my 360 and Wii network connectivity issues than my PS3 , but that really doesn't help you much.

[ add / edit ]
Ah there is the problem though really. WRT54G Well, take solace in knowing that the firmware is available as open source :P. I have yet to actually find someone happy with their WRT54G, but then again, I have yet to find anyone happy with a router that I know what model it is .

[Clark Kent]

Networking problems can be very tough to figure out the cause of on the PS3. The launch units had a slightly weaker wi-fi antenna than newer models for instance.

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by reiella

[ add / edit ]
Ah there is the problem though really. WRT54G Well, take solace in knowing that the firmware is available as open source :P. I have yet to actually find someone happy with their WRT54G, but then again, I have yet to find anyone happy with a router that I know what model it is .

I have a version 5 wrt54g. The file size of firmware updates that it will accept is too small for me to be able to install a home brew on it.

I had a Belkin N1 Vision as well though.... and it had the exact same issues.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

I have a version 5 wrt54g. The file size of firmware updates that it will accept is too small for me to be able to install a home brew on it.

I had a Belkin N1 Vision as well though.... and it had the exact same issues.

The Belkin N1 Vision isn't a good router by any measure. It looks pretty is about the only compliment I can give it. And Belkin, well, Belkin has some pretty frustrating practices in regards to their equipment so I'm biased there .

If you really think it's the PS3, contact Sony. You may have a defective network card/bus on the unit, they're far more capable of responding to such claims than us .

Looking at it, there's only three devices in your test area that can actually DLNA, the PC, the PS3, and the laptop. So it's really difficult to actually pin anything down there [and I assume you're using Media Player as your DLNA server?] especially by remote .

DNS errors are yick, but that's an awkward problem. Really shouldn't be the PS3 at all, it's tolerance for faults may be lower than other items in your network [the Wii, iPhone, laptop, and PC] which can make sense with at least three of the items prolly having alot more of a cached for dns lookup [and certainly a greater wait for timeout on the iPhone ] which may just reflect a problem at the ISP. Or potentially, there's a problem with your PS3's hardware receiving responses over certain ports or certain shaped responses. In which case, contact Sony as above.

[ edit ]
Sidenote : 8002AD23 is pretty much a catch-all error. It really doesn't help diagnose the problem at all.

[SkantDragon]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

I get everything you are saying.... but a person shouldn't HAVE to be a networking genius just to get their game console to maintain a reliable internet connection.

And most people don't have to be a networking genius to hook up a PS3. For most of the people most of the time, it goes off without a hitch and has no problems whatsoever.

You have a problem most people don't have. And it probably doesn't even originate with the PS3.

My Wii has no such issues... and it isn't a disguised PC.

The Wii also doesn't have the network capabilities the PS3 does.

Kindof like you could complain that the Wii never encounters HDMI negotiation failures... because it has no HD capability in the first place.

Maybe my network isn't perfect..... but the WRT54G HAS to be one of the top five routers in people's homes...... it's a very popular router. It seems like reliability with popular routers would be something that would be addressed. I'm just very frustrated with the whole thing.

That's assuming that the PS3 even can do anything about the issue from its end. The problem may be the other way around. The real problem may be that Linksys hasn't supported the PS3 on the WRT54G.

The PS3 is currently in last place. Linksys may develop their router with PCs, 360s, Wiis... but maybe not much on PS3s.

Having worked on cross vendor compatibility issues myself, I can say that the actual party at fault is commonly not the party who appears to be at fault. And routers are much more likely to be guilty than end points. The router's role is many times more complex and accident prone.

You said yourself that you didn't have any disconnection problems with your previous Belkin router. Perhaps the two issues you have described are not actually related. And the Belkin supported the PS3 while the Linksys didn't.

Personally, I am using a pair of WRT54GL routers in my home. And I've had zero connection problems with the PS3. The 'L' at the end of that designation stands for Linux. It's a completely different beast than the WRT54G, which has something of a bad reputation (not just concerning the PS3).

[209Mason]

Originally Posted by reiella

Ah there is the problem though really. WRT54G Well, take solace in knowing that the firmware is available as open source :P. I have yet to actually find someone happy with their WRT54G, but then again, I have yet to find anyone happy with a router that I know what model it is .

Now you have... as I posted above... I've got the WRT54G... as does my brother... we both used the step by step guide as posted above and it works flawlessly. Never had issues since then... only when they bring the Warhawk Servers down! lol. The 54G has my computer, our laptop, 2 work laptops, PS3, and Wii online no problem whatsoever. I couldn't be happier with it.

Honestly though, I can't stress enough to give this step-by-step guide a shot...
>>>>>> WRT54G and PS3<<<<<<<<

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by 209Mason

Now you have... as I posted above... I've got the WRT54G... as does my brother... we both used the step by step guide as posted above and it works flawlessly. Never had issues since then... only when they bring the Warhawk Servers down! lol. The 54G has my computer, our laptop, 2 work laptops, PS3, and Wii online no problem whatsoever. I couldn't be happier with it.

Honestly though, I can't stress enough to give this step-by-step guide a shot...
>>>>>> WRT54G and PS3<<<<<<<<

All that guide is, is opening ports and putting the PS3 in DMZ...... I've done those things. It also says to enable UPnP.... and mine won't connect at all with UPnP enabled.

[Blu-Generation]

I think there's something to do with your network.

My friend has the same problem, his 360 works fine but his PS3 doesn't. One would think it's the PS3 to blame. (fanboys mostly) However he brought his PS3 over to my place and we set it up, works fine.

And yes, I have a Wii and 360 as well. They all work fine. Along with all my PS3, no problem what so ever. But when my friend took his PS3 back home, he say there's network issue again, so I think you and him have something in common.

I don't know the issue, can't help my friend, much less you, sorry.

I just don't think its the PS3 to blame though.

[kingofgrills]

robandtami, what sort of internet connection do you have in your house? Is it a cable modem connection, DSL, or something else, and are you currently going wired or wirelessly with the PS3?

I don't know for sure, but is there a possibility that noise or interference is somehow interrupting the connection?

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by kingofgrills

robandtami, what sort of internet connection do you have in your house? Is it a cable modem connection, DSL, or something else, and are you currently going wired or wirelessly with the PS3?

I don't know for sure, but is there a possibility that noise or interference is somehow interrupting the connection?

I have a 6MB DSL connection. I used to have Mediacom cable....... but it is utter CRAP in my area and I've been much happier with my DSL service.

I am currently going wirelessly..... although I had similar issues when I tried wired. I have tried switching wireless channels on the router...... but that does not seem to help.

[Kyo28]

Most of these problems come from incorrect configs on the PS3 or router or both.

First things first: When you run a network test with your PS3, what NAT do you get?

• If NAT3, then it's normal you experience problems and something is wrong with your settings
• If NAT2, then all is well with the settings. We'll look into that if it is indeed the case

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by Kyo28

Most of these problems come from incorrect configs on the PS3 or router or both.

First things first: When you run a network test with your PS3, what NAT do you get?

• If NAT3, then it's normal you experience problems and something is wrong with your settings
• If NAT2, then all is well with the settings. We'll look into that if it is indeed the case

When I disable UPnP.... I get a NAT2. If I enable UPnP... the NAT fails.

[DonRSD]

www.portforward.com

find your router & click playstation network

open up the proper ports

this site is a god. if only everyone looked into it

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by DonRSD

www.portforward.com

find your router & click playstation network

open up the proper ports

this site is a god. if only everyone looked into it

I've opened the proper ports..... which is really kind of redundant if you just put the device in the DMZ zone of your router.