B3 as router dropping network traffic

[philgaskin]

I am using my B3 as a router and server. I have an internet connection on the WAN port and using B3 DHCP services on wireless and the LAN port.
For the majority of the time I have no problems at all and can access the internet from my iPhone and three PCs through B3 (wireless and LAN). However periodically when I try to access the internet on any of my PCs or iPhone, the network routing is lost and my browser shows a network connection error. Refreshing the browser usually works straight away again. This happens periodically on all devices and usually when only one device is connected to B3.
On one occasion when I was near the B3 and it happened, it seemed like the disk was working hard at the time internet access failed. I can't find anything in the syslog to determine an error although I am noticing that regular scans of my music collection is taking three seconds. Could this be causing the B3 to not respond quick enough to a routing request? If so could I reduce the frequency that this takes place?
I currently have my firewall set to block everything on the WAN port. Under services I have no email services enabled, FTP is enabled, UPNP and DAAP streaming is enabled and Squeezebox is diabled. I can't see anything else in the syslog that could be causing an issue.
Any help is appreciated.
Phil.

[Cheeseboy]

Hi Phil,

I've seen similar behaviour on the Bubba2 (not yet on B3, only had it for a shot while).
My problems were caused by very slow response times from the DNS on bubba. The browser will just seem to hang and eventually I get an error saying that the site is not available. When I try using nslookup from the command prompt on the computer where it fails, I see a timeout error...
What I have done in the past when this occurs is to restart the DNS on the bubba server:

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root@b3:~# /etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart
Restarting DNS forwarder and DHCP server: dnsmasq.

I know this is not the solution to the problem, but it seems to sort things out when it is in that state...

Cheers,

Cheeseboy

[philgaskin]

Cheeseboy, thanks for the info. The symptoms are similar but I think I now know what the cause might be.
I have a B3 with wifi and it seems that my iPhone4 keeps causing the br0 link to error at the same times that the network routing is lost for around two minutes before it is resumed. This happens even when I am not using the iPhone. I think it is causing the wifi to restart or something. My syslog is below:

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Nov 6 13:43:31 B3 hostapd: wlan0: STA 90:27:e4:3a:4f:44 IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Nov 6 13:43:31 B3 hostapd: wlan0: STA 90:27:e4:3a:4f:44 IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
Nov 6 13:43:31 B3 hostapd: wlan0: STA 90:27:e4:3a:4f:44 RADIUS: starting accounting session 4CD53B00-00000004
Nov 6 13:43:31 B3 hostapd: wlan0: STA 90:27:e4:3a:4f:44 WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Nov 6 13:43:31 B3 dnsmasq-dhcp[1201]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.10.59 90:27:e4:3a:4f:44
Nov 6 13:43:31 B3 dnsmasq-dhcp[1201]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.10.59 90:27:e4:3a:4f:44 iPhone4
Nov 6 13:44:45 B3 dnsmasq-dhcp[1201]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.10.52 e0:cb:4e:c1:72:b7
Nov 6 13:44:45 B3 dnsmasq-dhcp[1201]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.10.52 e0:cb:4e:c1:72:b7 Study
Nov 6 13:44:49 B3 hostapd: wlan0: STA 90:27:e4:3a:4f:44 WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
Nov 6 13:44:49 B3 hostapd: wlan0: STA 90:27:e4:3a:4f:44 WPA: received EAPOL-Key 2/2 Group with unexpected replay counter

My linux knowledge is somewhat limited but it appears that the problem could be wlan0: STA 90:27:e4:3a:4f:44 WPA: received EAPOL-Key 2/2 Group with unexpected replay counter. I have googled it and it seems to be a common problem with hostapd. I'm not sure what to do really. It is very frustrating and probably why I was also having issues with routing when I unsuccesfully tried PPPOE too.
I have tried both mixed (802.11bn) and legacy(802.11g) modes without success.
Can anyone help or confirm what is happening? It is very frustrating.