One Player Suddenly Unable to Join to my FGC Ultimate Server?

[kronovan]

One of my players wasn't able to connect to my FGC Ultimate server last night. Other players connected fine and that player had connected successfully on previous sessions. We tried everything imaginable to resolve this, including rebooting his PC and router and checking his Windows Firewall setting; FGC clients config was correct. At one point we used some legacy TCPIP tools to try and get some info. I had him run netstat -n while he attempted to connect, while I ran it at the same time. I could never see his Internet IP address in the Foreign Address column. He could see my Internet IP address in that column with the correct port 1802, but the state never got past SYN which I recall as being the initial send sequence number part of the connection. We're both in the same city and are using the same Internet Service Provider. I had him check his router log and he had some error message about a IPv6 failure. I don't know if that is or isn't related to this problem?

If anyone could give any suggestions as to how to resolve this, I'd really appreciate it.

[Trenloe]

Check your advanced internet security hasn’t blocked that specific player. Info here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?53461-Comcast-XFinity-Cox-and-Shaw-Communications-Users-Important

[kronovan]

Many thanks for the reply Trenloe. My port configuration is made directly on my router and not an ISP website. I have 2 routers and I do know that both are configured correctly for routing port 1802, but you never know and weirder stuff has happened. I'll check the external/Internet side router's security page when I'm back at home.

[Trenloe]

The page linked describes an additional layer of security some ISPs are using - including Shaw. This is in addition to anything you have setup locally.

[kronovan]

The page linked describes an additional layer of security some ISPs are using - including Shaw. This is in addition to anything you have setup locally.

Aha, you must have read my post in that thread. ;) Yep I'm aware of that "additional level of security", but I had the Shaw Tech place my router in to bridged mode at installation so my connetions wouldn't be routed through it. Now...is it possibe that Shaw has recently done something with my connection in error - heck yeah, they're capable of doing all sorts of unsolicited and silly things. If I don't note anything on my external-Shaw Internet router, I most certainly will contact support.

[kronovan]

Well I checked into it and confirmed that my Shaw modem-router is indeed still in bridged mode and isn't being routed through any Shaw security server or cloud. If you're using the Shaw service, that can be confirmed by attempting to access internet.shaw.ca. If your modem-router is in bridged mode, you don't have access to that portal. So the problems/issues detailed in that thread linked near the top, don't apply in my case. Meanwhile I checked my external modem-router and all the port forwarding is still configured correctly and working.

if anyone could give other suggestions, it would be appreciated.

[Moon Wizard]

Perhaps the issue is with the ISP or security software/router on the player side?

Regards,
JPG

[kronovan]

Perhaps the issue is with the ISP or security software/router on the player side?

Yep, I have considered that. We did go through his router configuration, but nothing stood out other than the IPv6 error I mentioned above. Still, I know his modem-router isn't bridged, so I've messaged him and suggested he thoroughly check his advanced security page and logs on the portal.

[Granamere]

OK so does the user have a second PC he could install FG on and test from that PC? If you want I can bring up my FGC server and he can try and connect to me.
Can he connect to you if no one else is connected? Have you tried a new campaign?
Has he rebooted all of his networking gear? I had a switch that used to cause me random problems if I did not reboot it every 5 or 6 months.
Has he ever connected to you?
Any chance he is using the FGU client?

[damned]

Sometimes its easier to just install Hamachi for the GM and the one user who cannot connect.

[kronovan]

OK so does the user have a second PC he could install FG on and test from that PC? If you want I can bring up my FGC server and he can try and connect to me.
He didn't have a 2nd PC, but he can bring a laptop from work and I've encouraged him to do so.

Can he connect to you if no one else is connected? Have you tried a new campaign?
I had him try to connect with no else connected, but he couldn't. Yes, tried a different campaign.

Has he rebooted all of his networking gear? I had a switch that used to cause me random problems if I did not reboot it every 5 or 6 months.
Yes he did.

Has he ever connected to you?
Yes he successfully connected on 4 previous occasions.

Any chance he is using the FGU client?
I recently upgraded my FGC Ultimate license to FGU and we've been discussing migrating our campaign. That hasn't occurred yet and he's aware of that. So I doubt he installed the FGU demo client in error and is still using the FGC client he previous has been successfully connecting with. That said, while I'm 90-something % sure about that I'm not 100% sure, so I'll get confirmation.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[kronovan]

Sometimes its easier to just install Hamachi for the GM and the one user who cannot connect.

I've used it before and had decent experiences with it. I'll install it on my PC and keep that open as an option. Thanx

[kronovan]

In the final follow up to this, my player can now successfully connect. Nothing has changed on my end, so we're putting this down to Shaw Communications somehow having not been able to allow his connection attempt. Whether that was due to heavy traffic or something in his advanced Internet security, who knows.

In the meantime, before last session in prep for a potential workaround I installed the Hamachi VPN client. In the process it completely disabled my wireless NIC, which is only Ethernet connection to my hosting PC - doh! Redownloading and reinstalling my wireless NIC driver fixed it. I knew I had cause to concern when Hamachi wanted to install in my \Program Files (x86)\ folder. It just seems to me that Hamachi, which has worked fine for me in the past, possibly has components that are out of date. I know I won't be installing it again anytime soon.