Arggggg...This morning I couldn't figure out why I lost internet. All I had was a flashing green light on the ZA, but showed good internet on the Verizon hardware. Couldn't figure it our for the life of me until I could not release/renew the IP via CMD prompt.The XP machine worked fine and had no problems. Did a restore, turned off the automatic updates and poof we're all good.

However, the only problem seems to be that all of my setting have been set back to default. All the web rules are gone and so are the sites thereof.

I'm debating on renewing the subscription after reading some other nightmare threads about the new firmware.

Thoughts?

Hmmmmmmmmm did you try rebooting the Vista machine?

(soft) Rebooting the router?

We have to Vista machines here at my place and are on autoupdate and have not had any problems like you describe..........

Jim I tried everything. Nothing worked until I did the system restore. Unless it was just coincidence?!? I had a hammer standing by just in case the restore didn't work......Maybe it was scared. LOL But in all seriousness, I have no clue what happened.

I will say this though. I have not renewed my script and when all this went down, I lost all of the settings in my ZA router. Maybe it was a sofaware problem and a conspiracy to make me pay for another script.

quote:

Originally posted by Martyusa:
Arggggg...This morning I couldn't figure out why I lost internet. All I had was a flashing green light on the ZA, but showed good internet on the Verizon hardware. Couldn't figure it our for the life of me until I could not release/renew the IP via CMD prompt.The XP machine worked fine and had no problems. Did a restore, turned off the automatic updates and poof we're all good.

However, the only problem seems to be that all of my setting have been set back to default. All the web rules are gone and so are the sites thereof.

I'm debating on renewing the subscription after reading some other nightmare threads about the new firmware.

Thoughts?

Marty, I am reading through this post and I not sure with what you were having issues. When you say "release the IP via CMD prompt" I assume you are referring to the Vista machine, which would not be anything to do with the router at that point.

Then when you say you did a "restore" and turned off the automatic updates, again this sounds like the Vista machine and not the router. However, if you reset the Z100G and are not connected or subscribed to the firmware updates, then yes, you will have the original settings that were shipped with the device and no new updates, webrules, etc.

I run both Vista machines and XP machines as well as a Wii, two iPhones, and a Linux phone system that use internet access across the Z100G without problems and I don't think the Z100G would know the difference anyway. They all seem to be fine unless something has gone wrong with a device itself. Yes, there have been a few times I've lost internet access on all machines and had to reboot (not reset) the router. Usually there is no explanation; could have been a power drop or surge, a hacker attack (usually the light flashes red), or perhaps an anomaly with the Z100G. I experience the same "outages" with Dlink, Linksys, Cisco, etc. so I just reboot and go on.

As for the flashing green light, it means either that it is booting up (fast flashing) or trying to establish internet access (slow flashing) so it sounds like you are referring to the slow kind. Not too unusual to have this happen on occasion, but I have either rebooted with success or found that the DSL modem needed rebooting also.

Here's what I can tell you about the Z100G from my own experiences:

• The technical support is fair. It lacks consistency and availability but when pressed they come through.
  
• The registration process is absolutely absurd. The item is sold with a subscription and the subscription should be activated easily when the machine arrives a week later. If being protected is so damn important, than why the hell should I wait and additional several days or weeks before being granted permission to get what I already paid for? (OK, off my soapbox!)
• The hardware features seem to be behind the technology curve, but I would argue that while wireless "N," "MIMO," "gigabit Ethernet" and all those other "sexy" LAN technologies seem to grab the lions share of attention, wireless B, G, 10BaseT, and 100BaseT are far more effective for most, if not all, home and small business needs. You might be getting 6mb, 8mb, or higher when "testing" your bandwidth, but unless you have some astronomical data application, your still limited to what you access.
• I still can't find a better total value for the money. I check with several sources and still find that the only comparable product on the market is in the $400+ plus range.
  
• If money is no object and security is a top priority, then there are many other products with better support and installation processes.
  
• If security is not a high priority, then by all means drop the subscription, run out to Best Buy, Curry's, Dick Smith Electronics, or wherever, and by a cheap Linksys with all the bells and whistles. It's not a security appliance, but it will pretend to be.
  

Sidenote: Checkpoint is the best firewall software on the planet and getting its features for $149 is by far a bargain. But checkpoint makes software (Zonealarm is their company) and not appliances. I would like to see them offer the same firmware for any manufacturer such as DLink or Netgear that they offer Sofaware and then we will see a plethora of home security appliances that will make us brag about our router features rather than try to defend them.

I hope this helps or at least was somewhat informational.

I guess at this point I'll just parrot what Rocket said... the Z100G is sure not perfect, but IMHO it's a dang fine performer for the price.

That being said, on the rare occasion when I have an issue I reboot my cable modem and wait for it to come back, then reboot the router and wait for it to come back, then reboot the PC.

I do have my router config. backed up just in case I need to wipe the router, but have never had anything go wrong that caused me to have to do that...

Not sure what was going on at your place, from your problem description I can't figure out what I'd blame it on ;-)

Jim

It was in fact a Vista problem. According to Microsoft and Verizon there was a conflict with the security features of the new update and Z.A.I.S.S.

Doing a system restore was the only fix. I guess I should have tried that first. Thanks for the incite guys. I'm always up for learning as much as I can.

Marty:

That's weird...

I have a Vista box at my place here that is on auto-update running ZA-ISS and it is working fine.... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Do you have latest version of ZA-ISS?

Ya know what else is weird....The format in my router has changed also. Instead of showing my USB connections, there is now a tab for printers. That wasn't there before.

quote:

would like to see them offer the same firmware for any manufacturer such as DLink or Netgear that they offer Sofaware and then we will see a plethora of home security appliances that will make us brag about our router features rather than try to defend them.

They do. The NetDefend Dlink product runs Checkpoint code. The UTM Edge and Sboxes run Checkpoint code too.

On Exeter17's note, I forgot about the Netdefend line. Unfortunately they don't offer the full set of features the Z100G has and they are more expensive. The subscription is a little lower though, somewhere the $50 per year range.

Even if Sofaware did put a gigabit switch on board, they would then have to also upgrade the backplane, the RAM, and the processor significantly to handle the load if someone were to need that level of bandwidth support. If you notice, any of the lower end business security appliances lack gigabit interfaces too. Until the masses need that level of support, the rest will have to spend the extra money to get more features.

On MartyUSA,s note, what version of firmware are you running?

After major complaining to sofaware, they have blessed me with another year of subscription. All of my setting were erased and the router would not let me reset anything without buying a new subscription. They tries to tell me that resetting the router would erase all of my recorded and saved services. The router wanted me to start my NEW service before I could change anything. Everything was N/A and require an initial subscription.

The firmware I had was 6.5xxxxx I am now upgraded to 8.xxxx

It was very weird. I lost my usb port settings and it was changed to a different tab called printers, which was never there before the problem. Like I said, everything was lost. Apparently no-one know what happened and everyone was speculating about the problem (verizon,microsoft)

It was either a big bad booboo, or a very sad attempt to force a subscription. I'd like to think the first was the issue!

I hope so too. But of course, a subscription-based product offering is always going to be unsupported without the subscription. Glad things are working. That printer tab may just be what it was called in the 6.x versions. I can't remember.

Marty:

I would never expect that the result of a hard reset would be to back-level the firmware of the unit that's for sure ... I didn't think there was any local backup of prior firmware levels.

If that's true, then is sure sounds like a screw-up on Sofa's end .... but who knows....

I guess you are good now!

quote:

Originally posted by JimW:

If that's true, then is sure sounds like a screw-up on Sofa's end .... but who knows....

I guess you are good now!

I agree. A screw-up for sure, and your are correct in saying that a hard reset will not restore old firmware.

Don't get me wrong, I love the product for what I use it for. I also love the debates claiming the misnomers of router security I get into about home network security.

But we are all squared away nonetheless.

Thanks guys.