Linksys router question

This is probably a simple answer: I have some ports forwarded for Xbox Live (among other things). Periodically, the IP addresses of the computers on my network are changed by the router. I can't find any way to get around this.

How do I keep the ports forwarded to the right client? I have a Linksys WRTG etc etc. There seems to be no way to just assign static IPs and such.

Thanks!

Probably the only permanent solution would be to disable DHCP on your router and set static IP addresses on your Xbox and your PCs. Then every device always has the same IP address no matter how long they are turned off or what order they boot in. The other possible solution is to increase the "Client Lease Time" for the DHCP for a longer time period. It defaults to 2 days so if a device is turned off for longer than 2 days than its IP address is thrown back into the pool and something else may get it. So increasing the time will "reserve" it's IP address longer. This may work depending on how long a time span your keep your Xbox turned off.

-edit-
Oh, and to clarify, you don't set the static IP address any place on the router. You set them manually on each device (your Xbox and your PCs) through the network properties. You'll want to check them now and see how they're set (IP address, gateway, subnet mask, DNS servers, etc) and then configure them with the same exact settings as static entries.

Interesting, I'll try that. Thanks!

I get it, I got it, I know it's good.

Vega wrote:

Probably the only permanent solution would be to disable DHCP on your router and set static IP addresses on your Xbox and your PCs.

On many routers, you don't have to disable DHCP entirely. You only need restrict the IP range that the DHCP server pulls from (say, 192.168.8.200 through 250), and then assign static IPs that are outside that range (like 192.168.8.50). That way you can set certain machines to static IPs for port forwarding needs, without sacrificing the convenience of the DHCP for web browsing laptops and such.

I haven't turned DHCP off or anything - but I did assign IP addys that are way higher than I'll ever need.

Technically you can assign static IPs within the dynamic range, and as long as your static based equipment grabs it before the router tries to assign it you should be fine,
however it will puke if it assigns that IP to something else first and the two things are fighting over it, so its much safer and saner to do as suggested and jsut set it to soemthing outside the 100 or so dynamic IPs you'll probably never come close to using up.

So everythings working then Fed? I myself have DHCP enabled on my router but have my 360 and PC set to static IPs in the 100 range as well. To up the ante I also have the IPs reserved to the MAC addresses for my 360 and PC.

Yeah, it's all great right now.