IRC: Connectivity issues [solved]

[zyko]

Howdy and good mornin'

I am having a hard time using IRC. The troubles started exactly when I got a new router/cable-modem from my ISP.

I can always connect to the server without a hitch. But then either one of these happens:

• Sometimes the connection dies immediately after the MOTD ends. If I type "/join #gentoo" for example, I get a blank window. I can't use /whois or anything else I can think of, nothing happens.
  
• Sometimes it initially seems to work, but at some point the "Lag" which irssi shows me starts increasing by 1s every second, counting upwards to 300, until irssi automatically reconnects to the server:
  

  Code:

  -!- Irssi: No PONG reply from server chat.freenode.net in 301 seconds, disconnecting  -!- Irssi: Connection lost to chat.freenode.net

  
  
• But sometimes it just works.
  
• Many times when I enter a command, it seems to drop the first letter. Example: "/whois john" --> "Unknown command: HOIS" or "/join #gentoo" --> "Unknown command: OIN".

This seems to happen on all servers/networks (I've tried freenode, quakenet and starchat). It happens with and without identd (net-misc/linux-identd). It happens with all clients (irssi, konversation, xchat...). I have enabled port forwarding for the relevant ranges, as is described in ~700 tutorials. My router options include some advanced stuff that I have disabled, like firewalling, parent control, etc.

I'd like to seriously try and get this bad boy working. I'm not knowledgeable about IRC and associated stuff, so I don't really know what else to try or what further information would be helpful. Please feel free to ask probing questions.

Thanks in advance!

[NeddySeagoon]

zyko,

The default IRC port is 6667. Try freenode on port 8001.
That was put in place as a workaround for broken router firmware that drops the connection when it sees a DDC SEND on port 6667
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[zyko]