network issues, stumped

alright i am having issues with my router (i belive), it was one thing but now its 2 things. before i get started its a belkin F5D5230-4 router with the latest firm ware as of Dec 07.

the first issue is NAT, if i leave nat on i have issues with xbox live, if i connect directly to the modem its fine (of course no NAT or any thing else) if i leave everything going through the router and i turn NAT off NOTHING works out side the local network not even my pc. rebooting refreshing dis connecting re connecting cable, trying other cards nothing will work out side the LAN.

i need NAT to be disabled or...lessened(?) to be no so strict because it causes issues over live and other apps on my puter.

seccond issue is more recent, if i turn the 360 or my computer on i get a limited network bandwith warning in the bottom corner of my screen untill i reset the router, tried the same as above before resetting it and some times disconnecting and re connecting while everything is still on some times works but not 100%.

i kinda need something fixed before the weekend because i have a "forza big 'cajoeners' challenge" i am hosting and i would like to make it and race in my own hosted thing.

specs are not in sig: replace DFI and Opty with TF570 Sli and 5600+ w/4 gigs and XP SP2

My first guess with the 360 is you need to set up port forwarding for any ports it is using.

it doesent affect just the 360 though it affects the PC aswell

Simplest solution would seem to be replacing the router with something better perhaps a Linksys

yea i wish i could find my befsr41, it was a pretty good router considering it was flahed with the wrong firmware and then back, people said they couldnt see me

Have you tried giving everything an internal static ip address ?

yeppers, tried that this afternoon

I've never had cable so if i'm stating the obvious a couple times, sorry. If i remember correctly most cable connections are similar to a bridged connection so it should spit a WAN IP to your router - which will help. So, assuming your router has a WAN IP just dmz your router to your 360. From a couple sites I read I guess your router can only do so many port forwarding entries...

As to having to reset your router all the time in order to get an IP. Sounds like your router is about to give up the magic blue smoke that makes it work.

....it wasnt just with the 360. it was with my PC aswell i.e. the WHOLE network would stop working when i disabled NAT.

i found my BESFR41 and realized how hellatiously old it is and it took it about an hour to find every thing on the network and get the info from the modem so i'm going to go buy something different because this one seems to be on its last legs, firm ware is from 2004 and we had it a while before that (probally '00 or '01)

whats a good router, i dont need wireless because the only thing i have that uses it is my Wii and it gets it off of the other network in the house

no offense... why in the world would you disable nat?

generic linksys router should be fine.