For about 3 years now I've been using the same network setup in my apartment with (almost) no problems.  The only thing that goes wrong is about every 3 or 4 months the router (a D-Link 524) needs to be reset.  Pissed me off at first, but I've learned to deal with it.

About a week ago we had our internet upgraded from 384k to 5M.  Everything seemed to be working correctly at first, but I opened up µTorrent before I went to bed, and when I woke up the internet had died.  I tried resetting the router, but to no avail.  I tried installing the newest firmware, but that didn't work either.  Eventually what I ended up doing was unplugging both the modem and the router.  About 10 minutes later I plugged the modem back in, and about 10 minutes after that I plugged the router back in.  Problem fixed.

Being the curious person I am, I opened up µTorrent again that night, only to have the same thing happen.  I didn't realize at first, 'cause I was using the wireless internet from our router just fine, but on our desktops it was dead.  Once again the only thing I could do to get the internet working again was unplug both things for 10 minutes.

I tried plugging my computer directly into the modem the next night, opened up µTorrent, and everything was still working perfectly the next morning.  Tried it again through the router and everything failed miserably.

...anyone have any ideas?  My roommates don't like me stealing the internet at night ('cause they wake up before I do, and are pissed when they can't use the internet), and I don't like not downloading stuff =P.  Anyone able to offer any help?

I already updated the firmware for the router, but I haven't tried lowering the max connections for the torrents.  Good idea.

I AM able to reach the router at 192.168.0.1 when I lose the connection, which I thought was odd.  The router's still on, and wireless devices can still reach it...it just doesn't like sending a signal out through the wired connections.

*EDIT* I cut the max connections in half, and also am limiting the download speed to 20kB/s, which is horrendous, but 1) anything more and it wants to crap out on me, and 2) at least I'm still getting stuff, even if a single TV episode takes 4-6 hours to get :-\

Right now I have upload limited to 5, download limited to 20, max connections set to 100.  If I set upload to 1/3 my max upload speed it'd be way too high, as, for some reason, the max speed I can ever get (even though I'm on a 5 meg connection) is 60-70k/s...and I (in theory) get much, much higher than that for upload speed.

I dunno...my connection has always sucked ass, but at least it stayed connected.

And let me say, Chyld, for a 5 meg those numbers are horrific. You should call your ISP immediately and complain about not getting optimal speeds. Don't just be glad you're connected, you have broadband, and should be getting the speeds you are paying for.

Yeah, I know.  But unfortunately I have Charter as my ISP, and they suck horribly (especially in this area, where there's zero competition).  If I'm just downloading a regular file off the internet I get much higher speeds (still not the speeds I should be getting...but much higher), it's just on torrents that my speed is this horribly craptastic.

So setting 'Protocol Encryption' to 'Enabled'?  And check the box next to 'Allow incoming legacy connections'?  'Cause those were both already set that way =P  Although I can do 'Forced' for the encryption.  Not sure if that'd make a difference or not, but I could try it.

As far as I know the port is open.  I followed the guide here: http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Dlink/DI-524/Utorrent.htm

The only thing I see when I do netstat is 'Segments Retransmitted'.  Is that what you meant?  If so it's at 168549...I'm assuming that's a lot =P

And...I'm sorry, MTU?  Is that an acronym I know and am just forgetting?

I'm assuming you mean ration of Retransmitted to Sent.  Retransmitted is 180186, Sent is 18472372, so ratio is just under 1% (yes, technically not ratio...but it's late, and that's easier right now =P).

And, now that I know what MTU stands for...how do I change that to 1492? (sorry, not so good with the network stuffs)

*EDIT* Googled MTU after I posted this, and I think I got that changed correctly.