has this always happened, or is it just happening now?
reset your router.

I desperately need help with a strange problem.

I have a new Netgear DG834N Router, and I am using it to connect both my laptop and my desktop pc to the internet.

Now, whereas I can both connect them to the internet I have a strange problem. The desktop seems unable to upload webpages and files (FTP) and send emails (SMTP), but all other services work fine.

The laptop instead, when is connected to the router wireless has a similar problem with FTP, but not with SMTP: when I try to upload a file with Dreamweaver I get an error: "Unable to locate host...". But if I connect it to the router with a wire it can upload webpages with no problem. I have tried going wired with the desktop pc but it doesn't make any difference.

I have tried checking if these services were enabled on the router configuration, and I created rules to enable all inbound and outboud FTP services on my desktop PC IP address but doesn't help. I even arrived to enable all services without change.

I have tried disabling the firewall (both windows XP one, that I always keep disabled, and my one: VCOM Security Suite) with no help to my problem. Also, it is very peculiar that even when I'm connected if I type 192.168.0.1 on my desktop pc it can't find the router admin page.

I have contacted Netgear support and they haven't manageed to find a solution. They have passed the problem to "level 2", but level 2 never rang me. I have rung them again about it and they said they would ring me very soon, but it has now been days and no ring from them.

I desperately need help. It is a problem that doesn't seem to make any sense to me, because it only happens on one computer, and happens on the other one only when wireless.

There is a common fix for this. Netgear disables outbound telnet and FTP by default without logging. In order to enable these services you will need to create an explicit allow rule for FTP. On some Netgear routers you will have to add an outbound FTP rule to the firewall rules panel and on other models, you will have to add an FTP service rule to the "block services" menu. It depends on which router you have. When you look at one of these menus you will see no indication that Netgear disables telnet and FTP by default, but trust me - THEY DO. Add whatever explicit rules you need to enable these services and as soon as you hit apply, it will work. I just did this to a RP614v4 recently and it had the "block services" menu, which was empty. As soon as I added an allow FTP rule, it worked immediately and I was able to access FTP sites on the internet again.

Good luck, DR