DHCP Client table, weird things show up

[PeteyCPU]

Me and my roomates are connected to SBC DSL through our Linksys BEFSR81 router. Lately, our connection seems to drop out every 20-30 minutes and then come immediately back on. Also, there are 8 computer connected to the router (it has 8 ports), therefore there should only be 8 DHCP clients listed on the client table. Yet, when I look at the client table there have been as many as 30 at one time all with strange characters for names. Has anyone heard of this before? Could my router be on the outs?

 

[SaigonK]

Originally posted by: PeteyCPU
Me and my roomates are connected to SBC DSL through our Linksys BEFSR81 router. Lately, our connection seems to drop out every 20-30 minutes and then come immediately back on. Also, there are 8 computer connected to the router (it has 8 ports), therefore there should only be 8 DHCP clients listed on the client table. Yet, when I look at the client table there have been as many as 30 at one time all with strange characters for names. Has anyone heard of this before? Could my router be on the outs?

Ok lets start with the phantom clients, I have a Netgear setup at a local office, it does this very same thing. It isnt neccessarily an issue, so much as the router is keeping old client data,
I wouldnt really sweat that one to much, but as for the dropping of clients while on the router, I would look into that! The system may be hosed.

 

[RhythmAddict]

I dont know about the other readers, but I certainly wouldn't ignore the fact that the DHCP client list is listing either random characters or other legit MAC addressses..
Are they random ASCII chars? or do they follow the MAC address format??
If they're random chars, that is just funky...maybe try upgrading firmware (you should prob do that anyway)
If they're legit MAC addresses, someone might be using your connection....
You may also want to set the Max # of DHCP clients to 8, or maybe use static IP's - and of course enable WEP (not full proof, but better than nothing) Oh, and MAC address filtering as well...