asked on 3/4/2007

What ports and settings need to be changed on a firewall for Video Chat on AIM?

Hello,
I have a customer of mine that recently purchased a Microsoft Wired LifeCam VX-3000. They want to use it to chat with friends over AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). Ok, so heres the problem: Every time they attempt to connect to one of their friends, they get the error message that the firewall is blocking the connection. With that being said, they are currently running Norton Anti-Virus 2007 on that computer, along with the connection going through a Netgear Wireless Router. What I need to know is what ports do I need to open on the firewall for them, and do I use port forwarding or port triggering? Also, are there any settings I will need to change in Norton Anti-Virus 2007? Any help is greatly appreciated being that I tried to trouble shoot this alone for 3 hours and got no where.

Thanks,
Ryan

Peripherals Hardware Firewalls Networking Hardware-Other

Last Comment

ryan_horman

3/13/2007

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abuckheit

3/4/2007

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ryan_horman

3/4/2007

ASKER

Thanks! But do I use port forwarding or port triggering on the Netgear router?

Thanks,
Ryan

reb_elmagnifico

3/4/2007

Well, if indeed this is the fix to your problem you would probably want to use port forwarding. You would then forward the appropriate ports to the ip address of your computer.

With that said, I personally think the problem lies with the AV/firewall software. In order to test, I would disable all of the anti-virus and software firewalls on both the local and remote computers. Based on the results from that test, you can move on to more steps of troubleshooting.

REB

ViRoy

3/4/2007

port forwarding is basically a "always open" deal where traffick can freely flow in and out of the network.
Port triggering is used when you only want 1/2/3 computer(s) to access these ports... or so that traffic will not flow in through those ports unless a computer from your internal network requests it first.

for a legitemate service like this, i would just use port forwarding.

ryan_horman

3/5/2007

ASKER

Ok, I will try the port forwarding and see if that works. If not, I will then try disabling the AV/Firewall software, and if that doesnt work, I will then try the port triggering. If I do try the port triggering last, is there any particular port I want to put in the 'Triggering Port' number? Because it asks for a range and a trigger port number.

Thanks,
Ryan

ryan_horman

3/13/2007

ASKER

So here's what I did to make it work:

1. Updated the firmware on the Netgear Router
2. Set the port forwarding to ports 1024 - 5000 to an IP Address (i.e. 192.168.1.100)
3. Allowed incoming connections to that machine in the Norton Firewall Settings

Thanks for all the help!

-Ryan