Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 13:24 Post subject: PPTP allows to connect exactly once
Router model: Buffalo WHR-G125 (Broadcom5354)
Firmware: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (08/07/10) mini
I have installed DD-WRT on my router, which is acting like a repeater with its own network name (operating mode: router). I set up the PPTP VPN like the tutorials suggest and I even got it working from different clients, although I cannot get web pages to load.
When the client disconnects (be it my smartphone or computer) the VPN won't accept any new connections. I have to reboot the router so I can reconnect to my VPN, this really annoying...
I can't figure out the solution and I've been searching for it on and off for months. The pptpd process seems to be working fine when I SSH into the router and look with "top".
Does anybody have any suggestions to what I could try? I saw that apparently the "loopback" messes with the PPTP VPN and should be disabled, but I did not find an option for that in the Administration -> Management settings, probably because I have the mini version of the firmware.
That's 14896, so the first thing people will say is upgrade, but the classic 14929, and even 14205, are rock-solid when it comes to connecting to PPTP, so I highly doubt that's your problem (though technically possible).
I've never seen PPTP hang through thousands of connections to builds of that era. Is there anything even slightly unusual about how you've configured the router in general (PPTP and otherwise)? When is the last time you've reset to defaults and started over?
Perhaps a screenshot of the PPTP section of the UI would help. I've always used the IP of the router for the Server IP field, though I know some use something else.
That you can't get Web pages to load is weird. That's probably due to a DNS misconfiguration, not that it should relate to your main problem.
I just tried a 30-30-30 reset and then reconfigured the repeater with this tutorial and the VPN with this one. I followed the instructions to the letter and I have exactly the same behaviour as before: one time connect only and I cannot access the internet during this one time.
When connected I can see the client in in Status -> LAN.
Maybe there's a conflict in the tutorials I followed...
I take it that you don't have PPTP running on the primary router instead because that router isn't DD-WRT? Because otherwise, you should. While I've used R-B before, I've always only had the VPN on the main router and can't predict what might happen when it isn't (a hung process seems beyond reason though).
OK, good to see that you're using the router IP and not the external IP as the Server IP (unlike the article). I've always had good luck with the router IP, though I guess either should work.
You're not assigning any DNS, accounting (most likely) for your secondary issue. If you then also don't assign any DNS on the client, you're not going to be able to browse the Web (you should still be able to ping things like 8.8.8.8 ). So, put a DNS address or two in the PPTP config (4.2.2.1, 8.8.8.8 as examples).
My primary router is my ISP's modem/router. I'm using the secondary DD-WRT as a repeater for the basement, the primary router is proprietary and not easily modifiable. Since I needed VPN anyway I decided to use it this way.
When I enter the DNS addresses in the PPTP configuration and save they disappear... I don't think it has an effect. I tried to reboot it just before changing the settings, no change, the fields are empty again...
I enabled SSH on the DD-WRT and checked, sure enough there's no DNS settings in PPTP:
