BT Broadband...

Today my broadband wasn't working in as far as I had a connection and IP address, but I couldn't get anywhere outside of my LAN. Checking the gateway returned a ping, but the two DNS servers ignored me completely. After a semi-painful round of calls to various helpdesks, checking my Internet Explorer settings (even though I explained I use Firefox) I was told to change my router settings to PPPoA and disable the firewall on the router (a Belkin Wireless ADSL F5D7630-4A). I did this under protest and...

...yep, it worked.
Curses.

The helpdesk analyst - now talking to a four-year old - explained that the router may have downloaded and installed a firmware update overnight and I thanked her for her help and hung up, pride in tatters.

Now, all this is very strange as the only thing to have changed in my configuration is that I was recently (30 July) upped to 2Mb broadband; the router firewall and PPPoE setting hadn't changed. Interestingly, she also gave me two DNS addresses (not sure if they were the same as was previously configured automatically) to add manually.

This all worked until I rebooted and then I started having problems again in that I could access some sites (funnily enough, ones I'd visited recently) but not others. I tried various combinations of firewall (router on, XP SP2 off; router off, XP SP2 on, etc.) all to no avail.

The upshot is:

-I still can't ping the two DNS servers (presumably they're blocking ICMP?)
-I am now getting DNS resolution (so a/the DNS server(s) must be working)
-I've reverted back to PPPoE
-The router's firewall is re-enabled and XP SP2's is off (see Shields Up! - https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 - for why)

So I'm kind of back to square one, but at least everything's working again, although I have no idea why, or for how long. Oh yes, and it doesn't look like the router's 'updated itself' after all - see report...

Runtime Code Version V.A.1.08.03UK (Jul 8 2004 15:41:37)
Boot Code Version V1.4
Hardware Version 01A
Serial Num ---
ADSL Modem Code Version 13.9.38


LAN Settings
LAN MAC Address ---
IP Address 192.168.2.1
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
DHCP Server Enabled


Internet Settings
WAN MAC Address ----
Cable/DSL CONNECTED
WAN IP 81.152.----
Subnet Mask 255.0.0.0
Gateway 217.32.9.149
Primary DNS 194.72.9.34
Secondary DNS 194.74.65.68
Features
Firewall Enabled
Wireless Enabled
SSID ----
WLAN MAC Address -----
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
UPnP Disabled

Checked on BT's site and there are no reported problems so - alas - it remains a mystery...