Port forwarding woes

MDF11

I have the Actiontec MI424WR Rev. I router.

I am attempting to forward ports 2300-2400 and 47624 to my PC, to enable me to play a certain online game. The PC is running Windows 7 Home.

I have set up a static IP address for my PC at 192.168.1.8

I have (apparently) successfully created a port forwarding rule, which shows up in the router's web interface port-forwarding rules list as follows:

Networked Computer/Device: [x] 192.168.1.8 (the [x] is a checkbox with check mark in it)

Applications & Ports Forwarded: Destination Ports 2300-2400,47624
TCP Any -> 47624
UDP Any -> 47624
TCP Any -> 2300-2400
UDP Any -> 2300-2400

WAN Connection Type: All Broadband Devices

Status: Active

I have turned off the Windows Firewall, and disabled the "intrusion protection" in my Norton Security program.

Despite all this, port-scanning websites such as http://www.whatsmyip.org/port-scanner/ show that the ports in question are "closed." Interestingly, when I test ports which I have NOT attempted to forward, the port-scanner website says the connection to the (non-forwarded) port has timed out. (This is the same result I get with the forwarded ports when my firewall is on.) In other words, port scanners are drawing a distinction between the ports which I have forwarded (port-closed error) and ports I have not forwarded (timeout error). So, my port-forwarding has accomplished something, but just not . . . you know . . . actual port forwarding.

Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

-- Marc

Anti-Phish1

Yes, there is a distinction between closed and timed out.

In order for a port to show as OPEN, there must be an application running and actively listening on that port that will accept a connection. You appartently didn't have your game running when you ran the port scanner.

In summary there are threee conditions:

Closed - Not forwarded. Rejected by the router.

Timed Out - Opened in the router, but no application running to accept the connection.

Open - Forwarded and application accepts the connection.