I've looked in existing threads, but neither help - they both seem to point at my internet connection, and yet disconnecting>reconnecting doesn't help.
I get this error on EVERY server!
X12, AVG Firewall, just installed some Network drivers - could they be the problem?
When you connect to a server two ports are used, a TCP one and an UDP one. I don't know exactly which of the two is used for guest info traffic. You can start investigating with TCPView by Sysinternals. Download it, use LFS in windowed mode so you can take a look to both windows and try looking at what happens. Does the TCP connection to the server work? Does the UDP connection work?
If you really want to have all the relevant information about network traffic and established TCP connections (UDP is connectionless) you'll need something more serious than TCPView to understand if there is a correct flow of data. Wireshark is a good, freely available packet capture software package.
If nothing has changed in your PC or network setup, I'd guess that this new behaviour could be traced back to the ISP, either for temporary connectivity problem or for freshly implemented traffic shaping/blocking measures.
LFS has made one UDP connection (to "*.*" no less), while it's made roughly the same amount of TCP connections that are on the server list
When i try to connect to CTRA Single Seater 1 i get this line (in red) appear
LFS.exe:6084 TCP jakg-pc:53602 no.rdns-yet.24-play.com:2007 ESTABLISHED
Not sure what 24-play.com is, especially seeing as the CTRA servers are (afaik) hosted on the UKCT box, which is in no way related to "24 Play" who i've never heard off.
The red highlighting in TCPView means that a connection is torn down, so I believe from what you're writing that the connection goes down immediately after having been established.
My LFS opens UDP port 31000 at the start; another UDP port is used when I connect to a server. So, when a connection to a server is operating, I have two UDP ports and a TCP one. When you connect to the master server first the master is contacted, then a lot of short TCP connections to each server that the master has offered as a result of your query are issued: you should see them in green (established) and yellow (changing state). They become red only when the connections are no longer existing. To have a clearer view you can untick "Show unconnected endpoints" under Options in TCPView. This won't, however, show the UDP ports, which are important.
Then try again to reconnect to a server. It should open the TCP port for the server and establish a connection, start downloading skins on a normal http port from Scavier's servers, open an UDP port.
These are the ports used by LFS when I have a stable connection to CTRA Single Seater:
UDP, being a connectionless protocol, doesn't show an endpoint. It's used to send packets when needed, but to know where packets go you need a packet capture software.
The name of the host you see is gathered from reversed dns lookups, and it doesn't differ for me. It should suffice to say it's okay.
My hypothesis, in this case, doesn't vary. Something is shutting down the connection to the server soon after it has been established. Either you have a connectivity problem related to firewall/routing issues or it's a form of traffic shaping, or a provider side problem. Since it happens on a port not devoted to the stuff usually devoted to web surfing or mail I'd ask the ISP, and I would try to compare the result with different online games to see if they are affected. I'd try with something like TrackMania Nations, or something similar and free, working on non http ports.
As I said before, TCPView is rather limited in scope, so an analysis to have better hints has to be done with Wireshark or similar stuff. Unfortunately I cannot ask you to save a short packet capture and send it to me to check if I see something wrong since it could capture also some sensitive data. My first advice would be to check in gaming forums if there's someone else having troubles with your ISP, or call directly your ISP to know if they have implemented some brand new traffic shaping tactic that may interfere with online gaming, or if they have some trouble.
You could go back to a system restore point just before the update, or uninstall the update, or use the drivers provided by the manufacturer.
I'd go for the restore point, it's painless, check if it works and then exclude the update from future proposals.
I'm 1337 with hardware, and can solve most software issues fairly easily because their simple - i don't get most hardcore web stuff (like TCP), however once i remember this network update i realised it had to be the problem...
I also get this error message aswell. But I click it again, then it lets me connect? I put this down to the internet for me. Try connecting on Demo (A server on demo) see what happens there.
Just kidding, glad you got the issue worked out.