Frequent Disconnects

I am posting this for a friend, because neither of us can figure out what is happening:

"I have Win XP Pro P4/3 Ghz and 1 gig ram using DSL as my Internet.
Running ZoneAlarms firewall and I have the following linksys router:
BEFSX41 EtherFast Cable DSL Firewall Router w/ 4-port Switch/VPN Endpoint

The problem is that I keep getting a "Connection err=7" at random times when playing Guild Wars. It usually occurs between 10 minutes to an hour, usually no longer than one hour of play time without receiving one.

-The first thing that I did was dissable the "Block Wan Request" or "Anonymous Request" on my linksys firewall router. This did not work.

-I then made sure that port 6112 was set to forward to the IP address of the machine I was using to play GW. This did not work.

-Next I completely disabled the firewall part of my router (which I really don't want to have to do) along with the above two thing. This still did not work.

I should mention that when using AIM on a regular basis I am disconected (generaly after 10-15 minutes of use), I am guessing because of the anonymous wan request block or the linksys firewall. After I did the above three things AIM would no longer disconect me after long periods of use. So turning off the firewall seemed to fix this problem but GW is still disconnecting me in the middle of gameplay.

Is there a way to fix this while also allowing me to turn my routers firewall back on. Also, potentially re-enable the "anon wan request blocking" though I can deal with this while only gaming for a short period of time if it is not possible.

Thanks for any help."

edit: The other day, I was at his house, and we were both playing Guild Wars, and I would get disconnected too. I play fine when I am at home. So it does not seem to be machine isolated.

The built in firewall in your friends linksys router is useless...don't get me wrong, it's a nice firewall and a nice router...but nobody gives a damn about what's on his network nor are they interested in using it. War Drivers isolate commercial areas not residential. You don't have anything they want. So he can leave the firewall off.

Unplug the router from the DSL Connection and plug the DSL Connection directly into the computer...if this fixes the disonnecting issue(which it should)...then your problem is the router, and you more than likely need to turn on Port Forwarding or UPnP.

War Drivers do not just go after commercial, it's more common in commercial, but not unheard of in residential. I've heard of someone who uses their neighbor's Wi-Fi from across the street and doesn't use his own service. Also, you are responsible for your own network and there are legal reprocussions if the ISP finds that others might be using your Wi-Fi. It's in the EULA.

That aside, I suggested the same, with routing the router.

just to add things..

Im directly linked to the modem (no routing or anything..), yet I still experienced that kind of error..