Windows Live Messenger crashes Router/Internet Connection

I recently upgraded my Netgear RangeMax WNR3500 router to the latest firmware of V1.0.30_8.0.30. I noticed each time I started Windows Live Messenger my router would physically reboot. Yes I said reboot.

You can see here I am running a continuous ping to 4.2.2.2, which is on the internet, and it’s responding fine.

Below I attempt to log into Windows Live Messenger

You can see as soon as I start Windows Live Messenger my connection drops. I tested this from several different machines and got the same result – no matter which machine I start Windows Live Messenger from it crashes my router. I am using the latest version of Windows Live Messenger as of 3/8/2010.

The router reboots and the internet connection comes back up in a couple of minutes. I shutdown Windows Live Messenger at this point to troubleshoot the issue and see if I can resolve the problem.

Several other people online have similar issues but I could not find a solid resolution or a logically theory on the issue. Some said to disable uPNP however that was already disabled on my router. These are the steps I took to resolve the issue.

1. I added my primary machine as the default DMZ server and I did not have the issue after the change. However it was now working from all my machines. If this was an issue communication from the internet to the application then only my primary machine should have been working at this point.
2. I removed the setting for the default DMZ server, Windows Live Messenger continued to worked after this change but only for a while. I tryed changing the MTU settings to 14xx range and it did not help the issue.

I will be investing in a Linksys Router in the near future, I have found no fix for this issue yet.