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antdude
Matrix Ant
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join:2001-03-25
US

antdude to Mike Wolf

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to Mike Wolf

Re: How long do Linksys routers last?

said by Mike Wolf:

Keep us informed of your progress.

Just a quick status. I made a firmware backup, did the physical reset yesterday afternoon, reconfigured from scratch (did not set everything like my previous ones, just the important/required ones like the same SSID, same static LAN IP addresses for two wired machines, etc.)).

I am not sure if this was the same before, but my physical router's Cisco Systems logo is orange color instead of white. I can't really remember if it was white. My brain thinks it was white before. However, I read that this is for EasySetup which I never used and pretty sure I disabled. Is there a way to view my backup without restoring to the router to check?

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
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join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

NetFixer

Premium Member

said by antdude:

I am not sure if this was the same before, but my physical router's Cisco Systems logo is orange color instead of white. I can't really remember if it was white. My brain thinks it was white before. However, I read that this is for EasySetup which I never used and pretty sure I disabled.

»homecommunity.cisco.com/ ··· -p/54559

The Cisco logo is the Router’s SecureEasySetup button. It lights up and will stay orange when the Router is powered on. The color orange indicates that the Router is not using the SecureEasySetup feature, while the color white indicates that the Router is using the SecureEasySetup feature


antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude

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So far so good after a day, but previous quick disconnects weren't daily. Just almost. We'll see how goes tomorrow and on.
antdude

antdude to NetFixer

Premium Member

to NetFixer
said by NetFixer:

said by antdude:

I am not sure if this was the same before, but my physical router's Cisco Systems logo is orange color instead of white. I can't really remember if it was white. My brain thinks it was white before. However, I read that this is for EasySetup which I never used and pretty sure I disabled.

»homecommunity.cisco.com/ ··· -p/54559

The Cisco logo is the Router’s SecureEasySetup button. It lights up and will stay orange when the Router is powered on. The color orange indicates that the Router is not using the SecureEasySetup feature, while the color white indicates that the Router is using the SecureEasySetup feature

Yeah, I am not using that feature.
public
join:2002-01-19
Santa Clara, CA

public to NetFixer

Member

to NetFixer
said by NetFixer:

The Cisco logo is the Router’s SecureEasySetup button. It lights up and will stay orange when the Router is powered on. The color orange indicates that the Router is not using the SecureEasySetup feature, while the color white indicates that the Router is using the SecureEasySetup feature

Actually the cisco light leds are connected to gpio pins, and can be controlled by the user to signal any condition.

Mike Wolf
join:2009-05-24
Tuckerton, NJ

Mike Wolf

Member

within the stock firmware and without modification to the board?
public
join:2002-01-19
Santa Clara, CA

public

Member

said by Mike Wolf:

within the stock firmware and without modification to the board?

no mods, but not sure if the crippled fw gives access to gpio commands.

Mike Wolf
join:2009-05-24
Tuckerton, NJ

Mike Wolf

Member

Don't think I've ever seen any options regarding that light except for the white and amber for the SecureEasySetup function. Would be cool for it to do other things, but I can't think of anything except for perhaps a notification if its overheating or overwhelmed?
public
join:2002-01-19
Santa Clara, CA

public

Member

said by Mike Wolf:

Don't think I've ever seen any options regarding that light except for the white and amber for the SecureEasySetup function. Would be cool for it to do other things, but I can't think of anything except for perhaps a notification if its overheating or overwhelmed?

default ddwrt uses the light to indicate active wan connection. It could be used to show a specific wireless client, or maybe low memory, or too many tcp connections or just randomly flashing hypnotic device..
GPIO pins are just that. They can be toggled by software at any time.

Mike Wolf
join:2009-05-24
Tuckerton, NJ

Mike Wolf

Member

very nice. I wonder if the same can be done to the E4200 white LED on the top.
public
join:2002-01-19
Santa Clara, CA

public

Member

said by Mike Wolf:

very nice. I wonder if the same can be done to the E4200 white LED on the top.

probably. You need to find where the leds are connected.
For example
»www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/inde ··· _Scripts

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude

Premium Member

said by antdude:

So far so good after a day, but previous quick disconnects weren't daily. Just almost. We'll see how goes tomorrow and on.

Bad news after six days of no two seconds disconnections. It happened again this morning. I guess resetting back to default settings and reconfiguring from scratch to minimal required settings did not fix it.

I think I will try a third party firmware next?

Thane_Bitter
Inquire within
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join:2005-01-20

Thane_Bitter to antdude

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to antdude
It's white if you use their easy setup button, it’s been awhile but when you press the Cisco logo it starts the process and the LED flashes white while other easy-setup devices are allowed to connect. After its done flashing it should stay solid white.

If you are not using that feature it will be orange, and it is possible to not be lit up at all if you turn the radio off.

Since you reloaded from backup it probably treats the saved settings as if you manually entered them, which would explain the orange illumination of the logo.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

2 edits

antdude

Premium Member

said by Thane_Bitter:

It's white if you use their easy setup button, it’s been awhile but when you press the Cisco logo it starts the process and the LED flashes white while other easy-setup devices are allowed to connect. After its done flashing it should stay solid white.

If you are not using that feature it will be orange, and it is possible to not be lit up at all if you turn the radio off.

Since you reloaded from backup it probably treats the saved settings as if you manually entered them, which would explain the orange illumination of the logo.

I did not restore from backup. I did the reconfiguration from scratch (physically held down the button for about ten seconds; did not disconnect anything either).

Thane_Bitter
Inquire within
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Thane_Bitter

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Ah, well there you go so the orange is normal.

antdude
Matrix Ant
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join:2001-03-25
US

antdude

Premium Member

said by antdude:

said by antdude:

So far so good after a day, but previous quick disconnects weren't daily. Just almost. We'll see how goes tomorrow and on.

Bad news after six days of no two seconds disconnections. It happened again this morning. I guess resetting back to default settings and reconfiguring from scratch to minimal required settings did not fix it. ...

Interesting. It is not daily disconnections anymore since the quick physical reset on 11/21/2012:
...
[2012-11-21 13:21:11] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
[2012-11-27 09:32:24] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link down
[2012-11-27 09:32:26] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
[2012-12-02 15:18:20] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link down
[2012-12-02 15:18:22] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
...
It looks like it is about every six/6 days now?

Question when resetting, am I really supposed to hold down the physical reset button for 30 seconds, unplug power, hold it down again for another 30 seconds, replugged power and do another 30 seconds for its 30-30-30 rule? I only did the reset button for about ten seconds on the 21st.

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
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TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

1 edit

NetFixer

Premium Member

Your 30-30-30 method certainly can't hurt anything, and I have seen it fix borked D-Link, Linksys, Motorola, and Netgear routers on multiple occasions.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I used that method to revive a new D-Link router that seemed to have gotten bricked by a firmware upgrade. There was no ping response, no html or telnet response, and it did not even show up in an ARP scan, but after the 30-30-30 reset I was able to restart the firmware upgrade and get the router back on-line. The same 30-30-30 reset method also fixed a VPN pass through problem for me a couple of months ago on a Netgear router.

What you are currently seeing sounds somewhat like the problem I recently ran into with a new Vonage VDV23 router where it was rebooting every time it renewed the ISP's DHCP lease. That turned out to be a "known problem" for which Vonage did not have a fix (except for me to bring my old Linksys RTP300 out of retirement, and put the VDV23 back into its shipping box). »[Equipment] !#$%&! VDV23

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude

Premium Member

said by NetFixer:

Your 30-30-30 method certainly can't hurt anything, and I have seen it fix borked D-Link, Linksys, Motorola, and Netgear routers on multiple occasions.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I used that method to revive a new D-Link router that seemed to have gotten bricked by a firmware upgrade. There was no ping response, no html or telnet response, and it did not even show up in an ARP scan, but after the 30-30-30 reset I was able to restart the firmware upgrade and get the router back on-line. The same 30-30-30 reset method also fixed a VPN pass through problem for me a couple of months ago on a Netgear router.

What you are currently seeing sounds somewhat like the problem I recently ran into with a new Vonage VDV23 router where it was rebooting every time it renewed the ISP's DHCP lease. That turned out to be a "known problem" for which Vonage did not have a fix (except for me to bring my old Linksys RTP300 out of retirement, and put the VDV23 back into its shipping box). »[Equipment] !#$%&! VDV23

Interesting. I think I will go try 30-30-30 right in a few minutes since I have some free time before I get BUSY again!

Known issue? How did you find that out? I would like to see that on my side if possible. I wonder if Time Warner Cable changed something recently on this 3.2 years old Ambit/Ubee U10C018 cable modem from 9/7/2008.

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
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join:2004-06-24
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Netgear CM500
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1 edit

1 recommendation

NetFixer

Premium Member

said by antdude:

Known issue? How did you find that out?

After jerking me around for a couple of days, Vonage admitted it (details and evidence were provided in the link).
said by antdude:

I would like to see that on my side if possible. I wonder if Time Warner Cable changed something recently on this 3.2 years old Ambit/Ubee U10C018 cable modem from 9/7/2008.

It isn't always easy to find the WAN DHCP lease time in a residential/soho grade router. In my Linksys RTP300 and my D-Link DIR655 it only shows up in the external syslog that resides on my Windows server. It does not show anywhere in the html admin menu in either of those routers or in my cable modem (only my Netgear WNR1000v2 provides that information easily).






RTP300 log excerpt:
Dec 01 12:31:26 192.168.9.12  [001310ABE4FD] udhcpc: DNS Server 75.75.75.75 obtained
Dec 01 12:31:26 192.168.9.12  [001310ABE4FD] udhcpc: Lease of 67.177.172.231 obtained, lease time 345600
 
DIR655 log excerpt:
Dec 02 20:42:26 192.168.9.254 Dec  2 20:42:02 udhcpc[129]: DHCPC get gateway = 107.3.232.1 
Dec 02 20:42:26 192.168.9.254 Dec  2 20:42:02 udhcpc[129]: Sending select for 107.3.234.161... 
Dec 02 20:42:26 192.168.9.254 Dec  2 20:42:02 udhcpc[129]: Lease of 107.3.234.161 obtained, lease time 219048 
 



Well, actually it is available in the DIR655's internal log display page, but the log is so detailed, and the internal storage is limited, so any particular event is likely to scroll past viewing range before you can see it anywhere but the archived syslog.




Even if you find that your reboot/disconnect problem is related to renewing the ISP DHCP lease, there may not be anything you can do about (other than getting another router) it if the hard 30-30-30 reset doesn't fix it. That was my only possible solution for my Vonage VDV23's reboot on lease renewal problem.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude

Premium Member

said by NetFixer:

said by antdude:

Known issue? How did you find that out?

After jerking me around for a couple of days, Vonage admitted it (details and evidence were provided in the link).
said by antdude:

I would like to see that on my side if possible. I wonder if Time Warner Cable changed something recently on this 3.2 years old Ambit/Ubee U10C018 cable modem from 9/7/2008.

It isn't always easy to find the WAN DHCP lease time in a residential/soho grade router. In my Linksys RTP300 and my D-Link DIR655 it only shows up in the external syslog that resides on my Windows server. It does not show anywhere in the html admin menu in either of those routers or in my cable modem (only my Netgear WNR1000v2 provides that information easily).

[att=1]



RTP300 log excerpt:
Dec 01 12:31:26 192.168.9.12  [001310ABE4FD] udhcpc: DNS Server 75.75.75.75 obtained
Dec 01 12:31:26 192.168.9.12  [001310ABE4FD] udhcpc: Lease of 67.177.172.231 obtained, lease time 345600
 
DIR655 log excerpt:
Dec 02 20:42:26 192.168.9.254 Dec  2 20:42:02 udhcpc[129]: DHCPC get gateway = 107.3.232.1 
Dec 02 20:42:26 192.168.9.254 Dec  2 20:42:02 udhcpc[129]: Sending select for 107.3.234.161... 
Dec 02 20:42:26 192.168.9.254 Dec  2 20:42:02 udhcpc[129]: Lease of 107.3.234.161 obtained, lease time 219048 
 



Even if you find that your reboot/disconnect problem is related to renewing the ISP DHCP lease, there may not be anything you can do about (other than getting another router) it if the hard 30-30-30 reset doesn't fix it. That was my only possible solution for my Vonage VDV23's reboot on lease renewal problem.

Thanks. I hope I did the 30-30-30 correctly since I counted with my mouth. ;)

Yeah, I couldn't find the DHCP times in 192.168.1.1 web pages. Oh well, I guess I will have to live with the problem if it still exists or get a new one. I noticed the rare disconnections are two seconds long and some of my WAN connections do not get dropped like my SSH. Although IM and IRC connections do get dropped so it's not too bad.

I should try power cycling my cable modem too. I will do that if the problem returns. I want to narrow down things first. ;)
antdude

antdude

Premium Member

quote:
Thanks. I hope I did the 30-30-30 correctly since I counted with my mouth.

Yeah, I couldn't find the DHCP times in 192.168.1.1 web pages. Oh well, I guess I will have to live with the problem if it still exists or get a new one. I noticed the rare disconnections are two seconds long and some of my WAN connections do not get dropped like my SSH. Although IM and IRC connections do get dropped so it's not too bad.

I should try power cycling my cable modem too. I will do that if the problem returns. I want to narrow down things first.
30-30-30 method did not fix the problem since it didn't last four days:

[2012-12-02 18:01:36] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
[2012-12-06 08:12:52] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link down
[2012-12-06 08:12:54] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up

Tomorrow/Later this weekend, I will try power cycling my old cable modem next to see if it makes any differences. I doubt it.
antdude

antdude

Premium Member

said by antdude:

quote:
Thanks. I hope I did the 30-30-30 correctly since I counted with my mouth.

Yeah, I couldn't find the DHCP times in 192.168.1.1 web pages. Oh well, I guess I will have to live with the problem if it still exists or get a new one. I noticed the rare disconnections are two seconds long and some of my WAN connections do not get dropped like my SSH. Although IM and IRC connections do get dropped so it's not too bad.

I should try power cycling my cable modem too. I will do that if the problem returns. I want to narrow down things first.
30-30-30 method did not fix the problem since it didn't last four days:

[2012-12-02 18:01:36] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
[2012-12-06 08:12:52] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link down
[2012-12-06 08:12:54] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up

Tomorrow/Later this weekend, I will try power cycling my old cable modem next to see if it makes any differences. I doubt it.

It happened again this morning after I power cycled on 12/6/2012 evening PST. I give up. I guess a new router is needed if this gets any worse.