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

antdude

Premium Member

My old Linksys WRT54GL router reboots ...

A follow-up to my months old »How long do Linksys routers last? forum thread since it won't let me reply/respond to it.

I think my house mate's Apple iPhone 4S (iOS 5 [will 6 fix it?]) is making my old Linksys WRT54 GL v1.1 reboot. I know he uses the house's wireless Internet to avoid his Verizon's capped, slower 3G Internet connection. It seems like when he goes out and after a few minutes later, my router (still have not replaced it since it is just a very minor annoyance and still using the latest stock firmware) sometimes will reboot.

That makes no sense. Weird! I never see this problem if he is out of town for days/weeks. I don't know how that is related. Is there something funky with this router and iPhone 4S' wifi? Electronics are so weird!
antdude

antdude

Premium Member

So far after 23 days on wireless' channel 1 switched from 11, only one reboot occurred and that was after iPhone was far away for hours already (not iPhone's fault for this one?). Weird, huh? We'll see what happens in the future...
antdude

1 edit

antdude

Premium Member

said by antdude:

So far after 23 days on wireless' channel 1 switched from 11, only one reboot occurred and that was after iPhone was far away for hours already (not iPhone's fault for this one?). Weird, huh? We'll see what happens in the future...

Interesting. Reboot #2 with channel 1 after five days at 5:58:49 PM PDT since my last update. Basically, two reboots within 28 days/4 weeks. Both were long after iPhone 4S (iOS 5)'s left the home (about 45 minutes later for reboot #2).

I am now trying channel 8 (lucky number) to see if that makes any differences. I will try ALL channels to see which one is the best. #1 is the best so far.

Bill_MI
Bill In Michigan
MVM
join:2001-01-03
Royal Oak, MI
TP-Link Archer C7
Linksys WRT54GS
Linksys WRT54G v4

Bill_MI

MVM

Nothing to contribute - just letting you know someone is reading this with interest.

Sounds like the router likes to throw up on something but greatly reduced with the 4S out of the picture? It also sounds like the rate is too low to prove much with things like channel changes but you never know what neighbors are carrying and what channels they favor, too. The radio does, after all, hear everything on other systems.

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

antdude

Premium Member

said by Bill_MI:

Nothing to contribute - just letting you know someone is reading this with interest.

Sounds like the router likes to throw up on something but greatly reduced with the 4S out of the picture? It also sounds like the rate is too low to prove much with things like channel changes but you never know what neighbors are carrying and what channels they favor, too. The radio does, after all, hear everything on other systems.

Yeah, that probably explains why I didn't get a reboot when I disabled the router's wireless. However, that was only for about five days of testing. I would need to do it longer, but can't since wireless is needed when my mate is at home.
antdude

1 edit

antdude

Premium Member

said by antdude:

said by antdude:

So far after 23 days on wireless' channel 1 switched from 11, only one reboot occurred and that was after iPhone was far away for hours already (not iPhone's fault for this one?). Weird, huh? We'll see what happens in the future...

Interesting. Reboot #2 with channel 1 after five days at 5:58:49 PM PDT since my last update. Basically, two reboots within 28 days/4 weeks. Both were long after iPhone 4S (iOS 5)'s left the home (about 45 minutes later for reboot #2).

I am now trying channel 8 (lucky number) to see if that makes any differences. I will try ALL channels to see which one is the best. #1 is the best so far.

Bah. A reboot just occurred a few minutes ago. So that was over a week. I guess channel changing doesn't matter now. Also, iPhone 4S was far away for about 30 minutes and on the latest iOS 6.

Tursiops_G
Technoid
MVM
join:2002-02-06
Brooksville, FL
ARRIS TM1602

Tursiops_G

MVM

I'm assuming that you did try another power brick already?
(the previous thread mentioned it but didn't show a result).

If you did and it didn't help, and considering the age of the router, just for grins I'd open up the router case and look for any signs of bulging or leaking electrolytic caps...

Bad caps can cause all kinds of weird issues, instability, etc. and the symptoms can get worse as the load on the microprocessor increases (noisy rail voltage).

Just a thought,

-Tursiops_G.

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

antdude

Premium Member

said by Tursiops_G:

I'm assuming that you did try another power brick already?
(the previous thread mentioned it but didn't show a result).

If you did and it didn't help, and considering the age of the router, just for grins I'd open up the router case and look for any signs of bulging or leaking electrolytic caps...

Bad caps can cause all kinds of weird issues, instability, etc. and the symptoms can get worse as the load on the microprocessor increases (noisy rail voltage).

Just a thought,

-Tursiops_G.

No, I did not try another power brick. Where can I get one for my old router?

I am currently trying "Try to change the router’s advanced wireless settings by using these settings: beacon 50; dtim 3, frag 2304, rts 2305. These settings are usually changed if there are wireless connectivity issues." according to Jake2.0's re(sponse/ply) in »community.linksys.com/t5 ··· p/645758 ... I also disabled SecureEasySetup and Lazy WDS options since I never use these features.

Tursiops_G
Technoid
MVM
join:2002-02-06
Brooksville, FL
ARRIS TM1602

Tursiops_G

MVM

Any +12V DC 1A (1000mA or more) power supply with the correct connector should do... (Center pin is Positive I believe - Check the label on your old brick just to be sure).
If you don't have something suitable laying around, they can be found on Amazon for around $10 or so.

HTH,

-Tursiops_G.

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

antdude

Premium Member

said by Tursiops_G:

Any +12V DC 1A (1000mA or more) power supply with the correct connector should do... (Center pin is Positive I believe - Check the label on your old brick just to be sure).
If you don't have something suitable laying around, they can be found on Amazon for around $10 or so.

HTH,

-Tursiops_G.

OK and thanks.

FYI, no reboots so far due to the recent advanced wireless changes.

Jan Janowski
Premium Member
join:2000-06-18
Waynesville, NC
·Carolina Mountai..
Synology RT2600ac
Linksys E2000

Jan Janowski to antdude

Premium Member

to antdude
I was having strange issues connecting, and what I would do to prove it it what you're saying is to document the channels in use around you. I had as many as 8 routers around me with 40% signal strength or higher... and pretty much all of them were randomly changing channels....
I got so frustrated, I switched from 2G to 5G.... And I haven't had an issue since...
The old 2G router power supply was rebuilt in middle of this, and after re-build it still got clobbered by what I eventually found was adjacent channels... and not power supply issues...

I still occasionally check the 2G channels.... and my neighbors still are bouncing back and forth between channels..
I asked a neighbor (who was one of them) and he just changes Freq's "about once a month"...........

I couldn't be happier with 5G... I'm here alone!!

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

antdude

Premium Member

said by Jan Janowski:

I was having strange issues connecting, and what I would do to prove it it what you're saying is to document the channels in use around you. I had as many as 8 routers around me with 40% signal strength or higher... and pretty much all of them were randomly changing channels....
I got so frustrated, I switched from 2G to 5G.... And I haven't had an issue since...
The old 2G router power supply was rebuilt in middle of this, and after re-build it still got clobbered by what I eventually found was adjacent channels... and not power supply issues...

I still occasionally check the 2G channels.... and my neighbors still are bouncing back and forth between channels..
I asked a neighbor (who was one of them) and he just changes Freq's "about once a month"...........

I couldn't be happier with 5G... I'm here alone!!

Yeah, going all over my home's upstair floor resulted about 20 different WAPs with two different MacBook Pros! Crazy. I don't know if these reboots are caused by wireless channels though.

Enjoy your 5G until more people have it near you and history repeats.
antdude

1 edit

antdude

Premium Member

I am currently trying "Try to change the router’s advanced wireless settings by using these settings: beacon 50; dtim 3, frag 2304, rts 2305. These settings are usually changed if there are wireless connectivity issues." according to Jake2.0's re(sponse/ply) in »community.linksys.com/t5 ··· p/645758 ... I also disabled SecureEasySetup and Lazy WDS options since I never use these features.

Bad news. It happened again after two weeks of uptime: 7/7/2013 7 AM PDT - 7/21/2013 9:46:56 AM PDT. I just reverted its advanced settings back to original settings since that did not help.

Weird. Disabling the router's stock firmware (v4.30.16)'s SecureEasySetup, in Wireless_Advanced.asp, disables "Wireless Channel"'s pulldown menu in "Basic Wireless Settings" on »192.168.0.1/Wireless_Basic.asp web page? Using IE8 instead of Mozilla's SeaMonkey v2.19 (same Gecko engine as Firefox v22's) web browser works. I wonder why!

auctionhugh
join:2002-10-09
Kalamazoo, MI

auctionhugh to antdude

Member

to antdude
My gosh, just spend $40 on a refurbed linksys e3000 N router and watch your problems disappear. Assuming you get one of the 4 out of 5 problem free refurbs.

Dustyn
Premium Member
join:2003-02-26
Ontario, CAN
·Carry Telecom
·TekSavvy Cable
Asus GT-AX11000
Technicolor TC4400

Dustyn to antdude

Premium Member

to antdude
Perhaps it's time for a new up to date router? The last thing I'm going to worry is how often it reboots. I can't say I've noticed the last time mine has as it's a pretty solid router. As long as it can self-reboot and get back online afterwards, I could care less. The amount of time and energy in trying to figure this out why that router is rebooting isn't worth it IMOP.

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

2 edits

antdude

Premium Member

said by Dustyn:

Perhaps it's time for a new up to date router? The last thing I'm going to worry is how often it reboots. I can't say I've noticed the last time mine has as it's a pretty solid router. As long as it can self-reboot and get back online afterwards, I could care less.

Mine self reboot (only takes a couple seconds). I noticed it has been less frequent these days. Whatever. Example of the last 30 days:
...
[2013-07-21 09:46:57] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link down
[2013-07-21 09:46:59] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
[2013-08-03 23:15:39] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link down
[2013-08-03 23:15:40] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
[2013-08-08 23:07:22] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link down
[2013-08-08 23:07:24] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
--
Ant @ AQFL.net and AntFarm.ma.cx. Please do not IM/e-mail me for technical support. Use this forum or better, »community.norton.com ! Disclaimer: The views expressed in this posting are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

Dustyn
Premium Member
join:2003-02-26
Ontario, CAN
·Carry Telecom
·TekSavvy Cable
Asus GT-AX11000
Technicolor TC4400

Dustyn

Premium Member

I remember how ofter my BEFSR41 and BEFSX41 used to reboot. More times than I can count and the issues were never fully resolved by Linksys firmware updates. I had to abandon those routers as they had a TERRIBLE time trying to reestablish a WAN/LAN connection.

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

antdude

Premium Member

said by Dustyn:

I remember how ofter my BEFSR41 and BEFSX41 used to reboot. More times than I can count and the issues were never fully resolved by Linksys firmware updates. I had to abandon those routers as they had a TERRIBLE time trying to reestablish a WAN/LAN connection.

I assume too often to be annoying. I would totally dump it too. Since mine is super rare, I just live with it. It is better than my cable modem Internet's outages! LAN connections don't even get disconnected because the router's reboot disconnections are so short.