Rob
In Deo speramus, God Bless the USA
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
 ·Comcast
1 edit | Installing 3rd party firmware voids the warrenty. What's the point of releasing the source code if someone uses a 3rd party firmware, they void the warrenty. I installed HyperWRT and then realized my router was rebooting every 5 minutes (HyperWRT showed me uptime), and when I told that to the tech @ Linksys, his reply was:
quote:
Marc Lawrence L(15166): I verified from one of our senior tech that we can have that device replaced since you have installed a third party firmware for that one. Since you've done that, it already voided your warranty.
Me: I can reload your firmware on the device
Marc Lawrence L(15166): Still, even if you load firmware that came from us...You're warranty is already voided.
Maybe I'm missing something? So the code is available, but if you use it, you void the warrenty.
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anon10
@rr.com | Re: Installing 3rd party firmware voids the warren Did you not know that before you installed the firmware?
I thought the 3rd party stuff would inform you of that on the download page. | |
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Rob
In Deo speramus, God Bless the USA
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
| Re: Installing 3rd party firmware voids the warren said by anon10:
Did you not know that before you installed the firmware?
I thought the 3rd party stuff would inform you of that on the download page.
Nope. No warnings. I was having problems with my router on the linksys firmware and someone mentioned to try the hyperwrt. So I installed that from here: »www.hyperwrt.org/Downloads.shtml
and the problems still continued. I noticed that the uptime reader was resetting to 0 everytime I'd lose connection, so I figured it was a router. When I presented my findings to Linksys, he gave me the above message.
I wasn't very happy!
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| | hescominsoon
join:2003-02-18
Brunswick, MD
·Comcast
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Installing 3rd party firmware voids the warren said by Rob  :said by anon10:
Did you not know that before you installed the firmware?
I thought the 3rd party stuff would inform you of that on the download page.
Nope. No warnings. I was having problems with my router on the linksys firmware and someone mentioned to try the hyperwrt. So I installed that from here: » www.hyperwrt.org/Downloads.shtmland the problems still continued. I noticed that the uptime reader was resetting to 0 everytime I'd lose connection, so I figured it was a router. When I presented my findings to Linksys, he gave me the above message. I wasn't very happy! flash it back to factory call again and don't mention the hyperwrt firmware.
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kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY
 ·T-Mobile US
| said by Rob :What's the point of releasing the source code if someone uses a 3rd party firmware, they void the warrenty. I installed HyperWRT and then realized my router was rebooting every 5 minutes (HyperWRT showed me uptime), and when I told that to the tech @ Linksys, his reply was: quote:
Marc Lawrence L(15166): I verified from one of our senior tech that we can have that device replaced since you have installed a third party firmware for that one. Since you've done that, it already voided your warranty.
Me: I can reload your firmware on the device
Marc Lawrence L(15166): Still, even if you load firmware that came from us...You're warranty is already voided.
Maybe I'm missing something? So the code is available, but if you use it, you void the warrenty. Flash it back then sell it on eBay and buy another original. | |
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DrTCP
Yours truly
Premium,ExMod 1999-04
join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX
| said by Rob :Maybe I'm missing something? So the code is available, but if you use it, you void the warrenty. GPL means Linksys has to provide the source code. It does not mean Linksys is bound to provide warranty if you modify it. One is software license and other is warranty. They are not related. Releasing the code has no warranty implications.
Besides, you are not using the Linksys code as is. If you are using 3rd party modified software how can you expect Linksys to support it. Even when using Linksys code if you do not use the same toolset to compile the code, there may be unexpected non-confirming behaviour as well. So, Linksys will only support their own compiled binaries.
Having said that if you did not admit to have loaded 3rd party firmware you can revert back to Linksys firmware and still claim warranty if it was a hardware issue. I think telling that to the support was not very wise thing to do. They are looking at ways to get you off, deny warranty claim for any reason. You gave them a reason. | |
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Rob
In Deo speramus, God Bless the USA
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
| Re: Installing 3rd party firmware voids the warren I reflashed it back. Had the same problems. Spoke with someone else and she agreed to RMA it. I didn't mention the HyperWRT after that. Got another linksys and they sent me the beta firmware (4.0.8?) and it seems to be "ok" now.
I don't think I'm buying Linksys again though. It doesn't seem to be as good as they use to be.
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| | radarman
join:2005-06-01
Odenton, MD
| Re: Installing 3rd party firmware voids the warren I came to the conclusion that Linksys is cr@p years ago, after running a small LAN through one in college. We had about 15 users on a Linksys wired router (can't remember the model number), which was patched into a switch. (we didn't use the on-board hub)
The blasted thing would work for a about a week before we had to go pull the plug and reboot it. At some point, we got one of those timers you can plug a lamp into and had it automatically reboot the router. Finally, we settled on an X10 interface where a local host could reboot it if it failed to ping a certain very stable host. We spent months figuring out how to reboot the router when we were all in class. Linksys replaced the router once, sent us beta firmware, you name it - but we finally gave up and settled on rebooting periodically.
When I graduated, and needed my own router, I built a FreeBSD box on an old Pentium III system, and ran ipfilter/ipnat on it - and I am still using it today. Uptime is great, and it is WAY faster than the Linksys.  | |
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radarman
join:2005-06-01
Odenton, MD
| Just out of curiosity, how did the fact that you were using 3rd party firmware come up? Did they ask?
Either way, if you see odd stuff - always revert back to the original FW *BEFORE* calling tech support. Half the time, it clears up the problem - and if it doesn't, then you get to send the device back. Blowing your warranty over firmware is kind of dumb, especially if you can reflash the original FW.
Although it is possible that remnants of the bad FW might still be in the flash, I suspect they don't troubleshoot returned devices. It would cost too much - unless they start seeing a lot of identical faults. I rather suspect they trash them as soon as the get in the door. The return policy is just to make sure you don't end up selling "free" routers to your buddies. | |
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Rob
In Deo speramus, God Bless the USA
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
| Re: Installing 3rd party firmware voids the warren said by radarman :Just out of curiosity, how did the fact that you were using 3rd party firmware come up? Did they ask? I told him that I have a feeling my router reboots on it's own about 5-10 times a hour. He questioned that and said it was impossible and that he didn't suspect nothing was wrong with the router, that it was my computer. I told him that the uptime was resetting (I thought the linksys firmware had uptime too  ) and he asked me how I knew that. And I said because I tried the HyperWRT to test it out. And he said "brb" and came back with that message.
So I flashed back the firmware, waited a few days and recontacted them.
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| | lgkahn
Premium
join:2005-02-15
Londonderry, NH | Re: Installing 3rd party firmware voids the warren the biggest feature I need on the pre n linksys router is WDS support.. currently none of the pre n routers have wds support and i have a routers downstairs with a switch behind it and 3 tivos on it. | |
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DaDogs
Semper Vigilantis
Premium
join:2004-02-28
Deltaville, VA
| said by Rob :Maybe I'm missing something? So the code is available, but if you use it, you void the warrenty. Clearly you are missing something if you think that you can modify a device you have purchased and expect the warranty to remain in tact.
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taar
join:2000-11-21 | Pretty dumb to tell a manufacturer that you loaded third party crap on to their stuff. Of course they will blame that 3rd party crap for your problems and refuse to take it! | |
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William Slung
@aircanopy.net
| Re: Installing 3rd party firmware voids the warren
"Disclaimer : The following firmware is provided on an "as-is" basis. I take no responsibility if your device breaks or malfunctions! Use at own risk!"
Is from the top of the Hyperwrt download page so perhaps saying no warning is not totally acurate. | |
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