Johkal
Cool Cat
Premium,MVM
join:2002-11-13
Happy Valley
clubs:
 ·Comcast Digital Vo..
 ·Comcast
·Vonage
2 edits | reply to Anub1s
Re: I think it's time to replace the WRT54G
The OP said: "I've pressed the reset button many of times.. sometimes that will cause it to work but only to act funny later on like when the power goes out."
Thus, this sets the router back to defaults. We're not dealing with 3rd party firmware; just stock Linksys firmware.
To add, I know he said he's loaded "HyperWRT" on it, but consider what I said above. Clearly the router has issues whether it is using the 3rd party firmware or the stock Linksys firmware after a hard reset.
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Subaru
1-3-2-4
Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT
clubs: | reply to Subaru
I loaded tomato firmware and cleared the nvram (thanks fourboxers) and it rebooted firm without the endless power light flash.
I will report back in 24 hours to see if it will effect anything else |
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Hall
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH
 ·EarthLink
·AT&T Midwest
·Earthlink Cable Mo..
| reply to Johkal
said by Johkal  : Thus, this sets the router back to defaults. We're not dealing with 3rd party firmware; just stock Linksys firmware. To add, I know he said he's loaded "HyperWRT" on it, but consider what I said above. Clearly the router has issues whether it is using the 3rd party firmware or the stock Linksys firmware after a hard reset. I'm pretty sure that the hard resets he's doing will not magically bring back the stock Linksys firmware. It's gone.... Well, I have to admit I'm not familiar with HyperWRT, but do know how DD-WRT works and in that case, you have to manually re-flash Linksys firmware back onto the unit. |
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Hall
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH
·EarthLink
·AT&T Midwest
·Earthlink Cable Mo..
| reply to Subaru
said by Subaru :I loaded tomato firmware and cleared the nvram (thanks fourboxers) and it rebooted firm without the endless power light flash. I will report back in 24 hours to see if it will effect anything else My money says it will be just fine now. A router really can't "wear out". My WRT54G got real sluggish at one time and only a re-flash (of the same) of the firmware helped. No amount of power plug pulls or hard resets made a difference. |
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Johkal
Cool Cat
Premium,MVM
join:2002-11-13
Happy Valley
clubs:
1 edit | reply to Hall
Don't bet on the 3rd party firmware being there after a hard reset. It may be corrupt. |
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Bill_MI
Bill In Michigan
Premium,MVM
join:2001-01-03
Royal Oak, MI
·Comcast
| reply to Hall
said by Hall :My money says it will be just fine now. A router really can't "wear out". My WRT54G got real sluggish at one time and only a re-flash (of the same) of the firmware helped. No amount of power plug pulls or hard resets made a difference. I'll also give Subaru an 80% chance of success. Flash consists of 3 parts: 1) Boot code aka CFE, not touched by normal flashing. 2) Firmware, normally flashed in all its flavors and 3) NVRAM which has some core values but every firmware treats a little different.
Thus, flash firmware and clear NVRAM for the most bang for the buck. Most swear by this.
So what could "wear out"? Not much but connectors come to mind when slow speeds are mentioned. A bad connection on 1/2 an ethernet pair may actually "almost-work" and slow things down from the data struggle. I've had very old equipment snap back after a magnifying glass and a whittled pencil eraser.  |
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Hall
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH
·EarthLink
·AT&T Midwest
·Earthlink Cable Mo..
| said by Bill_MI : Thus, flash firmware and clear NVRAM for the most bang for the buck. Most swear by this. Yeap, that's what I did and all is well again.
said by Bill_MI : So what could "wear out"? Not much but connectors come to mind... I was referring to the insides, i.e. software or the chips and chipset components, not actual physical hardware. But hey, this is a wireless router, so other than the WAN feed, I'd venture to say that most wireless routers have few, if any, ethernet connections actually in use. Of course, in my house, I have one wireless device and (4) hard-wired devices split between my WRT54G and my BEFSR41. Who besides Bill_MI know that that is ?  It's going on 7-8 years old now too... |
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Hall
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH
·EarthLink
·AT&T Midwest
·Earthlink Cable Mo..
| reply to Johkal
said by Johkal :Don't bet on the 3rd party firmware being there after a hard reset. It may be corrupt. Original firmware or 3rd-party firmware .... makes no difference if something is going to corrupt it. Why do you think the 3rd-party stuff is any different than stock firmware ? When you flash to DD-WRT or the like, and I think I said it already, the stock firmware is GONE or replaced. |
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Bill_MI
Bill In Michigan
Premium,MVM
join:2001-01-03
Royal Oak, MI
·Comcast
| reply to Hall
said by Hall :Of course, in my house, I have one wireless device and (4) hard-wired devices split between my WRT54G and my BEFSR41. Who besides Bill_MI know that that is ? It's going on 7-8 years old now too... Good to see you, Hall, been awhile. An original BEFSR41 version-less = v1 is still in service here as a switch and that was April 2000 I think... going on 10 years. |
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PeeWee
Premium
join:2001-10-21
Clovis, CA
clubs:
·Pacific Bell - SBC
·Comcast
| reply to Subaru
I used to run two Linksys routers w/ Tomato one was a wireles bridge behind the other. Experimented with the Buffalo router mentioned. I have now sold both Linksys routers an run one Buffalo and have no need for the bridge on the network now the wireless quality improved that much.
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My grandkids ARE cuter than yours!  |
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Subaru
1-3-2-4
Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT
clubs: | reply to Subaru
hmm router just rebooted I don't know if it was me or if it was on it's own.. It did reboot normal but not sure why it did.. Is it possible for that to happen? |
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Bill_MI
Bill In Michigan
Premium,MVM
join:2001-01-03
Royal Oak, MI
·Comcast
1 edit | said by Subaru :hmm router just rebooted I don't know if it was me or if it was on it's own.. It did reboot normal but not sure why it did.. Is it possible for that to happen? Not normal. It is definitely something to watch for as it could be the same problem in a new form.
That type of symptom draws me to the power source. There was a lot of talk about the power brick: »Undersized Power supplies from Linksys. . It's about wireless performance, mostly, yet indicates a sensitivity. Power bricks can go flakey but difficult to diagnose without some kind of replacement.
Heat is always in the running, too. Older units tend to not cool as well as when they were new. Some of us like to take them apart and keep things clean inside for just this reason. |
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mau108
Mau
Premium
join:2001-10-07
Thornhill, ON
clubs: | reply to Subaru
ya I'd try to replace the power supply and flash to tomato (I see it as a direct replacement to hyperwrt).
if youre wrt54g is version 2 or greater go for the ND version. |
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Subaru
1-3-2-4
Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT
clubs:
·Packet8
| reply to Bill_MI
said by Bill_MI :said by Subaru :hmm router just rebooted I don't know if it was me or if it was on it's own.. It did reboot normal but not sure why it did.. Is it possible for that to happen? Not normal. It is definitely something to watch for as it could be the same problem in a new form. That type of symptom draws me to the power source. There was a lot of talk about the power brick: » Undersized Power supplies from Linksys. . It's about wireless performance, mostly, yet indicates a sensitivity. Power bricks can go flakey but difficult to diagnose without some kind of replacement. Heat is always in the running, too. Older units tend to not cool as well as when they were new. Some of us like to take them apart and keep things clean inside for just this reason. Hmm did not know the power supply would be an issue for being underside it's 12VDC 1000mA for the one I have.
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It's NOT Ni-kon It's NE-KON!
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Bill_MI
Bill In Michigan
Premium,MVM
join:2001-01-03
Royal Oak, MI
·Comcast
1 edit | I'm thinking more of filter capacitors aging - about as close as electronics gets to "wearing out". These can be in the power supply *or* the unit itself. This can cause greater sensitivity to power spikes.
In general, such sensitivity usually wouldn't be as subtle as only "slowing down". The unexpected reset you just mentioned is more like the symptom - or becoming non-responsive ("hanging").
The list of possibilities is quite large. Almost all the talk in this thread is in the "most likely" category. For example, internal solder joints can go bad but is less likely if not seen in the first year of operation. Same for chips (ICs) going flaky.
EDIT: BTW, you might try a little tapping on the unit in various places and directions to see if you can create some of these symptoms. |
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Desmoe
join:2004-09-15
Derry, NH
| reply to Johkal
If all else fails,, another option would be to grab a WRT54GL ... essentially a copy of the wrt54g v-4,,, seen them on newegg for mid 50's if I remember right.
Got me one several months ago to replace an ancient wrt54g v-1. I loaded it with Tomato, been running rock solid.
good luck |
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Subaru
1-3-2-4
Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT
clubs: | reply to Subaru
It's been good so far |
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Subaru
1-3-2-4
Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT
clubs:
·Packet8
3 edits | reply to Subaru
uh-oh it just happened again.. I notice my WLAN light stopped flashing and was out. then I tried to go on a computer that was plugged into the WAN port and while everything acted like it was still connected I had no internet connections.
Seems like the router is running hit or miss now :-/
So I tried to reset the router with the reset button and that was no good.. I unplugged it and pressed the reset button waited 30 sec and plugged it back in and that too was no good.
The only way that works for me (to stop the power light from non stop flashing) is to unplug my modem and unplug the router and reboot the router and plug the modem back in.
*EDIT*
well clearing the NVRAM worked.. and my internet is not as slow again... is this something I need to keep doing? If so I might check out the buffalo router instead.
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It's NOT Ni-kon It's NE-KON!
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Hall
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH | No, you shouldn't have to do this very often. Once or twice a year isn't unreasonable, but once a month or every two months ? It may be on it's last leg after all... |
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Subaru
1-3-2-4
Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT
clubs: | well I will be looking to replace it next week |
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