What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

Thrillhouse · 2007-07-10 16:29:44

OK, I've used two wireless routers in my house to try and set up a wireless network. Setting up the network is no problem but after a few days of operation, I keep having to power cycle the router at least once a day. I have a $40 USD Linksys and an $80 USD D-Link.

I googled the problem and one solution I found was to set up a cron job to check for an active internet connection and power cycle the modem if necessary but the modem isn't the problem for me, power cycling it does nothing.

Has anybody had this problem and if so, what did you do about it?

skymt · 2007-07-10 16:37:49

I've had similar problems in the past, with both D-Link and Linksys products. Unfortunately, the only solution I found was to buy a different router. I currently use a Netgear router that works well, only occasionally (every two weeks or so) requiring a reboot.

klixon · 2007-07-11 11:00:17

updating the firmware on my linksys-router worked wonders for me

PeteMo · 2007-07-11 11:28:28

I replaced the stock firmware with openrwt on my linksys wrt54gl wireless router. I just checked my uptime: 69 days. Even if you don't want to mess with openwrt klixon's suggestion is certainly worth a shot.

I've also seen where power cycling routers was necessary when the network was mis-configured. For example, my dsl modem is actually a modem/router (with 1 port!). I had to put it in bridge mode or else my connection was flaky since both it and my linksys router were trying to give out dhcp addresses, etc.

Thrillhouse · 2007-07-11 16:27:46

OK, I've updated to the latest firmware. The router I'm currently using is the Linksys WRT54G so if this doesn't work, I'll try openwrt. Is it difficult, PeteMo? How's Harrisonburg? I graduated from JMU.

PeteMo · 2007-07-12 11:38:59

openwrt isn't hard - it has a web interface that lets you do most things. Definitely read the wiki on it, though. If you aren't interested in the extra features it provides, I'd recommend just staying with the linksys firmware, especially if it works for you.

Harrisonburg is great, especially in the summer. The city's got the infrastructure to support thousands of more people than are around. I've already graduated from JMU once, now I'm back for more, and working there to boot! I just can't get enough.

klixon · 2007-07-12 12:04:44

And openwrt is a bit hard on version 5 of the wrt54g family...
Best to keep that in mind if you want to give it a go. Their website also has notes about it in the device-compatibility list. I think you have to get a slightly modified version, because it has very little memery to work with.

lloeki · 2007-07-12 12:34:00

And openwrt is a bit hard on version 5 of the wrt54g family...

then, use dd-wrt. really a treat: easy to flash, easy to recover, web interface, local dns, even upnp.
micro edition works like a charm here on my v5:

$ telnet dd-wrt
Trying 192.168.1.1...
Connected to dd-wrt.
Escape character is '^]'.

DD-WRT v23 SP2 micro (c) 2006 NewMedia-NET GmbH
Release: 09/15/06 (SVN revision: 3932)

DD-WRT login: root
Password: 
==========================================================
 
 ____  ___    __        ______ _____         ____  _____ 
 | _ \| _ \   \ \      / /  _ \_   _| __   _|___ \|___ / 
 || | || ||____\ \ /\ / /| |_) || |   \ \ / / __) | |_ \ 
 ||_| ||_||_____\ V  V / |  _ < | |    \ V / / __/ ___) |
 |___/|___/      \_/\_/  |_| \_\|_|     \_/ |_____|____/ 
 
                       DD-WRT v23 SP2
                   http://www.dd-wrt.com
 
==========================================================


DD-WRT VeryBusyBox v1.2.1 (2006.09.15-18:40+0000) Built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

~ # uptime
 14:34:22 up 17 days, 52 min, load average: 0.08, 0.01, 0.00
~ # free
              total         used         free       shared      buffers
  Mem:         6328         6044          284            0          304
 Swap:            0            0            0
Total:         6328         6044          284
~ #

and uptime is like that just because I moved things around in my flat, previously it was like 4 months. and that's with heavy duty bittorent running on wireless (so, heat on the cpu+wlan chip, and so on...)
come to think of it, I have a spare usb CF reader + 4G microdrive I might just as well use as swap+storage for it.

those lil' blue boxes are really good when loaded with a *wrt firmware. they make a nice match to my debian-etch'ized linksys NSLU2 (aka slug).

damn, linux is good.

EDIT: more details

Last edited by lloeki (2007-07-12 12:40:25)

klixon · 2007-07-12 12:35:01

I might even give it a shot then

lloeki · 2007-07-12 12:47:11

jsut make sure to follow the install steps for v5/6 correctly, and you'll be fine. IIRC there's only one real brick-risky step, it's when you switch the bootloader+os from vxworks to linux (this one would require jtag reflashing, while the other steps are usually recoverable by tftp), but don't fear, it's a smooth process, just be patient and cautious.

here is the official detailed procedure: http://www.bitsum.com/openwiking/owbase … 54G5%5FCFE

Last edited by lloeki (2007-07-12 12:53:36)

Thrillhouse · 2007-07-12 15:17:27

Well, I've been using the newest Linksys firmware for about a day. I've had to power cycle the router twice but that's a little less frequently than I had to before. I'll keep it around for another couple of days and see how it does.

klixon wrote:

And openwrt is a bit hard on version 5 of the wrt54g family...

I've got version 8. I should be OK then, correct?

ataraxia · 2007-07-13 20:10:29

I've had a lot of router crashes that were caused by dirty power.

Thrillhouse · 2007-07-18 04:55:51

I just wanted to post this in case anybody found this thread through a forum search.

I have been using the latest firmware for about a week and haven't had to power cycle the router in 5 days. I'm starting to think that the router is settling in with the new firmware and working the way it's supposed to. So thanks to everyone who offered advice.

Acid7711 · 2007-07-18 08:35:43

I had the same problem.....however, I've always been a big supporter of dd-wrt over any of the other firmwares. Always worked very well for me.

Biggest problem you're gonna run into with using those cheaper Linksys routers is that they've been halfing the armound of ram they have. Pretty craptastic if you ask me, but I dished out the cash for a nice one that I knew had a lot of mem.

Last edited by Acid7711 (2007-07-18 08:36:30)

Misfit138 · 2007-07-18 12:48:45

My DSL modem with built in 4-port router used to bomb a lot with Arch until I switched my machine to static ip. Weird, I know, but it works.

stream303 · 2009-04-13 20:51:11

My particular combination of isp-supplied Netopia dsl modem and my own Netgear router used to wedge quite frequently until I put the modem into bridge-mode and turned off it's own dhcp server. I established the link between the modem and router as static, yet I still wanted my router to be the sole dhcp server. When I did that, I had to move my isp account username/password combo from the modem to inside the router.

Since then, nary a problem unless the actual circuit goes down. The good news was that before when I was just using the modem, after a circuit outage I would lose my pppoe server login too, but now in bridge-mode with the router, it all comes back automatically very quickly.

Be sure you don't lock yourself out of the modem when initially reconfiguring it when you turn off the modem's dhcp server! I'd check dslreports.com or other sources for exact instructions particular to the modem on how to set bridge-mode. Panic mode - been there.

Last edited by stream303 (2009-04-13 20:52:56)

Arch Linux

#1 2007-07-10 16:29:44

What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#2 2007-07-10 16:37:49

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#3 2007-07-11 11:00:17

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#4 2007-07-11 11:28:28

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#5 2007-07-11 16:27:46

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#6 2007-07-12 11:38:59

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#7 2007-07-12 12:04:44

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#8 2007-07-12 12:34:00

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#9 2007-07-12 12:35:01

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#10 2007-07-12 12:47:11

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#11 2007-07-12 15:17:27

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#12 2007-07-13 20:10:29

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#13 2007-07-18 04:55:51

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#14 2007-07-18 08:35:43

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#15 2007-07-18 12:48:45

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

#16 2009-04-13 20:51:11

Re: What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

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