[MitchV]

Thankfully, I've beaten my warranty by 7 days.... I bought my wireless router on 8/30 of last year. After losing two Linksys routers prior to this one, I finally remembered to keep my receipt!

I'm on my 3rd Linsys router in 4 years. These things are just worthless! My router is plugged into my UPS, so it's not dirty power... the things just die! My router is dying and if I leave it unplugged or blow cold air into it, it will maintain an Internet connection for an hour or so.

Is it just me or does everyone have these kinds of problems with Linksys? I thought they were better since Cisco bought them.

[MitchV]

Oh yeah... it keeps reconfiguring itself... right now my router's IP address is: 0.255.1.9

Yeah, I've reset the thing, applied the latest firmware, etc. It's junk, just like the two Linksys routers I owned before this one.

[bchur83]

Have you checked the logs on your router, maybe you are getting hacked? Did you change the default passwords on it?

[MitchV]

Originally Posted by bchur83

Have you checked the logs on your router, maybe you are getting hacked? Did you change the default passwords on it?

Absolutely I changed the password....

I know it's the router. I clone the MAC address of one of my machines and if I take the cable from my router and plug it directly into one of my machines, everything is good.

Cable Modem -> Router = can't obtain IP address and randomly drops out.
Cable Modem -> PC = everything works.

My router gives itself that funky IP address even when it's not plugged into my cable modem. Blowing canned air into it after unplugging for a few minutes seems to help.

[MitchV]

BTW, I didn't check the logs because I wanted to watch my firewall on my PC when I connected directly to my cable modem. I'm not being hacked or attacked.

[bchur83]

Ok, so is that the IP address for the WAN, or is it the LAN IP? Either way, that IP is set as a reserved IP, so you cant use it on the internet. What IP address do you get when you connect directly to your computer? I know for a fact that there are a few Linksys routers that have heat issues. I had some friends that had a wireless G Router, and they ended up exchanging it 2 times, until they said to He** with it, and then they bought a Dlink router.

[Dc5e]

if you have an extra computer, you could setup your own "router" and just use your linksys as hubs. I've heard some things about Smoothwall but i haven't tried it yet.

[MitchV]

Originally Posted by bchur83

Ok, so is that the IP address for the WAN, or is it the LAN IP? Either way, that IP is set as a reserved IP, so you cant use it on the internet. What IP address do you get when you connect directly to your computer? I know for a fact that there are a few Linksys routers that have heat issues. I had some friends that had a wireless G Router, and they ended up exchanging it 2 times, until they said to He** with it, and then they bought a Dlink router.

That's the LAN IP address... it's been 192.168.1.1 for nearly a year and suddenly my router want's to reconfigure it.

It's a piece of junk. The RMA router they send to me will be my last Linksys. At least this one didn't cost $270 like my first wireless router... when wireless first came out, it was EXPENSIVE!! (but still cheaper than wiring your house)

[MitchV]

Originally Posted by Dc5e

if you have an extra computer, you could setup your own "router" and just use your linksys as hubs. I've heard some things about Smoothwall but i haven't tried it yet.

Interesting, I might mess around with it. Right now I'm just going to deal with it until my new router comes in the mail. I've just got a single PC plugged into my cable modem at the moment.

[Tim-E T]

that is quite odd. I have had problems like that but it was with a Cheap DLink router. I got a linksys and all problems are solved.

[Turd Furguson]

May be worth a shot to either upgrade or downgrade your firmware.

[Randyman...]

I had an odd issue when I put my DSL modem on top of the Linksys. The Linksys runs hot naturally, but putting the modem directly on top of it made it run even hotter! I got occasional drop offs.

I just built a tiny shelf, and left about 3" of air space above the Linksys, and all is good.

Do you have any heat sources on top or below the Router?

Later

[seadave77]

I have had problems with my Linksys wired router. About once a month I have to reload the firmware, I think it is caused by bad flash memory from what I have read. Unfortunatly it started happening about two months after the warrenty expired.

Clint

[MitchV]

Originally Posted by Randyman...

I had an odd issue when I put my DSL modem on top of the Linksys. The Linksys runs hot naturally, but putting the modem directly on top of it made it run even hotter! I got occasional drop offs.

I just built a tiny shelf, and left about 3" of air space above the Linksys, and all is good.

Do you have any heat sources on top or below the Router?

Later

Excellent point... I stopped piling things on top of my Router after my last one died. This one has plenty of room and heat should not be an issue. I suspected that heat may have gotten my last router, which is why I sprayed some canned air into this one to get it to work.

It's actually been up for almost 24 hours now. I'm just holding out until the RMA router gets here. I've also turned off the wireless signal in hopes of keeping the heat down, since heat seems to aggrevate things.

I think I'll take your suggestion and build a little shelf for the Linksys router that is coming to me. It certainly couldn't hurt.

[MitchV]

Originally Posted by seadave77

Unfortunatly it started happening about two months after the warrenty expired.

Yeah, my first two Linksys routers died just outside of their warranty period. It's frustrating that this one is dying, but at least I have a little coverage this time.

[Silversinksam]

I guess I've been luckier than most, had a Linksys BEFVP41 (v.2) for well over a year(Just gave it to Lutawicasa) and now am using a Wireless Linksys WRT54GS. (Version 2)

Never had a problem with the old one and the new one is humming along just as nicely

[MyPCAlexi]

linksys has always been crap. i dont know much about networking but i do know linksys is the walmart brand router.

[Kendan]

Originally Posted by MyPCAlexi

linksys has always been crap. i dont know much about networking but i do know linksys is the walmart brand router.

If you do not have any personal experience to share then please stay out of it


I have never had a problem with any linksys routers I have installed whether it be wireless or wired. Hopefully my luck will stay with me

[Mr. Chambers]

I've had average luck with them myself, I bought a linksys wired router when we first got broadband, and it ran generally fine for about 2 years, before crapping out every few hours, and needed to be reset. (unplugged, wait 5 minutes, plug back in).

They DO have a known-problem with dropping the signal when you are using too many simultaneous connections (which can happen using various p2p programs usually).

A smoothwall wouldn't be a bad idea, it's cheaper than going out and buying a new router (most people have an older machine sitting in a closet or something), and it's easy to setup, if *I* can set it up, anyone can. There's hardly any linux knowledge required.

[PAWO]

My BEFSR41 is coming up on 3 years 24/7 and it has never once had a prob ever, got it on ebay brand new for like $43.....I also have a wireless one that I use as an access point, and it is also running fine so far, and I throw huuge amounts of data through these poor routers, and they've never let me down, the wireless one was used too, both cheap, both lasting forever. Linksys and Netgear are good stuff in my view.