Linksys befws11s4 v2 locks up

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

I have comcast cable connect to my linksys.. For two years at my old house I
didn't have any issues, but as of the last few weeks the router keeps not
responding and I have to power it up and down to get it to work. Sometimes
it will stay up a few days.. some days it won't .. I down graded the
firmware to 1.42.7 because it the latest I could find. Any insight?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 01:24:39 -0500, "newshosting" <Mas@mas.com> wrote:

>I have comcast cable connect to my linksys.. For two years at my old house I
>didn't have any issues, but as of the last few weeks the router keeps not
>responding and I have to power it up and down to get it to work. Sometimes
>it will stay up a few days.. some days it won't .. I down graded the
>firmware to 1.42.7 because it the latest I could find. Any insight?

I have a wild guess(tm). You have a board with a few of the infamous
leaky capacitors that appeared in devices made between about 1999 and
2001. Remove the rubber feet, remove the screws, and the box should
come apart. Look for brown ooooooze coming from the bottom of
electrolytic capacitors, or bulges in the top of the can on these
capacitors.
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1081/
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/feb03/ncap.html
http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=17075
Note that it's not just motherboards that have problems with the
defective low-esr capacitors. I've seen it in power supplies, VCR's,
hubs, and wall warts.

This is only a guess(tm).


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

newshosting wrote:

> I have comcast cable connect to my linksys.. For two years at my old house
> I didn't have any issues, but as of the last few weeks the router keeps
> not responding and I have to power it up and down to get it to work.
> Sometimes
> it will stay up a few days.. some days it won't .. I down graded the
> firmware to 1.42.7 because it the latest I could find. Any insight?

It's on its way out/failure.

Duane

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

I think this speculation about 'leaky capacitors' causing the
connections problems is bogus.

I say that because I owned 3 separate NEW units for about
one week each, and all 3 locked up. I took them back to
Radio Shack and got a refund. This all happened about
8 months ago (April 2004).

It's a firmware issue that was never resolved. I consider them
junk.

And, I feel vindicated because about 3 months ago, I joined a business
which trouble-shoots home-networks, and everyone at this business
has the same recommendation when customers ask which router to buy.

The answer is always 'buy anything EXCEPT Linksys'. (e.g.D-Link and
Netgear both work fine.)

My 2-cents worth...

Dave


"Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us> wrote in message
news:fscer0l418heud29n3gianccta1vmpvpuj@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 01:24:39 -0500, "newshosting" <Mas@mas.com> wrote:
>
>>I have comcast cable connect to my linksys.. For two years at my old house
>>I
>>didn't have any issues, but as of the last few weeks the router keeps not
>>responding and I have to power it up and down to get it to work. Sometimes
>>it will stay up a few days.. some days it won't .. I down graded the
>>firmware to 1.42.7 because it the latest I could find. Any insight?
>
> I have a wild guess(tm). You have a board with a few of the infamous
> leaky capacitors that appeared in devices made between about 1999 and
> 2001. Remove the rubber feet, remove the screws, and the box should
> come apart. Look for brown ooooooze coming from the bottom of
> electrolytic capacitors, or bulges in the top of the can on these
> capacitors.
> http://www.overclockers.com/tips1081/
> http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/feb03/ncap.html
> http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=17075
> Note that it's not just motherboards that have problems with the
> defective low-esr capacitors. I've seen it in power supplies, VCR's,
> hubs, and wall warts.
>
> This is only a guess(tm).
>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 21:04:54 -0500, "David Cook"
<someone@microsoft.com> wrote:

>I think this speculation about 'leaky capacitors' causing the
>connections problems is bogus.
>
>I say that because I owned 3 separate NEW units for about
>one week each, and all 3 locked up. I took them back to
>Radio Shack and got a refund. This all happened about
>8 months ago (April 2004).

I call to your attention that the original poster indicated that the
router was working normally for 2 years prior to hanging. Unless you
subscribe to the "software rot" theory, where old software
deteriorates in the box, methinks such a slow deterioration could not
be attributed to buggish firmware. However, a long term deterioration
in stablity is an attribute of some hardware failure.

>It's a firmware issue that was never resolved. I consider them
>junk.

Well, I've been using a BEFW11S4v4, which admitedly is quite different
from the v2 incantation. Although it does have some firmware bugs,
none of them have caused a hang or lockup.

>And, I feel vindicated because about 3 months ago, I joined a business
>which trouble-shoots home-networks, and everyone at this business
>has the same recommendation when customers ask which router to buy.
>
>The answer is always 'buy anything EXCEPT Linksys'. (e.g.D-Link and
>Netgear both work fine.)
>
>My 2-cents worth...

Hopefully, you get paid more than 2-cents. Linksys buys it hardware
from a wide variety of manufacturers. Quality varies radically,
mostly depending on the manufacturer. For example, see:
http://www.vallstedt-networks.de/?vendors/GST_Vendors
for all the mutations of the Dlink DWL-900+. (My thanks to Richard
Perkin for the URL). I don't think you can generalize that one vendor
is defective, when all the bottom of the line wireless vendors buy
similar boards from various manufacturers.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

Ok.. I;ve replaced my .2 version with a .4 and it looks like the same thing
is happening..

I lose internet connectivity even though all the lights stay flashing..

I ping it from several machines and get no reponse.. if I wait long enough
and do an arp -a from the machines I get the mac address as 00-00-00-00-00
and invalid

I unplug it and plug it back in and everything works instantly..

I'm not sure where to go from here...



"Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us> wrote in message
news:uavfr0l0mpec97ktsil6ojsjmer66g7imu@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 21:04:54 -0500, "David Cook"
> <someone@microsoft.com> wrote:
>
>>I think this speculation about 'leaky capacitors' causing the
>>connections problems is bogus.
>>
>>I say that because I owned 3 separate NEW units for about
>>one week each, and all 3 locked up. I took them back to
>>Radio Shack and got a refund. This all happened about
>>8 months ago (April 2004).
>
> I call to your attention that the original poster indicated that the
> router was working normally for 2 years prior to hanging. Unless you
> subscribe to the "software rot" theory, where old software
> deteriorates in the box, methinks such a slow deterioration could not
> be attributed to buggish firmware. However, a long term deterioration
> in stablity is an attribute of some hardware failure.
>
>>It's a firmware issue that was never resolved. I consider them
>>junk.
>
> Well, I've been using a BEFW11S4v4, which admitedly is quite different
> from the v2 incantation. Although it does have some firmware bugs,
> none of them have caused a hang or lockup.
>
>>And, I feel vindicated because about 3 months ago, I joined a business
>>which trouble-shoots home-networks, and everyone at this business
>>has the same recommendation when customers ask which router to buy.
>>
>>The answer is always 'buy anything EXCEPT Linksys'. (e.g.D-Link and
>>Netgear both work fine.)
>>
>>My 2-cents worth...
>
> Hopefully, you get paid more than 2-cents. Linksys buys it hardware
> from a wide variety of manufacturers. Quality varies radically,
> mostly depending on the manufacturer. For example, see:
> http://www.vallstedt-networks.de/?vendors/GST_Vendors
> for all the mutations of the Dlink DWL-900+. (My thanks to Richard
> Perkin for the URL). I don't think you can generalize that one vendor
> is defective, when all the bottom of the line wireless vendors buy
> similar boards from various manufacturers.
>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

"newshosting" <Mas@mas.com> wrote in
news:03sud.190$ch5.152@text.usenetserver.com:

> Ok.. I;ve replaced my .2 version with a .4 and it looks like the same
> thing is happening..
>
> I lose internet connectivity even though all the lights stay
> flashing..
>
> I ping it from several machines and get no reponse.. if I wait long
> enough and do an arp -a from the machines I get the mac address as
> 00-00-00-00-00 and invalid
>
> I unplug it and plug it back in and everything works instantly..
>
> I'm not sure where to go from here...
>

Let me repeat, it's on its way out. ;-)

Duane

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

"newshosting" <Mas@mas.com> wrote in news:Yevud.197$ch5.174
@text.usenetserver.com:

> This is a brand new one.. v4 not v2

And there is nothing to say that it cannot be defective out of the box too.
A while back, there was one guy who posted to this NG that exchanged two
brand new Linksys routers before the third one got was fully functional.
They make them like pop corn and you can run into a bad batch.

Duane