New router woes

Spore Cloud

I recently got a new WRT54G v6 router, ive upgraded it to the latest firmware on Linksys' site. Its replacing my old Netgear router that allthough has worked well for many years I figured it was time for wireless.

The problem is that randomly I will not be able to get to a website but then be able to a few minutes later. Im connected to the router using ethernet and not wirelessly so it isnt a signal problem. I thought it was an MTU issue as Linksys suggests on their help page but ive gone through 1400-1492 without any positive results.

Ideas? Suggestions? Sure hope I didnt waste my money =(

TSU0999

I'm not sure of the exactly model, but I had that problem as well. But rather than being a couple minutes it was a couple weeks where I couldn't view the website. It was randomly fixed, so I couldn't tell you what fixed, only that it happened to me as well.

Spore Cloud

TSU0999 wrote:

I'm not sure of the exactly model, but I had that problem as well. But rather than being a couple minutes it was a couple weeks where I couldn't view the website. It was randomly fixed, so I couldn't tell you what fixed, only that it happened to me as well.

heh, and I just mentioned to a family member that I can always pray that it would be randomly fixed.. Well thats something to hope for unless someone else has any other ideas.

Firebrand

You've been running torrents lately? Apparantely some versions of the WRT routers will keep connections alive far too long, and eventually you hit the limit.

Try unplugging the router for a few seconds and then plugging it back in, see if that helps next time.

Nova_C

Not that I have anything really useful to add, but I had a WRT54G V4 and it was no end of problems. You should go back to Netgear. I have a wireless Netgear router and it kicks the asses of both the Linksys and D-Link hardware I've used.

And Firebrand, you rock for having an avatar from one of my favorite games of all time.

Azio

The WRT54G (revisions 4, 5 and especially 6) is a terrible router for a myriad of reasons. You will probably save yourself a lot of trouble by just returning it ASAP.

If you can't return it: does power-cycling it (unplug, wait a few seconds, plug back in) solve the problem, even temporarily?

TSU0999

Also, I don't want to derail this thread, but anyone have any suggestions for a new wireless router? I'll be getting a house pretty soon and would like to upgrade to something...well anything. I've head success and failure with Linksys, and that's bascially the only router brand I've dealt with.

Also we have a Linksys Wireless-G router and have never had problems with it. So it seems to be hit or miss with em.

Edit: Actually I shouldn't say never had a problem with the one at work, as the a port will go out sometimes and we have to reset it.

Nova_C

The one I have is the Netgear WGR614NA. It's never failed me. I've even never had a problem with the Blizzard Downloader. Ever.

The WRT54G Linksys I had allowed me to do either Dynamic IP assigning or Static IP assigning, but never a mix. The Netgear one will assign IPs to definied MAC addresses while dynamically handing out IPs to others. Which is a big plus to me, but may not matter to others. Port forwarding is a snap with it. It's also sexy in an age of ugly networking components.

Arminas

The WRTG series from Linksys have indeed been hit or miss. Either it works without a hiccup or it gives you more grief than a router should ever give. If you have an early version of the router, you're in luck and won't get screwed (i.e. v1 or v2). Later versions are just plagued with problems from what I've seen as I've fixed or tried to repair many a residents' router. And going to Netgear honestly doesn't seem like that much of a better idea, I've had to fix just as many Netgears as Linksys WRTGs. I would tell you which Netgears to avoid, but honestly, I don't know if there's a pattern or not Though from what I've seen, you do indeed pay for what you get. Cheap routers often result in returns and exchanges. :?

If you're desperate for a fix and do have a linksys, I don't know any real tricks off the top of my head but I would recommend you take a look at DD-WRT or the DD-WRT Wiki It's an open source firmware that covers a large number of different routers.

TSU0999 wrote:

Also, I don't want to derail this thread, but anyone have any suggestions for a new wireless router? I'll be getting a house pretty soon and would like to upgrade to something...well anything. I've head success and failure with Linksys, and that's bascially the only router brand I've dealt with.

I've played with Netgear, Dlink and Linksys. I was least pleased with Dlink but that was probably because I had a truly crappy model. The Netgears I've worked on are just ridiculous (sorry if this is untrue, I just don't like them). And the Linksys, as stated earlier, is hit or miss. As for my best router experience?

Most certainly Buffalo. I bought the Buffalo WHR-G54S for my parents' home (and it was the cheapest router that is supported by DD-WRT) and it works great. No longer do I get calls at 11:40pm asking for help with the internet and their router. (we previously had an ancient linksys) For myself, I bought the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 (also supported by DD-WRT and the longest range with the built-in antenna). Out of the box, their firmware has a plethora of tweaks if you're so inclined, it'll work out of the box without a problem, and yes, I've been repeating myself but I just love DD-WRT on it. Okay, so DD-WRT isn't for everyone, I'll shut up about it for now.

Edit: Sorry, one more note about DD-WRT just to flaunt it It can do everything your firmware can do and probably more.

Nova_C

lol I'm sure it can. However, I've never even heard of Buffalo, so it's perhaps not so easily available in my neck of the woods. I basically had three brand choices from the major distributors here: Linksys, D-Link and Netgear. I was told Netgear was junk and to get a D-Link. That router had flaky hardwired ports. The Linksys would experience significant slowdown often. Like I said, the Netgear has been amazing.

But if I ever plan on looking for more network hardware, I'll remember the name Buffalo.

djklay

Nova_C wrote:

Not that I have anything really useful to add, but I had a WRT54G V4 and it was no end of problems.

I've been using one for over a year and it's been great. Had to load DD-WRT firmware into it but after that it runs fantastic even with a torrent or two going.

Spore Cloud

Azio wrote:

The WRT54G (revisions 4, 5 and especially 6) is a terrible router for a myriad of reasons. You will probably save yourself a lot of trouble by just returning it ASAP.

If you can't return it: does power-cycling it (unplug, wait a few seconds, plug back in) solve the problem, even temporarily?

Nope, power-cyling it didnt help at all, soon i'll start playing with this DD-WRT firmware and see if that helps it any.

I knew this was going to be a hit or miss thing, after looking for a highly reccomended inexpensive router on Amazon this looked like my best bet. Oh well, there were bound to be growing pains in my attempt to have wireless capability.

BTW thanks for the feedback on this problem, so far im getting zero results from the Linksys official forum. I really appreciate the help

ZackSchilling

I stand by the Linksys WRT54GL, emphasis on the L. It's a new router with the hardware and firmware of the old WRT54G v1/v2 models. The price is a bit steep but it's worth every penny. New Linksys routers whose names do not end in "L" are total garbage.

Spore Cloud

ZackSchilling wrote:

I stand by the Linksys WRT54GL, emphasis on the L. It's a new router with the hardware and firmware of the old WRT54G v1/v2 models. The price is a bit steep but it's worth every penny. New Linksys routers whose names do not end in "L" are total garbage.

After reading some user comments somewhere I was under the impression that the "L" version of the router just had some sort of expanded memory or something that let me transfer files from one networked computer to another more quickly. Thats why I went with the cheaper version.

Anyways im using the DD-WRT firmware as Arminas suggested and so far so good, I went through all of my bookmarks (and I have an awful lot of them) and every page loaded up fine. If it continues to work I think im going to have to donate some cash to the DD-WRT author.

For those who care here is a tutorial on how to install the DD-WRT firmware on a Linksys WRT54G wireless router Version 5 or 6 and here is a list of compatible routers on the DD-WRT wiki.

Arminas

You indeed pay for what you get

...and if you don't, you make a fuss and get your money back. (a la Apple forums)

ZackSchilling

Spore Cloud wrote:

ZackSchilling wrote:

I stand by the Linksys WRT54GL, emphasis on the L. It's a new router with the hardware and firmware of the old WRT54G v1/v2 models. The price is a bit steep but it's worth every penny. New Linksys routers whose names do not end in "L" are total garbage.

After reading some user comments somewhere I was under the impression that the "L" version of the router just had some sort of expanded memory or something that let me transfer files from one networked computer to another more quickly. Thats why I went with the cheaper version.

Anyways im using the DD-WRT firmware as Arminas suggested and so far so good, I went through all of my bookmarks (and I have an awful lot of them) and every page loaded up fine. If it continues to work I think im going to have to donate some cash to the DD-WRT author.

For those who care here is a tutorial on how to install the DD-WRT firmware on a Linksys WRT54G wireless router Version 5 or 6 and here is a list of compatible routers on the DD-WRT wiki.

The L supposedly stands for Linux, since it runs the old Linux-based firmware rather than the new VxWorks firmware that I find to be majority unstable. I'm not sure exactly why the L version works so much better from a technical standpoint, but it does. The maybe $15 you save getting the non-L version is the worst deal you could ever make. Every single one I've ever seen has been flaky as hell. Try to return it ASAP. Even if you only get credit or have to pay restocking, cut your losses, man. The one you got is trash.

Spore Cloud

ZackSchilling wrote:

Spore Cloud wrote:

ZackSchilling wrote:

I stand by the Linksys WRT54GL, emphasis on the L. It's a new router with the hardware and firmware of the old WRT54G v1/v2 models. The price is a bit steep but it's worth every penny. New Linksys routers whose names do not end in "L" are total garbage.

After reading some user comments somewhere I was under the impression that the "L" version of the router just had some sort of expanded memory or something that let me transfer files from one networked computer to another more quickly. Thats why I went with the cheaper version.

Anyways im using the DD-WRT firmware as Arminas suggested and so far so good, I went through all of my bookmarks (and I have an awful lot of them) and every page loaded up fine. If it continues to work I think im going to have to donate some cash to the DD-WRT author.

For those who care here is a tutorial on how to install the DD-WRT firmware on a Linksys WRT54G wireless router Version 5 or 6 and here is a list of compatible routers on the DD-WRT wiki.

The L supposedly stands for Linux, since it runs the old Linux-based firmware rather than the new VxWorks firmware that I find to be majority unstable. I'm not sure exactly why the L version works so much better from a technical standpoint, but it does. The maybe $15 you save getting the non-L version is the worst deal you could ever make. Every single one I've ever seen has been flaky as hell. Try to return it ASAP. Even if you only get credit or have to pay restocking, cut your losses, man. The one you got is trash.

I've been screwing around on the internet now for about 3 hours without any problems thanks to the DD-WRT firmware, if that finally did truely fix it id rather keep the router than risk a different one. But you're probably right, I shouldve spent the little bit of extra money on the L version, mightve prevented all this bullshit in the first place.

Arminas

But that's okay! Now you've had your (possibly) first taste of open source! YUM! Goes down smooth!

TSU0999

How's Belkin doing these days? I ran across a wireless router last night that had a wireless cards for a desktop and a notebook with the router. Wife needs a wireless card for her notebook, and if I can get an all-in-one that'd be great.

steeef

I got stuck with a WRT54Gv4, and promptly returned it and replaced it with a WRT54GSv4 (I believe that's the version), which still had the Linux firmware. After installing DD-WRT, I too had issues with torrent connections staying open, but luckily there's a nice section about it in the DD-WRT Wiki:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Router_Slowdown