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Router stops working all of a sudden
Impersonator
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
It's a Linksys WRT54GC and it just stopped working as intended. It still broadcasts the wireless network and I can access its internal page, I just can't connect to anything else.
I've already tried using different cables, with and without a Switch, etc.. I also updated the firmware and did a reset but to no avail, the behavior is still the same. I've also tried several different security layers, from unprotected to WPA and WPA2 but it just refuses to work. :?
Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can fix this? I've had this router for almost 3 years now, and this is the first problem I've ever had with it.
I've already tried using different cables, with and without a Switch, etc.. I also updated the firmware and did a reset but to no avail, the behavior is still the same. I've also tried several different security layers, from unprotected to WPA and WPA2 but it just refuses to work. :?
Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can fix this? I've had this router for almost 3 years now, and this is the first problem I've ever had with it.
Impersonator on
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Does plugging in directly work (skipping the router)?
We need to figure out where the problem is.
I've already tried skipping the Switch as well.
Edit: I'm going home for the day soon, just so you know.
That was also what I was afraid of.
Generally the big problem with the WRT54G is that they literally burn out their transmitters (they do, and Cisco does not like to acknowledge that they're basically running the transmitter at lightbulb like emission levels). But clearly the emissions part is still working just fine.
Stupid question but... have you done an ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew on your computer?
Cable modems see the first MAC address that shows up and assumes that's your computer - they're ethernet bridges. Try unplugging everything from the cable modem, hooking up the wireless router to the cable modem, and power both of them off (literally take the power cable out of the cable modem, the cable modem's reset button usually does not clear the "seen" MAC address). Plug everything back in and see if your wireless router gets an IP address from the cable modem. If it does, then you'll have to rearange your network topology but it shouldn't be too bad (hang the switch off one of your wireless router ports).
If you have DSL then ignore my last paragraph
It sounds like the wireless router is working fine, troubleshoot the rest of your network.
Thanks for your reply, though!
Edit: also, what cable modem do you have? Does it also do routing or is it just a straight cable modem?
About that second question, I'm not sure, I guess it's just a straight cable modem?
Oh one other thing.... have you tried setting up MAC address cloning on the Wireless router? (should be in the same area as the WAN IP address setting) - if configuring that doesn't work then maybe it is, after all, the wireless WAN port
Also, which cable co?
No, I haven't. What does MAC address cloning do?
Oh, I'm not from the States if that's what you mean.
MAC address cloning takes the MAC address of your computer, (especially the one that works while plugged directly into the cable modem) and fakes that MAC address on the WAN port of the router.
The reason you'd do this is if your cable co only allows certain predefined MAC addresses to get an IP address (i.e. use the internet). If the wireless router presents its factory MAC address and isn't able to get an IP address, but IS able to get an IP address with MAC cloning turned on, then your cable co probably employs this limitation (not all do... not common in the US, no idea about the rest of the world).
Why your router worked before but doesn't now, I'm not sure - maybe they just locked this sort of thing down, or alternately don't allow wireless routers of a certain brand (determined by the first three sections of the MAC address).
It's either a hardware problem on the Wireless WAN port side (which I doubt, if it gets LINK and you've tried several cables) or a configuration issue on the cable modem (which in 99% of the issues I've seen is the problem and usually relates to MAC address shenanigans).
Has anything else changed, network-topology wise, between when the wireless router worked and now doesn't?
Does it have VOIP and a battery backup? Maybe a different reset procedure for it...
The modem is a Thomson THG540, not sure about the VOIP and/or battery backup.