My WRT54G2 router isn't routing anymore. For the past several days it worked erratically, now not at all. (Plugging my Ethernet directly into the cable modem gives me internet, but nobody else in the house gets it without the router.)

The green power light on the router is blinking, rather than on steadily. I power cycled the router, I pressed and held the re-set button for 30 seconds, and I tried a different wall-wart power supply, all with no change in behavior.

Has my WRT54G2 gone tits-up for good this time? Is it now time to install my new (spare) WRT54G that has been sitting on my shelf for about two years?

Or is there some magical revival trick that will bring my 'G2 router back to life?

tanstaafl.

OK, in the time it took to type the above post, the router started working again. I suspect it is a temporary condition [working] and it will stop by the time I finish this edit...

From what I've been able to observe after supporting home users for several years:

Routers go bad all the time.

In fact just this afternoon I replaced a malfunctioning router. It was sporadically disconnecting all its wireless users from the internet, while wired users would stay on. Power cycling the router fixed it for a time but the problem would return. Dying routers do this sort of thing.

Replace the router, and use something that's known to be reliable. I still use the WRT54GL router a lot of the time, because it's just more reliable than most of the modern routers I've tried. The problem is that it doesn't have any of the modern updates like 802.11n (let alone 802.11ac), or USB ports for sharing printers or hard drives. But you already have a router with similar functionality, so it wouldn't be a downgrade at all.

One thing to "try" before throwing it out. Reflash the router firmware (with the same firmware if nothing is newer). If it won't let you because it's the same version, try going back a version and then upgrading. The purpose here is to erase and reprogram the flash.

I resurrected a couple of modem/router type devices before. Seems the flash can go "bad" (and I've experienced this at a chip level in the embedded work I do).

While this is true, my WRT54GL died. Well, it wouldn't do WiFi any more. I replaced it with a WNDR3700v2 running OpenWRT. I also have a spare one of those, which is currently doing duty as an extra access point, but could be swapped over for router duties at short notice.

I guess what I'm saying is this: all electronics die eventually. Be prepared to either fix them or replace them. This is a bit of an indictment of our throwaway consumer culture, but unfortunately it's a fact.

P.S. It turns out that there's a WNDR3700v4 which has gone back to the Atheros chipset: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/netgear/wndr3700

All too true. I was mostly suggesting the WRT54GL because it's a known quantity and is the easiest to flash, if desired. I've certainly had WRT54GL routers go bad, I've just seen it less often than the other crappy routers out there.

I'll have to look at that WNDR3700v4. I wonder if TomatoUSB supports that yet, and without having to jump through hoops...

I don't think Tomato is supporting any non-Braodcom chipsets...

I just can't see myself going back to a 802.11g device, especially on the cusp of ac shipping.

For people like Doug with nice open space and not that much wireless around G probably still works great. I seem to be going the opposite direction and living in more crowded places. I have to use 5GHz N for the chance at reaching my 20mbit internet speeds in all spots of my apartment. Just too much competition in the 2.4GHz space due to the lack of channels.

Only one thing generally goes wrong with stuff like that: the capacitors dry up and or crack open and leak. A visual inspection of the innards is often enough to assess the situation. The tiny little tin-can electrolytic capacitors should be clean, and have flat tops (not bulging or covered with leakage).

If the caps inside the router are fine, then it could be the power supply (likely caps again there). Most of those Linksys routers use the same PSU as the empeg (+12VDC 1-amp), and the same as lots of other stuff. If you've got another such PSU around the house then just swap it and see what happens.

Cheers

The Linksys E2500 is Tomato-able and can be gotten refurb for $35, a cheap replacement maybe?

Well, it's still working, no glitches that I've noticed. I'll give it one last chance, and the next time it fails, I won't trouble-shoot or re-set or anything. I'll just put in the new router I bought a year or so ago to be the replacement for my current router the next time it quit. That was two, or maybe even three "quits" ago!

I just don't look forward to the setup and configuring to make it compatible with the rest of my system, with the "repeater" router and all. I do have very complete documentation on my current setup (saved screen shots of every possible screen in the setup menu - all 24 of them! and the passwords) so if the setup procedure is on the WRT54GL is the same as the WRT54G2 I should be OK.

tanstaafl.

That would have my requirements for a good replacement (simultaneous dual-band N). I don't see it mentioned specifically on the TomatoUSB site. They mention the E2000, but given how specific these things usually are, are you certain it applies to the E2500 as well?

I'm still waiting, though, for a router that has such a reliable and easy upgrade path as the WRT54GL. The process for flashing Tomato on that thing is practically 1 step.

Here is the latest Tomato shibby build for it:
http://tomato.groov.pl/download/K26RT-N/build5x-108-EN/Linksys%20E-series/

Who is this shibby guy? I've never heard of this one...

No idea who he is...

The original Tomato hasn't been update in over two years. It's successor TomatoUSB was good...for a while, but no one has been keeping the information upto date, and for firmware builds it is also two plus years out of date.
Anything recent strain of Tomato is a mod done by Shibby, Teaman, Toastman or Victek. I went with Shibby over Toastman as he has some documentation on his site that makes it possible to find the right version for a particular router.
They all seem to hang out at http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php

[hijack]
When doing G & N is the righter thing todo is to have them on the same SSID, or different SSIDs? I'm thinking same SSID.
[/hijack]

It depends. If you have mostly N devices, and just a handful of infrequently used G devices, then the same will likely be fine. The N devices do have a bit more overhead when the network runs in mixed G+N mode, but it's usually minor. Slowdowns only happen when G devices are chatting too. B devices would degrade G networks just by being connected and idle.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/...ading-to-80211n has some tests showing the problem, and it can be a big hit at times. If you have a lot of G devices, a separate SSID may be best.

For me, I just isolate it by keeping my 5GHz N network at N only (no old A allowed), and the 2.4GHz band in mixed G+N mode.

Fortunately, when I moved and got the new Fios router that does N, I suddenly realized that every WiFi device I have is N, so I just set it to N-only. You might want to look closely at the devices you think don't do N. I thought some of my stuff was too old for it, but was surprised when I did a little research and found that it wasn't.

*edit*

Plus, I'm not too worried about guests. We just had family visit, and between them they had two iPads (gen 3 or newer), two iPhones, and an Air. Most of our guests come over with smartphones, and the majority of those are capable of 802.11N it seems...

I keep my Guest WiFi network on a separate SSID which is also segregated from the rest of the network. Guests can see the Internet, but cannot see other guests, nor anything else on the local network (printers, etc).

I suppose I should review what frequency BANDS and MODES those guests are allowed to use ...

Oh sure, but that's separate from the question of whether it's good to turn on support for 802.11G devices.

Matt, I would hold off on using Tomato on those Linksys routers. The 5Ghz network drops after a few days to a week and needs a reboot to come back. I don't know if this is a Shibby issue or if it impacts other Tomato builds.

For now I've put the two frequencies on different SSIDs so that I can at least connect. If the were on the same SSID my laptop would fail to connect, as if it was trying to connect to the 5Ghz but not gracefully failing back to the 2.4Ghz. At least with them on separate SSIDs it doesn't see the failed 5Ghz, and connects to the 2.4Ghz.

Not an important issue for me to solve right now, as I got the new router to give the old one to my FiL, as the router functionality (or at least the DHCP part of it) in his all in one cable modem/router is crappy. But I was not successful in getting it into Bridged Mode, so he'll just continue rebooting it every few days for now