Is My Router about to Die?

[Mokong]

Just looking some advice (and to tell the story I guess)

 

Yesterday I was on the laptop everything was working fine then all of a sudden the internet stopped working. I noticed in the notification tray I was no longer connected to the internet. When I checked my network I found I wasn't even connected to my router anymore.

 

Thought that was odd.... did a search for available wifi networks and was even more confused when my own connection didn't appear. Checked the router to make sure it wasn't unplugged or something...all was fine, plugged in, had power, phone connections fine. Nobody else in the house except a sleeping 11 month old in his crib.

 

Went back to the laptop, searched for wifi connections again and it still wasn't there. But then I noticed among the usual Secured and weak signals of my neighbours connections I noticed an oddly strong signal on an unsecured network whose SSID was the brand name of my router (Blekin).

 

Connected to it just to see what would happen, it let me connect to the connection but it didn't have internet access. Plugged out my own router just to double check and sure enough this mystery unsecured network vanished and reappeared when I plugged my router back in.

 

Connected to it again and tried to access my routers management console and yeah it worked, this was indeed my router yet somehow all the settings had been erased/reset on thier own?

 

Had to call up my ISP to get the correct router settings to reconnect it to their internet service... which I hate doing cause I know what info I need but they insist on trying to "walk me through" how to open the routers management console and where to look for the settings. and get upset when I tell them I'm not using the router they gave me (cause it was shit) so the guy wants to find the insturctions for my router to walk me through it even though I had everything open and just needed the correct settings and logins

 

Anyway set everything up again on the router and reconnected all the laptops, 3DS, Wii and smartphones in the house.

 

So yeah that's the story.

 

Now my question

 

Anyone have any idea what could have caused this and/or if this is a sign my router could be about to give up and die on me? (It's about 6 years old I think)

 

And if I do need a new one, any recommendations on whats a good router these days?

Edited November 26, 2011 by Mokong

[Rummy]

I'm not huge on routers, but that definitely sounds iffy. Mine went through a period of randomly restarting itself(still happens occasionally now too). Have you tried any firmware upgrade/downgrades, maybe?

[Mokong]

I'm not huge on routers, but that definitely sounds iffy. Mine went through a period of randomly restarting itself(still happens occasionally now too). Have you tried any firmware upgrade/downgrades, maybe?

 

I checked updates just now and there are no new firmware updates available... and haven't ever been in the 6 years that I've had it

 

 

Would yours do the same in that it would change the SSID to a default brand name and/or become unsecure?

Edited November 26, 2011 by Mokong
Automerged Doublepost

[Rummy]

Mine wasn't that bad, no. It seemed to remember everything. I downgraded to an older firmware though and it seemed to stop doing it quite as much(it was literally like every 5 minutes, not handy for internetting). If the router's possibly knackered then tis an option. As for getting a new one....I wouldn't know what's good!

[Mokong]

Ok this is nuts

 

Today my wifi connection started doing this.

 

I noticed when I hover the mouse over the network icon in the systray the name of the network it shows is old SSID from before it randomly erased itself and then in brackets the new SSID I gave it when I had to set it up again.

 

So for example it says I am currently connected to:

OldSSIDname (NEWSSIDname)

 

It only started doing this today. When I had to reset everything and gave it a new SSID that was the only name that would appear... which was to be expected.

 

Don't know where it's getting the old SSID name from?

It's obviously no longer on the router and I deleted the old connection settings from the "manage wireless networks" page?

[McPhee]

Presumably your computer stored then old SSID and has made a connection between the two (same MAC address?).

 

My router has been resetting to factory settings a lot lately. Really annoying. I have a back-up of the configured software (thankfully) but because there's no computer connected directly to the router I have to move my PC downstairs every time I need to reflash it. I'll let you know if it dies soon, might answer your question.

[Jamba]

Sounds like it's on it's way out to me Franklin. At 6 years old I would think about getting a new one anyway. Most home routers are complete crap anyway as they don't do things like clearing the log table for connections over WiFi, which leads to one of the biggest needs to restart out of everything.

 

Personally, I would go look at something like Draytec (pretty sure they do routers) as they are a very good manufacturer. I'll have a look through some things today and see if I can find out anything else for you. Was it a WiFi one you needed?

[Mokong]

Yeah a Wifi one.

 

It's working fine at the moment though.... but I won't say no to some good advice on what brands/models are good just in case I need to go looking for one

[Mokong]

Bumping this now as I'm sure my router is certainly on its last legs now.

 

Suddenly disconnected on me this afternoon, thought it just disconnected the interent, went to the Routers interface to look at it and I couldn't even connect to the router itself to see the interface

 

Checked the actual router, it is on, all lights that should be on are on.

 

Check laptop again, search for access points, can see mine (even though I had the SSID broadcast off ???), tried to connect to it... didn't work.

 

Turned off the actual router at the plug, left it a few mins, turned it on and tried again. And it worked... fine it works it just needed a kick. Ten mins later gone again.

 

Went through everything again and still getting the same results.

 

Checked the wifes laptop, her phone, my 3DS and Wii, all couldn't connect to the router.

 

Intermitintly it would come back and go. But the SSID would remain in the "available access points" or "Unnamed Network" would appear as it should as the SSID broadcast was meant to be off. And still couldn't connect to either

 

Tried hitting the reset button on the router, wiped everything.

Used a settings backup file I had to quickly get back my settings, thought that should be fine. Few mins later gone again.

 

Used teh reset button again. This time manually set up everything and used a new SSID, passwords, etc. Seemed fine.... then 30mins later gone again, gods damnit.

 

It's working at the moment (obviously) but I'm not confident it will stay for long so typing fast. It has come and gone three time now as I typed this post

 

Will go shopping for a new router tomorrow methinks.

[Jamba]

I would recommend this:

https://www.msdist.co.uk/product_AirRouter.php

 

Easy to use, great web interface and many of the built in tools are really handy. I could tell you how to configure it in my sleep.

[Mokong]

Cheers Jamba,

 

Had a look round PCWorld and Havery Norman, really only two options other than Argos and Argos would have meant paying for parking, longer drive... plus I like to be able to hold a box and read it when looking for tech to buy

 

Anyway neither had the one you linked above.

 

I ended up getting a Belkin, which is grand, my old one was also a Belkin and since that lasted about 6 or 7 years before I had issues I think that's a fairly good run.

 

Got a Belkin N600 Moden+Router which seems to be working nice so far

 

Cost 120 euro in Harvey Norman where I bought it... pretty good I thought since PC World had the same one for 160 euro... robbers

 

Anyway just finished setting it, took longer than expected as everytime I changed a setting the router would do a reboot but didn't cause any major issues. Only took 30 seconds roughly each time.

 

Also slightly delayed as I used the installation disc that came with it first, mainly to install the extra software that comes with it for printer sharing and using a HDD with it for back up but thought I might aswell try do the actual router set up with as it was there.

 

That was a mistake, it seemed to take ages to move from one thing to the next, SSID/password -> VCI/VPL info... then it just hung for a few mins of what it said would take 10 - 30 seconds So I just closed it and went right into its browser interface and set it up manually with no issues (other than the needing to restart in between setting changes I mentioned)

 

It works on 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz ranges and can work on 802.11n

I only have 802.11g devices at the moment so turned off the n & 5Ghz antenas but figured best get a router that is compatible with 802.11n just in case I buy something down the line that works on it. (Wondering if Nintendo will make the Wii U work on n rather than g?)

 

Also I do like that it offers "Guest Access" where I can set up a seperate SSID and password from the actual ones. The Guest SSID allows people to connect their devices to the net but doesn't give access to the internal network, LAN or WLAN.

 

Should be handy for me as I'm always annoyed when reletives/friends visit and they want to use their smartphone (or laptop if they are staying overnight) on my WiFi, as I like to make long hard passwords which I hated entering on touchscreen phones

 

So as a test I've set up a Guest Access SSID, made the SSID totally different from my actual networks one and a simpler (but still secure) password and see how it goes next time someone comes to visit.

 

I have MAC filtering turned on though, don't know if that will include the Guest Access Point or not yet. Suppose I should have tested it with my 3DS/Wii or the Wifes laptop or phone but I had already added all the MAC adds to the list and didn't feel like deleting and readding one

 

Anyone have a router with this feature and maybe now if I'll still need to add MAC adds of devices that will use the Guest Access?

 

The only thing that makes me a little wary of teh Guest Access feature is it doesn't have an option to not broadcast its SSID, which I like to do... but I guess it would make it easier setting up "temp" devices if I don't have to type out the SSID too

 

 

Anyway I've got all my own stuff connected back up and all working fine again. YAY.

 

I felt so disconnected last night from the world with no net

 

EDIT:

 

just have a cousin down, tried set up his phone on the guest access point.

Had to add his phones MAC addy to the filtering list, before I did that the phone just kept trying to "obtain IP address" but went nowhere from there. Soon as I added the MAC it connected.

 

Checked the DHCP client list then to see if his phone appeared there and it does, spotted that devices on the "guest network" are just put on a different subnet