personal router problem

[Byte 2.0]

Ok, I have a Netgear MR814 wireless less router connected to my cable modem

My IP address from cable company never changes, Static

Ok, problem is about once a day My router craps out, I know it is the router because my network of 3 wired PC's is also unable to communicate with each other.

I upgraded the firmware from netgear figuring that might fix it. No change, I have to unplug the router for about 30 seconds and bring it back then everything works fine.

I have clicked in every opition in the router and can find no time out sessions, i have all blocking of times off.

I have it set to get all info from my cable company.

also keep in mind when directly connected to my PC I can go days on end with out a reboot and have a good connection.

I believe it is the router because of the problem knocks down my network. I have emailed netgear because I have been to busy to call and figure hold time is very high, but they have not answered my emails so I guess I need to call them.

Any other ideas?

[mbossman2]

i have the same problem with my Speedstream it will crap out and i have to reset it to factory defaults about onece every 10 days or so. My guess is it is a stability issue with their operating code. You want stability i guess you have to pay more than $100 for a router.

[Iman74]

I have been using Linksys for about two years now and never had that problem and that isn't much more than a $100. Get that.

[mbossman2]

Originally posted by Iman74
I have been using Linksys for about two years now and never had that problem and that isn't much more than a $100. Get that.

then you've been lucky that you haven't had to reboot your router in 2 years.

[Cheryl]

I have the same problem with a linksys wireless. If I unplug it for about 5-10 secs. it comes back ok. Sometimes happens once a day, sometimes once every few days. Hope someone has an answer.

Cheryl

[HAL9000]

Byte... I had the same problem with my Linksys. I was having line noise problems from my ISP and when they would glitch, it would knock out my router and I had to do a soft reset to get it going again. I have since switched to an SMC and it doesn't seem to be affected the way the Linksys was.

[Byte 2.0]

Ok, I have been hearing alot about SMC routers, I will check into them.

[Confused]

I have a SMC and it did the same thing for about 3 weeks when local cable co. (Insight) switched from @home to AT&T about 14 months ago. It would hang on a daily basis and I would have to reset the router.

I don't have a clue what happened but it cleared up after about 3 weeks.
Chas

[Iman74]

Correction, I have had to reboot but not for the reasons mentioned in this thread. I have to reboot when the cable company has a problem and their modems are out of wack, then I power down everything, bring up the modem first, then the router, then the PC's. But that is very rare. I don't even remember the last time it happened.

[Byte 2.0]

I have not been having to reboot my modem, just the router. To level out the Power I have connected my router and modem to my battery back up, but that hasn't made a difference that I can tell.

[Byte 2.0]

woot, awaited 4 days, netgear replied, this kind of problem is best handled by voice. please call us .

I call up, explain the problem, told the guy my entire network crashes at once and the only way to get it back is to reboot the router by unpluging and repluging it up.

He then walks me though getting my IP address, pinging the router, surfing into the router and then making a connection. I then restate the problem to him, he puts me on hold, comes back, asks for my email address. said he will email me a newer frimware then the 4.11 that I have on my router and promptly ends the calls. Said to expect it with in an hour.

I honestly don't believe they will email me a frimware that isn't on the website. It said it is new and will be available for download in a few days. I ask if other people are having the problem I am having and he said no. So if no one else is having that issue, then why would he supect the new frimware would would fix it?

My router started with frimware 4.09, I moved to 4.11. He said he is sending newer. I will post back.

BTW, I am posting this 30 minutes after, and I am starting to doubt they are emailing me but I could be wrong, I hope I am.

[Byte 2.0]

As I supected, no updated firmware from netgear. They are about to get a very poor review from me., going to call them again tonight

[Markoman01027]

My LINKSYS router does that sometimes :(

If anybody can suggest a router that will not do this, please let me know. I have updated the NIC drivers, and no help. I doubt updating the router will help at all. What could be causing this problem?

With the new router, will the installation be as easy as the LINKSYS? :-P pop in the CD, click click, boom LOL :-P

Running WIN2K.

[Byte 2.0]

Hal said he switched to an SMC, I am strongly considering, but that leaves me with this one

I just brought this one, buying another one isn't a big deal other then I will have this one left over even if i get it replaced which I am going ot push for.

[Markoman01027]

Yeah I see what you mean. Byte or HAL, how is the installation on a SMC router?

[Byte 2.0]

Woot I got though to netgear tonight, first agent didn't speak english after about 45 minutes of Hold, then I got disconnected.

My faith in netgear is dropping.

[Byte 2.0]

Ok, another agent just answered and hung up on me.

[Markoman01027]

They probably do this because they cannot figure out a solution to your problem.

[Panama Red]

I've got Netgear equip too. Mine are wired units, router and cable modem. Never had to reset router, but I have had to reset the modem on occasion. Most of the time, when I have a lock up, all the modem lights will be lit and the IE just quits accessing the net. Wait a couple seconds and sure enuf the signal light goes off and the unit resets itself. Always happens about the same time in the afternoons. I suspect the problem is with Comcast. It sometimes does this 2 - 4 times in a span of 10 minutes, then it clears up. I sent an email to Netgear a couple weeks ago asking about stacking the units and if heat was a concern. Never got a reply.

[Byte 2.0]

my problem is in the router. I don't have to reset the modem or even reboot my win 2k.

I just unplug the router for a few minutes, plug it back up and I am back online, but when it dies my entire network of 3 wired PC's is down.

[Markoman01027]

hmm..that gives me an idea..reboot the router without rebooting the PC. Will save me a few minutes :-P but I just don't know why it does that?

[Byte 2.0]

wonder if this will make any difference. I am now using my NIC's Mac address instead of my router's. I figured it couldn't hurt to try it.

[Markoman01027]

Let me know if it changes anything.

My friend at work has the same router as me, and it does not do what mine does. hmm..I'm starting to think it is a bad router..all of the cables are new.

[Byte 2.0]

I am leaning toward that fact that I have a bad router, but getting netgear to talk to me is another situation.

[Markoman01027]

it could be the router. If you have warranty on it, you should get it replaced, and see if that fixes the problem. I don't think you should spend your money on a new router, where if you have warranty on the one you have right now, you can replace it and hopefully see if it is fixed.

[Byte 2.0]

Right now I am trying to get netgear to replace it.

look at this email response.


Ensure that there is no firewall in any machine like Norton, Zone alarm, Black ice etc in machine that can cause this issue with router.


That has holding reset for 15 seconds, been there, done that got the T-shirt all covered in do.

[bailey]

I set up 6 home networks with cable modems and linksys routers, all systems have been on 24/7 and never had to reset or reboot anything yet, in over 1 year so far.

did have two modems go bad, one rca and the other was a toshiba, both went bad in the first 24 hrs of use.

[Byte 2.0]

My toshiba is running fine after 2 problems both at comcast got fixed.

[Byte 2.0]

Ok, since i changed and I am using the Mac address of my PC instead of the router I have been connected for 23 hours with out having to reboot the router. that really should not have anything to do with it should it? I will continue to watch it over the next couple of days

[theENiGMA]

I've had a Linksys router for about two years, and I've never had a problem. I recently switched to wireless, also linksys, two months and no problems. Also, I will never buy a netgear product again. When I first got into networking, office depot was running a sale to get a netgear 10/100 card for five bucks with rebates. At the time, almost five years ago, this was great. My friends and I bought a total of five. Two including mine were DOA, (maybe just a bad batch, but still) and returned. The other three worked, but one of my friends got the wrong rebate back. He should have gotten $20 for the card, but instead he got $10 for a hub (???) that he didn't buy. He emailed but never got more than a form letter from netgear. Stay away!!!
-KEiTH

[Byte 2.0]

my netgear NICs have preformed well for over 2 years, I own 3 so I decided to go with the netgear router.

Right now my router uptime is 1 day and 22 hours aftr I changed that Mac address to my NIC.

Really that should not have mattered in my opinion. Netgear didnt' suggest that either.

[Markoman01027]

How do you use your NIC''s MAC address for your routers? Maybe that will solve the problem with my router(Although I can just reset the router without rebooting the PC. ) uptime was like over a week.

[glc]

With PPPoE ADSL, MAC cloning does nothing, authentication is handled with the login. Cable authenticates by MAC.

[Byte 2.0]

right GLC but it shouldn't matter which Mac they use, the router verse the NIC.

They didn't install my NIC, nor have I ever give them that NIC's Mac over the phone.

they do have the Mac from the Cable Modem though.

But my main issue is It gets to the point the PC's can't surf into the router. Today one of my computers was dropped from the network. again.

[Markoman01027]

errr..my router went down twice today...I'm gonna see if there are any updates for the router, etc. If not, I am gonna find one cheap on ebay or something.

Also it could be that Verizon is working on upgrading my speed, and the speed change is suppose to be due today.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by byte
But my main issue is It gets to the point the PC's can't surf into the router. Today one of my computers was dropped from the network. again.
Could you ping the router, or was the PC totally off the LAN?

[Byte 2.0]

could not ping, but the the network conneciton in the taskbar showed connected. didn't think to ping other PC's

However, it has gotten more stable since I cloned the Mac from my PC, and no comcast didnt' have that mac, it was a nic I provided and I only gave them the mac from the modem.

[Richard M Balling]

any suggestions you ask

yes, go with linksys

I've had no problems with mine either, nore has anyone I know. The only poor thing they make are the wireless cards. Stick to Lucent for cards. Their chip technology is far better.

[Richard M Balling]

Actually, haven't read everything here,but something else you cuould try is to turn off the DHCP and go static with the IPs

[gunrunnerjohn]

I've never given Comcast any info other than the MAC of my modem, and I've changed the router several times, and connected the modem directly to several PC's during various debugging sessions. It's never been an issue...

[Byte 2.0]

I do know that Comcast assigns IPs based on the mac address the modem connect to though.

consider the 3 Nics I have plus the router.

If my modem is connected to Nic 1, I get s certain IP address
If the modem is connected to Nic 2 I get another certain IP address
if modem is connected to NIC3 I get yet another Certain IP address.

I changed modems canceled the account, moved across town signed up a new account with in 2 days and got the same IP address.
tried one of their modems and got the same IP addresses when connected to various Nics, it is hard to explain any better but I have conclude that is depends on the first mac the modem sees.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Hmm... I can connect my cable modem to my router or one of the PC's directly, and I always get the same IP address, at least in a couple of tests. Maybe Comcast's network is pretty diverse, and not everything works the same. :)

[Byte 2.0]

I have had 3 dfferent cable modems,
an RCA, toshiba and the teyon(misspelled)
they all did that, but I also had to power cycle the modem before it would let a new nic pull an IP address.

[Markoman01027]

Upgraded my Router's firmware...We'll see how things turn out.

[Markoman01027]

Well, I upgraded the firmware on the router. Rebooted the router aswell as the PC. Replugged all of the connections. The router is still booting me off once in a while.

Any suggestions on a good reliable router? SMC? Netgear?
Thanks guys!