router losing connection - won't renew ip address?

[n8rand]

Hi,

So here's the deal. We've had cable internet for a while now and its been working GREAT with our desktop. But now we recently got a new laptop so we got a wireless router. (Linksys WRT54Gv5)

Got home, set it up and it worked beautifully! for about a day. I set it up again following the same directions - again worked great for about a day. This has continued for a couple days now... sometimes it lasts less than 6 hrs. Every time though, if I connect the modem straight to the PC it works fine just by unplugging it from the router internet port and putting it in the PC ethernet port.

The send/receive buttons light up and it works great again. So I set the router back up and it works for a couple hours. A friend of mine has an older netgear router that works great with no problems with the same ISP so I know that we can use a router I'm just not sure what the deal is.

Can some one please shed some light on this???

I believe when it comes around time to renew the IP address from the ISP the problem is occuring but I'm no expert so I couldn't say for sure. I have updated the router to the lastest firmware and that didn't do the trick.

If anyone knows how to fix this I would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks for your time and thanks in advance for any advice =)

[glc]

Disconnect the power to the cable modem for about 20 minutes, power it back up, and restart the router.

[n8rand]

thanks glc - I tried your solution late last night and so far so good. Hopefully it'll stay connected and if not i'll be back. =)

Thanks!

[toomyg]

Originally Posted by glc Disconnect the power to the cable modem for about 20 minutes, power it back up, and restart the router.

glc I know you have answered his question BUT now I got one


Why would unplugging the cable modem fix this problem???

[Tony Starks]

I have the same router and the same problem. I have to unplug my router every so often cause it drops the connection. I also have a friend with the same router and has the same problem as us. Its not to big of a deal because my router is right next to my computer and I rarely use my notebook (my wife does) but its really annoying. Hope someone finds out what wrong.

[n8rand]

glc -

that didn't seem to do the trick... disconnected this afternoon. =(

any other ideas...?

[toomyg]

Maybe this site might help too on you problem
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/linksys

[Panama Red]

I have the same router and only have that issue once every couple months. I have to power cycle the modem and the router. Do you have the latest firmware on the router?

[glc]

Originally Posted by toomyg glc I know you have answered his question BUT now I got one Why would unplugging the cable modem fix this problem???

It will reset the MAC.

[n8rand]

Panama-

Yes I've downloaded the most recent firmware. I read somewhere that on the more recent ones they switched OS from what used to be linux. Not sure what it is now. I have a v5...

After a couple calls to Linksys I'm about ready to throw it out the window!

*sigh* Any ideas?

[Panama Red]

Wish I had a magic answer for ya, but I don't know what it is. Are you sure it's not the modem dropping the connection? When you power cycle the modem without touching the router, does the connection restore?

[n8rand]

well the modem has been connected to the PC alone for about a year now with no problems... So I'm pretty sure its not the modem.

For a few more details...

We can be in the middle of using the internet (there's activity) and then the modem's send & receive lights turn off completely so there's no more sending/receiving. Then we unplug the cables and connect everything (like setting it up for the first time without configuring the router) and its magically working again. When this happens the wireless connection to the router is still working so we're not losing connection to the router.

This is why I have a feeling that the router is not renewing the IP address on its own like it is supposed to thus losing connection when the IP address expires.

[Panama Red]

Might be time to rma the router. What does Linksys say?

[n8rand]

Well...

As with a lot of things these days... customer support sends you to India... and I can tell that they are just reading me something that they have in front of them that I've already read on their website. We changed the Mac clone on, changed the MTU, and cycled the power on the router about a 100 times, among many other things that led no where.

[Panama Red]

Well, you could buy another router to prove that one is bad. Then rma yours and tell them you want your money back, not a new router.