Router firmware upgrades.....

[jh88fan]

How often should be this done? I never gave it much thought before, but lately I have been needing to power-cycle my router often, every couple days or so. Or is there another possible cause of this?

Thanks for any help.

[mbossman2]

my advice: check the firmware when you buy it...make sure it is the current flavor and then don't mess with it unless there is a problem

[Staren]

My first guess on the problem would be something on the same frequency knocking the router off from time to time. Have you tried changing the wireless channel? After that, don't go for every router firmware upgrade. But if you are having problems it's something to try. Just basically like it isn't broke don't fix it.

[mbossman2]

for a more in depth answer, please post:

router, make and model.
what, specifically, is bringing you to recycling the router?

[jh88fan]

Its a Linksys WRT54G, but I'm only using it hard-wired. I have one PC connected to it, and my brother has his Playstation connected to it. He uses his PS online a lot, so the router gets a lot of traffic. If that requires power-cycling the router occasionally, thats not really a big deal, I was just wondering if upgrading the firmware would help. The current version is dated from 2004 though, thats what caught my eye.

[Panama Red]

Power cycling a router seems to be necessary on occasion regardless of brand or firmware. I concur with the suggestion above - if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[glc]

Which exact revision WRT54G? There are about 7 now, some are good, some are junk.

[afk1976]

if your current firmware is from 2004, i would definately upgrade it. chances are that after that long they have fixed some bugs in the new version.
I am running the most recent version of the firmware on my WRT54G router and it works fine.
...and in worst case it is very easy to roll back on those boxes.

[toomyg]

Originally Posted by Panama Red Power cycling a router seems to be necessary on occasion regardless of brand or firmware. I concur with the suggestion above - if it ain't broke don't fix it.

with dd-wrt you can "Schedule Reboot" one time everyweek or every few hours if you want


I just had to throw that in there because my WRT54G v6 and WRT54GL v1.1 run like a champ And yes the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" thing could always be in mind unless there is a problem

[mojo]

Originally Posted by Panama Red Power cycling a router seems to be necessary on occasion regardless of brand or firmware.

Not necessarily true.

Connected (35d 14h 8m 58s)
up 38 days, 8:48

Only reason it's not longer is because the power went out 38 days ago.

It's an old PC acting as a router by running IPCop.

I'm a very heavy bittorrent user, but it never chokes.

[toomyg]

Originally Posted by mojo Not necessarily true. Connected (35d 14h 8m 58s) up 38 days, 8:48 Only reason it's not longer is because the power went out 38 days ago. It's an old PC acting as a router by running IPCop. I'm a very heavy bittorrent user, but it never chokes.

How do you do that ? With more then one network card?

[Panama Red]

Originally Posted by mojo It's an old PC acting as a router by running IPCop.

How come you brought your grapefruit to this discussion about oranges?

[Tin]

Originally Posted by Panama Red How come you brought your grapefruit to this discussion about oranges?

Running Smoothwall, IPCop, or m0n0wall is far better than running a standard desktop router, and in many cases, costs far less as well. The basic installation and configuration isnt really that difficult Somebody experienced in building computers can do it. Once you start adding mods and other changes, the learning curve grows steeper. Theyre also very highly configurable. On mine, Im running QoS, firewall tools, clam anti-virus, and dansguardian 2.0. Its nice being able to stop the viruses before they even make it to your network. Just so much you can do with an old box collecting dust in the corner .

[mojo]

Originally Posted by toomyg How do you do that ? With more then one network card?

Yup. I use 2, but you can use up to 4.

Originally Posted by Panama Red How come you brought your grapefruit to this discussion about oranges?

See, I thought we were talking about routers and rebooting them, and I never reboot my router unless the power goes out.

[toomyg]

Originally Posted by Tin Running Smoothwall, IPCop, or m0n0wall is far better than running a standard desktop router, and in many cases, costs far less as well. The basic installation and configuration isnt really that difficult Somebody experienced in building computers can do it. Once you start adding mods and other changes, the learning curve grows steeper. Theyre also very highly configurable. On mine, Im running QoS, firewall tools, clam anti-virus, and dansguardian 2.0. Its nice being able to stop the viruses before they even make it to your network. Just so much you can do with an old box collecting dust in the corner .

Is there a link so I can see now it is done ? I have acouple of old computers kicking around and would not mind trying something like this

[toomyg]

Originally Posted by mojo See, I thought we were talking about routers and rebooting them, and I never reboot my router unless the power goes out.

oo ya I can program my router to reboot at a chosen time if I want

[mojo]

Originally Posted by toomyg oo ya I can program my router to reboot at a chosen time if I want

Uh, so can I, what's your point?

Originally Posted by toomyg Is there a link so I can see now it is done ? I have acouple of old computers kicking around and would not mind trying something like this

http://ipcop.org
http://smoothwall.org
http://m0n0.ch/wall/

[toomyg]

Just kidding mojo Hey why don't you start a NEW thread here about this computer to router stuff because I got afew questions and I don't want to mess up someone elses thread

[mojo]

Duly noted.

[jh88fan]

Originally Posted by glc Which exact revision WRT54G? There are about 7 now, some are good, some are junk.

This is what I am using, I'm not sure how to check the exact revision though....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833124010

I'm having to power-cycle every 2-3 days on average.

[Panama Red]

Look at the label on the bottom of the router and it will tell you the Version number.

[jh88fan]

The version is 2.2

[toomyg]

According to this wed page thats a good WRT54G model

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRT54G

[glc]

Yes, that's an older one and would benefit greatly from a firmware update.

Firmware Date: 1/30/2007
Firmware Release Version: 4.21.1

[jh88fan]

I successfully upgraded the firmware, just have to wait and see how things work out now.

Thanks for the help!