Linksys befws11s4 v2 locks up

I have comcast cable connect to my linksys.. For two years at my old house I
didn't have any issues, but as of the last few weeks the router keeps not
responding and I have to power it up and down to get it to work. Sometimes
it will stay up a few days.. some days it won't .. I down graded the
firmware to 1.42.7 because it the latest I could find. Any insight?

newshosting wrote:

> I have comcast cable connect to my linksys.. For two years at my old house
> I didn't have any issues, but as of the last few weeks the router keeps
> not responding and I have to power it up and down to get it to work.
> Sometimes
> it will stay up a few days.. some days it won't .. I down graded the
> firmware to 1.42.7 because it the latest I could find. Any insight?

It's on its way out/failure.

Duane

I've had it for 3 or 4 years.. so I guess I shouldn't be too upset.. Makes
me wonder if I should stick with linksys though..
"Duane Arnold" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
newsTAtd.532781$D%.249096@attbi_s51...
> newshosting wrote:
>
> > I have comcast cable connect to my linksys.. For two years at my old
house
> > I didn't have any issues, but as of the last few weeks the router keeps
> > not responding and I have to power it up and down to get it to work.
> > Sometimes
> > it will stay up a few days.. some days it won't .. I down graded the
> > firmware to 1.42.7 because it the latest I could find. Any insight?
>
> It's on its way out/failure.
>
> Duane

"Mas G" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:kjCtd.81079$(E-Mail Removed):

> I've had it for 3 or 4 years.. so I guess I shouldn't be too upset..
> Makes me wonder if I should stick with linksys though..
> "Duane Arnold" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> newsTAtd.532781$D%.249096@attbi_s51...
>> newshosting wrote:
>>
>> > I have comcast cable connect to my linksys.. For two years at my
>> > old
> house
>> > I didn't have any issues, but as of the last few weeks the router
>> > keeps not responding and I have to power it up and down to get it
>> > to work. Sometimes
>> > it will stay up a few days.. some days it won't .. I down graded
>> > the firmware to 1.42.7 because it the latest I could find. Any
>> > insight?
>>
>> It's on its way out/failure.
>>
>> Duane
>
>
>

I have had my 11S4 v1 since 2001. I turned into a wire/wireless switch and
plugged it into the Watchguard. It's just started recently having major
issues, like I cannot get to the Admin screens anymore after doing repeated
resets and power downs, but it could still send and receive traffic. Now,
it won't even to that wired or wireless. ;-) I may or may not get another
Linksys as I am in the market looking for something, maybe just an AP this
time that can do B and G.

Duane

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 01:24:39 -0500, "newshosting" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I have comcast cable connect to my linksys.. For two years at my old house I
>didn't have any issues, but as of the last few weeks the router keeps not
>responding and I have to power it up and down to get it to work. Sometimes
>it will stay up a few days.. some days it won't .. I down graded the
>firmware to 1.42.7 because it the latest I could find. Any insight?

I have a wild guess(tm). You have a board with a few of the infamous
leaky capacitors that appeared in devices made between about 1999 and
2001. Remove the rubber feet, remove the screws, and the box should
come apart. Look for brown ooooooze coming from the bottom of
electrolytic capacitors, or bulges in the top of the can on these
capacitors.
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1081/
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY...eb03/ncap.html
http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=17075
Note that it's not just motherboards that have problems with the
defective low-esr capacitors. I've seen it in power supplies, VCR's,
hubs, and wall warts.

This is only a guess(tm).


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

I think this speculation about 'leaky capacitors' causing the
connections problems is bogus.

I say that because I owned 3 separate NEW units for about
one week each, and all 3 locked up. I took them back to
Radio Shack and got a refund. This all happened about
8 months ago (April 2004).

It's a firmware issue that was never resolved. I consider them
junk.

And, I feel vindicated because about 3 months ago, I joined a business
which trouble-shoots home-networks, and everyone at this business
has the same recommendation when customers ask which router to buy.

The answer is always 'buy anything EXCEPT Linksys'. (e.g.D-Link and
Netgear both work fine.)

My 2-cents worth...

Dave


"Jeff Liebermann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 01:24:39 -0500, "newshosting" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>I have comcast cable connect to my linksys.. For two years at my old house
>>I
>>didn't have any issues, but as of the last few weeks the router keeps not
>>responding and I have to power it up and down to get it to work. Sometimes
>>it will stay up a few days.. some days it won't .. I down graded the
>>firmware to 1.42.7 because it the latest I could find. Any insight?
>
> I have a wild guess(tm). You have a board with a few of the infamous
> leaky capacitors that appeared in devices made between about 1999 and
> 2001. Remove the rubber feet, remove the screws, and the box should
> come apart. Look for brown ooooooze coming from the bottom of
> electrolytic capacitors, or bulges in the top of the can on these
> capacitors.
> http://www.overclockers.com/tips1081/
> http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY...eb03/ncap.html
> http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=17075
> Note that it's not just motherboards that have problems with the
> defective low-esr capacitors. I've seen it in power supplies, VCR's,
> hubs, and wall warts.
>
> This is only a guess(tm).
>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 21:04:54 -0500, "David Cook"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I think this speculation about 'leaky capacitors' causing the
>connections problems is bogus.
>
>I say that because I owned 3 separate NEW units for about
>one week each, and all 3 locked up. I took them back to
>Radio Shack and got a refund. This all happened about
>8 months ago (April 2004).

I call to your attention that the original poster indicated that the
router was working normally for 2 years prior to hanging. Unless you
subscribe to the "software rot" theory, where old software
deteriorates in the box, methinks such a slow deterioration could not
be attributed to buggish firmware. However, a long term deterioration
in stablity is an attribute of some hardware failure.

>It's a firmware issue that was never resolved. I consider them
>junk.

Well, I've been using a BEFW11S4v4, which admitedly is quite different
from the v2 incantation. Although it does have some firmware bugs,
none of them have caused a hang or lockup.

>And, I feel vindicated because about 3 months ago, I joined a business
>which trouble-shoots home-networks, and everyone at this business
>has the same recommendation when customers ask which router to buy.
>
>The answer is always 'buy anything EXCEPT Linksys'. (e.g.D-Link and
>Netgear both work fine.)
>
>My 2-cents worth...

Hopefully, you get paid more than 2-cents. Linksys buys it hardware
from a wide variety of manufacturers. Quality varies radically,
mostly depending on the manufacturer. For example, see:
http://www.vallstedt-networks.de/?vendors/GST_Vendors
for all the mutations of the Dlink DWL-900+. (My thanks to Richard
Perkin for the URL). I don't think you can generalize that one vendor
is defective, when all the bottom of the line wireless vendors buy
similar boards from various manufacturers.


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

Ok.. I;ve replaced my .2 version with a .4 and it looks like the same thing
is happening..

I lose internet connectivity even though all the lights stay flashing..

I ping it from several machines and get no reponse.. if I wait long enough
and do an arp -a from the machines I get the mac address as 00-00-00-00-00
and invalid

I unplug it and plug it back in and everything works instantly..

I'm not sure where to go from here...



"Jeff Liebermann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 21:04:54 -0500, "David Cook"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>I think this speculation about 'leaky capacitors' causing the
>>connections problems is bogus.
>>
>>I say that because I owned 3 separate NEW units for about
>>one week each, and all 3 locked up. I took them back to
>>Radio Shack and got a refund. This all happened about
>>8 months ago (April 2004).
>
> I call to your attention that the original poster indicated that the
> router was working normally for 2 years prior to hanging. Unless you
> subscribe to the "software rot" theory, where old software
> deteriorates in the box, methinks such a slow deterioration could not
> be attributed to buggish firmware. However, a long term deterioration
> in stablity is an attribute of some hardware failure.
>
>>It's a firmware issue that was never resolved. I consider them
>>junk.
>
> Well, I've been using a BEFW11S4v4, which admitedly is quite different
> from the v2 incantation. Although it does have some firmware bugs,
> none of them have caused a hang or lockup.
>
>>And, I feel vindicated because about 3 months ago, I joined a business
>>which trouble-shoots home-networks, and everyone at this business
>>has the same recommendation when customers ask which router to buy.
>>
>>The answer is always 'buy anything EXCEPT Linksys'. (e.g.D-Link and
>>Netgear both work fine.)
>>
>>My 2-cents worth...
>
> Hopefully, you get paid more than 2-cents. Linksys buys it hardware
> from a wide variety of manufacturers. Quality varies radically,
> mostly depending on the manufacturer. For example, see:
> http://www.vallstedt-networks.de/?vendors/GST_Vendors
> for all the mutations of the Dlink DWL-900+. (My thanks to Richard
> Perkin for the URL). I don't think you can generalize that one vendor
> is defective, when all the bottom of the line wireless vendors buy
> similar boards from various manufacturers.
>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558

"newshosting" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:03sud.190$(E-Mail Removed):

> Ok.. I;ve replaced my .2 version with a .4 and it looks like the same
> thing is happening..
>
> I lose internet connectivity even though all the lights stay
> flashing..
>
> I ping it from several machines and get no reponse.. if I wait long
> enough and do an arp -a from the machines I get the mac address as
> 00-00-00-00-00 and invalid
>
> I unplug it and plug it back in and everything works instantly..
>
> I'm not sure where to go from here...
>

Let me repeat, it's on its way out. ;-)

Duane

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 20:28:07 -0500, "newshosting" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Ok.. I;ve replaced my .2 version with a .4 and it looks like the same thing
>is happening..
>
>I lose internet connectivity even though all the lights stay flashing..
>
>I ping it from several machines and get no reponse.. if I wait long enough
>and do an arp -a from the machines I get the mac address as 00-00-00-00-00
>and invalid
>
>I unplug it and plug it back in and everything works instantly..
>
>I'm not sure where to go from here...

I like tough problems. Since you've tried it from several machines,
it's improbable that it's anything on the client machines. Some
rhetorical questions:

- Are you testing via wireless, wired, or both?

- Duz the new BEFW11S4v4 have the latest firmware? Ver 1.50.14
http://www.linksys.com/download/firmware.asp?fwid=182

- Did you reset the new router to defaults before setting up? Garbage
left in memory from a previous firmware update can cause problems.

- Are there any boxes between your "several machines" and the
BEFW11S4v4 router?

- Are there any other boxes or servers on your LAN side that could be
running RIP or RIP2? If so, they could be advertising faulty routes
sending your clients or your router off to who knows where. When
you lose connectivity, and assuming your "several machines" are
running Windoze, run:
ipconfig
to see if the default gateway has changed or run:
router print
to see if any of the routes have changed. I don't think this is the
problem, but it's worth a try.


I suggest you test this mess in an organized fashion designed to
eliminate too many possibilities and reduce the system to its simplest
configuration.

- Router plus one computer plugged into the LAN. No wireless.
Disconnect the wireless antenna or disable wireless to avoid
neighbors. Test if it works and doesn't "lock up". If it fails,
try a different computer on the LAN (no wireless). If that also
fails, you need a karma recharge as you apparently have two
defective routers.

- If one LAN connected computer works, plug in a 2nd computer and do
some testing. If that fails, then it's something to do with the 2nd
computah. If it works, continue to plug computahs into the LAN side
until something either fails, or until everything is working.

- If it works with wired LAN, turn on the wireless, but do NOT try to
connect with any of your computahs. See if it's something external
coming from the neighbors. It could be garbage from another access
point. If it craps out as before, try a different channel (1, 6,
11).

- Disconnect one and only one computah and set it up to play wireless.
Do the testing thing. If it fails, there's something fishy with the
wireless client or setup. If it works, continue to turn on wireless
clients until a failure appears.

Note that the idea is to start with a minimal system, with everything
un-necessary disabled, and build it up from there until it fails.


--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831.336.2558 voice http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
# (E-Mail Removed)
# 831.421.6491 digital_pager (E-Mail Removed) AE6KS