Netgear DG834G V2 - intermittently no lights, cannot ping router

A customer of mine has a Netgear DG834G V2 router which is connected to AOL.
Intermittently (it's happened three or four times in two months) the router
stops working. It displays no lights on the front panel - not even the power
LED - and it becomes totally uncommunicative - you cannot even ping it.

It needs to be unplugged from its power supply and left for about 1 minute;
after this, it works perfectly again. Unplugging from the power for a
shorter time (eg 5 seconds) is not sufficient to make it work again. Because
it needs to be powered off, there's no way of looking at the log to see if
any events led up to the fault.

Has anyone ever come across this problem? Is there a solution? I'm not sure
what version of firmware it has, but the router was bought about 2 months
ago so the firmware should be fairly recent.

In article <42a82166$1$28531$(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> A customer of mine has a Netgear DG834G V2 router which is connected to AOL.
> Intermittently (it's happened three or four times in two months) the router
> stops working. It displays no lights on the front panel - not even the power
> LED - and it becomes totally uncommunicative - you cannot even ping it.
>
<Snip>

Hi there,

What's happening to that router sounds bad - it's not going to be a
firmware problem. I suspect the whole device is on its way out. Might be
worth giving it a gentle shake to make sure it's not a short-circuit
causing the thing to flake out. Other than that, it's definitely time to
RMA the thing to the place you bought it, and receive a replacement.

Regards,
--
| Alex Crosby Broadband Solutions for
| Customer Support Home & Business @
| PlusNet plc www.plus.net
+------ PlusNet - The smarter way to broadband ------

"Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:42a82166$1$28531$(E-Mail Removed)...
>A customer of mine has a Netgear DG834G V2 router which is connected to
>AOL.
> Intermittently (it's happened three or four times in two months) the
> router
> stops working. It displays no lights on the front panel - not even the
> power
> LED - and it becomes totally uncommunicative - you cannot even ping it.
>
> It needs to be unplugged from its power supply and left for about 1
> minute;
> after this, it works perfectly again. Unplugging from the power for a
> shorter time (eg 5 seconds) is not sufficient to make it work again.
> Because
> it needs to be powered off, there's no way of looking at the log to see if
> any events led up to the fault.
>
> Has anyone ever come across this problem? Is there a solution? I'm not
> sure
> what version of firmware it has, but the router was bought about 2 months
> ago so the firmware should be fairly recent.
>
>
>
>

Ive installed a lot of these - sounds like a hardware problem if the power
lights are going out - RMA it via tech support

> Ive installed a lot of these - sounds like a hardware problem if the power
> lights are going out - RMA it via tech support
>
>
could it be overheating?

"Sean Browne (Cardiff IT Support Ltd)" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in message news:0Blqe.17346$%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>> Ive installed a lot of these - sounds like a hardware problem if the
>> power
>> lights are going out - RMA it via tech support
>>
>>
> could it be overheating?

I wondered that. However it was cold when I was called out and it's stored
horizontally on a hard table, as opposed to something soft which it could
sink into, blocking the vents. My own DG834GT gets fairly hot underneath and
it's worked continously for about two months.

>it's definitely time to RMA the thing to the place you bought it, and
receive a replacement.

Better still get your money back and buy something more reliable
D-Link 604T if you on a budget, Draytek 2600G if you want the best,
2600VG or Zyxel 2602HWL if you want VoIP ports.
Regards,
Martin

"Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:42aa29f1$0$41907$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >it's definitely time to RMA the thing to the place you bought it, and
> receive a replacement.
>
> Better still get your money back and buy something more reliable
> D-Link 604T if you on a budget, Draytek 2600G if you want the best,
> 2600VG or Zyxel 2602HWL if you want VoIP ports.
> Regards,

That's a great time to hear this piece of advice (!) After I've canvassed
people's opinions in these two groups (uk.comp.home-networking and
uk.telecom.broadband) and people recommended the Netgear DG834G/GT as the
best of the commonly-available ones (Netgear DG834, Dlink G604T, Linksys
WAG54G).

My experience is that my Netgear is rock-solid, both as a router and as a
wireless access point. Since I bought it about two montsh ago, it's been
running continuously apart from a couple of occasions when I unplugged it to
take to customers' houses to check for wireless coverage before getting them
to buy they own.

Certainly the Netgear is a damn sight easier to configure than the Dlink
which in my experience seems to have a strange habit of forgetting any
config changes made to it (despite pressing the Save button) - even closing
the browser window and reconnecting to it (without restarting the router)
shows that values haven't always been saved. Yesterday it took me five
attempts to get a Dlink to remember its values - then for no apparent
reason, on the sixth attempt everything worked. The fact that you have to
restart the AP after making any wireless-related changes caught me out as
well till I cottoned-on to it. Maybe there should be a clear warning,
together with a Restart AP button on the Wireless page. The auto-setting
wizard of the Netgear saves a lot of setup time as well.

Martin Underwood <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
: "Martin?" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message

: That's a great time to hear this piece of advice (!) After I've canvassed
: people's opinions in these two groups (uk.comp.home-networking and
: uk.telecom.broadband) and people recommended the Netgear DG834G/GT as the
: best of the commonly-available ones (Netgear DG834, Dlink G604T, Linksys
: WAG54G).

"Martin?" totally hates Netgear and will appear at any sign of any problem!

My DG634G is rock-solid and is approaching 600 hours uptime (since I last
turned it off when I was away!)

"Sean Browne (Cardiff IT Support Ltd)" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in message news:0Blqe.17346$%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>> Ive installed a lot of these - sounds like a hardware problem if the
>> power
>> lights are going out - RMA it via tech support
>>
>>
> could it be overheating?

if it is then its a hardware fault - possibly a dry solder joint or similar
>
>

"Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:42aab3c5$0$2039$(E-Mail Removed):

> "Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:42aa29f1$0$41907$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >it's definitely time to RMA the thing to the place you bought
>> >it, and
>> receive a replacement.
>>
>> Better still get your money back and buy something more
>> reliable D-Link 604T if you on a budget, Draytek 2600G if you
>> want the best, 2600VG or Zyxel 2602HWL if you want VoIP ports.
>> Regards,
>
> That's a great time to hear this piece of advice (!) After I've
> canvassed people's opinions in these two groups
> (uk.comp.home-networking and uk.telecom.broadband) and people
> recommended the Netgear DG834G/GT as the best of the
> commonly-available ones (Netgear DG834, Dlink G604T, Linksys
> WAG54G).
>
> My experience is that my Netgear is rock-solid, both as a router
> and as a wireless access point. Since I bought it about two
> montsh ago, it's been running continuously apart from a couple
> of occasions when I unplugged it to take to customers' houses to
> check for wireless coverage before getting them to buy they own.
>
> Certainly the Netgear is a damn sight easier to configure than
> the Dlink which in my experience seems to have a strange habit
> of forgetting any config changes made to it (despite pressing
> the Save button) - even closing the browser window and
> reconnecting to it (without restarting the router) shows that
> values haven't always been saved. Yesterday it took me five
> attempts to get a Dlink to remember its values - then for no
> apparent reason, on the sixth attempt everything worked. The
> fact that you have to restart the AP after making any
> wireless-related changes caught me out as well till I
> cottoned-on to it. Maybe there should be a clear warning,
> together with a Restart AP button on the Wireless page. The
> auto-setting wizard of the Netgear saves a lot of setup time as
> well.
>
>

Martin² had one bad experience with a Netgear router a couple of
years ago. Whether it was due to a design fault, firmware problem,
fault in the particular router or pilot incompetency is
indeterminate; but the more he goes on about it, the more I suspect
the last of these.

Agree with your experience of D-Link routers: works fine once you
can get it to remember its settings. Netgear setup is much more
intuitive. Vigor 2600G? No problem technically but not at all
competitively priced - more than double the typical market price.