Netgear WGU624 Connection Drops

I'd like to add one more voice to the several I've seen in various
places noting that the Netgear WGU624 a/g router has a heat-related
design flaw. Mine has been dropping connections, refusing to accept an
admin log-in through a browser, etc, etc. Before deciding to drop-kick
the POS into the nearest trash bin, I took it apart, drilled a bunch of
holes in the case, and installed a 3" fan on top to pull air through
it. You can steal 5VDC off the power connector inside the box (I
soldered the red/black fan wires to the back of the PC board where the
power connector pins come through) and used a 12V fan. It runs slower
on 5V, but it moves plenty of air for such a small box. The fan I used
was actually a CPU heatsink fan - they're smaller and thinner than the
usual PC case fan, and work fine for this application.

The router runs tons cooler now, and behaves perfectly.

On 19 Jul 2006 05:04:06 -0700 (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

| I'd like to add one more voice to the several I've seen in various
| places noting that the Netgear WGU624 a/g router has a heat-related
| design flaw. Mine has been dropping connections, refusing to accept an
| admin log-in through a browser, etc, etc. Before deciding to drop-kick
| the POS into the nearest trash bin, I took it apart, drilled a bunch of
| holes in the case, and installed a 3" fan on top to pull air through
| it. You can steal 5VDC off the power connector inside the box (I
| soldered the red/black fan wires to the back of the PC board where the
| power connector pins come through) and used a 12V fan. It runs slower
| on 5V, but it moves plenty of air for such a small box. The fan I used
| was actually a CPU heatsink fan - they're smaller and thinner than the
| usual PC case fan, and work fine for this application.
|
| The router runs tons cooler now, and behaves perfectly.

If building that in were to raise the cost of manufacturing by more than
3 cents, the CFO and Wall Street investors would have a fit. And marketing
would never approve of something that cost 5 cents more.

You'd never succeed in business by making something actually work right :-)

phil-news-(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> | The router runs tons cooler now, and behaves perfectly.
>
> If building that in were to raise the cost of manufacturing by more than
> 3 cents, the CFO and Wall Street investors would have a fit. And marketing
> would never approve of something that cost 5 cents more.
>
> You'd never succeed in business by making something actually work right :-)

Netgear used to be pretty good at building stuff that works, but I
guess the heat sinks on the internal chips just aren't good enough in
the WGU624. Apparently tech support (such as it is) will put you
through all kinds of hoops with firmware upgrades, etc, but won't let
on about the heat issue - which, of course, results in a big waste of
time and a PO'd customer with a still-flaky router.

There is a "free" workaround available, too - apparently taking the top
off the case and just leaving the box open helps, too.