Linksys Router requires frequent restarting (power cycling)

[JonHolman7]

Frequently I would be browsing the internet and then all of a sudden my connection dies, I try to ping the router and nothing. Then as soon as I pull the power to the router and plug it back in everything starts working again. Does this happen to anyone else? Anyone know of a fix? I have a Linksys BEFSR81.

 

[brisco]

I have one of these in a network I manage. I have never had a lick of trouble with it. Linksys has always been VERY VERY good to me about replacing defective stuff. The only thing I can think of is that in your router's DHCP settings you have set a very short lease time and it's only handing IP's for a certain number of minutes. If I remember that router correctly, if you set the DHCP lease time setting to ZERO, they will never expire. Don't quote me on that though. I'm sure it will tell you in the owners manual. If that's not the case you may want to RMA it.

 

[JonHolman7]

Thanks for your response. I've left the leases at the default of one day and haven't looked into changing them. I don't think that's the problem. I've had problems before of the DHCP service stopping and when that has happened I've set my computer for an IP on the same subnet of the router, went into the web interface turned off DHCP and turned it back on. That has fixed that, at least until it happens again.

The problem that is bugging me the most is when the router just stops working until I unplug the power and plug it back in. When that happens everyone who has a DHCP lease still has their lease they just can't do anything, then I try to ping the router - nothing, I set my IP to another address manually on the same subnet and try to get into the router or ping it - nothing. Then I power cycle and it is fine again.

Anyone else have this? Should I just call LinkSys to RMA it? I've been thinking if I get another one it will do the same thing, because a friend of mine has a NetGear and he occasionally needs to power cycle it (I don't know if he has to as often as me). I was just assuming all cable/dsl routers did this.

 

[jojiboy]

I have the same router as you and I was also having the same problem. I don't know if you have the latest firmware flashed on your router but the problem for me stopped after I flashed to the latest firmware (2.42.7.1) posted on Linksys' website. Food for thought.

 

[Paulson]

Flash the firmware... when I first got my linksys router it did that all the time.. flashed it and have had no problems ever since

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Same problem I had with two previous Linksys wireless routers. Flashes didn't help those, defect? The third one after one flash worked fine.

 

[Paulson]

Well just make sure you always update the router to the newest firmware...

I only have the 2 port router and can't account for any of the other models as to how well they work.

 

[Kadarin]

So it's not a dhcp problem: You've assigned your pc a static ip and still see the problem.
It's not a port problem, as other users connected to other ports on the device also see the problem, and it happens to everyone simultaneously?
Does everyone have the same NIC, or do different users use different brands of NICs?

Like everyone else says, try flashing the newest firmware, and then once flashed and powercycled, try using the reset button to return the device to factory defaults, and then reconfigure. If the problem still exists, try contacting Linksys.

 

[JonHolman7]

Thanks for your help everyone, sorry I haven't posted an update yet. Two days ago I flashed the firmware to 2.42.7.1 like jojiboy said and I haven't had the problem again yet (but normally it's about once every week or two). I'll let post a message in here if it happens again but based on what several people said, I believe this will fix it.

I was guessing I had to update the router but when the problem started about 6-8 months ago I looked on Linksys' web site and saw I had the latest firmware so I guessed I just had to live with the problem.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Paulson]

be sure to check for new firmware pretty often... whenever they release a new one I put it on my router... (force of habit I guess)

 

[jojiboy]

Mine use to do that one or twice a week too. But it hasn't happened in about four weeks. Ever since the upgrade to the latest firmware. Good luck to you.