This is our second router in 2 years that our laptops see on a network list but will not connect to the internet. Hard connection from desktop works fine, and I'm able to scan documents into a program on my work laptop from our printer using the wireless network.

Any ideas? Any other information I could provide that might be useful in a tww diagnosis?

9/21/2011 4:12:01 PM

1-5 years.

9/21/2011 4:18:54 PM

fwiw, lately we've had to power cycle the router to get an internet connection at all...at first I had thought it was just shitty Charter Communications being shitty, but would that be more of a cue that the router is failing?

9/21/2011 4:23:48 PM

Are you sure it's a router failing? Is the router configured correctly? Are you sure it's not your cable modem or internet provider? etc...

9/21/2011 4:23:55 PM

varies wildly based on components. i have a 3 or 4 year old wrt54gl that still works great. i've had other routers of the same model where one lasts 6 years and the other lasts 6 months.

generally you get what you pay for in terms of components but do a little research cause there are like a million models even within the same brand and they ain't created equal


personally i couldnt tell ya what to look for because i havent had the patience to do that research

[Edited on September 21, 2011 at 4:27 PM. Reason : .]

9/21/2011 4:26:35 PM

Verify your ISP isn't to blame (Modem) and Reset current router to factory defaults, and check for change in behavior. If it doesn't appear to be your ISP, Modem, or Configuration of existing router, get something of quality make:

This router is highly-rated, very affordable, but lacks some features ($70):

http://wireless-router-review.toptenreviews.com/linksys-e1000-review.html


This router is the whole enchilada, but it is a little pricey, but it shouldn't disappoint ($150):

http://wireless-router-review.toptenreviews.com/linksys-e3000-review.html

[Edited on September 21, 2011 at 4:35 PM. Reason : -]

9/21/2011 4:32:57 PM

Lemme try to answer these:

Router is configured correctly. Only change I made when it came out of the box was to enable the security & change the SSID

Its always been plugged into a surge protector

No change after factory default reset

Charter Communications is the only cable ISP where I live. They're always suspect. I went out an purchased the exact same model to verify it wasn't the ISP, because Charter's tech support effectiveness typically stops at asking their customers to reboot their router and modem. I set the WPA2 feature & SSID back to what the failed unit had, and our laptops connect perfectly.

So, failed unit allowed for local wireless networking but no wireless internet availability. Hard connected computer had no issues whatsoever. I'm still at a bit of a loss on wtf went wrong/bad.

Quote :

"generally you get what you pay for in terms of components"

Sort of what I was thinking, its a simple wireless N router (WRT120N). This time I splurged for the $3 one year warranty.

[Edited on September 21, 2011 at 8:12 PM. Reason : n]

9/21/2011 8:12:02 PM

Are you placing your router in a cooler area in the open? That helped relieve some sluggishness and the requisite power cycling whenever it would stop working in my covered table/stereo cabinet even though the rear and front sides were mostly open. Just a thought.

9/21/2011 11:39:41 PM

I've had a few cheap belkins crap on me in the year range. Have an apple extreme base station now for nearly 3 years.

9/22/2011 7:42:18 AM

I've had my WRT54GL for a little over 4 years now. Runs like a champ! On the same note, I've gone through 3 cable modems in the same time frame...

9/22/2011 7:47:40 AM

I have killed a couple of cable modems, but I am still rocking my old school Linksys WRT54G v1.1 since like 2003. So yea, 8 years of constant use. I have Wireless N in most of my devices and really am at the point that I almost wish it would die so I could upgrade to an N router. I am just too cheap though and this thing works pretty good as is, so I can't bring myself to replace it.

[Edited on September 22, 2011 at 9:34 AM. Reason : ]

9/22/2011 9:34:15 AM

Well, Im have the exact same problem as yesterday with the new router

9/22/2011 7:32:27 PM

sounds like ISP, then

9/22/2011 7:43:12 PM

Quote :

"laptops see on a network list but will not connect to the internet. Hard connection from desktop works fine,"

Do your laptops associate with the AP? If so, do you get an IP address from the router?

Also, is it just wireless that fails? If you connect the laptop to the router via ethernet, can you get on the internet?

9/23/2011 12:58:16 PM

I've got an old WRT54G still working like a champ. Bout 5-6 years old I think.

9/23/2011 3:22:39 PM

All I got from this thread

Quote :

"WRT54G WILL NOT DIE"

I'm in this same boat so I too can upgrade to wireless N. I was looking to get the linksys E3000 and E1000, put an aftermarket firmware on both and have the e1000 be the repeater (yes, house too big).

The e3000 refurb was seen around $60 recently and the e1000 between 16-30 on amazon.

[Edited on September 23, 2011 at 5:15 PM. Reason : ]

9/23/2011 5:13:33 PM

I've had the WRT54GS for about 6-8 years (can't remember exactly) and it still works *knock on wood*

9/23/2011 10:17:00 PM

Quote :

"Average lifespan of a wireless router?"

Not long enough. I can't imagine what kind of shit design and shit components they use. A (small number)¢ heat sink would probably do wonders for average router life, but then you wouldn't be buying a new one every year or two.

I've had troubles with Netgear, Linksys, D-Link, etc. My Linksys WRT320N is currently in the process of dying at the ripe old age of about 1.5.

9/24/2011 9:30:54 AM

Somewhat related...what about a Win 7 machine would cause the internet connection between it and the router to just be terrible and a simple reboot fixes it? This seems to be a new issue. I leave my computer on and after an hour or so I have the power settings set to hibernate it. Yesterday I was getting 1.5s pings and .5mb downloads. Power cycled cable modem and router and it didn't fix it so I rebooted on the odd event that would fix it. It did. Left it on again and sat down at it this morning, same thing. This time I didn't power cycle the cable modem or the router, just the computer and it fixed the inet connect.

Anyone experience this?

9/24/2011 10:24:19 AM

WRT54GS v2.1 with tomato as firmware. I think I got it in 2004, maybe 2005 so 7-8 years maybe.

Works really well. It had dd-wrt for a while, but I kept having issues with XBL so I switched to Tomato and haven't had a problem since then.

9/24/2011 4:02:28 PM

I see the Trendnet wireless N dualband router is on sale for 35 at us.ncix.com, wondering if its worth the price.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=41759&vpn=TEW-671BR&manufacture=TRENDnet&promoid=1367

9/25/2011 4:36:30 AM

^^^

First thing I would suspect is that some process (malware?) on the PC is generating a ton of traffic that's slamming the router CPU.

If you're handy with wireshark, I'd look at outgoing traffic and see if there's anything odd leaving your PC.

9/25/2011 8:38:12 AM

I think i am up to 6+ years on my wrt54g. This things got the beat heart of an classic gameboy, you cant kill it. Outside that 1-3 years on most i've seen

9/25/2011 8:53:14 AM

^^ Yup, seems something on my desktop is saturating the outgoing. I noticed it was slow again and noticed the LED on the router was going nuts continuously. Ran speedtest on it and my laptop and as soon as I shut my box down before the OS had time to finish unloading the LED stopped spazzing and I was immediately able to go from .2MB/s on my laptop to 10.


Hmm.

So I dl'd wireshark. Poking around trying to figure out how to use it. Landed on the statistics tab and 3 IPs are responsible for 99% of the traffic while I am not doing any browsing

74.125.47.117
74.125.45.116
74.125.159.116


Google IPs? Consider me a bit confused. Bobby, any tips on what I can do with this wireshark to figure out what the hell is going on?

[Edited on September 25, 2011 at 2:32 PM. Reason : .]

9/25/2011 2:15:17 PM

hmmm

In the past day or so I've installed some national instruments software. At random I killed a server process it had started and that seemed to fix it.

As soon as this virus scan finishes Im going to reboot and see if that process comes back and then try and figure out wtf it is doing?

9/25/2011 3:28:23 PM