Third router failure in a year

**homer13j** · Mar 29th, 2006, 09:47 AM

Any idea what could cause this besides rotten luck?

Went through 2 Linksys BFR41s and a cheapo CompUSA model. I would like to pick up a nice commercial-grade router, but I'm afraid I might toast that as well...

Only connected two computers to the router (dev box and web server) and occasionally my laptop through a USB adapter. The router(s) always sits in a cool, dry corner of the room with no direct sunlight and I can't see why they keep dying on me. Any hardware gurus out there know what could be wrong?

**DanInManchester** · Mar 29th, 2006, 10:56 AM

Hmm it seems odd that you can toast 3 of them especially if one is a different make.
Maybe your power supply is unstable and frying them?
If you have a UPS plug them into that and see if that helps.

The only other thing I can think of is that there is a problem on the network side maybe power is leaking on to the network some how or there is a ground issue?

**homer13j** · Mar 29th, 2006, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by DanInManchester

Maybe your power supply is unstable and frying them? If you have a UPS plug them into that and see if that helps.

I have surge suppressors, but I also live in a 115 year old house with an electrical system that's almost as old and get my juice from one of the most unstable and unreliable power companies in the US (Cleveland Public Power). Not sure if that's the issue here since I'm a musician and none of my other electronic equipment has ever had a problem in this house...

I will probably get another cheap router with the intent to replace it with a commercial one (and fork out the dough for an extended warranty JIC) down the road. Hopefully I will have the problem solved by then.

Thanks for the info, Dan.

Homer

**DanInManchester** · Mar 30th, 2006, 04:30 AM

I don't know that surge suppressors are as good as UPS.

I know Belkin insure any equipment attached to their devices and probably others do to.

**Kasracer** · Mar 30th, 2006, 01:41 PM

Surge suppressors will protect equipment from surges. UPS will do the same, however; it also supplies a stead flow of power.

I'd suggest getting a decent UPS and buy a business grade Netgear router. I've used Linksys before and they were always good to me (had an uptime on one for about a year but the WRT54G I had was a bit finicky) but I bought a Netgear FWG114P and it has been working FLAWLESSLY for months and it wasn't much more than standard consumer routers.

**thegreatone** · Mar 30th, 2006, 01:48 PM

Could it be the amoutn of data flowing through the router, i know i've toasted a Belkin that was in an optimal position, even with new electrics and the like.

Think 3Gb data per day from one computer to the next with additional laptops etc. It was enough to blow somthing inside. Luckily my replacement has just about held out (retired now)

**Kasracer** · Mar 30th, 2006, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by thegreatone

Could it be the amoutn of data flowing through the router, i know i've toasted a Belkin that was in an optimal position, even with new electrics and the like.

Think 3Gb data per day from one computer to the next with additional laptops etc. It was enough to blow somthing inside. Luckily my replacement has just about held out (retired now)

Cat5e cables don't carry enough current to do any kind of damage to a router. You should be able to max out the ports and continue to use it for a very long period of time without issue.

If transfering data could do this, we would not have the internet. Believe we, there are thousands of routers that are practically pushed to their limits 24/7.

Besides, each port on the router is guarenteed 100Mbit/s (on average consumer routers). No way your data even pushed your router to its limits.

**thegreatone** · Mar 30th, 2006, 05:01 PM

Hmmm, must have been a fault i overlooked then. Never thought of it that way, just thought "pushed it too far" and moved on.

**DanInManchester** · Mar 31st, 2006, 05:20 PM

By nature cat5/ethernet doesn't carry the current but if you have a ground problem it could give a potential difference between the two pieces of equipment and cause problems but this would be unusual in typical home.

I wouldn't expect you have more than a single phase of power but this can also create problems when connecting two pieces of equipment on different phases.

**thegreatone** · Mar 31st, 2006, 06:17 PM

You know, that flew way over my head. So i'll nod and agree.

However this Linksys is on its way out now, and its brand new, drops connections so much between 1 and 15hours. Reset it, changed channels, everything, and bam, refuses connections to both my computers and the internet randomly. I have to power cycle it for it to work again :S

**RobDog888** · Apr 2nd, 2006, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by kasracer

I've used Linksys before and they were always good to me (had an uptime on one for about a year but the WRT54G I had was a bit finicky) but I bought a Netgear FWG114P and it has been working FLAWLESSLY for months and it wasn't much more than standard consumer routers.

I have had my WRT54G for ~3 years now continuously in use supporting an average of 3.5 systems during that time with absolutely no issues what so ever.

Maybe it was just a bad one.

Surge supression is probably a key factor. Do you know if its the actual router itself or just the power supply transformer plug?

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