Wireless router jams up

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itxtme

2102 posts

Uber Geek

#26013 9-Sep-2008 16:30

Hey guys,

I am on TelestraClear cable using the normal motorolla modem connected straight to a Netgear Router (WGT624). Over the last few months the problem has been getting worst so hence my positng.

About 3-4 times a day the router jams up, and all computers lose Wifi connection. The only way to fix it is for me to pull the power plug out the back of the router (not modem) and it comes right again. This happens so often it is at the point where its ridiculous! I can almost garuntee to jam it up when I use flashget to download some rapidshare links. If i download 1 link at a time it normally is fine; but if I DL 3 or more links simutaniously it will definatley jam!!

Any quick fixes or ideas? BTW its running latest firmware

38894

80 posts

Master Geek

#166016 21-Sep-2008 13:32

** IGNORE FROM HERE TO NEXT **

This sounds a lot like the router is suffering from something called "Network Saturation".

First off I must point out that using a "Router" while connected to a Cable "Modem" is not particularly recommended, I'm not sure why you have the Router plugged in when you have a Cable Modem but I'll guess for now that you're using it for Wireless or as a Switch to enable more than one computer on the network, this is not particularly adviseable and I'd HIGHLY recommend you replace it with either a Switch or a Wireless Access Point or both or a combined piece of equipment.

If the Router is an ADSL router, plugged into your Cable Modem then THIS will cause issues of it's own, the Router in question will be designed to be plugged into an ADSL line and NOT a cable modem, it will be trying to do all sorts of things that the Cable Modem is supposed to do, in which case they will conflict with each other, on top of that you'll also experience issues with "Auto-Configure" when it comes to two networking devices being connected to each other that are NOT compatible.

If this is NOT an ADSL router and is simply a "Core Router" that is perfectly legitimately connected to the Cable Modem as has been recommended by either manufacturer then you may find that a firmware upgrade of the Router will fix the issue of "Network Saturation"

From the information you've given I believe what I've described above to be the most likely causes of your frustration, without more information or actually being there to test the equipment and look at the situation in person however it's hard to say more than this.

**STOP IGNORING FROM HERE**

EDIT: I've just noticed you're comment about running the latest firmware, sorry my bad for not reading that.

EDIT: Also a quick search on the model number (Should have done this prior to posting really) reveals that the router is compatible with being plugged into a Cable modem via an RJ-45 Ethernet cable so appologies there, revised solution below:

Take a look at the settings in the router for bandwidth control, a lot of modern routers have settings that can be defined to limit the maximum amount of bandwidth which can be used, both by one particular host on the network and by the network in general, these settings may be set too low and causing the router to freeze up if they are exceeded, failing this I would suggest that the router may well be faulty and needs to be replaced on warranty?

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#166017 21-Sep-2008 13:40

Hollow: This sounds a lot like the router is suffering from something called "Network Saturation".

First off I must point out that using a "Router" while connected to a Cable "Modem" is not particularly recommended, I'm not sure why you have the Router plugged in when you have a Cable Modem but I'll guess for now that you're using it for Wireless or as a Switch to enable more than one computer on the network, this is not particularly adviseable and I'd HIGHLY recommend you replace it with either a Switch or a Wireless Access Point or both or a combined piece of equipment.

??

Plugging a router into a cable modem is a perfectly normal configuration. Why do you think it's "not particularly recommended"?

The cause of the problem is more than likely you maxing out the router with too many simultaneous connections. Since you have the latest firmware it's noo good suggesting an upgrad which leaves you with two choices - stop trying to download from so many sources at once or upgrade to a higher spec router that doesn't suffer from the same issue.

38894

80 posts

Master Geek

#166033 21-Sep-2008 14:21

SBiddle plugging in an ADSL router to a Cable Modem is NOT recommended at all, that's what I said, I may have not explained it well enough I appologise.

Maxing out the router with too many connections was also a suggestion I made, it's technically known as "Saturation" as I previously said. I don't think buying a new router or limiting the amount of connections you put through your router is particularly a helpful or viable option, editing the settings within the router to allow those connections would be my first port of call and if that doesn't work I would suggest the router is broken and needs to be replaced by the manufacturer as such.

Recommending that he buy a new router just to cure something that the router should be capable of in the first place seems a little OTT.

sbiddle

30853 posts

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Retired Mod

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#166036 21-Sep-2008 14:24

Hollow: SBiddle plugging in an ADSL router to a Cable Modem is NOT recommended at all, that's what I said, I may have not explained it well enough I appologise.

Agreed - you typically can't plug an ADSL router into a cable modem anyway.

The WGT624 is not an ADSL router however, it's a standard ethernet router.

38894

80 posts

Master Geek

#166037 21-Sep-2008 14:29

Yup, I did a search on the model immediately after hitting submit on my original response and added the "edit" bits below and the **IGNORE** statements when I realised it was just an ethernet core router as opposed to an ADSL router.

itxtme

2102 posts

Uber Geek

#166044 21-Sep-2008 15:28

Cheers for the replys guys.

The weird thing is I never used to have problems with simultanious connections - just recently! Hmm oh well, maybe an upgrade to N series :P

38894

80 posts

Master Geek

#166045 21-Sep-2008 15:30

Upgrading never hurt anyone :D Well not much anyway I'm of course NOT referring to Vista here, that hurt a LOT of people :D (Like I've said elsewhere, any excuse to dig at Vista lol.)

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rphenix

985 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#170919 13-Oct-2008 18:37

itxtme:
Cheers for the replys guys.

The weird thing is I never used to have problems with simultanious connections - just recently! Hmm oh well, maybe an upgrade to N series :P

Weather is getting warmer, perhaps a heat issue? Check where you put it if up high could be quite warm.

the WAG54G V2's used to suffer bad heat issues the simple act of mounting them side-ways seemed to help if you werent willing to pull off/modify the lid :)