Can a wireless router start to go bad?

[Go Coogs']

I have a D-link router that is about 6 years old. I have two PCs and two laptops. The two PCs are hard wired from the wireless router and the the two laptops are wireless. All of the computers have dedicated IP addresses. Lately, I've been losing my connection on laptops and it's not a signal strength issue. I still get 5 bars, but it just loses its connection suddenly.

The desktops stay connected with no issues. I even plugged the laptops into an ethernet cable and had no issues. Like I said, I am getting 5 bars on my signal strength from the router, but it just loses its connection on the wireless side. I end up having to unplug and plug the router back in to get the connection going again. This is a head scratcher. Everything is secure and looks fine, so I'm wondering if the router is starting to fuck up on the wireless of things.

Any thoughts?

[Dinsdale]

Quite possible.

But before replacibg it, you might try doing a firmware upgrade, and reconfiguring the wireless side.

It's possible that something in the firmware was corrupted and causing some hangups... not too terribly likely, but worth a shot.

[BSmack]

I was having some trouble with my wireless router going offline for no reason. But it turned out to be a configuration issue with the bit torrent client I was running. I made the fix and I'm running strong again.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

I have a D-link router that is about 6 years old.

Any thoughts?

D-Link is pure shit. Only trumped by Belkin.
I'm surprised it's lasted you this long. Do yourself a favour and grab a DD-WRT capable router and flash the firmware to DD-WRT.

Linksys would be my first choice, but Netgear has some decent stuff.

[Go Coogs']

I've been shopping around.

The D-link user console is pure shit, but it's gotten me through for 6 years.

I'm ready for something good, something new.

[ElTaco]

I'm actually a fan of d-link, mainly because back in the day they took the time to build their security out unlike more popular crap products like Linksys.

With that said, wifi-routers do go bad quite often. One way to get around these issues is to flash it with some other OS. dd-wrt has worked for many friends. If you don't need wireless N or some other feature, you might consider this.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index

There are other open source projects as well, just google for them.

[smackaholic]

Cougs, have you checked to see if perhaps mrs cougs walked between the router and your laptop causing a signal interuption. I'm not sure how many feet of flesh a wifi signal can penetrate, but, it likely isn't much.

I'm having similar issues with my linksys router. It is a WRT54G. My modem is a ARRIS that was supplied by Comcast.

Since I have had this damn setup, my performance has been crappy. It takes an act of (fill in mystical all mighty dude of your choice) to get a damn youtube video to work. And the last few months, the router has been locking up, pretty much as coogs described.

I called the Comcast geeks and he said, just reboot your modem/router at the same time.

No luck.

I read some interwebs geek sites and my eyes glassed over from geekese. I seem to recall somebody saying something about firmware re-loading. Also noticed Dins mention it in this thread.

So, can somebody hook a computer ignern't ADD addled nigga up? If you mix in some smack, pron links and use real small words, I'll likely follow along just fine.

[Goober McTuber]

Cougs, have you checked to see if perhaps mrs cougs walked between the router and your laptop causing a signal interuption. I'm not sure how many feet of flesh a wifi signal can penetrate, but, it likely isn't much.

I'm having similar issues with my linksys router. It is a WRT54G. My modem is a ARRIS that was supplied by Comcast.

Since I have had this damn setup, my performance has been crappy. It takes an act of (fill in mystical all mighty dude of your choice) to get a damn youtube video to work. And the last few months, the router has been locking up, pretty much as coogs described.

If there really is a mystical all mighty dude, the router will lock up to the point where you can no longer load T1B.

Hopefully, someone else can help out with the pron links and real small words.

[smackaholic]

fukk off old timer. isn't it time for your nap and prune juice/

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

smackaholic, which model Arriss modem do you have?

[smackaholic]

comrade marty,

TM402P

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

The WRT54G, while a bit old, is actually a pretty good router. Having said that, they can eventually fail.

What luck do you have running directly from computer to modem?

[smackaholic]

once i tried going directly off a cable coming from the router while the wifi was tits up and it did work. another time it didn't.

next time it locks up, i'll try it straight from the modem.

[Dinsdale]

Or you could just go spend the $30 on a new wireless router.

[PSUFAN]

the 30 dollar routers are all 5 dollah at the goodwill computer store