Is my router dead?

[Howard]

Have been using a Linksys WRT54GL for a few years. I think last night it stopped working (according to my mom, I wasn't home then) - right now it won't reliably give an IP address for ipconfig /renew, and when it does, I don't get Internet and am not able to even connect to the router page (192.168.1.1). Direct connection to my modem allows me access to the Internet.

Dead or not? I power cycled a few times and even tried the reset button at the back, but no dice.

 

[Engineer]

Have you held the reset button in for 30 seconds (complete reset) and tried to set the unit up again?

 

[Howard]

Not for 30 seconds, no. The manual says for about 5 seconds but I will try 30 and see what happens.

I do it with the power on, right?

EDIT: Nothing happens when I hold down the reset button.

 

[Engineer]

Not for 30 seconds, no. The manual says for about 5 seconds but I will try 30 and see what happens.

I do it with the power on, right?

EDIT: Nothing happens when I hold down the reset button.

If you hold down the button for 30 seconds, it may appear that nothing happens but it resets the router too the factory defaults.

Also, a friend of mine recently had a similar router (Linksys WRT54G) start acting the same way and after he called the cable company, the guy came out and upgraded the firmware of the router and it started working. Not sure if that's something up with yours but just something that I know about.

Are you running stock firmware (out of curiosity)?

 

[Howard]

I don't think it's the stock firmware.

How can I upgrade the firmware if I can't access the router page, and also what happened to the existing firmware?

 

[Engineer]

Try setting your PC's IP manually to 192.168.1.2 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 and a gateway of 192.168.1.1.

See if you can get to the router then?

 

[her209]

Do this OP:

- Connect the computer to the router via cat 5 cable
- Set your IP as Engineer suggested
- Open a Command Prompt and type: ping -t -w 10 192.168.1.1
- Power cycle the router.

See if you get any ping replies while the router is booting up.

 

[Howard]

C:\Documents and Settings\Howard>ping -t -w 10 192.168.1.1

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Destination host unreachable.
Destination host unreachable.
Destination host unreachable.
Destination host unreachable.
Destination host unreachable.
Destination host unreachable.
(right around here I plug it in)
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=100
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=100
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=100
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=100
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 56, Received = 42, Lost = 14 (25&#37; loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 5ms, Average = 0ms
Control-C
^C
C:\Documents and Settings\Howard>

 

[Howard]

After I set the IP and subnet manually, I can access the router page. The Internet connection work quite yet but I might just be forgetting something about the DSL setup.

 

[lxskllr]

I think you have to set it to bridge mode. DSL's always a PITA to setup. I rarely do it, and it seems more convoluted than cable.

 

[Howard]

Works, after setting up the router and modem again. Strange.

Thanks for the help, guys.