Linksys BEFSR11 router keeps freezing.

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
I have a Linksys router, BEFSR11, with the latest firmware (1.44). The router keeps freezing up, anywhere from every few minutes to several hours. It's hooked to a Com21 Doxport111 cable modem on its WAN link, and a Dlink DSS8+ switch on the LAN link. When it locks up, it really locks - the Internet is not only inaccessible, but the router can not be reached through its web-type interface - you type in its IP address in the Internet browser, it asks for a password, and then you change settings. It also can not be pinged when it's locked - the attempts just time out. The router needs to be rebooted; once it comes back, it works for awhile.
The LED's also do not change their patterns when the router is frozen. Even the Activity LED keeps blinking.
 

Thor86

Diamond Member
May 3, 2001
7,888
7
81
Try disabling the remote administration login if possible. There is a known denial of service issue with this residential gateway device, and I don't trust even the latest firmware updates from Linksys. Make sure the admin password is changed from default as well. Lastly, do a quick checkup on http://www.grc.com and do a "shieldsup" test to check if your router is blocking all the default ports. Good luck.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
I checked for any kind of remote login option; couldn't find one. I did change the password though.

All the responses from Linksys thus far have been new instructions on how to flash the firmware. I keep saying that I've already flashed the firmware and it says it's been successful, but they keep telling me different methods of getting the firmware flash to work! Why are they telling me to do something that I've already successfully done?! They probably read the first line of the e-mail and go from there.
rolleye.gif


You mentioned that it could be a DOS attack - wouldn't that only affect the Internet side, and not the LAN portion? Or does the DOS attack tie up the router so completely that it can't even respond to local pings?

Shields Up says my PC is secure; port probe showed all scanned ports to be in Stealth mode, except for 113, IDENT - that came up as Closed.
 

acidvoodoo

Platinum Member
Jan 6, 2002
2,972
1
0
that's strange. when i first got my router, it did the same thing, except it didn't need to be rebooted, just left for abit and the net came back on. when i flashed to the latest firmware, it stopped the problem. so many something IS going wrong with the firmware and you shud try what linky ses.
 

Paulson

Elite Member
Feb 27, 2001
10,689
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0
www.ifixidevices.com
I've had mine for a year or 2 now, and when I first got it, it always dropped the connection and I had to unplug it and plug it back in... since upgrading the firmware (which I do for every new release) everything has worked great and I've had no problems what so ever.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Well I've done everything that Linksys says, though I'm skeptical about their suggestions. The advice they give seems to indicate that they think my connection is completely nonfunctional, which is not the case - it works for awhile, but then the router just stops responding, and then needs to be rebooted. When I was on dial-up way back when, even it wouldn't kick me this often; heck, with that, I could keep a stable connection for many hours on end. It just can't match the speed of broadband though, which is unfortunate.
 

HowAboutBob

Member
Oct 28, 2002
51
0
0
Jeff

My isp was absorbed by attbi and I was blocked from internet access weekly.
I spoke to three techs over one month until I finally found a sharp one who reprogrammed my cable modem remotely.

Holy Cr_p! I didn't know they could do that!

This worked great until attbi upgraded their software a month later.
I was advised to change my cable modem to a 3Com, and I have had no problems since.
Yeah, I rented it from them.... I was just toooo tired of all the hassle.

Bob
 

Slaughter

Senior member
Mar 27, 2002
296
0
76
Jeff7, I've been experiencing the same thing you have, and the same with your case, Linksys has been no help. I'm getting to the point where I wanna beat this thing with a sledge hammer. If I figure anything out, I'll let you know. :D
 

kilmanjaro

Senior member
Jun 16, 2001
523
0
0
:eek:

Sorry to hear that Jeff. I never had problems with it freezing up on me. Does it happen more often when using a lot of bandwidth or does it matter? Man, I'm feelin mighty bad now.

Sorry to hear about that :( :( :(
 

MARMADUKE

Banned
Nov 24, 2002
835
0
0
Jeff..

Please list all your pc parts and your complete setup, first thing I would do is get rid of the dlink then start testing.

you have installed and configured your Linksys equipment according to the instructions on the Linksys Setup Wizard CD and the Fast Start Guide but you are experiencing difficulties, please review the information below. Additional troubleshooting information can be found in the User Guides on the Linksys CDs, and at http://www.linksys.com.




Restart your system
Most issues with Home Networking can be resolved by restarting your computer, your Router, and your DSL modem. Shut down and restart your equipment in the following sequence:
Shutdown PC
Shutdown Router
Shutdown Modem
When restarting, wait at least 30 seconds between each step to give each device a moment to refresh its settings.
Restart Modem
Restart Router
Restart PC




Wireless Broadband Router Basic Troubleshooting
If restarting your system doesn't resolve your issue, follow the basic troubleshooting steps below.
Make sure that the computer and the Router are powered on, and that the Power light on the Router is on.
Check all physical connections between the Wireless Router and other equipment.
Confirm that Link lights for each of your hardware connections is on (green).
Make sure that the Wireless Router shares the same Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Service Set Identifier (SSID) settings as the other devices on the network. To check these settings:
Open a Web browser and type http://192.168.1.1 into the address field, and then press [Enter].
When prompted for a user name and password, leave the user name field empty and type admin into the password field, and then press [Enter]. The Router Setup page appears.
Verify that the WEP setting matches that of any other wireless devices on the network, and that the SSID setting matches that of all other devices on the network.
Make sure that network cabling is away from power outlets, florescent lighting fixtures, uninterruptible power supplies, and other sources of strong electromagnetic interference.
If all else fails, you can reset the Router to factory default settings. To do this, put a pen or something small enough to go through the hole labeled Reset and on the front of the Router. Hold down the Reset button for 3 seconds or until the red Diag light comes on, and then restart your computer.
If playing games like Quake or Battle.net, port 27960 must be opened in the router's advanced feature.
For more information, refer to the User Guide on the Linksys Setup Utility CD.
Wireless Router Troubleshooting Questions and Answers
I can't connect to the Wireless Router.
Verify that the Wireless Router is properly installed, LAN connections are OK, and that the Router is powered ON.
Make sure that your PC is using an IP address within the default range of 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254, which is compatible with the Wireless Router's default IP Address of 192.168.1.1.
The Network Mask should be set to 255.255.255.0 to match the Wireless Router. In the Wireless Router, you can check these settings by going to the Basic Setup screen.
I can't browse through the Wireless Router.
Make sure that both ends of the network cable and power adapter are properly connected and that the status lights on the front panel are functioning properly.
If using Windows 95 or 98, check the TCP/IP setup on the client side. Run "winipcfg" by clicking Start and then selecting Run. The PC should have an IP address of 192.168.1.xxx ("xxx" can be any number from 2 to 254.) Network Mask is 255.255.255.0; the default gateway IP should be the Router's IP Address.
Make sure that the same values are in the Basic Setup screen of the Wireless Router web-based utility.
When I enter a URL or IP address, I get a time-out error.
Make sure that the other PCs work. If they do, ensure that your workstations IP settings are correct (IP address, Network Mask, Gateway and DNS).
If the PCs are configured correctly, but still not working, check the Wireless Router to make sure that it is connected and ON. Once this is the case, check its settings. If you cannot connect to the Wireless Router, check the LAN and power connections.
If the Wireless Router is configured correctly, make sure that your DSL modem is working correctly.

Wireless Broadband Router - back view
Reset - Press this button if you want to restore factory settings to your Router.
WAN - Connect your DSL modem to the Router via an Ethernet cable.
Ports 1-4 - Connect other computers to your network using these ports.
Uplink - Connect to additional hub for additional ports.
Note: The Uplink port and Port #4 cannot be used simultaneously.
Power - Plug the power cord into this jack.




If you suspect that you don't have an active connection between your router and your computer, you can check using the ping test.
From the Start menu, select Run. The Run window opens.
Type command, and then press [Enter]. The Command window opens.
Type ping 192.168.1.1 and then press [Enter].
If you see results similar to the following, then you have a valid connection to your Router:

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32, time 10ms TTL=128.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32, time 10ms TTL=128.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32, time 10ms TTL=128.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32, time 10ms TTL=128.

If you see results indicating any of the following, then you may have a bad cable connection, an improperly configured Network Interface Card (NIC), or another connectivity issue between your Router and your computer:

Destination host unreachable
Request timed out


If the ping test does not prove that you have a valid connection, insert your Setup Wizard CD into your CD drive and check your Router settings.




Wireless Broadband Router lights

The indicator lights on front of the Router provide information about the status of your Home Network. The lights in the right column marked WAN (Wide Area Network) represent the link and activity of your DSL connection. The Diag light corresponds to the self-test the router performs each time you turn it on. The lights corresponding to each LAN (Local Area Network) port are numbered 1 - 4. These lights indicate the link, activity, duplex, collision, and speed for that respective port.

Light Status Possible Troubleshooting Solution
WLAN Act Green Wireless activity
WLAN Link Green The Link light illuminates when the wireless option is enabled. When the wireless option is disabled (through the Web-based utility), the light is off.
Power Green Router is powered on
Off Router is not powered on - make sure power supply is plugged into working power outlet
Link/Act LED Green Router is connected to computer or Ethernet device
Off Router is not connected to computer - make sure that cable connections are secure
Full/Col Steady green Router is successfully running in Full Duplex mode
Flickering green Connection is experiencing collisions - intermittent collisions are normal, but persistent collisions indicate a problem with your connection
100 Orange 100 Mb Network Interface Card (NIC) connected
Off 10 Mb Network Interface Card (NIC) connected
WAN Link light green Connected to DSL Modem
Link light off Router not connected to DSL modem - make sure that the Ethernet cable links the WAN port in the back of the Router to the Ethernet jack in the DSL modem, and that all cable connections are secure
Act light flickering green Normal activity
Diag light flickering orange Router performing self-diagnostic tests - wait for light to turn off. If light remains on, call the Technical Support number in the Fast Start Guide.
Diag light off Router passed self-diagnostic tests

 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Originally posted by: kilmanjaro
:eek:

Sorry to hear that Jeff. I never had problems with it freezing up on me. Does it happen more often when using a lot of bandwidth or does it matter? Man, I'm feelin mighty bad now.

Sorry to hear about that :( :( :(

Don't worry about it. It seems to happen more often during the day than at night, but only slightly. No idea why though. Some of the stuff in this house seems to have a curse on it, like my problem with drive rails - on one PC with a RAID 0 array, I tried to attach a bay adapter (3.5" -> 5.25") to the HDD's. They didn't fit, so I just stuck the drives in just as they were. One disk was undetectable by the RAID controller - it was seen by the regular IDE controller. I destroyed the array in the RAID setup, rebooted, bam, drive found. Then, on my main PC, I attached adapters to that HDD, put it back in, and the PC would beep a few times then shut down. Reset CMOS, and it worked.
rolleye.gif
Crazy stuff here it seems.

Marmaduke - I'm pretty sure I've tried all the "conventional" troubleshooting methods. Plus, this is a wired router. The problem IS the router - when it locks, I can't ping it (times out), and trying to renew my DHCP address times out as well; it can't find a DHCP server. The web interface to the router also times out. The router needs to be reset at this point, which gets quite annoying when it does it every 10 minutes sometimes. I've got a new Dlink 704 on the way; I'll see how that works. Maybe Linksys routers just don't like my connection or modem.
 

MARMADUKE

Banned
Nov 24, 2002
835
0
0
Jeff.. disregard last post...

are you running XP?....did you run..... ipconfig.....what is the first 3 #'s of your IP address? 169?


firmware. Versions 1.35 and 1.36 both suffer from this bug version
> > > 1.34 has
> > > been verified on 2 of these devices not to suffer from it.
> > >
> > > The bug causes the Linksys to freeze up for approximatly 2-3
> > minutes.
> > > The device
> > > seems to reset itself after this period and routing is restored.
> > During
> > > the 'freeze' the
> > > router will not take any traffic and does not respond to pings.
> > >
> > > When the 'freeze' resolves itself the router will return 'No
> > route to
> > > host' errors
> > > for a short period, about 5 seconds, then resume normal routing.
> > >
> > > The problem is not random, it can be reproduced at will. The WAN
> > > device remains
> > > connected and available from the 'WAN side (internet)' at all times,
> > > only the Linksys (and any device reachable through it)
> > > router stops responding.
> > >


Linksys Routing Table (WAN IP Addresses Removed)
> > > 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 [REMOVED] 1 WAN
> > > [REMOVED] 255.255.255.252 0.0.0.0 1 WAN
> > > 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 0 0.0.0.0 1 LAN
> > >
> > > Problem:BEFSR11 and the BEFSR41
> > >
> > > Repeated incoming requests on port 80 (or any forwarded port) that
> > > pass out through the Linksys to the WAN, then back in via Port
> > Forwarding
> > > will cause the Linksys to crash ('freeze') for an extended period.
> > >
> > > During this period the router lights look normal, but the device is
> > > unavailable.
Linksys is in FUD mode, and will not return any
> > communications. Both of these were using the 1.36 firmware rev. One way to prevent your internal
> > hosts from taking down the communications is to extensively edit your
> > hosts file to map everything for the forwarded services to the internal
> > (192.168.1.x) addresses so that the router does not have any role in
> > this communication.

FIX: firmware that Removed ICMP(ping) to check for DHCP server and Keep Alive:


1.42.7
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
The 1.42.7 firmware, a question about it - I vaguely remember something about a security flaw in Linksys routers that was fairly serious, that it would allow someone to gain access to the router, or use it as a zombie in a DDOS attack, or something like that. Is my mind just being dumb again, or am was there really a problem like that? I do want the Internet to work reliably, but I also don't want my router to have any more open security holes.....and I guess that would be this that they speak of. I don't use remote admin anyway, for the simple reason that it opens another door to the outside.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Yeah, I see that now, in the security statement. Seems that Linksys also recently issued a new firmware, 1.44.2. I'm giving that a try now.
Ok, 1.44.2 is not quite there; the router won't freeze, but instead, most traffic stops - it lets me ping the router (and the modem, and the main gateway for the neighborhood), and I can do a DHCP renew, but I can't raise it over the browser interface, can't see webpages, and can't get e-mail. Trying the 1.42.7 now.

Update: The 1.42.7 is a bit better; now it only locks up about twice a day. :(
The Dlink router should be here this week sometime.
 

Scyber

Senior member
Dec 10, 1999
502
0
0
Sorry to drag up an old thread, but I have the exact same problem with lockups with my linksys BEFSR11 router. It seems to only lockup when I downloading files from multiple sources (P2P programs, etc.).

The router simply locksup completely. I have to reboot it (unplug it then plug it back in) to get it back. I have the latest firmware (1.44) but nothing seems to help.

Did anyone ever find a solution?
 

Scyber

Senior member
Dec 10, 1999
502
0
0
Well I figure I will give a few more details on my network. Here is a list of my setup:

Cablevision Internet
Motorola SB4200 Cable modem
Linksys BESR11 Router <--The trouble maker
Gigafast 8 Port Switch <-- I have used 2 other switches in this place with the same result (a netgear and linksys 4 port)

Attached to the switch I have the following:
WinXP Pro Box
Redhat 8.0 Box
Linux File Server
Linksys WAP11 Wireless Access Point

I have pretty much narrowed the problem down to downloading from multiple sources. I am able to download large individual files at high speeds with no problem. But when I use a P2P program that downloads from multiple sources I get problems. I have had it lockup on me with the following programs:

Bearshare
Limewire
mIRC DCC sends
HTTP Downloads (downloading multiple files at the same time).
Bittorrent

I have port forwarding enabled for the above programs to my WinXP box. But I have noticed the problem without port forwarding enabled previously.