Opening Belkin wireless case...

I dont know how long ago this was, but I can tell you though my experiences that BELKIN is VERY, VERY on the ball about requesting the defective unit back. They have two kinds of RMAS, Advanced Exchange and the Standard "You send in defective, we ship you replacement". If you gave are doing an Advanced replacement, you can bet that they are awiting that unit to be returned. Before they send out an advanced replacement they request your credit card number. If you have given them one, then I can assure you, after

30 days you will be charged the FULL Retail Online Value of that Router.

Not trying to be a "Mr Know it all", just dont want to see someone surprised.

Now, if they sent you a Router, and you have not Given them a Credit card or other Type of Collateral, I do not know what to say. But I have dealt with BELKIN from a Sales and from A End User Position, and I have NEVER seen them just send a piece of Equipment out and say "Hey keep the old one on us!" Also, inside the box of an Advanced Replacement, you do NOT find a Return Label or Anything along those lines. The cost of Shipping back is on the end user, and the instructions are Emailed to you at the time the RMA is created. After that, it is your responsibility to get it back to them.

At best, I would contact them and see what is up, becuase you may need a warranty replacement in the future and you'll come up as a client. with a hold on your acct possibly. Then it will be too late to return the Router and they will want full price for the Router. If you dont know your RMA, BELKIN uses your Phone Number as a reference point for most transactions. Do the right thing, call and straighten it out, and if they say " We dont want it, then it is all yours to tear apart".

PDA Man,

Thanks for your concern however I can assure you - they sent me a written letter through the mail saying that in this case then they didn't require the original unit sent back and the very same day I received the new unit (actually, a 'better' one) through a private carrier.

This all happened about 6 months since and they have never been in touch about it. I bought the first unit through a PC shed (might have been PC World actually) and the original unit died within about 6months. I did ensure that I registered it with them after the purchase and passed on all original purchase details. I can only re-iterate, they have been true to their word (or better) than their lifetime warranty claim.

In fairness - I am not concerned about the 'return' unit at all. I did keep the original letter and the replacement has been registered as such via their website.

The post itself was more relating to taking the unit apart to see what was under the hood.

Thanks for your interest. The same question still applies - do you know a way of taking it apart non-destructively?

Cheers all,

Martyn.

hath wroth:

Methinks it might help if you would kindly disclose the Belkin model number. All Belkins are not built the same.

Jeff,

Of course - thank you.

The one in question is: Belkin wireless G router model number F5D7230-4 (version 4, UK)

The problem I was having with it before it gave up the ghost appeared to be heat related - it would simply drop connections and then the flashing LEDs became solid orange. Rebooting would usually clear the problem temporarily.

Putting a household electric fan over the case helped but never really stopped the problem (sometimes as frequently as 3-4 times per hour). Then eventually the whole thing stopped working - no LEDs lit at all, in spite of multiple re-boots. The supplied power adaptor was proved to work correctly.

Thanks for any advice as always.

Martyn.

hath wroth:

I have on of these sitting in a box in my office. I'll give it a look and see how it comes apart when I recover from several days of house cleaning.

Meanwhile, see: |

there's quite a bit of hacking that can be done with this box.

You might also try the FCC ID web pile if your UK serial number tag has the US FCC ID number. |

I got lucky. The search worked (this time). | 'K7SF5D7230-4'The "internal photo" page gives a really good picture of where you get to pry, twist, peel, and brutalize the snap together case. Looks like about 12 snap together hook and loop links. Try a paint knife or spatula. Note that there are a few hardware versions of this router and this may not be the correct photo of the board. However, the case should be the same in all versions.

Heat is the symptom, not the cause. Some component has blown up inside and is sucking lots of power. Eventually, the power supply complains and gives up. You might be lucky and it's only an electrolytic capacitor. The symptoms sound very much like a power supply shutdown from excessive load. When you get the case removed, the source of the overheating should be obvious. Good luck.

Jeff Liebermann hath wroth:

'K7SF5D7230-4'(...)

More:

hid screws under the serial number label. Grrrr...

Jeff,

That is excellent - thank you for all the time and advice.

All the best,

Martyn.