Linksys WRT54GS: Half dozen dropouts a day. Solution needed.

I got my WRT54GS a couple of months ago and since then it regularly drops the wireless connection a half dozen or more times each day. When this happens, I shut down and restart the router and then reboot my computer. The signal eventually comes back, but it's always hit or miss. When it works, the signal is always strong, so it's not a matter of range. I've called tech support a number of times, but they're clueless, always coming back to me with a ridiculous explanation of what the problem might be. Before buying this unit, I was advised by a friend to avoid it, but I thought it would be worth taking a chance, since I had an earlier Linksys router (one of the earliest models) with a range extender and figured it was time to get newer equipment. When this one works, it's fine. There is, however, no way of knowing when it's going to misbehave. I'm wondering if this is really a poor choice or maybe I should return it to Linksys for a replacement.

Reply to
nrwayne
Loading thread data ...

I have one and am quite pleased with it. I'm using the dd-wrt firmware (version 23). You might want to try that.

formatting link

Reply to
Jerry Park

I have a WRT54G, and I too experienced issues with drop-outs. However, after much experimentation I found several factors which after mitigating them, I have a stable system. I too thought that my signal strength was good and it was the router's fault but fixing the factors solved my problem. I suspect that reflections of objects caused a lot of null points that made positioning very sensitive. The things I did were:

- Moving the WRT54G well away (>2') from the wall, floor and ceiling.

- Using a parabolic antenna reflector on the WRT54G to focus the beam

formatting link
Making sure the WRT54G and clients were well away from metal objects (window frames, waste baskets, vents, ducting, etc)

- get rid of 2.4GHz phones and other devices that may cause interference.

Reply to
Philip

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com hath wroth:

It takes two to tango. What are you using for a wireless client? What operating system? The problem could be at the client end.

I don't personally use a WRT54GS. However, they are the standard router for the local free wireless project, which has them scattered about in coffee shops and hot spots all over Santa Cruz. However, they all use alternative firmware instead of the stock Linksys variety. For my WRT54G routers, I use DD-WRT version 2.3 12/25/05 which I highly recommend.

When you do both ends at once, there's no way to determine which end has initiated the hangup. Next time it happens, dry just rebooting the router and see if that fixes it. When it happens again after that, try rebooting just the computer and see if it recovers.

Also, try doing nothing and see if it recovers by itself. Microwave oven interference tends to be transient and eventually go away.

Could I touble you to be a little less vague? We have it that it drops 6 times per day, presumeably over an 8 hour user period. Eventually can be a long time. How long does it take to recover? After the client reboots? Minutes, hours? This is not a rhetorical question as I'm trying to determine if the dropouts are caused by interference, 802.1x authentication failure, encryption re-snyc failure, or other common mechanism. If the dropouts coincide with coffee breaks and meals, it's microwave oven interference.

You can have a very strong signal and interference will still cause a disconnect. It's not like FM broadcast, where the strongest signal wins. It's like a good signal, plus a jamming signal equals lousy communications. Try changing channels (1, 6 or 11) and see if it helps.

Maybe they have something useful. What's the rediculous explanation?

Are you currently using this range extender with your WRT54GS? What are you using?

It might be defective. The easiest test is by substitution. Find an accomplis with a known working laptop with wireless. Have them connect to your WRT54GS in the same manner in which you're using it. If it fails the same way, then it's NOT anything on the client end (or repeater).

Then, try removing the repeater, range extender, or whatever if you have one. Just simplify things.

If your unspecfied client computer is portable, try it at a hot spot or coffee shop to see if it works properly.

Eventually, by replacing every part of the puzzle, the culprit will be identified.

Possible causes of disconnects:

  1. 802.1x authentication on XP SP1 (not SP2) setup. If you're *NOT* using WPA or WPA2 (which require SP2 anyway), turn off 802.1x authentication.
  2. Interference from other wireless access points, microwave ovens,
2.4Ghz cordless phones, 2.4GHz video extensions, etc.
  1. Power save feature on the wireless client or wireless adapter.
  2. Power save feature in Windoze.
  3. Power save features in the computer BIOS.
Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

All machines use XP. Dropouts take place at the same time on all. All use the XP client.

I'll try the different firmware and see if that helps.

Sometimes rebooting the router helps. Sometimes just rebooting the computer helps.

The nearest microwave is probably several hundred yards away. Given the dropout frequency and time of day, I doubt that's the problem.

This morning, for example, I had six dropouts in a five minute period. I then rebooted and since then there have been no dropouts. This is nothing new.

Yesterday, I wasted an hour with a technician on the Indian subcontinent. I had to repeat questions many times and made no progress. He had me reconfigure the router and said the dropout problems would go away. Within one minute after he said that, the dropouts resumed. His subsequent suggestion was to bring each of the computers back to the supplier and have them fix them.

No range extender being used.

We've used two of the computers elsewhere and the dropout problem disappears.

Given the amount of time needed to make this router work properly, I'm thinking that it's not worth the time to continue. For the small increment needed to trade up, I'll move to a better router and pray that I don't need to call Linksys tech support, which was fine when stateside but dreadful on the other side of the planet.

Reply to
nrwayne

"nrwayne" hath wroth:

Ok, it's not the client. However, it still can be interference at the WRT54GS. If you have a high location, installed in a window, that overlooks an area that may have a substantial number of Wi-Fi installations, microwave ovens, or cordless phones, you may be picking up crud through the window. Try putting something substantial between the potential sources of interference and the WRT54GS.

Try the 01/16/06 version 2.3 SP1 beta version instead. It fixes a few problems. Be sure to read the Wiki for the exact flash proceedure, especially the part where it says to do nothing and wait 2 minutes after flashing the WRT54GS. There are also an odd proceedure for doing the WRT54GS v4 router, which has less RAM than the others.

I just got off the phone with a friend that had a customer with a flakey wireless problem. I had him email a photo of the roofline outside the customers window. In the distance, at the same elevation, there was a Tropos wireless mesh repeater box and dual antennas. I had him put a frying pan between the access point and the mesh box. The dropouts were drastically reduced.

That doesn't follow any obvious pattern. I still suspect interference. Perhaps a change of location will help. Take the WRT54GS and one laptop into an RF isolated room, such as a basement or interior room. Just the WRT54GS and one laptop. Connect to the internal web server in the WRT54GS and see if the disconects persist. If it still has a problem, then it's probably a defective WRT54GS.

Sigh. The problem with all phone support personalities is that they don't get their hands dirty. There are many problems that can be solved over the phone, but topology, path, interference, and stability problems require hands-on experience.

Ok, that simplifies things considerably.

Therefore, the computers are fine. Having all of them simultaneously disconnect also points to a problem at the WRT54GS end.

Well, I charge $75/hr for labor. If it takes me over an hour to deal with a typical commodity router, it gets replaced. I'll usually do a flash update and reset, but not much more. I have a small pile in the office (and at home) that are the result of installation failures of one sorts or other. In the under $100 class, I don't expect much in the way of quality. Considering the time you've already spent, I would probably have tried another router much earlier.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Based on your comments, I think I'll try the firmware update first. Please direct me to where I can find specific instructions for doing so. It's possible that interference may be an issue, but we've experimented with laptops in line of sight about 20 feet away and the dropouts continued. We had a prior Linksys router BEFW11S4 together with Linksys' first range extender. It worked OK for several years, but we traded for the WRT54GS to get 802.11g compatibility. So far, not a good trade. In the event that the firmware update is unsuccessful, I'm wondering whether I should bother trying to get a new unit from Linksys or whether to get a better router. If the latter, what do you suggest? I appreciate the considerable thought that you've put into coming up with a solution for this. Many thanks. Russell

Reply to
nrwayne

formatting link
that the proceedure is slightly different for the WRT54GS v4.

New version just out today (01/23/06) at:

formatting link
'm not going to recommend which exact version to download as I don't know the exact hardware version of your WRT54GS.

It's not how strong a signal you get. Even the strongest signal can be trashed by interference. The interference does not so much clobber the strong signal. It fills the spaces in between symbols with "noise" that makes it difficult to determine if one his hearing a zero or a one. You can have a very strong signal and intereference will still be a problem.

If you had asked me what wireless router to buy, I would have suggested the WRT54G or WRT54GS. That's mostly because of all the nifty features found in the DD-WRT alternative firmware.

For 2nd best, I've had good luck with Netgear WGR-614 v5

formatting link
hardware version is v6. These are not the geatest or do they have any unique features. Functional mediocrity would be a good description. I use them because I can get them cheap and they seem to work without much difficulty. The V4 hardware had some radio problems that resulted in lousy range. V5 is fine. I haven't tried V6.

If you want to spend LOTS more money, I use some Sonicwall TZ-170w wireless routers with good results. Also some older Cisco 350 series access points with external routers. Since I only see defective routers, I can certainly tell you which models to avoid, but recommending something that works is difficult.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

formatting link
Note that the proceedure is slightly different for the WRT54GS v4.

formatting link
I'm not going to recommend which exact version to download as I don't

I'll check with BrainSlayer on that. I've read the wiki and feel reasonably comfortable with what's needed.

Since I've got your first choice, it seems possible that this unit's defective. I was considering Belkin's Pre-N Router, but since you didn't mention it, I wonder if that makes sense. It has, however, gotten, pretty good feedback and seems to have greater potential than then WRT54GS. Any thoughts?

Reply to
nrwayne

I've never played with Belkin Pre-N devices. Rumor has it that they work and offer a substantial range and connection reliability improvement. Seems like a worthy choice.

However, I have an "issue" with Belkin. I've bought far too many Belkin products that are either defective out of the box or failed prematurely. Most could be exchanged under warranty, but it was always an ordeal. Another problem that I have with Belkin is the lack of firmware and driver updates. Many of their products are on either their initial release or perhaps one fast fix issued immediately on initial product release. I have several of their products (P56768-A, F5D6231-4, etc) on the shelf that have obvious and known bugs or problems, that were never fixed. At least the other vendors update products almost continuously and often for products they no longer sell. I also had to deal with one of Belkin's PCMCIA cards, where the downloaded driver from their web pile was trashed and the only driver that worked was the one from the original CDROM (which was lost).

I have problems with other low end vendors (DLink, Linksys, and Netgear), but never to this degree. I just looked at my pile of rejected rebates. 4 cards from Belkin totalling $25.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

You may find this of interest.

formatting link
Bob

Reply to
Bob II

So much for my thought of the Belkin Pre-N. I'll try flashing my Linksys with the latest DD-WRT. My WRT54GS is Version 2. Which of the new DD-WRT files do I need? I'm guessing that it's one of these two: dd-wrt.v23_mini_wrt54gs.bin or dd-wrt.v23_wrt54gs.bin. If it's not one of these, please let me know. Again, many thanks.

Reply to
nrwayne

"nrwayne" hath wroth:

I gotta do everything for you? Well, it's a bit trick finding the correct file as Brainslayer is not too good with version control. For WRT54GS v2, you use the "standard" version for the GS. I suggest:

formatting link

formatting link

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Sorry. We had a death in the family and it's been quite difficult focusing on things.

Reply to
nrwayne

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.