My Netgear decided to quit today.

With a couple of hiccups, reboots, and power cycles, my Netgear WGR614v4 seems to have given up. It still has power and lights... It just doesn't communicate any more.

I replaced it with a Linksys BEFW11S4 802.11b. I was surprised I could find both it and the power supply in the garage.

I wonder what I should buy for a new router? I don't think I care about "N". My needs are simple. Less than five WiFi devices in total, probably one or two active, two or three wired ports, WiFi coverage has been very good in the areas I care about, with a freeantennas reflector.

Maybe I should measure the power output of the Netgear wall wart. Maybe it's lighting the lights, but not providing a good level of power.

Reply to
dold
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snipped-for-privacy@83.usenet.us.com hath wroth:

Did you try to reset it with the reset button? Check the wall wart to make sure it's putting out volts. I have about 10 of those in various locations. So far only one failure that was apparently due to a power glitch as to wiped a bunch of other electronics at the site.

Ugh, a giant step backwards.

Yes. It only supports WEP, not WPA. As I recall, you have the V2 mutation which at least didn't hang regularly like the v4 mutation.

I would recommend a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 with DD-WRT v23 SP3 firmware. The WHR-G125 has a somewhat better radio chipset, but also has a non-removeable antenna problem. See comments at:

Yep. One measurement is worth quite a bit of guesswork. Measure it under load, which may require some clip leads and loose connector.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

I'm going to try that next.

That's why it was in the pile-o-stuff, standing by.

In between. I have the v3, it never hangs ;-)

That's what I'm after... the recommendation du jour. I don't get out much, so I don't see what's on the shelves at Fry's any more, and I really haven't paid attention here, because I didn't think I was in the market for a new one ;-)

Can I skip the aftermarket firmware, or is that part of the recommendation?

I don't care about removable. This will sit in the house with a reflector on it.

Lights are on, so it's got some power, but it might be low, which I suppose I can get inside to measure.

Reply to
dold

snipped-for-privacy@83.usenet.us.com hath wroth:

I have 3 BEFW11S4 boxes in the pile. I think I was suppose to test some beta firmware, but got interrupted and never went back to testing them.

There are better wireless routers, but that's the best I've found for the price. One minor gotcha. The wall wart for the WHR-HP-G54 is

5VDC which can easily be replaced. However, the later models are all 3.3VDC which seems to be a problem finding replacements. Don't lose the wall wart.

I haven't been to Fry's for quite a while. That explains why I still have money in the bank. Circuit City stocks Buffalo.

I've only tried the stock firmware once. It was a simple home installation and I had no problems. However, I'm into features and goodies. I prefer to think of the WHR-HP-G54 as simply a platform to run the firmware. If Buffalo blunders down the same path that Linksys seems to be staggering, where they go out of their way to ignore or inconvenience the Linux open source users, I'll probably find another vendor that supplies adequate hardware. In other words, you probably don't need the Linux firmware, but I strongly recommend you at least try it.

See what's available. V23 SP2:

The WHR-G125 is made to sit flat on the table, with the antenna coming out of one side. It's not as nice for reflectors as the "tower" derrangement in the WHR-HP-G54. Incidentally, there's also a WHR-HP-G125 which I've only played with briefly. Much faster CPU which is a plus with fancy filtering rules. One catch is that both G125 versions use the very beta DD-WRT v24 software instead of somewhat more stable v23 SP3 version. I setup one at a local coffee shop to replace one that PG&E vaporized last week. Too soon to tell if there are any surprises.

Don't forget the magic incantation: "Let there be lights". It's worked well for 5767 years.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Jeff, I am running DD-WRT v23 SP2, I do not see the SP3 listed where did you find it and what does it offer. Is it worth the upgrade or should one wait for V24?

Danny,

Reply to
Danny Kile

Danny Kile hath wroth:

I've played with v24 on several WHR-G125 routers. It works and seems functional, but I'm not using many features or have had time to beat it up on the bench. At first glance, v24 appears to be still very beta.

v23 is somewhat better. I don't need the features in v24, so I've been using it to see what breaks. It's listed under: beta -> Generic firmware starting at:

or:

I've been using nokaid-std-generic and vpn-generic Be very careful with the dates to be sure you're getting the latest.

One change with sp3 that bugged me was that many options to the "wl" command have been removed in order to recover as much RAM as possible.

I couldn't find a feature list comparing v23 SP2, v23 SP3, and v24.

The features for SP3 and v24 keep changing slightly. Perhaps these out of date emulators might be useful:

V23 SP2

V24

V24 VPN

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Thank you, for the info.

Danny,

Reply to
Danny Kile

Is it the router or the power supply that died? I had such a problem with a DI-714P+ and it came out to be a dying switching PS.

Reply to
F8BOE

The jury is still out. I replaced it with a "b" router, but after doing a "factory reset", I have it daisy chained behind the "b" router, and it seems to be behaving itself. I might swap it back into place today. I popped the cover off and measured 12.44VDC and .22VAC on the power supply.

Reply to
dold

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