Linksys WRT54GS Problem

[Jeff]

I was gone most of the day yesterday and when I got back I could not connect to our router. I finally did a manual reset that worked as long as I did not make any changes to the default settings including just changing the SSID. As soon as I changed anything it would not talk to me.

After an evening's cussn I woke up this morning and decided to reflash the firmware. I had installed Thibor's third party firmware last spring and luckily still had the install software.

That fixed the problem! After folllowing the instructions I wish I had tried clearing the NVAM first; but whatever works....

I had upped the power from the default 50% to 100% at QZ in case someone wanted to use us for internet access but can't think of any other reason it corrupted.

Anyone else experienced this?

 

[Ned]

I've been running Thibor's firmware for a long time and have never had a problem with it.  It's been more stable than the original Linksys firmware was.  It's possible that the NVRAM or EPROM got corrupted somehow (alpha particles?).  I also increase the power to 100% but that has never caused a problem for me.  However, if the router is in an enclosed space, it's possible it overheated while running at the higher power.

 

[Jeff]

It is enclosed, Ill try giving it more air.

 

[slpdave]

Thermal Runoff is the technical term (If I remember correctly from electronics school)  as a dielectric (<-did I spell that right?) heats it generates current, the current generated generates more heat which generates more current repeat till it lockins up the chip, the way to test it is to cool the device all the way down and retry.

Freeze spray works well too but use it with caution.

David

 

[rbell]

I read this as I have a WRT54GS at home. I just wondered the reasons you'd changed the firmware to begin with, I've never done anything with mine. I have noticed a couple things like signal strength in some areas of the house that vary etc. that could be a little better. I do have all the security stuff done.

 

[Karl]

Thermal Runoff is the technical term (If I remember correctly from electronics school)

You were very close - it's thermal runaway, and it occurs when a PN juction gets too warm. This, in turn, causes an increase in current flow, which generates more heat. The process continues until the device is destroyed or the overcurrent detection circuitry turns it off. If present, some of them are self-resetting; some require a powered-down cooling off period.