Is my WRT54GL about to die?

[Guest]

I've owned a Linksys WRT54GL from beginning, and I love her (yes, my router's name is Angelina).

Over the past 2-3 days, Angelina seems not to be well, however. I'm wondering if her symptoms look familiar to any of you and what they might mean.

Anyway. I stream movies & huli via Angelina to a "media PC". Over the last 3 days, when I turn the box on, it has a bear of a time finding my network. Usually the wireless connection finds and connects to (and gets an IP) my network in 1-2 seconds. It's taken 2-3 minutes lately and several times I couldn't get any connection at all - I had to power cycle the wireless connection itself (an older Linksys G USB Adapater). When I finally get a connection, high-bitrate streams are jumpy, and often my Netlfix movies / hulu vids freeze or just stop altogther - this never used to happen.

To rule out a problem with my ISP, I have done speedtests and loaded vids on my wired machines, they work fine.

Wathching vids from ANY of my wireless machines seems to be a problem now, in fact.

I've also noticed that when I have more than 1 active wireless connection going (normal pattern = 1 connection for TV (G) , 1 connection for my laptop (G) , 1 connection for wifey's laptop (B) ), ALL wireless connections begin to randomly drop out - they lose the network, and then pick it up again a few seconds later.

I haven't updated Angelina's firmware in a while or modified any of her settings. She doesn't seem to be overheating and I see the same behavior even if I turn her off overnight and then test first thing in the morning.

What do you folks think? Has she just passed her MTBF and needs to be replaced? If so, any good recommendations on a good N router? Or should I just buy another WRT54GL since they are so hackable?

Thanks much!

 

[Guest]

Could be the power supply or the wireless section. See if you can find a compatible PSU at a flea market -- I think some Netgear PSUs are identical voltage and wattage.

 

[Guest]

Got it! (I think)

I noticed I'm still on a default channel (6), which all my neighbors seem to be using, too. Angelina doesn't see any new AP's, but maybe someone increased signal strength or something. Anyway, changed the channel on my router to one that no one else was on, and all is well. have streams going on multiple machines wireless, and and they all look great.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

As you're an old hand I assumed you'd considered experimenting with channels. A lot of routers are factory set to channel 6 so collisions are inevitable.