Problems with Belkin n router. Please help!!

john1000000boy

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In my house i have sky broadband with the modem in 1 room. Hooked up to this i have devolo homeplugs to carry the signal into my Belkin N router in the sitting room. This has performed flawlessly for months....until lately.

The Belkin has started to intermittently flash its lights on and off even when there is nothing connected to it both wired and via wifi.

When i try and use my macbook in the sitting room it sees the network then the lights all flash off and page displays cannot connect to internet...

The sky router is fine in the other room. i have tried to connect the belkin via ethernet to the sky modem and then ethernet to my mac to see if this makes any difference but the lights still blink off. I was trying to restore the belkin to factory settings and check for firmware updates. This makes me think the issue lies with the belkin and not the sky or devolo plugs???

Any help on this issue would be appreciated.

Not good with compooters so go easy....

Thanks

John
 

john1000000boy

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bearwolfblade said:
Why dont you just use the sky modem for the mac. is this wireless if it is the signal should reach the whole house

I live in an old cottage with a long distance between the rooms and very thick walls. The signal was never strong enough so purchased the plugs and the router

Thanks
 

john1000000boy

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Hey John- which lights, and what is the router model?

Rob

All the lights blink off. The internet light flashes orange sometimes which is the internet light.

The model is F5D8236-4 v2 Belkin N Router.

Thanks
 

MajorFubar

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Chances are it's overheating.

They're notorious for it.

I once saw pictures from one guy who'd cut a huge hole in the top of the case and mounted a CPU cooling fan to extract the heat!

I spent AGES trying to find ways to stop mine overheating. Symptoms were always the same as yours.

I solved it eventually by junking the case. That lasted for a while till I got fed up of looking at its naked circuitry, so binned it and bought a Netgear. Best thing I ever did.

EDIT: found it! This is the guy's tutorial who mounted the big fan on top:

http://glynne-bashbashbash.blogspot.com/2006/06/excessive-belkin-router-cooling.html

(hopefully that link isn't breaking rules? It's not a link to any commercial seller or competitors' webpage)
 

john1000000boy

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MajorFubar said:
Chances are it's overheating.

They're notorious for it.

I once saw pictures from one guy who'd cut a huge hole in the top of the case and mounted a CPU cooling fan to extract the heat!

I spent AGES trying to find ways to stop mine overheating. Symptoms were always the same as yours.

I solved it eventually by junking the case. That lasted for a while till I got fed up of looking at its naked circuitry, so binned it and bought a Netgear. Best thing I ever did.

EDIT: found it! This is the guy's tutorial who mounted the big fan on top:

http://glynne-bashbashbash.blogspot.com/2006/06/excessive-belkin-router-cooling.html

(hopefully that link isn't breaking rules? It's not a link to any commercial seller or competitors' webpage)

So does that mean a new router then??

I tried using the xbox plugged straight into devolo homeplug and it worked fine!!

Does this mean i need a new router??

Help!!
 

Retne

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Hey.

If it's overheating then you should be able to use it for a few moments when you first switch it on - are you able to do that? (the exception to this being if it's overheated so much it's fried the circuits).

Have you tried upgrading the firmware (if relevant)? Or have you done that recently, and is that the problem, perhaps?

Yours isn't just locking up, is it - the lights continue to flash?

I'd do your testing in Room 1, btw, to eliminate the home plug as an issue.

If it's out the way and overheating is the issue you could try ditching the case as MajorFubar suggests, but I'd try that last.

Oh, and you could try getting a vacuum cleaner to any of the vents - that may solve the overheating in a less drastic and naked fashion!

Cheers

R
 

MajorFubar

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john1000000boy said:
Does this mean i need a new router??
You could always try unplugging it at night, or when it's least likely to be used. I found that helped a bit.

You could also try propping it up on its end near somewhere which has plenty of cool airflow. I found that helped a bit too.

Nothing worked quite as well as tearing it out of the case. The case didn't have nearly enough vents for a device which got quite hot, and being plastic it made a useless heat-sink.
 

MajorFubar

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AnotherJoe said:
Why dont u contact Belkin support and ask them?

http://www.belkin.com/uk/support/
I suppose he could actually be the one person who makes them listen and acknowledge that some of their routers have a serious design flaw. But statistically, there's not much hope. When I tried, I got fobbed off. In fact the guy on the helpline actually told me that they weren't aware of any indigenous problem, they were only aware of 'a few isolated instances'. Yet Googling belkin router overheat returns a quarter of a million hits, although many of the ones I've seen are five years old or greater. You'd think they would have sorted it by now.
 

john1000000boy

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MajorFubar said:
AnotherJoe said:
Why dont u contact Belkin support and ask them?

http://www.belkin.com/uk/support/
I suppose he could actually be the one person who makes them listen and acknowledge that some of their routers have a serious design flaw. But statistically, there's not much hope. When I tried, I got fobbed off. In fact the guy on the helpline actually told me that they weren't aware of any indigenous problem, they were only aware of 'a few isolated instances'. Yet Googling belkin router overheat returns a quarter of a million hits, although many of the ones I've seen are five years old or greater. You'd think they would have sorted it by now.

Thanks for all the help. I do leave it on all the time as my sky was plugged into it(for anytime).

Seems to be a bit of an issue with the belkin routers then??

Will have another fettle around and try the hoover etc. Plugged the xbox straight into the homeplug and it worked.... Will try the belkin plugged in directly to the sky router again.

Anyone got any suggestions for a new router?? Was thinking about going down the NAS route also. I have a 1.5tb Iomega hard drive to back up onto which hooks up via usb. Is there a router that would let me plug this in to access contact or am i better having it tucked away and buying a nas to store itunes and eventually high res music??

Thought 1tb or perhaps 500gb would be enough??

Thanks again

John
 

Ravey Gravey Davy

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Netgear routers are nicely compatible with Sky (DGN2000 is a good start*) and a Netgear Readynas Duo could be the NAS solution and has USB connection for extra backup

*Edit check the sky compatibility on that model- the dG834g is ,I believe ok.
 

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