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  1. #1

    Wireless router constantly crashing

    So now that I'm back home, once more I have to deal with my parents' wireless router, which loves to randomly crash and become unresponsive for anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds at a time, at least twice per hour.

    Whenever it happens, the router will, as I said, become unresponsive for roughly a minute, before coming back online as if nothing happened. During the 'crash', none of my devices can connect to it. Windows 7 gives the "Could not connect to (network)" error, and so does my iPhone. It does this most of the time, but sometimes it goes even further and the router will be undetectable for about 30 seconds. As in...it won't even show up on the network list.

    I'm not sure exactly what brand the router is; I'll have to check some time tomorrow, but I know it's not a common brand like Linksys or Netgear. It's some weird all-in-one cable modem/router box. The coaxial is plugged into it and there are Ethernet ports on the back.

    Any idea what's going on with it crashing at random? Really damn annoying, seeing as a majority of my games require internet connection. This general thing has been happening for years (despite Cox coming to the house and "fixing" it multiple times), but I'm still not sure if it's the internet connection, seeing as when we had a Linksys router a couple years ago, the connection was quite stable and only crashed once a day, if at all.
    Quote Originally Posted by Precursor View Post
    "Fall of therzane....." ....um what? if that woman fell , god help us it will be the second cataclysm
    Words that lots of people don't seem to know the definition of:
    "Troll", "Rehash", "Casual", "Dead", "Dying", "Exploit".

  2. #2
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
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    I guess my question is... is the "internet" dropping, or is the router actually resetting/unable to connect to?

    If it's the router, call Cox, ask for a supervisor, and politely explain that the router is failing, and you're looking into a new service unless they fix it.
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    I am Murloc! Cyanotical's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vook View Post
    the connection was quite stable and only crashed once a day,
    once a day is not stable at all, a good home cable connection should only have problems when there are outside circumstances, ie someone drove into a road side cable node, or they are upgrading infrastructure

    other than that your internet should never be down

  4. #4
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
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    I consider mine 'stable' but it does die 'occcasionally' which I consider acceptable. By occasionally, I mean it craps out like yours does.... MAYBE once a month. For like a couple minutes. I'm willing to believe that's the provider or connection and not any hardware I have power over... Or at least not a big enough issue to stress about fixing.

    Daily. Heck, even weekly, would be unacceptable.
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  5. #5
    Sometimes routers just need to be replaced, and that's kinda what it sounds like.

  6. #6
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    Depends on whats happening, if you can hook wireshark or a similar packet tracer onto your network and see what happens right before it crashes it could give you a better idea of whats going on but aside from that you have to do good old fashion trouble shooting.

    I had a similar issue and it was actually a connection within the walls. The line was partially severed, meaning that as far as COX and most ISP providers are concerned it's connected, even though only half (guesstimate) of the actual copper wire was available, so when traffic increased packet loss occurred causing it to reboot.

    Since its a wireless connection it could also be interference from house hold appliances, cell phones etc. Could also just be a WAP that needs to be replaced. Your best bet would be to eliminate some variables if possible. If you maintain a wired connection and your connection doesn't drop, then you can rule out any wiring issue (baring something obscure). Once you've ruled out a wiring/connectivity issue I would look at picking up a wireless router and testing it. Preferably at a retail store that allows for open box returns on electronics (radio shack, Wal-mart, etc).

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by chazus View Post
    I guess my question is... is the "internet" dropping, or is the router actually resetting/unable to connect to?

    If it's the router, call Cox, ask for a supervisor, and politely explain that the router is failing, and you're looking into a new service unless they fix it.
    It's the router, like I explained, because every time the internet stops working, my computer and iPhone cannot connect to the router. That and, when I had a Linksys a couple years ago, the connection was fine, for the most part. We've gone through at least five routers in the past ~7 years, and every single one of them has had these types of crashing, with the Linksys router having the least problems.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyanotical View Post
    once a day is not stable at all, a good home cable connection should only have problems when there are outside circumstances, ie someone drove into a road side cable node, or they are upgrading infrastructure

    other than that your internet should never be down
    It's been doing it for years, like I said. No idea what's causing it. Cox has been to the house at least twice to "fix" it, but it still happens. Perhaps I should convince my mother to get Verizon Fios.

    Quote Originally Posted by Treesus View Post
    I had a similar issue and it was actually a connection within the walls. The line was partially severed, meaning that as far as COX and most ISP providers are concerned it's connected, even though only half (guesstimate) of the actual copper wire was available, so when traffic increased packet loss occurred causing it to reboot.
    Hm...that might be it. I do notice that during the day, there are almost no crashes, but as soon as my parents get home, it starts crashing every 15-30 minutes. But they're not heavy net users, they just use Facebook and play browser-based games.

    Quote Originally Posted by Treesus View Post
    Since its a wireless connection it could also be interference from house hold appliances, cell phones etc. Could also just be a WAP that needs to be replaced. Your best bet would be to eliminate some variables if possible. If you maintain a wired connection and your connection doesn't drop, then you can rule out any wiring issue (baring something obscure). Once you've ruled out a wiring/connectivity issue I would look at picking up a wireless router and testing it. Preferably at a retail store that allows for open box returns on electronics (radio shack, Wal-mart, etc).
    I really want to try this, but my room is on the opposite side of the house from the router, so I can't.
    Quote Originally Posted by Precursor View Post
    "Fall of therzane....." ....um what? if that woman fell , god help us it will be the second cataclysm
    Words that lots of people don't seem to know the definition of:
    "Troll", "Rehash", "Casual", "Dead", "Dying", "Exploit".

  8. #8
    Deleted
    IS there a cordless phone base next to the router?

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by foil View Post
    IS there a cordless phone base next to the router?
    About five feet away, yes.
    Quote Originally Posted by Precursor View Post
    "Fall of therzane....." ....um what? if that woman fell , god help us it will be the second cataclysm
    Words that lots of people don't seem to know the definition of:
    "Troll", "Rehash", "Casual", "Dead", "Dying", "Exploit".

  10. #10
    Deleted
    might be worth changing the wifi channels to see if its interference from the phone or microwave or etc etc.. Could even be interference from other peoples wifi using same channel.

    There might also be a firmware update for the router so worth checking that too. I recently had to update my router firmware as Mode N was pretty much broken as it was.

    Also do you not have laptop that you can plug into the router to check if internets still on when things cant connect to wifi?

  11. #11
    I'm pretty sure it's not any phone interference. If it was, wouldn't I be getting consistent crashes all day?

    I tried to go check the firmware, but I have no idea what the login/password is, and none of the default combos work.
    Last edited by Vook; 2013-05-25 at 01:37 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Precursor View Post
    "Fall of therzane....." ....um what? if that woman fell , god help us it will be the second cataclysm
    Words that lots of people don't seem to know the definition of:
    "Troll", "Rehash", "Casual", "Dead", "Dying", "Exploit".

  12. #12
    The Lightbringer Asera's Avatar
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    Is it overloaded with concurrent connections? Ie; Torrents or similar file transfer protocols?
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    Brewmaster slackjawsix's Avatar
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    same thing happened on my new netgear OP, try going to router settings and see if there is an update for software on the router. simple fix if its the problem which it may be seeing how parents probably dont update there router software :P
    i live by one motto! "lolwut?"

  14. #14
    After a bunch more crashes today, I think I've pretty much confirmed that the router itself is the problem. Every time it "crashes", I can't even connect to the router. Connecting to 192.168.0.1 doesn't work. So something is happening that is causing the router to become unresponsive for 60-120 seconds.

    Quote Originally Posted by Asera View Post
    Is it overloaded with concurrent connections? Ie; Torrents or similar file transfer protocols?
    I doubt it, because like I said, my parents don't do much, just Facebook and general net browsing.

    Quote Originally Posted by slackjawsix View Post
    same thing happened on my new netgear OP, try going to router settings and see if there is an update for software on the router. simple fix if its the problem which it may be seeing how parents probably dont update there router software :P
    Yeah, I can't get into the router because I have no idea what the password or username are.
    Last edited by Vook; 2013-05-27 at 02:26 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Precursor View Post
    "Fall of therzane....." ....um what? if that woman fell , god help us it will be the second cataclysm
    Words that lots of people don't seem to know the definition of:
    "Troll", "Rehash", "Casual", "Dead", "Dying", "Exploit".

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Vook View Post
    Yeah, I can't get into the router because I have no idea what the password or username are.
    try:

    Username: admin
    Password: admin

    will get you into most devices

    Sad but true.

  16. #16
    High Overlord Roblivion's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vook View Post
    After a bunch more crashes today, I think I've pretty much confirmed that the router itself is the problem. Every time it "crashes", I can't even connect to the router. Connecting to 192.168.0.1 doesn't work. So something is happening that is causing the router to become unresponsive for 60-120 seconds.


    I doubt it, because like I said, my parents don't do much, just Facebook and general net browsing.



    Yeah, I can't get into the router because I have no idea what the password or username are.
    According to you everyone's suggestions are wrong. So go buy a new router...
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  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Butler Log View Post
    try:

    Username: admin
    Password: admin

    will get you into most devices

    Sad but true.
    Nope. I've tried every "default" combination that I can think of, and nothing works.

    Quote Originally Posted by Roblivion View Post
    According to you everyone's suggestions are wrong.
    Pray tell, where did I say/imply that?
    Quote Originally Posted by Precursor View Post
    "Fall of therzane....." ....um what? if that woman fell , god help us it will be the second cataclysm
    Words that lots of people don't seem to know the definition of:
    "Troll", "Rehash", "Casual", "Dead", "Dying", "Exploit".

  18. #18
    Is the password on a sticker on the bottom or back of the device? It very often is with routers.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Butler Log View Post
    Is the password on a sticker on the bottom or back of the device? It very often is with routers.
    Nope. Just a bunch of serial numbers and such. A bit of google searching revealed that the username is always "cusadmin", and the password should be on the sticker...but it's not. I tried every single number on the sticker and none of them worked.
    Last edited by Vook; 2013-05-27 at 02:49 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Precursor View Post
    "Fall of therzane....." ....um what? if that woman fell , god help us it will be the second cataclysm
    Words that lots of people don't seem to know the definition of:
    "Troll", "Rehash", "Casual", "Dead", "Dying", "Exploit".

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Vook View Post
    Nope. Just a bunch of serial numbers and such. A bit of google searching revealed that the username is always "cusadmin", and the password should be on the sticker...but it's not. I tried every single number on the sticker and none of them worked.
    Could always reset the router though that can cause some issues as most of em are configured upon install so they connect to the isp properly. Most of em have a little button that you can jam a pencil tip into and hold for like 10 seconds and it will reset everything to default.
    If you have Wifi it could be someone leeching off your connection and that would cause it to lose connection if they are running torrents or such. Had it happen with mine when my brother would start running torrents I would lose my connection a few times a hour and could not load a single webpage until they were turned off.
    If you must insist on using a non-sanctioned sitting apparatus, please consider the tensile strength
    of the materials present in the object in question in comparison to your own mass volumetric density.

    In other words, stop breaking shit with your fat ass.

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