Router Issues

targetrasp · April 29, 2018, 12:30:26 AM

Has anyone ever seen a router just stop DHCP? Anything already connect to it was fine until it was restarted (which makes sense to me). Same problem for both wireless and wired. Power cycling the network didn't work, swapping ports, all the tier 1 crap was unhelpful. arp -a showed every device on the network except for the gateway. Pinging devices gave a timeout general error.

After tinkering with the router a bit more i realized when i moved it around the 2.4 and 5ghz lights went on and off, as well as the lan lights and the internet light (which during this time all showed like they were supposed to). After moving it around a bit and watching the lights do funny things the "oops you're not connected" went to the initial router set up page. After rerunning the setup its working fine, or at least has been for the last hour. I am scared to touch the stupid thing in case it decides to go out again.

I'm thinking short BUT the power light stayed lit during all this. I couldn't really find somthing similar on Toms Hardware, but at this point i'm assuming the router is quickly becoming a toaster. Its an Asus RT-AC68U so there's newer but it's not super old. Has anyone ever experienced this? Any ideas what could be wrong?

BLUEVOODU · April 29, 2018, 02:38:50 PM

What did you do when you moved it around? Did you just pick it up and move it? Chords appear to be dangling from them bottom.

Assuming they handled all this level 1 and 2 stuff but throwing it out there:
Did you try moving individual Ethernet cables to see if the problem exists on 1 port without unplugging.... And then unplugging one at a time ( to rule out fault port)? Did you try new cables (properly created cables etc)? Does if happen of you touch or move an antenna?

It sounds like a 'short' ... or faulty connection to the board. Doesn't sound like a power issue.

I've not seen this exactly but I've seen a link system wireless access point - wap54g - do some weird stuff such as drop wireless connections but SID is still present. Apple devices made this happen more than anything else. Lights would be on except wireless link light off.

targetrasp · April 29, 2018, 03:27:09 PM

I didn't call tech support.

I have a lan scout and was able to verify all Ethernet cables were fine (I have to do this often as I make a lot of my cables and with the color conversion problems I have I constantly get the orange and brown wires switched)

I tried all four of the lan ports when the thing wasn't working and none worked, when the router is working they all work.

Antenna movement doesn't seem to do anything.

I've not moved the router since it's been working because it was a pain to get back going. I'm just now getting all my devices back connected, every echo, tablet, AP, etc. had to be reconfigured. On top of that banking and netflix and all those other sites what me to reverify my accounts.

Next time I'm out i'll grab a newer router then take this guy apart and find what's loose (swollen cap, bad trace, etc).

Wild thought - ever had a problem with magnets? The router was sitting behind my center speaker, but it'd been working for months so i orignally discounted the possibility.

BLUEVOODU · April 29, 2018, 08:58:35 PM

Magnets... It takes a very large magnet to ruin magnetic data based hard drives. Certain magnets can cause room keys to not work... can mess with the internal magnets in cell phones (or magnetize other metal parts in the cell causing issues)... and they can cause issues with pace makers. But causing issues with your routers... slim to none chance in my opinion.

EMI can mess network connections... but it's not going to cause your router to reset and to have to reconfigure your devices.

targetrasp · April 29, 2018, 10:10:04 PM

EMI is about as much of an urban legend as ESD... Seriously, I think I've been able to ruien one stick of ram out of the 903402994300 that I've "mishandled."

i'm just going to chalk it up as a bum router. There's a lose wire, or a short inside it somewhere.

BLUEVOODU · April 29, 2018, 10:33:07 PM

EMI is something I've experienced ... it definitely can have an impact. As long as cables are ran correctly and the proper type of cable are used... there shouldn't be an issue. It's more of a concern to me than anything else. I've never used the anti-static wrist bands... but I've seen a couple IBM techs use them when working on our main systems. I don't use them when working on those systems.

It's not as much of a concern in most office places but in manufacturing type facilities, it's more of a concern. Shop floors with high voltage power overhead (such as press machine rows) requires additional planning.

targetrasp · April 30, 2018, 07:44:03 AM

I was kidding.
This stuff is real. I was just in a BMW plant where employees had to wear special shoes as part of the uniform. Absolutely no metal was allowed on the person after a certain point into the building. Everyone down to the drivers moving the cars from one side of the plant to the other had to abide.

BLUEVOODU · April 30, 2018, 10:23:19 AM

lol... I know you were.

I mean at the end of the day... it's real. Is some over played? yes... and it's normally played when Murphy's law kicks it. It's the 1 time when you really didn't need it to matter. Like... when you're working on a $300-500k system LOL...

That's pretty cool you saw the BMW plant. What was the reason for the special attire?

targetrasp · April 30, 2018, 10:22:44 PM

It's esd protection. Since ICs are now sub 65 nanometers they're more vulnerable to ESD (smaller chips, more damage from shock). In a manufacturing facility that assembles all this crap I'd imagine the protection would be necessary, especially since cars have cameras, infotainment systems, more sophisticated ECMs, computers to apply brakes, computers to warn you when you're veering outside your lane, HUDs, etc.