Broken Router

Posted on 2003/07/22 24:08:05 (July 2003) by john.

There I was thinking I had to survive a few days without the internet!

My ADSL modem/router thingy (a Netgear DG814) stopped working last night, it was really worrying for a bit, but somehow or other, I seem to have got it working again now.

Seemingly the firmware got stuck into a loop of crashing every time just a few seconds after the device booted. However, I couldn't upgrade the firmware or anything, as the fact the device had crashed meant I couldn't get to the web based config.

I tried all the usually rebooting, checking cables, etc, before I eventually conceded defeat and phoned the technical support line.

I found Netgear's technical support to be very good actually. There was a bit of wait (about 10 minutes) but this is probably to be expected. The guy I spoke to was surprisingly non-patronising (I wasn't asked about whether or not it was plugged in and so on), and he seemed to be very quick at working out a technical level I was comfortable with. The most useful bit was him telling me how to do a hard reset - which reflashes the device with the original firmware. I had found the reset switch by myself earlier on (the problems I was having had all the hallmarks of something that just needed a good reset), but as is always the way, a simple quick press wasn't good enough. This was one of those where you need to hold it for fifteen seconds, pull out the power cable for fifteen seconds (whilst stll holding the switch), then put the cable back in and hold the switch for another fifteen seconds.

I tried this whilst still on the phone twice, but I must have messed it up somehow. I wonder if the problem might have been that one of the network cables was still attached. He told me to leave it in, but I wasn't so sure - if the device needs to concentrate on reflashing the firmware, the last thing it wants is a whinging PC connected to it, moaning on and on about not having a decent IP address, and not knowing where the DNS servers are, and so on.

So, eventually the guy gave up (quite reasonably too, he'd tried everything) and arranged for a replacement to be sent out. Of course, I then had another go at the reset thing after I'd put the phone down, giving it plenty of extra time, and removing anything that might interrupt it (the ADSL cable and all the network cables, so there was nothing plugged in but the power). I also left it another twenty seconds or so after doing the reset to let it settle down, then turned it off and back on again before plugging any network cables back into it. Magically it came back to life. I had to re-enter my ISP details obviously, but this was no great hardship.

Which means now I have to phone back and cancel the replacement I suppose. But perhaps to be on the safe side, I ought to check this one is going to continue working for the next few hours.

I was very baffled as to how the router had got in that state in the first place. I've become a bit paranoid, and worried that somebody might have tried to hack me or something, and somehow in the process they managed to get into my router's config and mess it all up. I wouldn't have thought this was accessible from the WAN side, but who knows. To be on the safe side, I've changed the password.

Still, it seems to be working fine now, so, hopefully, panic over.

*snap* Foiled again!!

Posted by Omar at 2003/07/22 15:03:04.

Post a comment