Netgear Wireless Router "drops" connection

[snowxf]

I have a Netgear wireless router at home, with a single desktop wired to one of its ports, a cable modem providing an Internet connection to it, and a TiVo device using it wirelessly with a Linksys card. It's been set up for a couple months now, but recently the TiVo has had trouble finding the network/getting a connection.

The router is set to use the MAC address of the computer (so it's allowed Internet access when the computer's off), and it has a set IP address which it assigns for the TiVo. When the TiVo is able to connect, its status shows a signal strength ranging between 56-75%. I did a test where I unplugged the modem and router, then plugged them back in in sequential order to "reset" them. Then the TiVo was able to find the network just fine (with no other changes in terms of possible interference or the connected desktop). I also did a series of test connects from the TiVo, turning the computer on or off in between to see if that was affecting it. It was able to connect successfully each time, and five hours later it connected automatically. Then a day later it's not able to connect again. So, it just seems like after a certain amount of time now, the router stops working wirelessly.

Has anyone had any issues like this before? Any suggestions to help fix my aggravating situation? I don't want to have to constantly unplug it. Am I looking at buying another router to try out? (Oh, and my time for free Netgear support is over, and I don't have much optimism for their email help...) Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[vipergg]

I had some problems at one point on my netgear where the download speeds went down the toilet . The fix ended up being , save your current router config to your pc and then thru the menu reset the router to factory defaults . Then get back into the router using the default passwords and then load your config back onto the router . This fixed the problem I was having , might be something to try or you could check to see if they have more up to date software for your router and try that .

 

[snowxf]

I tried saving the config, resetting, and then reloading the config. It seemed to work...until the Internet connection was dropped again. I'm thinking it's a screwy hardware glitch and I'll have to contact Netgear. Thank you for your suggestion though!

 

[tazuk]

If this is a WGR614 series router it may be worth checking to see that you have the latest firmware. I had similar problems with my WGR614v4 which meant I had to power cycle the router to regain my connections. I resolved this problem last weekend by upgrading to firmware v5.0_07.
Note that the correct upgrade procedure is to wipe your config and manually re-enter all the details.

HTH

TazUk

Blue-screening PCs since 1998

 

[evans17]

Yea Netgear from my experince has a problem with the internal processor being to busy or at full load a lot. Then it runs out of Ram/buffer and has to dump that stuff. This is when the network drop is made, during the buffer dump. I replaced my Netgear with a Linksys, and no problems since.

 

[snowxf]

I was thinking about getting a Linksys...but wanted to see if there was any hope before I scrap the Netgear.

I looked up the firmware updates on the Netgear website, but by the description, it sounds like what's already in use, so I'm not too hopeful about that either...

well, thanks for all the suggestions so far, I'll keep you posted on what happens...

 

[snowxf]

...I got a Linksys wireless router and installed it this weekend. The installation process alone was easier than with the Netgear -- Linksys packages theirs with a cd that automates the process. I was impressed that it detected the ISP and plugged in the computer's MAC value automatically to use with the ISP, whereas I had to figure that out myself last time when the computer's Internet connection was being dropped between shut-downs. I'm looking forward to using a hassle-free machine so I can forget it's even there.