11 replies to this topic

[capr]

So every couple of days (sometimes twice a day, no real pattern…) the 2.4band on my router craps out. Any devices connected to the 5.0 band work perfectly fine but those on the 2.4 slow down to a crawl. There are many devices that use both bands and I am not sure what is causing this.

I have read that this is interference from other devices on the 2.4band but am not sure what other devices these are. The router isn't near a microwave or phone or anything.

One solution is to manually unplug it and plug it back in. This is annoying. Is there a software solution? Something that detects if the problem is happening and tells the router to reboot?

I have a linksys E4200.

any advice is good.
Thanks

[+sc302]

managed power strip
http://www.amazon.co...ged+power+strip

the ability to turn off and on power recepticals from your pc, in essence rebooting the router/access point. but being that it isn't a registerable error, no hard error, being able to determine and auto rebooting is going to be difficult.



edit: trying to get it as small as possible so that it is impossible for anyone to read unless they are using a screen size of 300x200 or a 200" tv so that it can be read by the op, he apparently has font issues.

[xendrome]

Why not fix the real issue, are you running the latest firmware of the router? Have you tried a full factory reset on it? If this is important to you, throw that thing in the trash and get something else, maybe a Netgear..

[lars77]

The E4200 v1 does have known slow-down issues, but usually it's on the LAN connections not the WLAN connections & usually it's over a few weeks or months. This has to do with the Linksys firmware, not sure if you can do much about it if you're already using their latest firmware.

Assuming you have a E4200 v1, maybe try updating to a 3rd party firmware e.g. Tomato or DD-WRT. I've had Tomato running on the E4200 v1 routers & they run much better than the stock Linksys firmware.

Also, w/ 3rd party firmware you could schedule the router to restart on its own once a day or whatever, if need be.

If you have a v2 you probably need to rule out the 3rd party firmware idea (haven't heard of any 3rd party firmware that works on those routers).

[HawkMan]

xendrome, on 06 July 2012 - 12:46, said:

Why not fix the real issue, are you running the latest firmware of the router? Have you tried a full factory reset on it? If this is important to you, throw that thing in the trash and get something else, maybe a Netgear..

....

Replace a Linksys, much less a linksys 4200 which in most tests are considered the best and longest range router (except the overpowered asus that only goes for range and overpowered radio) with a ... NeatGear ? are you serious... I mean it could have been worse, you could have said dlink, but not much worse...

It's a good router. try to check that you don't have any of the turbo features turned on in the wireless settings, and I'd also suggest getting tomato if it's compatible, or DD-WRT if TomatoUSB is a no go. HOWEVER, I would not recommend getting a 3rd party firmware if you're not into networking and tech to at least some small degree. If you can set up and configure all the settings in basic firmware without help, then yes, sure go for it. Otherwise, just make sure to grab the latest Linksys firmware.

Also make sure your 2.4 and 5 Ghz networks have different names. And remember if you connect a non N device to the 2.4 network, I do believe it will reduce the speed of the whole 2.4 wlan to the same speed as that device, (so G speed if you connect a G device)

[HawkMan]

Also , and this is important, if it's not compatible with Tomato and you want to upgrade to DD-WRT. Do NOT just grab the file you get when you look up the router int he DB on the DD-WRT page. click the link that takes you to the forum thread for that device, Most likely that thread will have a link to a special DD-WRT firmware that must be run on the device before you run other DD-WRT firmwares.

Basically, if you choose to go DD-WRT, open the forum link first and follow ALL instructions given there. if it says to wait 5 or 10 minutes after an upgrade before the next step, then do so, don't just assume it's ready, or you WILL brick it.

[JJ_]

Sounds like a firmware issue. Flash custom firmware to it such as DD-WRT if it supports it or Tomato.

[simplezz]

I made a reboot script on Linux to reboot my router. Whether to obtain a new IP, or just if it locks up for whatever reason.

It's pretty easy to do with most routers because they provide a telnet interface. Here's mine:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Net::Telnet;

$router		   = "192.168.0.1";
$usename	  = "***";
$password	 = "***";
$reboot_cmd  = "reboot";

$telnet = new Net::Telnet ( Timeout=>10, Errmode=>'die', prompt => '/>/');
print "Logging into router $router..\n";
$telnet->open($router);
$telnet->login($usename, $password);
print "Logged into $router..\n";

print "Rebooting router. This may take a few minutes to complete.\n";

$telnet->print($reboot_cmd);
$telnet->close;
system("sudo rc.d stop networkmanager");

sleep(70);
system("sudo rc.d start networkmanager");
sleep(35);

print "Router reboot complete.\n";

[Ambroos]

I use Tomato RAF on my E4200 v1 and it's been completely stable and VERY fast the last month. No single issue. I don't use the 5Ghz band at all, just a 40Mhz wide 2.4Ghz network and I can reach up to 95Mbps over WiFi through two walls!

http://victek.is-a-g...m/tomatoen.html has all info on the software.

[lars77]

The stock Linksys firmware does not provide Telnet/SSH access (at least from my understanding browsing the Cisco forums), so reboot script would be a no-go unless the router is flashed w/ 3rd-party firmware.

Personally I've flashed Toastman's Tomato mods on various E4200 v1 routers w/o any issues. (RAF mod would work too)

[Ambroos]

lars77, on 06 July 2012 - 21:31, said:

The stock Linksys firmware does not provide Telnet/SSH access (at least from my understanding browsing the Cisco forums), so reboot script would be a no-go unless the router is flashed w/ 3rd-party firmware.

Personally I've flashed Toastman's Tomato mods on various E4200 v1 routers w/o any issues. (RAF mod would work too)

I was planning on switching to Toastman's to try out the VLAN stuff for guest networks until I realized I never have any guests anyway and RAF works fine for me. But yes, Tomato is brilliant. If you're running your E4200 v1 on Linksys firmware you're basically limiting it.

[capr]

thanks everyone for the suggestions and tips. my router is a version 1 and I updated the firmware. Hopefully it will function properly now, if not I will look into 3rd party drivers.
I recently bricked my SGS3 so I am a little scared of flashing 3rd party stuff onto my hardware.