Is my router broken?

Let see if I can expain my problem and hopefully someone can help because I am dumb when it comes to networking LOL

I have the modem hardwired to the router (a netgear wireless g), the router hardwired to the desktop and the laptop connects wirelessly.

On Saturday, I was getting intermittent connectivity from my modem. The DSL and Internet lights would go off and come back on a few minutes later. That happened pretty much all afternoon/night on Saturday, so I shut off power to the modem and let it sit overnight and when I turned it on Sunday everything was working perfectly fine again.

After about being on for 2 hours, My laptop was unable to connect to any web page and I thought it was the modem/ISP being sporadic again but when I looked all the lights to the modem were on and steady. I fired up the desktop only to be greeted with “Acquiring network address” which it never actually did because I never could connect to internet.

I tried everything I could think of including unplugging the router, modem and rebooting the pc and still nothing. Finally, I just hardwired the modem directly to the desktop (after rebooting the modem again) and was finally able to connect to the internet.

So, does mean that my router is broken? Is there any way to test it? I’m sorry this is so lengthy but I wanted to get all the details in.

Thanks for your help

 

Hey, dyamond...

What's your model #? Model # finder thingy...

 

It's a WGR614

 

If you can access the internet when you connect directly to the modem but cannot when the WGR614 is connected, then it sounds as though the router or its power supply are having issues.

With the Netgear connected have you tried pinging the gateway ie open a command prompt and type ping <space> then the gateway address which in the case of Netgear is most likely to be 192.162.0.1.

so ping 192.168.0.1

Always a good idea with routers and modems is to have a back up.

Good Luck

 

I understand the logic of previous posts in this discussion but the comments I've just quoted seem to indicate the modem as the culprit. Would a failing router cause the DSL light on the modem to go out? That light indicates a signal from the Internet, not the router, right?

 

You'll know if it's your ISP soon enough... because your connection will start failing with no router connected. In the mean time... If you hook the modem and router back up, you can try pinging the modem (get the ip address through ipconfig using the command promt). Pinging the router, as risk suggested, is a good idea, and will let you know whether or not the PC is communicating with the router.... but you also want to know if the router is communicating with the modem.

 

Power cycle the modem after the connection is made(turn power off, then on after 15secs.) Then reboot your machine to get a new address. My ISP changed my modem yesterday and I could not go direct to modem, had to do the above.

 

Ok, here's the deal.

@risk - I was unable to ping yahoo.com I kept getting "Ping request could not find host yahoo.com. Please check the name and try again." However, when I pinged the actually IP address. I was met with:

Pinging 216.109.112.135

Reply from 216.109.112.135: Destination not unreachable.
Reply from 216.109.112.135: Destination not unreachable.
Reply from 216.109.112.135: Destination not unreachable.
Reply from 216.109.112.135: Destination not unreachable.

I have no idea what that means.. if anything.

@usafveteran - I thought it was the modem too until I found out a few other people were having connectivity issues with the ISP. The modem is hardwired to the desktop since Sunday night and I've haven't had anymore connectivity problems.

@jools - The pinging thing didn't work for me (see above) I don't understand how it can work fine one minute and be all screwy the next.

@plodr - I didn't set this router up, my co-worker did because I am dense as a brick when it comes to networking :-o LOL Also, I"ve had this set up (and working) for about 6 months and now all of a sudden it's not working :/

 

No, it's not/wasn't hot to touch. I bought it about 8 months ago, it's at home and no, I'm trying to avoid calling the ISP LOL

 

Thanks, that is kind of you anyway

I'm gonna bring it in and make my coworker look at it LOL after all he hooked it up maybe there are some settings that got screwy that he can fix. If not, since it's less than a year old I'm gonna see if I can warranty the thing. If that doesn't work.. I'm stuck without wireless until I can afford a new router :cry

 

I don't see a little reset button. I've looked all over for it.

Edit.. nevermind I found it.

 

Yea, the same shoe I'm gonna throw at your head

 

I see you missed my post #9 as we posted at the same time. Might help you. After the reset then start from scratch.

 

Ok, here is the continuing saga :-D

I tried the reset and it did nothing, so I brought it into my coworker who said there wasn't anything wrong with it and all the settings were just as he set them.

So, I come home and plug it up only to be greeted with the same problem. I decided to try the reset button again, what have I got to lose? In my wireless network connections, there is now a new one called "NETGEAR" but my personal connections were gone. I was able to connect to "NETGEAR" wirelessly but I didn't need to enter a SSID or a password like the first time I came home and set up the router.

Oh and I still can't connect on the desktop. At this point I don't even know what's causing the problem.

 

You've lost your WEP key because you reset the router back to it's default configuration. Not unusual. Have you been into the routers setup page yet? You could get into that, probably by typing 192.168.0.1 into your browsers address bar, but confirm the address through ipconfig. Once you're in there there's probably a setup wizard you can try, it will configure your settings and test your connection. You can also reset your WEP key (password) while you're in there.

 

Dyamond, the light on the dsl modem should say dsl or simlar, does it stay solid or go off, or blink? Check the status, both when connection works, and doesn't work and post and let me know.