Dead Linksys EA8500

[mediatrek]

“She’s dead Jim.”

A few hours ago I was at home reading and reached over to my cell to check my email. I noticed my Nexus 5 was not connected to my home network. It had not been rebooted in a few days, so I went ahead and rebooted it and went to my laptop. No wireless connection there as well. I proceeded to check out my EA8500 that I picked up on May 9th; dead with no power. LED lights all off. It was connected to my UPS (CyberPower BRG1350AVR) and everything else connected to it was fine.

Time to begin the RMA process I guess. Hopefully it will not be the hell'ish nightmare that the Netgear's RMA process is.

 

[netwrks]

For a couple of extra dollars, extended warranties from the place of purchase, come in handy..

 

[L&LD]

Depending how many products are purchased on a regular basis, extended warranties might be useful.

Or, save the money and use it to replace, upgrade any device that dies as needed.

With a warranty, I would be forced to run another EA8500 (or sell it) in this situation. Now, I would be free to buy something better without the hassle of returning and re-selling a product I don't trust anymore.

With an RMA, if mediatrek believes another EA8500 is the way to go, he/she still needs to wait for the new router to arrive. But if internet / LAN access is required, another router purchase today, is needed in either case.

 

[TonyH]

“She’s dead Jim.”

A few hours ago I was at home reading and reached over to my cell to check my email. I noticed my Nexus 5 was not connected to my home network. It had not been rebooted in a few days, so I went ahead and rebooted it and went to my laptop. No wireless connection there as well. I proceeded to check out my EA8500 that I picked up on May 9th; dead with no power. LED lights all off. It was connected to my UPS (CyberPower BRG1350AVR) and everything else connected to it was fine.

Time to begin the RMA process I guess. Hopefully it will not be the hell'ish nightmare that the Netgear's RMA process is.

At least tried new wall wart? My EA8500 has been running from day 1. No issues, no trouble so far. I never owned UPS.
In the last 40 years or so, total power outage was maybe 5 hours. All utility cables are under ground in my neighborhood.
When my last router 3 month old Netgear R7250 literally smoked and died, they shipped replacement via UPS over night delivery with return shipping prepaid label. No hassle whatsoever.

 

[L&LD]

TonyH, you've had a great RMA experience.

But even if it is simply the wall wart that died, that should not be on the user to have to replace in just over 3 months?

Most RMA's are for the whole package as bought and not for the adaptor by itself. (Which, if it turns out to not be the issue, is just more time wasted).

 

[TonyH]

TonyH, you've had a great RMA experience.

But even if it is simply the wall wart that died, that should not be on the user to have to replace in just over 3 months?

Most RMA's are for the whole package as bought and not for the adaptor by itself. (Which, if it turns out to not be the issue, is just more time wasted).

Of course. But at least for testing. I have assortment of wall warts in the junk box. My router is always connected to lab grade DC power source.

 

[L&LD]

To test for, I agree. If you happen to have a compatible ac adaptor on hand. Most people don't though.

 

[mediatrek]

Support will not issue an RMA saying I should file a claim with my UPS manufacture (Cyberpower) against the equipment claim warranty include with the purchase of the UPS. I tried to point out that there is no record of a surge through the UPS which Cyberpower requires and that none of the other devices connected to it were affected in any manner.

This bullsh*it from companies like Netgear & Linksys (Belkin) is why I keep the router box and all materials until the units are no longer for sale. Since the router is still sold in stores I can go buy another one, use the receipt and return the defective one.

UPDATE (7/22/15): This is what I ended up having to do; bought a new one at a local retailer, set that one up to make sure it worked fine, and returned the defective few months old unit in it's original packaging using the receipt from the newly purchased unit. Perhaps not exactly ethical in my book, but sadly for many consumers in my boat this is what it comes to today.

 

[thiggins]

UPDATE (7/22/15): This is what I ended up having to do; bought a new one at a local retailer, set that one up to make sure it worked fine, and returned the defective few months old unit in it's original packaging using the receipt from the newly purchased unit. Perhaps not exactly ethical in my book, but sadly for many consumers in my boat this is what it comes to today.

I agree..not really ethical.

To those reading this thread: I contacted Linksys and made them aware of this situation. They were going to help, but the product had already been returned and mediatrek declined direct contact with Linksys.