RT-N66U - Wired port issue

[rodenti]

I am having an issue with my RT-N66U router.

I have been running Merlin 374.42 since it was first released. Yesterday I lost my connection to the internet as well as the connections to the router from all my wired computers.

I logged into the web interface from a wireless connection and noted 25 days of uptime and everything looked fine (including the WAN connection), but I could not get any of the wired devices to work (with includes the cable modem wired to the WAN port).

I did some troubleshooting on the cable modem itself and noted that it was working with a direct connection, but the router seemed to have lost the connection via the network cable.

I rebooted my router and all the wired devices started working again but this only lasted a few minutes before they stopped again.

I unplugged the router for a minute, then replugged it and it seemed to fix the problem but the issue returned again tonight once the router started to get more usage again.

Has anyone seen these symptoms where wireless connections work fine and can communicate with the router, but all wired connections stop working?

What other things can I try to troubleshoot and fix this issue?

 

[Mrid]

I've experienced a similar issue with my 68U when making ipv6-related changes through the web interface. Wifi will continue to work flawlessly, but on my wired Win 7 machine I'll see that exclamation point over the network icon as if I'm not able to get a DHCP offer. Rebooting the router fixes the issue for me as well. All the control panel Intel NIC diagnostics pass without error after that.

 

[jlake]

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=12512

 

[rodenti]

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=12512

Thanks jlake, I'll check the serial number of my router to see if it falls in the range from that thread.

The funny thing is all the wired ports fail at the same time, including the WAN port, even if nobody is near the router to wiggle cables.

I also reflashed Merlin tonight after posting this message and haven't had a disconnect since - I'm crossing my fingers that stability returns.


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[joegreat]

I did some troubleshooting on the cable modem itself and noted that it was working with a direct connection, but the router seemed to have lost the connection via the network cable.

What other things can I try to troubleshoot and fix this issue?

Hi,

Did you make sure that all network cables connected to the N66U (incl. the WAN cable connected to the modem) are CAT 5e or 6 standard?

The N66U is very sensitive on this!

With kind regards
Joe

 

[rodenti]

Thanks for all your suggestions.
The problem went away when I reflashed Merlin - the router has been stable ever since.

I'm going to take some of the advice here and switch out all my network cables that aren't cat 6 just to be safe.

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[rodenti]

Hi again,

The issue came back with a vengeance this evening... I needed to do a factory reset to get my wired ports working again (and even then they only worked for a half hour)

I double checked that all cables going directly into the router are cat 5e . I have a 4 port gigabit switch on one of the ports, the cable between the switch and the router is 5e but all the cables going into the switch are 5. Would that make a difference?

Also, my router serial number starts with db, so it should be in the non-defective range.

Does anyone have any other help for my situation?


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