My router has artificial stupidty

swkenney · 02-29-2008, 03:46 PM

The tech at Netgear said it may be getting confused.

I have a Netgear WGR 614 v6 router connecting my laptop, desktop, and Series 2 DT TiVo to the internet (Comcast cable modem). When all three are connected my router resets itself (you can see check mark light up on router), so all three devices lose network connection for about 30 to 45 seconds. But sometimes it can happen repeatedly.

The guy at TiVo said maybe the TiVo had a bad network card. It is still new enough to exchange.

The Netgear tech suggested electrical ground issues. So I plugged modem, router, laptop, desktop, and TiVo into same UPS outlet strip. It seemed to improve, but the problem is still here.

I don't want to exchange the TiVo and find I still have same problem. Has anyone had a TiVo with a bad Ethernet port?

Is there someway I can reduce the packet traffic so the router does not become confused?

JimSpence · 02-29-2008, 03:54 PM

Is the TiVo being assigned an IP address via DHCP from the router? If so, I'd set a static IP address for it.

This thread may help in that.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=341540

dswallow · 02-29-2008, 03:57 PM

I have had switches that have behaved very strangely, much like you describe. And replacing the switch with a new one has solved the problems... though I can't say if it's truly a bad switch or a bad model switch as the few times it happened I simply switched manufacturers, too.

logicman1 · 02-29-2008, 05:40 PM

Does your router have the latest firmware?

davewill · 02-29-2008, 06:24 PM

I had this happen once with a switch I had. Turned out I was using the wrong power supply (got the wall warts mixed up). It wanted 7.5 volts, I was using 5 volts. It would drop out when ever traffic went up.

swkenney · 02-29-2008, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by logicman1

Does your router have the latest firmware?

When I called Netgear I asked the tech - how do I get the latest firmware. He said I didn't need it because the Internet was working. Then after one hour and 42 cell phone minutes troubleshooting, he said I should get the latest firmware. Hah!

I installed the latest firmware which was dated 2005 and yet considered beta. Hah, again. I bought my router in June 2007, so it may have already had that version. (Or maybe it had a newer non-beta version).

swkenney · 03-02-2008, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimSpence

Is the TiVo being assigned an IP address via DHCP from the router? If so, I'd set a static IP address for it.

This thread may help in that.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=341540

I set a static IP address. The router still resets.
(Unless I set it to an invalid IP to disable it)

Is it likely or unlikely that exchanging the TiVO for a new one will fix the problem?

rocko · 03-02-2008, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swkenney

I set a static IP address. The router still resets.
(Unless I set it to an invalid IP to disable it)

Is it likely or unlikely that exchanging it for a new one will fix the problem?

The router shouldn't behave like that. I'd ask Netgear for a replacement. Tell them that it doesn't power up or some such story.

swkenney · 03-02-2008, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocko

The router shouldn't behave like that. I'd ask Netgear for a replacement. Tell them that it doesn't power up or some such story.

Actually, I was thinking of exchanging the TiVo. The tech at TiVo said that it might have a faulty network adapter.

swkenney · 03-04-2008, 02:09 PM

I bought a D-Link WBR-1310 router at Fry's for $30 on sale from $60.
Now everything works fine.

The Netgear router had lousy wireless performance. At three feet away it was downgraded to 2 M bps.

The D-Link shows the full 54 M bps bandwidth and I can transfer a TiVo file as fast as a wired connection.

dorian · 03-04-2008, 04:45 PM

Good to hear that a new router fixed you up. I think the guys that stock the routers at the Frys in Sunnyvale know me by my first name. They just don't make routers like they used to.