[ZeD984]

Hi all, i've recently installed DD-WRT on my Linksys WRT54G V2.0 router to accomodate me with my needs for a router and i've been faced with an unpleasant issue. I've been experiencing some serious network and internet acces lags at a point that my network went completely offline.

I've come to discover that this problem was due to a surprisingly high outcome of heat from the chips in the router. This overheating was due to a higher cpu usage with the improved firmware than with the original one, so I had to act quick in order to save my network.

So what I did is putting some nice BGA Copper heatsinks from OCZ on the heating chips so I get better heat dissipation



These heatsinks worked perfectly but for one thing, it needed some airflow to help them keep up with the heat buildup, so I had to think about adding another step to my cooling process. That's when a friend of mine came in with a 120mm Thermaltake fan that was lying arounf his house that I pluggued in the drill's battery to make some serious holes in that classic-looking linksys router.

So here it is, a linksys router with one big 120mm hole on the top and 4 10 mm holes on the sides to keep it cool !





I now have what I like to call a l33tsys, with the power of DD-WRT firmware and the hot cooling, this modded router keeps the chips cool and permits some cpu overclocking to meet the increasing power requirements :)

Of course, the fan is pluggued on an external power adaptor to prevent lacks of power to the chips when pluggued directly inside the router.

Right now the fan is pluggued on a 9V ac power adaptor so it doesnt run at full throttled, but still works perfectly for my cpu @ 216 mhz, the air flow comming out of the thing being cool.

So if you have any overheating problems, maybe this post will help you to put an end to it, otherwise I hope you all like the pics

[GrumpY54gsv4]

personnaly, I think that the problem might be software. did you check the load of the linksys ?? mine is running at 228 Mhz whithout heatsink.

[BG]

So why was it overheating?

[ro-maniak]

I think you are... nuts...

That fan is bigger than the router itself! A 12mm fan might have done the trick too.

But ok, whatever happens, now you can be sure that it is NOT the heat.

[anectine17]

Can you spell OVERKILL?? LOL.....put a couple wings on it and it'll fly!!

I have a WRT54GS v. 2.1 that is overclocked to 240mhz, and I run my wireless tx level at 70mW. With my relatively mild cooling mods, it stays as cool as a cucumber! As you can see, I have quality copper heat sinks on all chips and the radio shroud (yes, it even gets pretty warm!!). I have a small, 40mm x 10mm fan attached to the inside of the top cover (the fan even has blue LED's!!). The fan is connected to the 12v power on the board through a potentiometer. I have also enlarged the ventilation holes in the top cover directly over the fan. With the potentiometer, I can adjust the fan speed as necessary. It runs about 2/3 speed most of the time, and is as cool and quiet as if it was turned off.

To each his own, but I prefer the stealth mod. Besides, I have little ones in the house. If I left an open fan like that, they'd be sticking their fingers and Lord knows what else in there!!

Just thought I'd share my relatively "small" cooling mods that work very well. Thanks.

Alden

[Tornado]

Why not put wings on it, LOL.....he already has wireless control

[ZeD984]

LOL, havent thought of the wing trick. Dont be fooled by the size of the fan, beacause its big, it doesnt have to run fast to have a great air flow and therefore the fan is quiet. In fact, i hear more the pc besides than the fan itself.

For the heating problems, i think its because of the VPN server and the packet filtering working hard with bittorent, but as i said this cooling solution fixed all my problems.

LOL, you made my day!


I've never even thought of modding my GL running at 216 MHz. I'll have an eye on this issue in summer ...

[ro-maniak]

Yeah I started running at 216mhz too, and will look into the issue as soon as I get near it again. I have to figure out how hot the chips really get now.

[stevech]

[anectine17]

[MiskyWhixer]

Hi..
A short question to the heatsink-modders..
How do you mount the heat sinks on the chips?
With a 'heat conductive glue'? (don't know the correct english word)

I've also some heat sinks on some IC's. But I only use a silicon heat-conductive paste. So the heat sinks are not really fixed. They only hold in fact of 'capillary attraction'.

[anectine17]

Most come with a 2 sided thermal tape already attached...you just peal off the paper and stick it in place. For those that don't have the thermal tape attached, you can buy tabs of 2 sided thermal tape.....again, just peal and stick. From what I've read, the thermal conduction is nearly as good as paste.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=197&products_id=3988&zenid=7998bc5f07f318b3b3513d20bb8ac49f

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=58&products_id=3303&zenid=7998bc5f07f318b3b3513d20bb8ac49f

[afroggy]

Yeah, my wrt54g was overheating as well (it was pretty warm to the touch). Over the last week, access speed had dropped to zero. I didn't crack the case. All I added was a small fan to the top of the router. Within two minutes the throughput had recovered to pre-problem levels.

My feeling is that the router will indeed overheat, and that a fan will solve the problem. Remember, all I added was a fan, and it fixed the issue.

It is a cheap fix for a real problem on these routers.

Regards!

[tlj2]

I have hundreds of these Linksys routers installed. All of them in air-tight enclosures. All of the enclosures are exposed to the sun.

The only time I have ever had a problem is when I overclock and run higher power. In fact I have had a very high failure rate overclocking and pushing power.

If you overclock, keep the power back at default level.

If you push power, do not overclock.

I have dozens not overclocked and pushing power around 200 to 250 mw with no problems.