Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 18:55 Post subject: Possible reasoning for WL-500W bricks
Ok, this is just to share with you guys as well as help Eko and BS with something. I have a WL-500W, as many of you are probably very well aware from my posts about it. I think I may have actually solved the reasoning for why many of these units "brick". I just flashed to the latest 12360 build of eko's mega firmware and I was wondering why my router always seems to brick on me after a flash. The router WILL NOT boot, even after the flash, if I have any cables plugged into the switch portion of the router (Ports 1-4), but boots up just fine if I unplug them, plug it in and let it boot, then plug in my cables. This has been happening for a while, even prior to this build, but only after a flash, not after I rebooted it a few times. If there is any possible reasoning for this, let me know with a reply. Its definitely odd behavior.
@Eko, if you want any logs or such, let me know. Please explain exactly how you want me to get them, though, please. I'm hoping we might be able to avoid further bricks.
@Everyone with a WL-500W router. If you think you bricked it because it won't boot, try unplugging all of your cables except your power cable and letting it boot up. I'm thinking that's why you can't get it to boot up and I think that's why I bricked my first WL-500W, when I was messing around trying to reflash it.
If you get additional confirmation of this, add it to the wiki install for the router. I still would not flash SP1 on that router. _________________ SIG:
I'm trying to teach you to fish, not give you a fish. If you just want a fish, wait for a fisherman who hands them out. I'm more of a fishing instructor.
LOM: "If you show that you have not bothered to read the forum announcements or to follow the advices in them then the level of help available for you will drop substantially, also known as Murrkf's law.."
Oh, I know. SP1 works, but is buggy as hell. I've been noticing for a while that unplugging the ethernet ports and letting it boot up works. Not sure why though. Maybe a CFE issue?
I just updated the wiki in the Questions/Issues section in the installation part of the wiki. I've had two of these routers do the same thing, so if its a defect, its a design defect, not a "just for my router" kind of defect. At least, it would seem to be. Anyone in the forums have a Asus WL-500W and can confirm this? If so, I'll put a bug report in the bug tracker section, but I want to be sure its a bug first.
@redhawk
Is there some sort of log that I can run at boot-up that would tell me exactly why my router crashes when something is plugged into the switch portion of the router?
Connect a console serial port and watch the router boot.
There might be some useful information in the console output. _________________ 2x Asus RT-AC68U
I have a wl-500G-P that has been doing the same lately. After I flashed with Firmware: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (12/17/08) mega everything was working fine. Then one day I could not get on the internet through wireless or wired. It was like the router had just died except all the lights were on except for the AIR light.
I tried pinging the router and was getting 50% packet loss. Then would ping it again and would get 100%. Tried unplugging everything, tried hard reset, nothing.
Then I finally got it to go into flash mode and hit the reset button again and it came right back on. Worked for about two weeks and then today I had the same thing happen again.
This time I unplugged everything and it came right on again.
I decided to open up the router and found that board looked like it had rust on it, although it's not rust, maybe has gotten hot? Not sure. It's very strange looking. I'll try to post a few pics when I get home tonight. Thing is it looks like it runs all the way through the circuit board along the traces, this is why I thought it could have been heat related.
Also I did turn up the TX Power to 90-95mw to try and get a better signal to the back of the house. But it was only for a very short time. I don't think that should have gotten it too hot. The router is not in a damp spot and is well ventilated.
It seem to have started when I set up URL blocking to block sites I didn't want my kids visiting. Might be just coincidence though, I don't know.
Anyway I seen this post and wanted to let you know I am having the same thing happen on this version of router and dd-wrt.
I'll post a couple of pics for all of you to look at, maybe someone will know what is happening with this!
Joined: 04 Jan 2007 Posts: 11451 Location: Wherever the wind blows- North America
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 20:11 Post subject:
willscott wrote:
I have a wl-500G-P that has been doing the same lately. After I flashed with Firmware: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (12/17/0 mega everything was working fine. Then one day I could not get on the internet through wireless or wired. It was like the router had just died except all the lights were on except for the AIR light.
I tried pinging the router and was getting 50% packet loss. Then would ping it again and would get 100%. Tried unplugging everything, tried hard reset, nothing.
Then I finally got it to go into flash mode and hit the reset button again and it came right back on. Worked for about two weeks and then today I had the same thing happen again.
This time I unplugged everything and it came right on again.
I decided to open up the router and found that board looked like it had rust on it, although it's not rust, maybe has gotten hot? Not sure. It's very strange looking. I'll try to post a few pics when I get home tonight. Thing is it looks like it runs all the way through the circuit board along the traces, this is why I thought it could have been heat related.
Also I did turn up the TX Power to 90-95mw to try and get a better signal to the back of the house. But it was only for a very short time. I don't think that should have gotten it too hot. The router is not in a damp spot and is well ventilated.
It seem to have started when I set up URL blocking to block sites I didn't want my kids visiting. Might be just coincidence though, I don't know.
Anyway I seen this post and wanted to let you know I am having the same thing happen on this version of router and dd-wrt.
I'll post a couple of pics for all of you to look at, maybe someone will know what is happening with this!
thanks
interesting...yeah...let's see some pics...maybe someone else on the forum has seen it before.
redhawk _________________ I do NOT provide personal assistance through chat or phone....so please don't ask.
Anyone in the forums have a Asus WL-500W and can confirm this? If so, I'll put a bug report in the bug tracker section, but I want to be sure its a bug first.
Yes, sometimes I also experience that - mostly when doing a cold boot. Soft reboot initiated from web interface usually works fine.
Sorry i didnt post these sooner. I have noticed that when the AIR light goes off it is after a cold boot. The only way to get the router connected is to do a reset. Weird thing is, it does not reset my settings. If I hold the reset button for 30 sec release it will come back on. One other thing that needs to be done. I have to dis-connect my USB connections on the router.
I am using 2 printers on the router. One for my office and one for general use in the house. After I plug them back in the router goes off line again. I tried formatting and resetting jffs and it still has the same out come.
So basically the router works as long as I do not plug in anything to the USB. The board may have gotten too hot? The printers worked fine until I started having this problem. We have 4 wired computers connected and 3 wireless connected at various times. All were able to share files, connect to the net, and use both printers.
Seem to have started when I tried to crank the signal to get better reception to the rear of the house!? I've attached those pics too, sorry about the quality, used a cheap web-cam.
wl-500gp.jpg
Description:
This seems to be worse on the WiFi side. But is on both sides of the board as well as running along the traces.
Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:24 Post subject: Re: Possible reasoning for WL-500W bricks
Is there anyone who found a fix for this? I have a WL500W running in a production environment and this router hangs sometimes after a scheduled reboot (and also after flashing). I am currently thinking of switching to a 54GL, but there must be a way to solve this?
Joined: 04 Jan 2007 Posts: 11451 Location: Wherever the wind blows- North America
Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:29 Post subject: Re: Possible reasoning for WL-500W bricks
krekr wrote:
Is there anyone who found a fix for this? I have a WL500W running in a production environment and this router hangs sometimes after a scheduled reboot (and also after flashing). I am currently thinking of switching to a 54GL, but there must be a way to solve this?
We have found that the Asus units are notorious for having bad capacitors in the power regulation circuitry.
Open your unit and check the can capacitors...if they are bulged (top or bottom) they are the culprit and need to be replaced. There is also a couple can caps in the power pack. Open it up and check them...or use a different 5V pack if you have one.
Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:39 Post subject: Re: Possible reasoning for WL-500W bricks
redhawk0 wrote:
krekr wrote:
Is there anyone who found a fix for this? I have a WL500W running in a production environment and this router hangs sometimes after a scheduled reboot (and also after flashing). I am currently thinking of switching to a 54GL, but there must be a way to solve this?
We have found that the Asus units are notorious for having bad capacitors in the power regulation circuitry.
Open your unit and check the can capacitors...if they are bulged (top or bottom) they are the culprit and need to be replaced. There is also a couple can caps in the power pack. Open it up and check them...or use a different 5V pack if you have one.
Joined: 04 Jan 2007 Posts: 11451 Location: Wherever the wind blows- North America
Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:45 Post subject:
Sorry...I must have had a brain hemorrhage moment....they ARE notorious ....don't know where the "not" came from....fingers have a mind of their own sometimes.
Text Corrected.
redhawk _________________ I do NOT provide personal assistance through chat or phone....so please don't ask.
mega everything was working fine. Then one day I could not get on the internet through wireless or wired. It was like the router had just died except all the lights were on except for the AIR light.
