Calling all lan/router experts

[Terryl]

OK all, I have a very unique problem with a router at a location.

Here is whats going on, about around 10PM last Thursday they had the main router start to act up, it would by it's self reset, after it came back from a boot stage it would reset again, this would continue resetting every 35 seconds, now me being the only computer guy withing 60 miles I got a late night call for help.

On arrival I found this to be true, every 35 seconds the router would reset it's self, so I went looking at the system, asked if anything new was added, answer was no, so I replaced the routers power supply, no help, I checked the AC power at the routers location, it was withing spec, I then disconnected all cable's at the router except the power, it ran fine, it did not reset like it had been.

So I said AH HA I found something, (so I thought) now the very second I connected a LAN cable (and any LAN cable) it started resetting, hummmm, I removed the router and went to another room with it and a DC power supply, plugged it in and it worked fine, connected it to my laptop, and it worked fine, now thinking that there was something funny going on with the AC power in the room where the router was located I ran an extension cord from the room where the router work fine, the router reset, Grrrrr.

So I went home and got my spare router, hooked it up and it works, so now thinking it was the router, I installed a brand new one, (same make/model as the old one) guess what, it did the same thing, reset every 35 seconds.

The only difference between my spare router and the one that resets is the manufacture, my spare is a Netgear, the ones that wont work right are from Ampedwireless.

And yes I have a call into them, they are as puzzled as I am.

Sorry this is a long post, but need some more brains on this one.

 

[TJExcalibur]

The only thing that comes to mind is my CCTV system. No matter which camera I plugged in it came back as a fault but OK with a camera with no external connections. All the camera cables go into a junction box outside and then take a difficult route to the recorder. Found the seal around the junction box had perished. Lots of rain of late and it was wet inside. Dried it with a hair dryer and taped it up, now OK whilst I wait for a new box.

 

[Analoguesat]

Does it do it with only internal lan cables connected - no connection to the outside world?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Is your customer running it as a router, or access point ?

 

[Terryl]

OK, the customer uses it as a router, it is inside in an equipment closet along with the ISP modem, and it does it without anything connected to it, nothing but the AC to DC wall dongle, and I have tried several power supplies, also ran an extension cord to a different side of the AC power phase in another room, it still does it.

The LAN system does work fine with my old Netgear router, so what I did was run a CAT5 to the room where it does not reset and connected it to the WAN port of the problem routers, they both I work fine in a room several feet away.

So I did an RF sweep of the equipment room, nothing was found that could overpower a router, I then turned off all AC power to that room, ran an extension cord to the room where it worked and the router will work until you connect a LAN cable to it, so as a test I then tried a short CAT 5 connected to the router without anything attached to it, it will start resetting.

So why would two of the same type routers work in one room at the same location but not another, and why would a very old router (5 years) from a different manufacture work fine at the problem location?????

If I setup the router in another room and connect it to my laptop it and the older router work flawlessly.

Is there some sort of malware that can affect one type of router but not another??

The routers in question are from Ampedwireless, I have been online several times with their tech support, they are as puzzled as I am.

The older Amped router worked flawlessly at that location for about a year, the new one is only a few days out of the box, what is happening I don't know.

Does anyone know of some type of software that would analize the LAN system to see what may be going on?

Scratching my old brain on this one..Terry

 

[Mickha]

Did you try turning off all the Wi Fi options, in the routers menu?

 

[Terryl]

Yes, I even did a factory reset and flashed the firmware on both, and I turned all other equipment in that room off also, all computers, all modems and LAN switches, and anything running on a RF carrier,(cordless phones and keyboards/mice) I even went out and turned off the circuit breaker for that room, even running on an extension cord from the other room the routers still reset every 35 seconds, I timed them. This is the strangest LAN/router problem I have ever seen.

Everything runs fine in another room, I would hate to have to re-run all LAN connections to another room as they run under the building, I'm not that agile anymore to go crawling around under the building, there is only at best a meter clearance at one end and maybe half that at under the room.

The big question is why does the old Netgear router work??? When two new ones dont???? I would use the old Netgeat but it is only a 10/100 LAN, with a 54 GBPS 2.4 GHz WIFI, they need the gigabit LAN and 300 MBPS dual band WIFI of the newer router.

I don't have the funds and neither do they to try a different router from someone else.

 

[TJExcalibur]

Mice may have been hungry like the squirrels who chomped through my low voltage pond cable.

 

[Terryl]

I thought of that, they still reset with all but the DC power connected, and only in that room.

I just sent a very long Email to their engineering, I will have to see what they think.

This is the strangest problem I have come across in 45 years of chasing electrons.

 

[Analoguesat]

Yes, I even did a factory reset and flashed the firmware on both, and I turned all other equipment in that room off also, all computers, all modems and LAN switches, and anything running on a RF carrier,(cordless phones and keyboards/mice) I even went out and turned off the circuit breaker for that room, even running on an extension cord from the other room the routers still reset every 35 seconds, I timed them. This is the strangest LAN/router problem I have ever seen.

Whats the other side of the walls around / above / below that room?

 

[Analoguesat]

No neon signs flashing on & off outside the windows of that room every 35 seconds??

 

[Terryl]

Two walls are outside walls (in a corner) with nothing out there but open space, one side goes into an open area/hallway, the other is a bathroom.

And nope no Bar is open signs flashing on and off.

 

[Analoguesat]

No line of sight to a noisy fridge thermostat?

 

[Terryl]

Nope, nothing like that, the RF sweeps look clean, nothing around at a level that could wackout a router, some stuff down around -80 to -70 DBm in the ham/commercial bands, but nothing close by. No LED lighting on in that room, just plane old Edison lighting.

 

[Terryl]

Here are a few sreen shots of the 2.5 and 5 GHz WIFI bands, nothing seen but my stuff, and a very weak AT&T signal on 5 GHz.

 

[lovinthetelly]

Hmm- a tricky one!

My only suggestions would be:

1) are there any magnets nearby? Not surprisingly, I've had trouble with routers resetting when large magnets/devices with magnetic materials were nearby.

2) could the incoming WAN line to the modem be at fault? I've had cases where power surges on phone lines have knocked out broadband connections and caused router restarts. These surges were either caused by incoming/outgoing telephone calls, or in another case, a very old microfilter. I would have thought your RF scan would have detected this, though.

Might be worth putting the router in a large metal box/makeshift faraday cage, to confirm RF is definitely not the cause.

 

[Terryl]

I'm trying to find stuff to make a Faraday cage, might have enough stuff for one wall, maybe an old PC case with all holes blocked off except for wire connections.

Does anyone know if there is some sort of software to analyze the LAN connections??? It would have to be freeware.

 

[lovinthetelly]

Wireshark will show you anything in terms of data traffic - not too sure if there's anything that will check the physical ports of the router though.

Does the router have a syslog?

 

[Terryl]

I will check it out.

Also look for a system log

 

[TJExcalibur]

Hmm- a tricky one!

My only suggestions would be:

1) are there any magnets nearby? Not surprisingly, I've had trouble with routers resetting when large magnets/devices with magnetic materials were nearby.

2) could the incoming WAN line to the modem be at fault? I've had cases where power surges on phone lines have knocked out broadband connections and caused router restarts. These surges were either caused by incoming/outgoing telephone calls, or in another case, a very old microfilter. I would have thought your RF scan would have detected this, though.

Might be worth putting the router in a large metal box/makeshift faraday cage, to confirm RF is definitely not the cause.

See if a double thickness of aluminium foil will do the trick.