Dead or brick ? Lan and WAN 1-4 leds on steady [Archive]

internetmanager

15-11-2007, 19:54

Hello,

I have good news for you! I had exactly the same symptomes like you. After a few days of investigation I have found that the power supply is faulty. It can not provide enough current to the device. The standby voltage is 5 volts, and the maximal current is 2.5 ampers (at least it is stated by the sticker on the power supply). But it seems that the device needsaround 1.5 ampers during the boot sequence, and some more if you use the USB connectors too.

So if you buy a stabilized power supply with 5 volts nominal voltage and 2.5 ampers maximal current capability, you can use your router again, just like me.

hanugro

14-04-2009, 15:44

try change ur power supply, make sure it has same V and Amp. Read from other site it is the culprit in few occasion.

badboy1985ro

06-06-2009, 13:43

Hy all.
A few days ago i bricked my wl-500gp. Rely bad.

I accidental unsolder the tb2de capacitor witch is found in the upper part of the cpu.
After soldering it back the device was dead. Not tftp, not dhcp. Nothing.
When i use wireshark to sniff the network i get:
time Source Destination Protocol Info
0.000000 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 DHCP DHCP Discover - Transaction ID 0xee0374d1

I never get an ip.

Write know my wl-500gp works only as a switch.
Even the wan port acts as a switch. So basically i have a fancy switch with one antenna. Al the 5 rj45 ports act the same.

Recovery mode using tftp is dead.

When i plug the device all the power leads light up for 1 sec, the only the lan or wan port leads are lighted if i have a cable connected.

Also power led is off and the wifi led is not fully lighted.

Any idea?
or
Where can i find a step by step tutorial about serial connection?
Help please

tiler

10-06-2009, 07:57

hanugro is absolutely right. Changing of power supply solves the issue!

viktike

18-06-2009, 09:43

Happend to me too. First the leds flashed randomly, secondly they were solid. Agreed, changing the power supply solves the issue but not for a long time. With the default Asus one, the supply heats intensively, maybe because the wifi card. The new supply bricked in a few month. Now I got another brand, 4Amps version, it works well, for half a year now. Asus should give bigger supply for this device, 2,5Amp just not enough.

stillbourne

21-06-2009, 02:27

WAN, LAN ports 1-5 leds are solid, no power led, found post where someone who had the same issue from a previous message. Oleg stated the fix for this is to ground pin 10. A search of the forum by doing a google search for 'site:wl500g.info "pin 10"' returned several results where the fix is mentioned but no actual mention of how the pin 10 trick works. Please help. And yes I was fucking with the nvram.

MMCM

22-06-2009, 13:20

DON'T SHORTEN ANY PINS unless you really know what you do.
Solids LEDs are usually caused by a bad power supply.
So check your power supply first before you brick your device by causing any short circuits.

molnart

26-06-2009, 23:02

Hi, I am having the same problem with my WL-500gPv1. I was browsing the net without problems, went to the kitchen and when I came back suddenly there was no connection on the PC. Checking the router it had the same symptoms described above: sold WAN and LAN 1-4 leds, power and air led off.
to tell the whole story, in the meantime when i left my pc and came back, my brother turn on his pc which was connected to the same socket as the WL-500gP, so the power supply theory seems to be correct.

Question: how to check the power supply ? what alternatives could be used instead of the oem Asus unit ?

skyraven

08-07-2009, 06:27

Hi guys,

I just had the same problem...and luckily I had an identical working source from an older device :)
Thank you very much...I really thought before reading this thread that my device had gone into being a brick..but now it's alive again.

What would be the long term solution though ? (I suppose the current, same Amps power supply will burn out also in the long run)

Cheers,
Mihai

Rasmuskarlsen

17-07-2009, 11:24

Hey my router is suddenly dead... One time before i managed to recover the router by connecting 2 places on the mainboard of the router, so the router could be recovered.... I have searched for this thread, with the excact explanation on what to do... But cannot find it!?

Rasmuskarlsen

17-07-2009, 13:15

Have found the thread... But not even the short pin 10 / 9 trick works...

Router is dead... The on / Off led does not start...

Only WAN + Lan1,2,3,4 is on... So it seems like the router cannot boot anymore :/

MMCM

19-07-2009, 01:26

Rasmuskarlsen

19-07-2009, 10:35

If you search the forum, you will notice that the cause of solid lan leds mostly is a defect power supply. With shortening the wrong pins you can damage your router and produce a definite brick.
I hope you did not do too much damage...

Allright... But how can the power supply suddenly be defect!? :0
Because it is dellivering some Volts... (So the Leds can be on)

The problem is that the Power led is not on!??

And how can i check if it's defect!?

I have now changed the power supply.

Shorten the pins again... And reset the router.

The Power led is now flashing, but all 4 Lan leds are still on, and Wan port too...

When i connect the router to my pc through network cable... The PC does not pickup any Lan signals :/ What can i do!?

So half alive :) But all 4 LAN leds should not be on, while Power led is flahing :O ?

I have the same problem... Please look at my post:

http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=20435

Hopefully you can help :)

boby2pc

20-07-2009, 12:39

did You check the maximum current from the power supply ? This should be at least 4A. I have modem and USB disc connected to router and it only works if power supply is at least 5A. If you didn't succeed try shortening serveral times, it's not always working. If it doesn't work it might be hardware problem.

raas

04-08-2009, 09:50

Hi All,

I need some thoughts on the problems I'm facing the last couple of days.

I think my power supply is defect (doesn't supply enough current), or worse, my wl500g premium is bricked.

The symptoms:
All LAN leds and AIR leds are continiously on. they don't blink, even though not a single cable is connected. the power-led is off.
When I take the power off, wait 15 secs, and put the power back on, the same symptoms occur. But. sometimes it 'boots', I stick a lan-cable in it and try to ping it, sometimes this works, but most of the time it doesn't.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, my harddrive (currently a 2,5' notebook) started having issues. The drive runs of the asus without an extra power supply. But now, all of a sudden the drive doesn't run off the asus anymore, I had to stick an extra powersupply to the drive in order to run it.
Then, a week or so later, the asus didn't recognize my Velleman K8055 usb-interface board anymore, it doesn't detect it when it's plugged in.

And now, it's just sitting there, staring at me with all those orange lights, but it doesn't work.

I checked the power supply with a multimeter and it supplies 5.24v
I guess this is correct, but could it be that it is not supplying enough current anymore so that the Asus can't boot up?

Would you think it's safe to test this with the 5v supply rail from a (running) pc. As I don't have a spare power-supply which can provide 5v@2,5a

Any thoughts on this are welcome.

TIA

wpte

04-08-2009, 13:50

that does sound like a powersupply is broken...
I guess a input from a PC psu shouldn't give any problems... you most likely get a more stable signal anyway:p

just make sure you got the cables inserted the right way;)

raas

04-08-2009, 16:02

Thanks for your reply,

I will try tonight..
nevermind about the polarity, my-digital-friend, the multimeter will tell me which is what.. (in almost 100% of the cases, the center pin is +, surrounding is ground, but I will check double.)

/offtopic
(couple of years ago, I had an external drive which power supply had died. The internals of the device were still ok, so I got (made myself) a new power supply for the external drive. Boy was I happy that I double checked that cable. The existing cable from the defect power supply had 3 wires: Black, red and yellow... Now, you normally would think: black=ground, red=5v and yellow=12v.. well.. not this particular psu: black=ground, red=12v and yellow=5v... just the other way around!)

Crulex

04-08-2009, 23:33

Hello everyone.

Some days ago my ASUS WL-500gP router has stopped working (it worked perfectly with Oleg's firmware 1.9.2.7-7g for more than a year).
It didn't respond to ping even after power cycle.

I've succeeded to recover it by uploading (in turn) wl500g-clear-nvram.trx, wl500g-recover.trx, WL500gp-1.9.2.7-10.trx using tftp.exe.
(Note, it didn't started to work immediately after uploading firmware but after about an hour playing with it and thinking it's dead the Web UI successfully came up).

The same problem re-appeared today.
I did the same procedure with uploading Oleg's 1.9.2.7-10 firmware.
First time it didn't respond to ping after upload.
Second time it started to ping and I can connect to device via telnet, but the web UI doesn't show up at 192.168.1.1.

Questions:
1. What can I do at this point to restore the device? Should I try the method with connecting pins in order to flash?
2. How can I make the original ASUS uploader work with my device? (It says "no wireless device found in recovery mode is found" while I'm using the recommended IP settings. I wonder why it's looking for WIRELESS device. My router is connected via Ethernet cable from my PC to LAN1).
3. Does this look like hardware problem, e.g. broken flash memory?

Thanks in advance for your help

Crulex

05-08-2009, 01:51

wpte

05-08-2009, 13:05

P.S. I've just discovered that 2 year warranty period for my router hasn't yet ended.
Let me know how can I guarantee clearing tracks of the Oleg's firmware and flash the original one before giving the router to the service center.

I think I'm loosing warranty if I open a router, so I won't try the method with
connecting pins if not absolutely required.

you can simply flash the asus fw, since it ereases the entire chip anyway when flashing new FW, just like on bios chips:)

Anyway, for the asus fw upload tool to work you need to make sure you got the UTP cable plugged in at LAN port 1 in the router, and no other devices should be connected.
make sure you turn any firewall off on your pc:)
and to get in recovery mode, just unplug the router, press and hold the reset button while plugging the adapter back in. Hold it for 5 seconds, release it and it should be in recovery mode (power led is blinking).
Sometimes you need to turn off and on your LAN adapter on windows to get a ip adress... depends a bit on your pc.

Crulex

05-08-2009, 14:21

wpte

05-08-2009, 17:13

wpte
Thanks for your suggestion.
I've actually tried using ASUS Firmware uploader (the older version that seemed to work properly for me before) several times without any luck.
I'm using static IP (192.168.1.10, GW=DNS=192.168.1.1) and only a single cable is plugged into my PC's Ethernet card and the router's LAN1 connector.

As I'm able to upload the firmware using tftp.exe, the device enters recovery mode successfully, and the power led starts blinking.
But I had no luck using original uploader instead of tftp.exe.
Will retry today with the latest versions of ASUS firmware/uploader.

Just to confirm, do I need to flash wl500g-clear-nvram.trx, wl500g-recover.trx before flashing the original ASUS firmware?

Well the asus fw upload tool also uses tftp, so that's the same thing:p
You shouldn't use static ip when trying to recover the router, since the router will lease an ip to you:)

wl500g-clear-nvram.trx won't make any difference really, it only is supposed to clear the settings off the device....
It may even do more damage than good, so I don't recommend it really.
I had my router exchanged once before, and just flashing the asus fw was enough to get it through the rma process;)

Crulex

05-08-2009, 22:32

wpte
You shouldn't use static ip when trying to recover the router, since the router will lease an ip to you
I thought that DHCP may not work when the router's firmware is broken, or any other case.
It seems like most of the manuals instruct to set up static IP address before flashing the router.
E.g. in the asus_install.bat file that I'm using for flashing (it just waits until router is in recovery mode and calls tftp.exe) I see the following:

echo * Set your ethernet card's settings to:
echo IP: 192.168.1.10
echo Mask: 255.255.255.0
echo Gateway: 192.168.1.1.
echo * Unplug the router's power cable.

I've flashed the router with the similar settings before using ASUS Firmware Restoration Tool.
Do you think it's worth to try with automatic IP settings?

Just going to try flashing the original firmware from ASUS.com and if the device doesn't work I'll get it through RMA process as well.

raas

06-08-2009, 18:35

Well,

Did some testing.
my asus device is ok! it runs :)
it is in fact the power supply which is giving the 'solid leds' thing.
When I run it off a pc-power supply it immediately boots and recognises all the devices (harddisk and k8055 board)

wpte

06-08-2009, 22:42

NobleK

07-08-2009, 11:29

I have the exact same problem, so I was wandering if you had found a solution yet.
PS. My power supply delivers 5.25 volt, so it should be ok.

EdP

08-08-2009, 23:43

Are you sure the power supply is ok?
It seems to be the culprit sometimes in such cases.

Crulex

09-08-2009, 00:09

EdP
Thanks for the genious reply!

I've just checked the output of power supply with multimeter, and discovered that the voltage ranges from 1 to 2 V (DC) instead of 5V as declared.

Btw do you think I can give only the power supply for the RMA?
(I think the exchange/repair might take pretty long time).

I may try another power supply, but do you think the router needs all the 2.5A as written in the original PS? Seems way too much..

EdP

09-08-2009, 00:45

It uses 5V, so 2.5A at 5V is only 12.5W power consumption, not a whole lot.
In other words, yes I think you need 2.5A rating.
I have no idea what you're required to send in for rma. Just ask them.

Crulex

09-08-2009, 01:50

Thanks. I just thought about using a typical AC adapter for (mini)USB (that gives 5V & 1A output) to power the router.
Probably I won't try this.

Will take 1 try to flash the original f/w with the broken adapter, and just send as is (with not working Oleg's firmware) if failed.

jr0

10-08-2009, 08:16

Same problem here with WL-500GP v2 . LAN1-4 and WAN go solid when i plug the PSU while AIR and POWER stay off. I tried (in this order) :

- Power the router with PC PSU (a new one) - same
- Pin 9 to GND - same
- Pin 12 to GND - same
- Pin 16 to GND - same.
- Also tried with 2 more 5V/3A adapters - stays the same :mad:

Now , I read about a guy who shorted VCC and GND in combination with pin 12 and pin 16 to GND , but this VCC to GND sounds risky. Should I try this :confused:

I opened my PSU to check the capacitors -they look normal (no swelling or leakage). Also capacitors inside the router look good/same.
I double and triple checked the voltages - all adapters had 5.18V to 5.23V. As far as I know by looking at some test (maybe here, I don't remember) that the router draws about 1A while booting , so amperage should be sufficient even with a less powerful PSU.

My flash chip is MX29LV640DBTC-90G. Can somebody help with the right pins to shorten on this chip ?

I spent my whole Sunday searching for a solution and nothing :( .
Hope you can help us guys .
Thanks !

Georgi / Bulgaria.

chpaul

11-08-2009, 06:05

I flash my WL500GP use wireless(stupid thing) connection. Now the wl-500gp can't log in, the pwd, air, lan, and wan led work fine. But I can't setup the router no web GUI. I try to turn it on restore mode. The pwd led will flash but the tool can't find the machine.
If I boot in boot in the normal mode I hust work as a hub. I plug wan and lan it can let me get on the net. The pwd led will flash every 15 sec.

Any idea? Thanks

MMCM

11-08-2009, 17:32

Use a fixed IP in the 192.168.1.0/24 network when using the recovery tool.
You could use the tftp program to send the firmware without the this tool from the windows command line (use the binary mode, the router should have 192.168.1.1).

humppe

11-08-2009, 21:59

I have here yet another dead Asus WL500gP; Lan1-4 + WAN leds on, power led off.

It was quite a bit unstable for a week or two.. Now, today I lost my patience and started studying the reason. After unplugging and creating suitable (e.g. more ergonomic) test environment, the bugger would not boot up anymore.

btw, you cannot check the power supply just by measuring the voltage. You need to measure the voltage when the power supply is under load.

Humppe

dtw_2005

12-08-2009, 00:00

I have a similar issue. I replied in a post in a different section, but I'm going to post here, too.

I flashed my wl-500gpV2 with the asus firmware using tftp. I can't login. I have tried to flash with wl500g-clear-nvram.trx ... Then upload the asus firmware. I still can't login. Is the something special I need to do after I upload wl500g-clear-nvram.trx??

none of the combinations let me access the router ... admin/admin ... root/admin ... etc?? The Asus firmware broadcasts the ssid from the dd-wrt firmware I had previously flashed, So I don't think that wl500g-clear-nvram.trx is doing what it is suppose to do. But the Asus firmware is taking, because I get the Asus setup screen, I just can't login to configure anything.

jr0

12-08-2009, 10:16

btw, you cannot check the power supply just by measuring the voltage. You need to measure the voltage when the power supply is under load.

Humppe

... which is exactly what I did. Sorry for not clearing this out in my previous post.

humppe

12-08-2009, 10:42

... which is exactly what I did. Sorry for not clearing this out in my previous post.

Ok, good. It was just a thought, since my faulty power supply gave perfectly good voltage without load.

Just verified with a lab power supply that my WL500gP is in good shape, the PSU is indeed broken.

At powerup, the asus seem to draw quite a bit of current; it hit the 2A limiter. After that the consumption was around 0.8A-1.1A.

Humppe

tungtung

14-08-2009, 15:53

Well I just had this exact same problem happening to me too, and I'm also wondering if this is due to bad adaptor. At first the router kept on power cycling itself, and now it's just on with solid lights on all the lan and wan ports.

By the way how do you actually try testing whether the adaptor is bad or not. Honestly I just never felt comfortable working with the electrical components, so if anyone can sort of give me some hints on how to test the adaptor it would be great.

The other thing too is where do I get a replacement for it if indeed the adaptor is dead?

Thanks

chpaul

15-08-2009, 04:48

I can't ping the router (192.168.1.1), in both normal and recovery mode.
Any suggestion?

raas

15-08-2009, 09:31

Hi Tungtung..

First. As long as power is DC (the type of power that runs from your adapter) you should have no worries. DC in a low voltage/current will not harm you, but only your equipment if you would mak a mistake.
Second. voltage doesn't kill people, current does., but then we're talking about high currents (or you would want to wire directly into your heart, than, 0.14a is sufficient). also. DC is more lethal than AC.

This shouldn't scare you off. as long as you don't open your power supply, there's nothing to worry..

Now, the solid led thing. below a test method, without a multimeter.

I took a cable and a matching plug. Center pin is +, outer wire/metal is ground. Open up a pc. search for a molex-connector. put the + on the red wire, and the ground to the black wire next to red wire. Now you have the save voltage on the wire as would the original asus power supply putts out.
Put the plug in the asus.. see if it boots or not. (typical pc-power supply supplies more than 20a @ 5v on the red-wire. should be more than enough to boot your asus..

If you want to use the multimeter. to take a good measurement. you will have to cut something apart. First you have to measure the voltage from the adapter with no load.. should be something like 5.2v
But after that you will have to test it with load (the asus).
Also if you want to measure the amount of current that is drawn, you have to setup your multimeter a little different (read its user manual)

for a quick check, use the first method.

Good luck, and let's hope it's not your asus..

otoh... seems like there are an awfull lot of people suffering from bad power supplies/bricked systems the last couple of weeks... taking into account that it is summer, and temperatures are rising.. the design might be not that good that it lasts in a warm environment.

Edit: For a replacement: any power supply is ok, as long as it puts out 5V @ a minimum of 2,5A

MMCM

15-08-2009, 12:20

Did you change the default IP from 192.168.1.1 to something else? Then it could be the new one in recovery mode as well.

pbernardino

15-08-2009, 12:51

When i power on my router it shows the all lan ligths and wan ligth on with nothing conected (only power cord) and dont do anything more. I tried to put in restoration mode but the result its the same. Its broken or can do anything to solve this?
Help please
Berny

raas

15-08-2009, 15:12

hi,

had the same thing. probably your power supply/ adapter is broken.

search the board for 'solid leds' or read on in this thread
http://www.wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=20627

tungtung

15-08-2009, 19:23

raas thank you for the quick reply, still haven't had chance to fiddle with the unit yet. And yea I'm really hoping it's just the adapter that's going dodo.

So the plug is center positive right? Any suggestion as to where to get the replacement adapter? I'm in Toronto, Canada, and I went to the Source (used to be RadioShack) but they seems to not have anything at 5V that gives enough current for the Asus.

As for your suggestion for testing, any idea as to where to by the "matching plug" ... I think that would be the next "problem". Oh by the way do you know by any chance if the new WL-500G Premium v2 (mine is v1) use the exact same adapter? One of my coworker said he use that version and he will try bring it to work on Monday.

chpaul

16-08-2009, 00:03

Finally, I use ground pin 9 then boot in the restoration mode. Use TFTP to upload the fireware. Then it come alive.

Thanks

citro

17-08-2009, 09:31

Same problem here. Yesterday, my 500gP (v1) died. Without any cables connected, all the leds, except POWER and AIR stay on.

If I connect a LAN port on router with a LAN port on a computer, they connect for a few seconds (the LAN led on router lights on, the status on LAN port on computer says "connected") and then they disconnect (all the leds, on router, except POWER and AIR, light on, and status on computer goes "disconnected"). Then, it keeps cycling.

I'm going to buy an 500gP v2.

raas

17-08-2009, 11:45

citro

18-08-2009, 07:13

500gP v1 and v2 use the same power adapter.

My v1 broke on Sunday (power and AIR LEDs OFF, all the other LEDs ON). On monday I bought a v2, and first thing I tried was using the v2 power adapter on v1. The result? The LEDs on my v1 started working properly :D

jr0

18-08-2009, 08:12

Just wanted to update you guys .

My local RMA said that there's no hope for my wl500gp V2, so they'll give me a new one. Despite my unit was opened many times /I broke the warranty seal, soldered pins , placed radiator inside , had some labels glued/ they accepted it for replacement :D .

It's not a complete solution to the actual problem , but it works for me :D

tungtung

18-08-2009, 17:37

Yea I can confirm on the adapter as well ... v1 and v2 use the exact same adapter, I tested with my co-worker's adapter and as suspected mine was toast. Honestly I don't know what caused it, I mean the adapter has been running off an APC UPS unit which I know has a very clean power feed and good surge protection, and also it has a very good ventilation as well, in fact it's like sitting in direct path off an AC blower vent, so it always have cool air blowing and cooling it.

Anyway so I guess I'm off to find a replacement now, anyone has suggestion where to buy one here in Canada? I saw several units that has the power requirement (5V, 2.5Amp) but I'm wary that the power plug might not fit.

Yagra

18-08-2009, 23:43

raas: Many thanks for pointing this out. I had the exact same problem (5 LEDs on, power LED off) and using the molex connector from my PC I was able to verify that it is a power supply. Today I got a new power supply from Maplin and everything is working again.

Wisi

27-08-2009, 10:35

I had a problem with my wl500g premium v1.

switched off radio via web interface and rebooted the device. after that the device wasn't working anymore.

after trying every "normal" method I went to pin 9 trick but didn't work for me like expected. after trying 3-4x now the device shows me another led status.

If I power on the device the power led is on and the air led is blinking. lan ports are working (like a switch) but I have no chance to do anything else.

some ideas what the flashing air led means?

ocelivise

04-09-2009, 10:31

raas

07-09-2009, 09:24

I also had same problems, power and air leds are off,and rest of leds are always on. I opened power supply and found that one capacitor is "swollen".
It is 10V,1200uF. Closest that I could buy was 10V and 1500uF.
I replaced it and it is working now:cool:

Nice find and good solution!!

(although, I won't go back anymore now that I have 5 devices running of the PC-PSU, which is more power efficient)

otoh it would be nice to have a seperate psu to drive it 'standalone'.

I'm going to open it up and see if mine suffers from the same swollen (leaky) capacitors

ocelivise

07-09-2009, 17:03

wpte

07-09-2009, 19:24

It's probably due to overheating(so many people with same problems during this summer), old capacitor was rated 105°C, this is only 85°C so I drilled some holes in casing.:rolleyes:
Total repair cost: ~0.75E:D

hmm... I thought only the router itself suffered from that, reason for me to buy a laptop cooler :p

my psu get's quite warm as well... kinda odd that asus didn't spend more time on testing this.

Leon78

10-09-2009, 10:10

The symptoms:
All LAN leds and AIR leds are continiously on. they don't blink, even though not a single cable is connected. the power-led is off.
When I take the power off, wait 15 secs, and put the power back on, the same symptoms occur. But. sometimes it 'boots', I stick a lan-cable in it and try to ping it, sometimes this works, but most of the time it doesn't.

TIA

Exactly the same problem I have.
I have also another symptom: sometime when I connect LAN cable to the NB it frozes.

Now I want to test another adapter. I have my ASUS under warranty yet. So should I upload original firmware before I sent it to the seller?

Leon78

10-09-2009, 10:13

Same problem. I want to test another adapter now. I will post the result.

bangwhistle

12-09-2009, 03:22

I had the same problem, couldn't get the reset function to work, only those four lights. Could not find an OEM power supply but did find one that ended up working fine- the plug is even the right size. Sonicwall part number 01-SSC-2848 is 5V, 2.4A which is plenty of current for the WL-500G Premium. I did have to reflash and restore config (PP) but all is well.

Renegate

12-09-2009, 10:48

For those with defective asus router power suplyes, there is a sollution.

Often the capacitors are poorly made and they will start to leak electrolyte until they get defective.
To change the defective capacitors open the defective power supply and change the bad capacitors, put the same µ F (micro farads) capacitors but higher voltage, for example if you have a capacitor that is rated at 1500 µ F and 10 V change with a 1500 µ F and 25 V capacitor, also there is a good ideea to drill holes in the top case of the power suply to help it cool down if you use your router 24/7, 365 days a year.

This Information is provided as is withowt any Implyed warranty, use at your own risk, I'm not responsable if you dammage your PSU, this information is provided in the hope that it will help somebody.

Best regards,

Renegate

giangi72

14-09-2009, 10:28

raas

14-09-2009, 15:01

Hi all,
I have the same issue (power led off, lan leds on and fixed, wan on and fixed) but I measured the voltage of my power supply and it is 5.15V, than I used another power supply without success.
Do you have any suggest?
Thanks in advance

Do you know for sure that this 'another' power supply is able to supply 5v at at least 2,5amperes? IF not, it won't boot. Use your pc's power supply just to make sure.

giangi72

14-09-2009, 16:07

Do you know for sure that this 'another' power supply is able to supply 5v at at least 2,5amperes? IF not, it won't boot. Use your pc's power supply just to make sure.

I'm sure the other power supply have 5v but it is 1 ampere.
Are you sure it should be 2,5 amperes?
Only to try don't should be enough 1 ampere?
Thanks

raas

15-09-2009, 09:08

like you said in your previous post, you tried it without succes. this is prob. due to the psu not supplying enough current. if 5v@1a would be enough, Asus would have supplied the device with such an adapter. (besides that, electronic devices do need a lot of/most of the power on startup, like a harddrive, It needs power to spin-up, but once it's spinning, it doesn't need lot of power to keep it spinning.)
Be wise, use a power supply wich supplies enough current to make sure, or you might come to wrong conclusions.

Leon78

15-09-2009, 19:03

Same problem. I want to test another adapter now. I will post the result.

I tryed another power suply and it works. So, adapter is broken. When router starts it takes about 0.75A and when the wireless is on - 1.1A.

I try to claim the adapter, because it is still under warranty.

Leon78

15-09-2009, 19:06

It was by the defective power suply.
When router starts, it takes 0.75A, but when the wirelles is on, it takes 1.1A !!
So 5V 1A is not enough.

giangi72

16-09-2009, 10:23

Thanks for your answer.
I have just bought a new power supply and I'm waiting for it.

QMax

16-09-2009, 11:45

Strange things happens here since the past summer...
broken files on hdd, sometimes the router doesn't boot from hdd, sometimes it needs more than one power cycle to boot correctly... with or without my 2.5" HDD connected (powered by Asus).
The same cfg worked without an issue for 3 years.

I hope these problems will be solved fixing the power supply, but...

How did you opened your Asus power supply ?
Mine is one-box of plastic... :mad:

I've found a good alternative on eBay, D-Link 5v/3a PSE-S5VDC3A or JTA0302F-E.

Does anybody knows if this ps use the same Asus plug on 5V side ?

QMax

22-09-2009, 20:13

Waiting for the new power supply from China...
I replaced the original Asus PS with a enormous 5-12V 20A, well... my WL500W is alive !
Ok, so I opened the original PS and replaced the only one 1200uF/10V condenser (the one near the output 5V cable) and now all works fine.

Hope could be helpful for someone :)

Max

giangi72

23-09-2009, 10:25

Ok.
I used a 2.5 A power supply and all works correctly now.
Thanks you very much for your help

kath

29-09-2009, 11:23

The same problem with my power adapter: Changed for my colleague's one and working again.

There is a thread here (https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=88666) where they say that it is a leaked capacitor, so no need to PIN-trick the router...

Bye...

mslo

01-10-2009, 15:45

After a few days of investigation I have found that the power supply is faulty.

Thanks a bunch for the post, it saved me a lot of time and money :)

I didn't even have to buy a new power supply, as I managed to replace the leaked capacitor by another one (thanks kath!)

Feeling happy again :cool::p

Elect

02-10-2009, 07:53

Having the same problem.. Couldn't see any leaky capacitators, but i'll check again this weekend.

Irritating, this is too early for hardware to die on me. Ran for about 3 years 24/7.

QMax

02-10-2009, 13:30

Having the same problem.. Couldn't see any leaky capacitators, but i'll check again this weekend.

Irritating, this is too early for hardware to die on me. Ran for about 3 years 24/7.

If you have 5V on the ps output, go straight and replace the 1200uF/10V capacitor with a new one. You can use a 1000uF/12V, worked fine for me.

Max

QMax

02-10-2009, 20:25

From my previous post:

I opened the original PS and replaced the only one 1200uF/10V condenser (the one near the output 5V cable) and now all works fine.

Hope could be helpful for someone :)

Max

raas

03-10-2009, 18:31

I have the same problem and could you please share a photo of opened up power supply with the capacitor we need to change?
Also, where you get that replacement capacitor - RadioShack?
Thanks

I haven't changed it yet, but by judging the capacitor from it's shape I'm pretty confident to say that it is the one with the red circle. (you'd see a 'bulging' top). Also. take care of the polarity of the capacitor. align the 'stripe' on the side of the capacitor with the new one.

(excuse me for bad quality pictures, I only had my (very-old) cam-phone available).

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2111/afb035.jpg
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/4506/afb036b.jpg
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/919/afb037.jpg

QMax

03-10-2009, 19:03

Yes, that's the right one.
The only one with a curved head.

I was not able to find a 1200uF, so I replaced with a 1000uF but 12V.
Works fine as I wrote. Take care of polarity.

Total price... 0.40€ (for 4 pieces) and 10 minutes of time.

Max

Rebel

06-10-2009, 14:37

QMax

06-10-2009, 20:29

Strange...

My Router have the same symptoms yesterday and i tried plug and unplug the power connector a few times until he comes to life.

I live in Portugal, and this year we don't have a hot Summer. :confused:

That "cure" worked for my router also, but for a week... then lost data, reboot and so on...

Now works fine

Max

looser

20-10-2009, 15:49

Hi,
I wanted to use unoffical firmware because of my adaptor (Asus WL-130N) couldn't get IP preperly from my Asus WL-500W. Sometimes it got IP in 3-4 minutes or it couldn't get IP although connection seemed good. Then i wanted to try an unoffical firmware to solve this problem and i loaded DD-WRT SP24 mega pack. It worked 2-3 weeks without any problem and as you guess it bricked suddenly(it also didn't solve my DHCP and IP problem). I found to PIN9 method to solve my problem. I tried PIN 9 and my router could accept a new firmware after PIN9 method. I uploaded original Asus 2.0.6 firmware as soon as possible after PIN9 and i loaded original firmware successful. Then i rebooted my router immediately after uploading offical firmware and result.. 4 LAN LEDs and WAN LED solid bilinking. Power and AIR LEDs don't bilink...I know you will advise to me to change my power supply of router. I tried to boot my router while applying 5V from power supply of computer but result is same. PIN9 also doesn't work anymore. I checked power supply of my router and capacitor seems at well condition. We alreadey run it with full load (with 2 ohm load) and it shoed to us 2,5 ampere (but it showed 4,8 V). With 4 ohm it showed 1,2 ampere and 4,9V.
I couldn't find appropriate power supply for my router but i think that power is not my real problem..

So i'm so hopeless. you have any different advise for my dead router?

Best Regards

wpte

20-10-2009, 21:54

I can only say to go for asus warranty...
but you opened it up already, so I don't know if that is going to work:(

looser

21-10-2009, 08:47

wpte

24-10-2009, 00:12

i live in Turkey and this router doesn't sold in Turkey...I bought it from ebay. i already talked with Asus Global Technical Team. They offered to me classical methods. I asked to them whether they may send a new nvram to me or not but they didn't answer my question :mad:

typical asus... at least the same as in the netherlands:p
anyway... if asus doesn't want to replace/repair your device I guess the only option is to buy a new one since you tried all the methods available:(

andlommy

26-10-2009, 18:31

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=285135&sid=054dd05f7b3e9cc9ee3cb958062effd9

Completely unsupported, but saved me a couple times with this router...

nutmeg

28-10-2009, 21:16

Hi,

I'm having the same issue described here (every LEDs lighted up but power) and I guess it's a power supply issue.
So, I tried to find the same capacitor (1200uF / 10V) but I only got a 1500uF / 10V.

Do you think I can replace the old one with this one without breaking everything (power supply or router)?

Thanks

raas

29-10-2009, 08:36

nutmeg, I don't think that will be a problem.

nutmeg

05-11-2009, 13:52

OK, it's working like a charm.

Thanks a lot

t0n

21-11-2009, 20:04

Just registered to be able to reply on this forum.

I've had the exact same issue as the TS posted.

All lights come on, Wifi is live but unable to connect.. Lan disconnects and reconnects every 2 seconds.

I've swapped the mentioned capacitor a couple posts back for a uF1000 10V today, works like a charm!! :cool::cool:

Very happy with this solution!

oral

24-12-2009, 15:03

Hi,
I had same "solid leds" problem with PSU, which I solved with new capacitor (1000uF / 10V for now)..

But, when I was discovering where can be problem I opened router's case and find out that one capacitor (400uF / xV don't remember:o) has "bad hat".

Do you think it is (will be) fatal? Do you recommend to change it? I'll go to local store soon, so I can buy it, but don't know if it will be easy/possible to solder it.

Date of buy: 18.10.2007

Thanks for any answer.

1. all three capacitors
2. the good one
3. the bad one

avberk

24-12-2009, 15:41

I wouldn't touch it as long as your router is still stable.

I remember i had difficulties getting capacitors of a motherboard.

Ik had to pull them off, thus releasing chemicals :o

and the seperatley desolder the 2 pins which stay behind.

Probably my soldering iron was not big enough..

Lotar.inc

30-12-2009, 19:58

I registered to say thank you. Doing the capacitor fix saved my router from 5 leds death.

@pender. To open the adapter you just have to crack the glue. Stick a flat screwdriver in the side of the adapter and press hard until it cracks (in second image at red arrow), and it should smell of burned electrolyte :) .

I didn't find any 1200uF capacitor (red arrow -old one). I only got a 1500uF / 16V (circle, fat new one). Works like a charm.

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9594/36232578.th.jpg (http://img81.imageshack.us/i/36232578.jpg/)

Also i drilled holes in every side oh the plastic case for ventilation.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/830/96382800.th.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/i/96382800.jpg/)

ferdz_33

08-01-2010, 10:13

looks like i have the same problem. thanks guys. now time to look for a new power adapter.

_Basser_

14-01-2010, 07:50

My Asus WL-500 suddenly stopped working. After investigation I determined that the cause was a failed power supply. The LEDs flashed in sequence and the power LED would not stay on. Checked the voltage supply to the unit and found 3.24Volts not the 5V that power supply should supply. The adapter was opened and the problem was found. There was a 1200uf capacitor near the power leads leaving the adapter that appeared to have failed. The capacitor had a domed top not flat like it should be. The capacitor was replaced with a 1000uf 10V unit and now everything works perfectly. Attached are photos showing the main board with the new capacitor installed, the failed capacitor, and the solder leads location.

Hope that helps someone.

zerg

16-01-2010, 14:59

Hello,
Few weeks ago I had the same problem and replaced the same capacitor (1200uf), because it had dome on top. This solved the issue. It seems that this capacitor "issue" is very common for the power supply of Asus wl500GP router.

ferdz_33

16-01-2010, 15:30

i just found out about this recently as i encountered same problem as above (i still have my post here also). i opened the culprit and found the bloated capacitor.

i still have yet to replaced it but fortunately i was able to find a replacement adaptor/power supply (3A output) in a japan surplus shop here and got if for just Php100.00 (more or less $2)

radko

03-02-2010, 08:35

Please explain how to recover dead unit?
Only led LAN and WAN are on if i connect cable.
Power LED and AIR led are off.
I can't ping router also restore button doesn't work.
I try pin 9 trick but it doesn't work.
Please give me some advice and one question where is pin 16 in this router.
I checked power supplay it's OK.

best regards

LanLord

09-02-2010, 09:32

I had the same problem last week (LAN + WAN leds lit with no activity; POWER + AIR off). You should try with another power supply, because I'm 90% sure that's the problem even if it 'looks' OK.

I used a power unit from an USB Hub (5V 2.1 Amps).

Good luck!

postbusjj

19-02-2010, 13:34

shortboy

20-02-2010, 23:52

Hi guys,

first of all - thanks for this thread. It helped me to solve the problem almost immediately. I've just experienced the problem with power adapter. Exactly same behavior - 1-4 LAN + WAN leds on and nothing helped. I found out, that power adapter from my old D-Link DIR-100 is 5V/1.2A, so I plugged it in and it worked - lucky me :)

Looks like the WL-500gP's power supply is really crappy...

Wayland

23-02-2010, 00:06

Hello,

for some days now my WL-500g Premium (v1) acts very strange. I think it started with the following symptom (symptom 1):
- power LED goes out for about 0.2 seconds
- after ~0.5 seconds all 4 LAN ports + WAN port light up for another 0.5 seconds
- during this time my computer says it has lost its LAN connection (as if the router restarted..)
- router works for some seconds (all LEDs glowing as they should)
- starts over

Sometimes this went on for some hours, sometimes it stopped after some minutes. After that the router worked for some hours.

Then another symptom appeared (symptom 2):

As soon as I turned on the router (also after unplugging it for several minutes) the 4 LAN ports and the WAN port were permanentely on and all other LEDs (power and WLAN) were off. But only one LAN port and the WAN port were connected. My computer wasn't detecting a LAN connection (layer 1 problem?). So ping etc. didn't work. It was also impossible to enter recovery mode. After leaving the router on over night when I checked again it was working as usual..

Another funny behavior:

The router was working normally when I connected another computer to a LAN port. It started to do its constant rebooting (symptom 1) but stopped after a while. But my PPPoE conenction was disconnected. So I manually triggered the connect and as soon as I did the router started rebooting again. I tried it several times. When I disconnected the other computer I was able to connect to my ISP as usual.

Short history of my router:

I bought it a bit over 2 years ago (so it's out of warranty since the end of January.. :P) and almost immediately flashed it with DD-WRT. I had some troubles at some point and bricked it but was able to recover it by shortening pin 9. It was running quite stable for the last half year I think. I haven't touched it for at least a month. The faulty behavior started out of the blue.

What I've already tried:

1.
Flashing it with the clear-nvram and recover images. The flashing worked and after the recover image it seemed to run stable (didn't do a long-term test). But flashing it with DD-WRT again or the original Asus firmware restored the faulty behavior.

2.
After I read that shortening pin 9 isn't so great I did the suggested software clean up: erase /dev/mtd/3; erase /dev/mtd/4; reboot;. It couldn't find /dev/mtd/4 but deleted /dev/mtd/3 successfully. But it also didn't help.

3.
After I was stuck again with symptom 2 today I finally tried to short pin 9 again. With the case opened I noticed that the WLAN LED was also glowing but only very weakly. The router didn't even react to the pin shortening. The 5 LEDS (WAN+LAN) simply kept glowing.

So is this behavior in any way known? I've read something today in this forum about a possible problem with the power supply. Could it be the case here? It somehow correlates with the funny behavior I described above. As if the router wasn't receiving enough power for talking to another computer.

Any hint would be greatly appreciated!

avberk

23-02-2010, 10:10

The power supply should always be the first thing to check with funny led behaviour.

Thus, try another one with the same specs.

wengi

23-02-2010, 13:48

Hi,

this is by 90% power supply.
Have a look at http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=21515
This is a german thread but it will give you an idea of the faulty capacitor.

Otherwise get a psu 5V 2,5A.

wengi

Wayland

23-02-2010, 23:11

Wow cool! Thanks for the fast responses! I'll try this sometimes this week and then post back the results. :)

Wayland

24-02-2010, 23:22

Hey,

so this really worked, all the funky LED behavior stopped. I've been able to flash the router. But now I seem to have really really bricked it (http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?p=186199). :(

cdman

17-03-2010, 09:38

Thank you so much! I had the same problem and getting a new source fixed it. So I donated a little money. Thanks again!

heavyrail

17-04-2010, 18:32

I've got WL-500GPv2 router and by mistake I tried to apply 32MB-RAM patch for v1:

nvram set sdram_init=0x0009
nvram set sdram_ncdl=0
nvram commit
reboot

After that LAN1-LAN4 and WAN LEDs became lit constantly, and router could not be put in recovery mode using standard RESET button technique. I had googled similar cases, and found out that serial console would help. I've tried two variants of serial console adapter - MAX232-based and FT232-based, but there was nothing on the terminal. So I tried to ground pin 9 on flash chip during boot. Since I did the trick, the behaviour of router had changed. Now LAN LEDs is off, WAN LED reflects actual activity, and I can put it in recovery mode with Power LED flashing continuously... but I can't reflash it! No pings to 192.168.1.1, still no activity on serial console, both Linux atftp tool and Windows ASUS firmware restoration utility don't work.
Please tell me what's probably happened with my router? Maybe my serial console doesn't work properly because of wrong soldering etc? Can anyone point me to exact schematic that work? Maybe the last chance to reflash is JTAG? But I couldn't find nor any schematic neither howto on this. Can anyone help me?

radko

08-05-2010, 06:55

Unit with faulty power supply have all led light. Also I change the power supply for another but nothing change. Please give some clue.

robinio

15-05-2010, 09:47

If you search the forum, you will notice that the cause of solid lan leds mostly is a defect power supply. With shortening the wrong pins you can damage your router and produce a definite brick.
I hope you did not do too much damage...

MMCM, you are the man! Tried everithing, but then replaced power supply and Asus start working normally.

Power supply can break like anything else...

TthomasS

15-05-2010, 18:17

Hello there,
My ASUS WL-500gP broke down after storm goes over my house. I identify problem in onboard power supply. I toughed two of chip near to power conector. And these two chips was so hot. Temperatures about 50 degress, I estimate.
I tryed to find tech. spec. in google, but I have no luck.

Can someone of masters help me to solve my problem, please.

wpte

15-05-2010, 22:00

scratch that previous post: http://wl500g.info/attachment.php?attachmentid=864&stc=1&d=1150812229
middle pin is supposed to be loose...

Can you make a photo of yours? since this one I found seems a lot like your photo :p

Are any of those capacitor tops popped?

TthomasS

16-05-2010, 08:48

WLFan

10-08-2010, 12:09

I also woke up one day to find my router going bonkers. It survived to its third birthday, which is a major miracle going by the info above...

Thanks to the pics and instructions on this thread I have a functioning router again. I really appreciate the help!

pedrinho

17-08-2010, 02:32

hi,
try this, has revived my box - wl500g premium v2

- prepare on pc firmware file original or ....... any other *.trx
- prepare on pc firmware restore software (from cd)

- power off
- connect pin 16 from flash chip to ground, power on until power led is flashing,
- remove ground wire
- start restore (upload) software with chosen firmware
- after upload box (mine was) should be alive with 192.168.1.1
- connect telnet and run "erase nvram", "erase linux"
- upload firmware again
- power off
- reboot

rgds, pedrinho

sunfire

19-08-2010, 07:20

Hi guys

It's my first post on the forum so please go easy on me :).
I joined the open source world very recently when a colleague of mine from the office gave me the wl-500gp (v1) to use for spare parts in my personal hw projects. I fixed the router and eventually I discovered it's actually a very nice router (especially with custom firmware like openwrt). I even did the ram mod (now the router has 128 MB of ram and used to work ok until I messed it up). Long story cut short: after installing the openwrt whiterussian 0.9 I got so pi**ed off (don't ask why) that I deleted _all_ the nvram settings using the webif (except the hardware_version, pmon_ver, sdram_config, sdram_init, sdram_ncdl and sdram_refresh) - also please don't ask why. Now the router seems to boot up fine (except the power led doesn't go off after the boot loader finishes loading and lights up when the router has finished booting). Both the reset and the restore buttons do not work (actually they work but they are not effective) so I cannot put the router in recovery mode. The power led lights up and the wifi led is off when powering up the router and after some time the wifi led lights up also so the router seems to boot ok but not configure any IP on any interface (wired or wireless) - maybe because I deleted all the MACs from the nvram ? I've got a serial console cable but with different connector (and no matter how pi**ed off I am a female connector cannot be plugged into another female connector :)). Provided that I will change the connector tomorrow and get the console to work ok could you guys please guide me into hacking the CFE and program the nvram settings back ? Also I would need a minimum list of nvram settings which can get the router to work ok (so I know what to write back in my nvram). I have the MACs saved so I only need the other nvram settings and how to do the job using the serial console.

Thank you in advance and sorry for the long post

neoredz

23-08-2010, 06:15

Good day, sorry about the header, I really cant think of any proper title about the problem on the router.

Here's my network setup, 3 computers wired to the wl-500gp, 2 desktops and 1 laptop, before there are no problems but suddenly surfaced recently.

The laptop suddenly is having a hard time connecting to the internet, I checked the LAN icon on taskbar and it says its disconnected, by the way the 2 desktops are connected to the internet, no problems.

By the looks of it, it seems the problem was on the laptop, tried going for a USB to LAN converter but it didn't cut it, still the same problem, changed cables, same problem, until I decided to change the whole router itself.

Purchased a wired router, connected the 3 computers and there are no more problems! The laptop is connected to the internet. All of them working simultaneously.

What I noticed is that, the power supply for the wl-500gp is now hot to touch when connected for about 15mins. I know that power adapters tend to go hot while being used but this one is very hot to touch.

I'm not sure if this is the problem or maybe there are others who experienced this. I just wanna ask for recommendation on what to do with it. Thanks a lot in advance.

neoredz

24-08-2010, 02:59

Update: I opened up the power supply and the router. Found a bloated capacitor on the router and power supply :( Maybe this is the cause of the problem?

The black capacitor here on the router is bloated.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b134/NeoRedZ/ASUS%20WL-500GP/P1020635.jpg

The black capacitor is also bloated on power supply. Green one looks ok.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b134/NeoRedZ/ASUS%20WL-500GP/P1020631.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b134/NeoRedZ/ASUS%20WL-500GP/P1020632.jpg

Should I replace all of the capacitors on the power supply? Since on the other threads that I've read, its the Green capacitor that becomes bloated. How about the capacitors on the router?

zeromega

24-08-2010, 09:29

Hi. My router was working fine, then it suddenly stop: I have no lan/wlan access to the router. I can start it in recovery mode, but i get no ping. I tried with asus recovery tool and with tftp, without success.

What can I do now?
Thanks

billthor

26-08-2010, 23:21

I lost my power supply and got this response. I used an old Zip drive power supply with the right voltage to get up and running. Found a replacement power supply on Amazon.

zeromega

27-08-2010, 15:59

Thanks. I'll try with a new one.

henkoegema

03-09-2010, 23:02

........... (shorting pin9) more than once.............................

Where is pin 9 on the WL-500W ? :confused:

I've seen pictures of pin 9 on the wl-500gx (http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2507), but that is different (the area is covered by a plate) than the 500W

Dr Qubit

12-09-2010, 19:30

I had the same problem: the thing appeared bricked, not responding even to the reset button. The symptoms for me were that, when I turned it on, the four LAN LEDs and WAN LED were lit (but not the power LED).

I popped open the power adapter (I like the technique described here: http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-open-power-supply-without-destroying-transformer-270527/), and the exploded 1200uF capacitor was staring me in the face.

If you're not quite sure whether the capacitor is bust or not, you should see a smaller capacitor of a similar type towards the middle of one side of the board. Compare the top of the 1200uF capacitor with the top of that smaller one. The tops should look similarly flat. If the top of the 1200uF capacitor looks slightly domed, it's almost certainly the culprit.

The original capacitor was a 1200uF electrolytic capacitor rated for 5V and 105 degrees C. I replaced it with a 1000uF rated for 16V and 105 degrees C. (Since this is a power supply, it seems sensible to match the temperature rating.) I made something of a pig's ear of the soldering (it's been a while...), but after putting the thing back together, everything worked perfectly!

One thing you need to be careful of when replacing the capacitor is to get the polarity right, otherwise the replacement is likely to explode as soon as you plug in the power supply. Electrolytic capacitors typically have a coloured bar down the side with minus signs along it, indicating the negative lead. If you're sensible (unlike me!), take note of which way around the original component is before you take it out, and put the replacement in the same way around. In case you forget, with the original capacitor removed you should be able to see a + near one side of the circle printed underneath the capacitor, and the negative side is indicated by the two lines across the circle (at least on my board).

So, instead of having to buy a new router, or even a new power supply, all it took was a £0.27 capacitor (less the 50 cents), and a bit of solder.

Thanks so much to this forum, and especially Basser's brilliant post and photos!

wpte

19-09-2010, 12:58

Where is pin 9 on the WL-500W ? :confused:

I've seen pictures of pin 9 on the wl-500gx (http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2507), but that is different (the area is covered by a plate) than the 500W

It's exactly the same in a WL-500W...
They just removed that plate in this picture, you can still see the frame of it:)
Just try to lift it up by using a screwdriver;)

Jasman

14-10-2010, 21:46

I have a WL-500gx, and I'm pretty sure my adapter's bad (unit suddenly keeps "resetting" - all four LAN lights flash about every 5-10 secs). My adapter is a DVE DSA-0101F-05 A, 5V 2A. I cracked it open and see what I think are two capacitors near the cord (one right where the cord is soldered to the board - 10V 680uF), and one above that, which I can't read) and one much larger one at the opposite corner - 400V 22uF. None look domed. I'm not an electronics guy, so don't even know what or how to test, but I can use a soldering iron. Is there one capacitor I should suspect, or maybe just replace all three? Thanks.

I had the same problem: the thing appeared bricked, not responding even to the reset button. The symptoms for me were that, when I turned it on, the four LAN LEDs and WAN LED were lit (but not the power LED).

I popped open the power adapter (I like the technique described here: http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-open-power-supply-without-destroying-transformer-270527/), and the exploded 1200uF capacitor was staring me in the face.

If you're not quite sure whether the capacitor is bust or not, you should see a smaller capacitor of a similar type towards the middle of one side of the board. Compare the top of the 1200uF capacitor with the top of that smaller one. The tops should look similarly flat. If the top of the 1200uF capacitor looks slightly domed, it's almost certainly the culprit.

The original capacitor was a 1200uF electrolytic capacitor rated for 5V and 105 degrees C. I replaced it with a 1000uF rated for 16V and 105 degrees C. (Since this is a power supply, it seems sensible to match the temperature rating.) I made something of a pig's ear of the soldering (it's been a while...), but after putting the thing back together, everything worked perfectly!

One thing you need to be careful of when replacing the capacitor is to get the polarity right, otherwise the replacement is likely to explode as soon as you plug in the power supply. Electrolytic capacitors typically have a coloured bar down the side with minus signs along it, indicating the negative lead. If you're sensible (unlike me!), take note of which way around the original component is before you take it out, and put the replacement in the same way around. In case you forget, with the original capacitor removed you should be able to see a + near one side of the circle printed underneath the capacitor, and the negative side is indicated by the two lines across the circle (at least on my board).

So, instead of having to buy a new router, or even a new power supply, all it took was a £0.27 capacitor (less the 50 cents), and a bit of solder.

Thanks so much to this forum, and especially Basser's brilliant post and photos!

avberk

16-10-2010, 20:01

Also open your asus router and look for domed capacitors
if possible try another powersupply before you start soldering

foncused

19-10-2010, 17:52

hi all.
i have the same problem with 3 units, all down to inferior components used by asus in the manufacture of the power supply units.
if you want an easier fix than repairing the faulty power supply, you might want to try using a PSP power supply.
these units run at 5v and 2a and i can confirm that my faulty units are now running using them.
just a thought if you were having trouble locating replacement power supplies or don't want want to manually repair the dead one.
steve.

velcrow

21-10-2010, 17:20

hi all.
try using a PSP power supply.
steve.

Confirmed this works. Thanks Steve

maurer

25-10-2010, 10:19

I searched around quite a bit (at the ddwrt and openwrt forums).

The problem is that my ASUS WL-500gP (Premium) v1 has become inaccessible. I tried to upgrade firmware, DDWRT, and after reboot it never came back to life.

I've tried:
* Another power supply (third party — 5V/3A)
* Short PIN 9 to the outside of the power connector.
* Hard resets
* serial console - no output

It's impossible to get any ping backs from the router, or for that matter, any DHCP which was enabled before flash.

The LEDS for LAN 1-4 will light up if I hook up any device to them, the Air LED is lit but dim and…power LED never lights up during boot.

Any other recommendations?

please help

thank you in advance

raas

26-10-2010, 14:16

99.9% sure that you have a faulty power supply (it is supplying the voltage, but not enough current to boot up the router.)
(there are several topics on this board regarding this topic)

hookup some other powersupply 5v@2.5a
If you don't have one, your pc will be able to power it. open it up, use the red wire (and a black) from the molex connector (HDD/DVD) and you have 5v with more than enough amps.

baset

28-03-2011, 23:37

Dunno if it's right area, but there's lot of WL500W users here, so, maybe, somebody could help.

Like topic says - LAN and WAN leds are solid.

What i've done? Don't remember exactly, it was 'bout half year ago. Some screwed up flashing procedure, so my router died. After few tries, I've bought RT-N16 and forget about it. Since today, when my RT-N16 also died. In fact died again, but later about it ;)

What i've tried? Everything mentioned above:

- shortening pin 9
- and pin 16 as well
- and replacing power supply (with 5V/3A from Intel switch)
- and even connecting to big power supply (30A approx, 3-30V)
- and I have disassembly original PSU, but capacitor looks fine
- but I've replaced capacitor anyway (btw. voltage can be higher, but not lower, capacity - higher = better filtration)
- and I even dance macarena with prays to god of bricked routers ;)
- and none of that works.

Still, after connecting power supply only those five leds are "staring back at me, asking why" I've bricked it.

In my opinion, I've should find somebody that could program again flash chip.

Anyway, as you can see, PSU is not the only source of problems. I've checked randomly few parts near power socket, but nothing seems to be broken.

For first person that find the sollution - free beer* ;)

By the way. Regarding RT-N16. It's very cool piece of hardware. But totally not resistant for even small amount of EM field generated (for example) by ham radio on 15m band. After pressing PTT, even with 5W HF power, it instantly goes to the neverland (nothing lights on, PSU is OK but router dies for good). Fortunately, it's on warranty period.

Kind regards.

Baset.

* Limited time offer valid in following countries: Poland, Czech Republic.

lazlow

06-06-2011, 18:39

Hi,

i just got from a friend this model of router. The single problem is that i connect a cable to wan port the router resets itself and goes on forever like this. I tried other firmwares ( at the moment i'm using oleg's firmware ) and that happens with any of them. I want to mention that i got the router with tomato firmware and seems ok but i wanted more options and flashed it with oleg's.

Other details :

i flashed again with tomato and i didn't get any trafic from lan ports, only wireless worked ok. i didn't tried wan at that time.

i put an external hdd and works well.

any ideas ?

avberk

07-06-2011, 08:57

defective powersupply perhaps.

try another one with at least the same specs if possible.

wakatana

18-06-2011, 09:47

Hi I have strange problem with WAN port.

My hardware: asus wl500g Premium v1 (identified it according to openwrt page) with original asus firmware version 1.9.7.7 (I know this forum did not support asus firmware but I will flash another if it can help - and I am not sure if this si an software or hardware problem - please read bellow)

SCENARIO:
I am connecting to wl500g from one PC with two interfaces:
PC-eth0 - LAN interface of PC is connected to wl500g WAN port
PC-eth1 - WIFI interface of PC is connected to wl500g LAN port
(note that in asus wl500g firmware is WIFI part of LAN and is in the same subnet range)

CONFIGURATION:
ASUS-LAN(WIFI) IP: 192.168.1.1/24
PC-LAN-eth1 IP: 192.168.1.100/24

ASUS-WAN IP: 192.168.0.1/24
PC-WAN-eth0 IP: 192.168.0.100/24

LAN to WAN, WAN to LAN filters are disabled, managing web interface from WAN is enabled
Router is in mode Router also tried Home gateway with the same result (Access point mode was not tried because here WAN did not works)
WAN LED flashes, also when I connect cable to WAN port in windows it seems to be connected.

Issuing arp -a on PC returns following:
? (192.168.0.1) at 00:1b:fc:6b:81:02 [ether] on eth0
my.router (192.168.1.1) at 00:1b:fc:6b:81:02 [ether] on eth1

So far everything seems that it perfectly works

PROBLEM:
I am unable to ping or manage throught www or doing anything throught WAN port.
Also tried set address to dynamic on wl500g WAN and obtain it from DHCP (another router which act as DHCP server was connected to wl500 WAN) but no address was assigned to WAN either.

Also tryied clone MAC on WAN, then the arp -a looks following:
Code:

? (192.168.0.1) at aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff [ether] on eth0
my.router (192.168.1.1) at 00:1b:fc:6b:81:02 [ether] on eth1

PS: I tried the same configuration on another WL500g and here it works as expected so it should be configured properly.

QUESTION:
That seems to me like software bug or something very weird because hardware layer seems works and problem is on the 3th laer of OSI.
Do you people thing that FLASHING olegs openwrt or another alternative firmware to this router should fix this problem ?
Is flashing to this hardware more dangerrous than flashing to hardware without this issue ?
Tried to ask also on ddwrt, openwrt forum but no answer please help.

MANY THANKS TO ALL

avberk

13-07-2011, 20:51

Lan Port 2 and 3 stopped working.
Tried another powersupply of the same specs
tried a reset

The leds of all lanports light up when switching on, but port 2 and 3 dont stay on when connected to a device.

Any suggestions?

expert_vision

04-10-2011, 21:30

Setup:
WL-500gP V2
Firmware:WL500gpv2-1.9.2.7-d-r3328

Behavior:
-when I power the router, LEDs shows activity, power LED goes steady on, wifi LED shows very little activity (usually showed more activity), LAN LEDs shows activity, no DHCP, no ping (with 192.168.1.x static IP on PC's NIC).
-when I power the router in diag mode (recovery mode) there is no ping ==> can't use Asus Firmware Restoration Tool, power LED is on, LAN LED shows activity

The router have been use before in Ethernet Bridge wireless mode. More exactly WL-500gP V2 was routing all wired connections through an AP connected wireless.
AP(192.168.1.1)<--wireless-->WL-500gP V2(192.168.1.123)<--ethernet-->PCs
Previously I moved the router out of the AP's range and I was experiencing similar behavior(no ping, dhcp, air LED stays on - no activity). To solve the problem I had to keep restore button pressed for 5 and then reconfigure the router.
Now I moved it out of range again, pressed restore button and here I am, unable to access it, though it shows some activity. The only wired behavior is that air LED that shows nearly no activity(except no ping, dhcp).It's not like when it searches for the specific SSID(LED is flashing), it stays solid on. I think is stuck in some wireless configuration and restore button doesn't seem to solve that.

Some suggested a power supply issue .. but I checked and it holds well the voltage (5.17-5.19 V) under load.

So how can I clear NVRAM if I can't access the router? Is there a safe "9 PIN short" method for WL-500gP V2 ?
In meantime I'll google more about that JTAG cable for my router and how it works.

expert_vision

05-10-2011, 18:49

Well, my router is not bricked at all. Just when I was ready to prepare for using a JTAG cable I stumbled across this link (http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Serial_Recovery) about serial connector. Gave it a try and noticed that router was working fine, even the IP was mentioned during boot (192.168.1.1). My motherboard have 2 RJ-45 connectors (2 LANs), and thinking that maybe is something wrong with PC, I tried the second LAN .. and it worked. Not sure if this is a hardware issue or a Windows problem, but router is just fine. To be clear .. on PC's LAN 1 - no ping, on PC's LAN 2 - TTL-64.Oh .. and brand is NVIDIA onboard.

Here (http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=640360#640360) is the serial pinout for WL-500gP V2, if needed ...

wpte

06-10-2011, 10:56

Not sure if this is a hardware issue or a Windows problem, but router is just fine. To be clear .. on PC's LAN 1 - no ping, on PC's LAN 2 - TTL-64.Oh .. and brand is NVIDIA onboard.

Should be good.
It might be a problem with windows, but I've also had several network cards that sort of sticked to the off mode.
A simple disable/enable of the network interface could do the trick.
Or, in some cases the network card can hold a current, even when the pc has been off, which could prevent the card from working normally. Unplugging the pc for several seconds could fix that however:)
These things never happened on my nvidia board however:p

expert_vision

06-10-2011, 18:38

Nope .. LAN1 is completely dead.I have a dual-boot system (XP-can't remember last time I used it until now :p,win 7) and both give no response on LAN1 (ping,telnet,ssh), but LAN2 works fine. Weird thing, but I'm glad the motherboard has 2 NICs.

BitHelp25

24-06-2013, 00:18

Hi I am having the same problem with the leds of my Asus WL-500gP v2 are always up (except AIR) but my power supply is not faulty. I have another identical router and check that power supply with the "problematic" router and the result is the same. Both power supplies are working find and my other Asus WL-500gP v2 router.

Anyone any ideas?

Etor

29-08-2013, 10:33

Hi, me also have the same problem.
LAN LEDs + WAN are steady ON. Power+AIR off.

My power supply is OK, tried with big PSU 5V/8A and also my router is not functional (same LEDs steady).
I cannot ping it from computer, restore button in back is doing nothing.
Also tried to start restore mode (power off, push restore button and plug power on) but it does nothing.

Any ideas??

Thank you

wakatana

17-01-2016, 23:22

Hello. I have wl500g Premium router (according to this link (https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/asus/wl500gp) it is version 1 - antenna on the left). Out of the blue LED diodes just lights but do not flashes. According to this post it seems that adapter might be wrong so I would like to try to change it for different one. Problem is that I do not have exactly the same at the moment. This is the adapter that probably failed: 10196 This is the adapter from older brother wl500g: 10197 This is the adapter from external Toshiba hard disk 10198 Can I try some of those adapters? Thank you