wl500g dead, dead, dead... Or not ?

[heinz57g]

10-20 minutes at a time, should be enough, no?

i have now become something like an acrobat, pressing an almost non-existing button in the back, at the same time plugging in the powercable, and all the time watching the LED in the front. while with my third hand selecting files on the computer and pressing ENTER. forget the mouse ...

greetings - heinz -

PS: one thing that i cant quite figure out: does not occasionally somebody of ASUS (sales/service) check this most competent board? they MUST have a foolproof method to reset a dead unit, they would not have the time to try 32 systems how to get back to recovery mode and to flash a new system.
i was not trying to be ironic when i said 'competent' to the members of this board, but it just seems that too many opinions sometimes overshadow the real (and often simple) way.

[tomilius]

The truth is, most people don't have as much trouble as you do. I didn't have your EXACT problem, but my router was doing something to the effect of sending out 1 packet per second (really). I unplugged it and plugged it back in but that didn't help. I had to leave it unplugged--all night. Sure, 10 or 20 minutes sounds reasonable... but it was 2 AM or so when I was doing this anyway, and I had thought it was broken so I just left it unplugged all night and it worked normally in the morning.

It's not that there's a single, simple, working way to solve these problems. It's situation-dependent, I'd expect.

But here's the guide that should get it working or your router is toast (probably overheated and melted something):
1. Leave the router completely unplugged for 12 hours at room temperature or below.
2. Boot the router with the button on the back held down.
3. Notice the blinking LEDs.
4. Now, set a wired computer's IP address to anything in the 192.168.1.0 subnet (probably other than 192.168.1.1--192.168.1.10 works).
5. Run the ASUS Firmware Restoration utility.
6. Use it to upload some firmware--some good firmware, not corrupted or such.

That stuff should work under any circumstances... or your router is toast.

[heinz57g]

tom, did just that. night in the cooler DID make a difference, at least it was found and recognized.

the update with the 1.8.1.9 version the also started, also a new feeling. it went for about 15-20 seconds, then broke of with the usual FAILED error and asking me to check the connection.

then unplugged it, held RESET for 10 seconds, turned it on again, and now it
is recognized in DISCOVER, but when i check the version, it shows 1.9.2.7,
which is the one i had tried to flash on saturday, and which broke the whole thing.

what do i have now? half a 1819, half a 1927? a corrupted one? setup and all
screens show up normally, but i will only have a chance to check operation late this afternoon. and as a newcomer in this field i will probably not find out any hidden mistakes of inconsistencies for quite a while, or untill it is too late.

any suggestions? try the whole thing over again?

greetings - heinz -

[tomilius]

The WL-500g really is a great router--probably has more features, or at least more feature potential, than any other. You can try leaving it in the cooler even LONGER as that seems logical... or you can exchange it. Or you can return it. I, myself, haven't even had the best of luck with this router when it comes to stability or reliability, and if it keeps it up, I may return mine myself.

But I doubt it. I just got a VPN on this thing!

Stand it up, too. That seems to help it not overheat.

[heinz57g]

overheating or overuse cannot really be the issue on mine: was brandnew out of the box on friday, only worked that day for about 30 minutes (with 1819), then software was upgraded to 1836, which slowed it down a bit (trying for less than an hour), and friday into saturday night the disaster with 1927 happened.

so alltogether it might have been turned one one hour+!

how do you explain this putting it in the cooler, and the long waiting times in-between? never heard this on anything non-mechanical. have unfrozen stuck HDDs this way, but this was 15 years ago.

and yes, from all i hear it is a great router, and compared to many others it is even more reliable. but ...

now for an update: my mixture of 1819 and 1927 firmware (as shown) really does not work, found this out even before i can get to a DSL modem this afternoon. the unit is found when using DISCOVER, and i can even get into the menus.

when trying to acces it from the IE (using my.router or 192....), no connection can be made at all. it shows NO CABLE CONNECTED (which is not true anyhow).

returning it to the dealer might be the best option. but there i might get into a loop: it was the dealer who suggested to update to 1927!

any idea if i stick to 1819, as the unit comes out of the box, how bad that one is and where the main deficiencies or problems are? can i live with it?

greetings - heinz -

[barsju]

Well it's obviously broken.. Why not return it and get a new one from the store?
S.

[heinz57g]

that is naturally an option, as it is only 3 days old. but: officially all guarantees are invalid if one tries to flash anything BETA, and 1927 is marked as such even on ASUSs website. so i am not sure where i stand.

but it still leaves the main question: WHY did this happen? following all instructions to the point, and having enough experience form the past? how did it happen? will it happen on the next unit too? shall i just stay with 1819?

what am i then missing, what problems will come up and will remain unsolved?

greetings - heinz -

[heinz57g]

so, i am back, a day later than planned i managed to test this strange WL-500g.

seems to work fine, both the router part, as well as the WLAN and the connection to the DSL modem. now i am not a power user, so i cannot yet identify any small problems, but standard things seem ok.

the AIR light seems to blink/flicker about every two seconds, traffic or no traffic. any idea if this is normal?

why i call it a strange machine: though i uploded (see earlier mssgs) version 1819 into it, it still shows 1927 when checking it.

does that mean i could have a corrupt system? or just that the indication did not update properly? is there any way (please: short of flashing it again and again) of testing, maybe with some command line commands, to test which version is r e a l l y in there?

so far all testing, wired LAN and WLAN, was with WIN XP systems. the next problem will be to test WIN98se, later tonight. any WINDOWS 98 users out there that have any specific suggestions? ASUS says it will work fine, my dealer (!) says it will not at all. very encouraging, no?

greetings - heinz -

[Antiloop]

so, i am back, a day later than planned i managed to test this strange WL-500g.

seems to work fine, both the router part, as well as the WLAN and the connection to the DSL modem. now i am not a power user, so i cannot yet identify any small problems, but standard things seem ok.

the AIR light seems to blink/flicker about every two seconds, traffic or no traffic. any idea if this is normal?

why i call it a strange machine: though i uploded (see earlier mssgs) version 1819 into it, it still shows 1927 when checking it.

does that mean i could have a corrupt system? or just that the indication did not update properly? is there any way (please: short of flashing it again and again) of testing, maybe with some command line commands, to test which version is r e a l l y in there?

so far all testing, wired LAN and WLAN, was with WIN XP systems. the next problem will be to test WIN98se, later tonight. any WINDOWS 98 users out there that have any specific suggestions? ASUS says it will work fine, my dealer (!) says it will not at all. very encouraging, no?

greetings - heinz -

if it is showing another firmware version you have done something somewhere wrong..

the air led flickers often, yes this is normal as your network generates traffic even if all pc's are turned off (your network does not know those pc's are turned off..)

try to flash to a custom firmware, and see if it responds when you are trying to telnet to the unit, PLEASE CONSULT MANUAL on how to use Firmware restoration util as this is one of the best ways!

[heinz57g]

>> if it is showing another firmware version you have done something
>> somewhere wrong..

thats what i thought, but how to find out?

>> the air led flickers often

clear. in this case, with everything switched off, every two seconds to the dot, almost like it was searching.

>> try to flash to a custom firmware

WOW, thats what i was trying to avoid. pls take a minute and have a look at the posts below, between me and tom mostly, and see how much headache the flashing already caused.

so you understand why i am more than reluctant to ty flashing again. but if need be, which of the versions here is the most stable one for very standard operations? just solid router access, and WLAN as it should be.

>> telnet the unit ...

can you explain what this means, and/or where i could get simple info on it?

>> PLEASE CONSULT MANUAL

surely done 100times over.

>> use Firmware restoration

thats what was done: originally with 1927. when it left a non-working non-responding machine, it was flushed (after a night in the cooler) with 1819. that flashed for 20+ seconds, then broke off with an error, but strangely enough the set works now. but still shows 1927 as the firmware version. go figure. i can't.

greetings - heinz -

[Antiloop]

>> if it is showing another firmware version you have done something
>> somewhere wrong..

thats what i thought, but how to find out?

>> the air led flickers often

clear. in this case, with everything switched off, every two seconds to the dot, almost like it was searching.

>> try to flash to a custom firmware

WOW, thats what i was trying to avoid. pls take a minute and have a look at the posts below, between me and tom mostly, and see how much headache the flashing already caused.

so you understand why i am more than reluctant to ty flashing again. but if need be, which of the versions here is the most stable one for very standard operations? just solid router access, and WLAN as it should be.

>> telnet the unit ...

can you explain what this means, and/or where i could get simple info on it?

>> PLEASE CONSULT MANUAL

surely done 100times over.

>> use Firmware restoration

thats what was done: originally with 1927. when it left a non-working non-responding machine, it was flushed (after a night in the cooler) with 1819. that flashed for 20+ seconds, then broke off with an error, but strangely enough the set works now. but still shows 1927 as the firmware version. go figure. i can't.

greetings - heinz -

the firmware restoration tool at your windows machine will show if there are errors occured, and if flashing was a succes or not

either your wl500g unit is a brick (from factory) or something else is wrong.

don't take this personally:
Ofcourse I personally do not have much problems with those units as expected so sometimes it's hard to believe others do have problems although mostly the same problems stay after they got a replacement from asus or the shop(and thus the error was between the monitor and the chair)

flashing 1.9.2.7-4 (custom one) would do fine

[heinz57g]

antiloppp, dont worry, i take all things technical with a lot of humor, i would have long given up (in the 1980s with my ALTAIR) if not humor would have kept me alive. never take anything personal, ever, specially not on a forum like this one where info and opinions are usually so well founded.

- >> the firmware restoration tool at your windows machine will show if
- >> there are errors occured, and if flashing was a succes or not

it showed an error after 20 seconds of flashing v1819. but the unit DID work after that, and shows it is running v1927 (the BETA from the ASUS page)!

and it seems to run normally (2 days only, but nothing to compare with).

- >> either your wl500g unit is a brick (from factory) or something else
- >> is wrong

THAT needs again humor. i will see after the weekend if the dealer wants
to exchange it.

- >> don't take this personally

see above, never do.

- >> it's hard to believe others do have problems

well, if it tell you that i have been thru some 100+ computers, still some 20 of them running, from a SINCLAIR spectrum that runs my heating system, to a P-M735 laptop that tries to run my life and business, and that i usally do NOT have much problems setting up any equipment, would that help a bit?

- >> thus the error was between the monitor and the chair

i sure know what you mean. and sometimes the most obvious mistakes are the most difficult to find, because one does not look in the simple corners. never happend to you?

- >> flashing 1.9.2.7-4 (custom one) would do fine

you mean -CR4? will do that, weekend. any special remarks before i go to the mad-house, then?

many greetings - heinz -

PS: hey, i just notice YOU are running -3c. now it know, you want me to test -4 just to make me sweat ... and my wife angry for a totally spoiled weekend.

[Snufkin]

just to make me sweat... and my wife angry for a totally spoiled weekend

Just my two cents. I've discovered totally upredictable router behaviour when plug/unplug Ethernet cables in it. In other words when 500g is switched on it's highly undesirable to change cable connection.

To my mind the reasons are quite simple:

1. I have outdated electric wiring with unstable ground connection. Therefore ISP hardware, router and my desktop have slightly different electric potential of ground terminal, enough to shock router's electronics.
2. I have quite a dry air in my apartment and very often meet with static electricity. Moreover I've read reports of guys who are living in area with very strong thunderstorms, and they have fried up two LAN ports during last 2 years.

To avoid problems with mains and static I finish all cabling before switching router on and do it only after all peripherial devices (from router's point of view ) switched on.

Good luck in wiring and routing

[heinz57g]

every two cents are welcome! actually i consider these hints at least 50 cents worth. really, every bit helps. see below, some 4-5 mssgs down, the way routers stay overnight in a refridgerator ... and it helped!

greetings - heinz -

[Antiloop]

well mostly i'm running pre-CR versions meaning newer than the current ones, so no I do not want you to test CR4. I have a stronge believe in Oleg that his latest custom release works fine and better than the 3C I'm currently running

I do update so now and then all my devices at the same time..