WIFI stops frequently and needs reset

[w.haans]

I'm using a WL500W with Oleg firmware 1.9.2.7-10. Worked well for half a year. Since a month WIFI dies frequenty, sometimes several times a day. After a reset all works normally for some time.
Firmware 2.0.0.1 seems less stable (more drop downs) than Oleg.

Who recognises the problem and in particular who knows any solution?

I'm looking forward for the answers

[wpte]

I'm using a WL500W with Oleg firmware 1.9.2.7-10. Worked well for half a year. Since a month WIFI dies frequenty, sometimes several times a day. After a reset all works normally for some time.
Firmware 2.0.0.1 seems less stable (more drop downs) than Oleg.

Who recognises the problem and in particular who knows any solution?

I'm looking forward for the answers

Never had that problem
but some things you might try out:

1. Completely reset the router to factory defaults and manually set it up again
2. Try to set the channel on auto mode
3. Try switching on to other channels (6 is usually the most stable)

Also, did you ever tried increasing the output power of your wireless? you can actually blow up the wlan card when you overdo it

[dreamlayers]

My WL-500W's WiFi frequently locks up when there are no clients. It sometimes locks up only a few minutes after I disconnect my laptop. It starts working again after "wl down" followed by "wl up". I use an ez-setup script to toggle wireless.

This happens both with WL500W-1.9.2.7-d-r1000.trx from the wl500g project on Google Code and Oleg's firmware WL500W-1.9.2.7-10.

I've never had a lockup while my laptop is connected. Recently I changed my channel from auto to a specific number thinking it might help. I don't know yet if it helped.

[wpte]

This happens both with WL500W-1.9.2.7-d-r1000.trx from the wl500g project on Google Code and Oleg's firmware WL500W-1.9.2.7-10.

The wireless drivers aren't any different in any firmware (asus or oleg), except for dd-wrt who signed some sort of contract with broadcom.

Anyway, maybe the issues are because of some sort of distortion, which shouldn't happen ofcourse. One thing that can cause it is heat, keep your router cool and ventilated

[snowx]

If your wl500w router is working fine for a long time and suddenly start behaving unstable without any configuration change. It is very likely a bad capacitor issue which common know to wl500w and it happened to me too. Mine was working for over a year and then started behaving strangely and eventually dead. I replaced the bad caps inside both router and power supply and now it is working very stable again.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=56939

[wpte]

If your wl500w router is working fine for a long time and suddenly start behaving unstable without any configuration change. It is very likely a bad capacitor issue which common know to wl500w and it happened to me too. Mine was working for over a year and then started behaving strangely and eventually dead. I replaced the bad caps inside both router and power supply and now it is working very stable again.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=56939

hmm also part of the power distribution.
I only had a broken PSU once, but if this part is also not quite stable I wonder if asus checked everything

[w.haans]

The problem seems to be solved.
The WIFI part of the router is running over a week without any problems.
Changing to a fixed channel was the correct advise.

Thanks for all your hints.

[dreamlayers]

Yes, changing from auto to channel 6 fixed the problem.

I'm still wondering why I can't use some channels, but that's not really a problem. Channel 6 works great.

I noticed another thing relating to this problem: When WiFi is enabled but not used, the light blinks in a regular pattern. When the problem occurred, the WiFi light wasn't blinking. However, I was also sometimes able to connect when the light wasn't blinking. Now, the light never stops blinking. I guess the light is never supposed to stop blinking.

[wpte]

I noticed another thing relating to this problem: When WiFi is enabled but not used, the light blinks in a regular pattern. When the problem occurred, the WiFi light wasn't blinking. However, I was also sometimes able to connect when the light wasn't blinking. Now, the light never stops blinking. I guess the light is never supposed to stop blinking.

that's probably because other wireless devices "probe" all the channels to update the available networks list.
Even if no device is connected it still needs to respond saying "hi"