Linksys wireless router issues

[kb2crk]

about 2 months ago i reset my wireless network to an encrypted secure network. since the i have been having issues with it intermittently going off line. it come back by itself in a couple minute but it is a pain as some time i am in the middle of doing something. is there a problem with the linksys firmware or something i could try to stop this from happening. it worked fine as an open network but due to some issues i had to make it secure. it is a wrt54g router and is about 3 years old. i am hoping not to have to reset every computer, printer and game unit back up from scratch but i will if it is necessary to fix the issue at hand.

thanks
paul

[KC2UGV]

WRT54G or WRT54GL?

[kb2crk]

WRT54GS v.7

[NA4BH]

I have the WRT54GS V.6

It goes "stupid" every once in a while. I just unplug it and reboot the thing.

[kb2crk]

i never had this issue before i enabled the encryption. it is doing this about 4 or 5 time a day now.

[NA4BH]

Mine is encrypted also. It does it maybe once every couple of months.

[kb2crk]

i could deal with every couple of months. it the every couple of hours thing that drives me nuts

[NQ6U]

I've had several routers over the years and every one of them needed the occasional reboot. Every couple of hours, though, is definitely not right. What's worked for me in the past is to unplug the thing and leave it unplugged overnight. I don't know why it works--maybe some crucial capacitor needs to fully discharge or something--but it has worked.

[kb2crk]

the odd thing with this problem is that it did not rear its ugly head before the encryption was enabled. the router works fine on the wired connections it is just the wireless dropping out. i did a search on google but most of the issues i found there are due to improper set up and a wireless system not working at all.

[W4GPL]

What mode of encryption? WPA/WPA2 (TKIP/CCMP/AES)? WEP?

What OS are you running on the connected computer(s)? Is it happening on one more than one computer?

[kb2crk]

the connection is lost to all the computers on wireless simultaneously. the laptops are running xppro sp3, the office computer is running vista basic and the other desktop is xppro sp2.
i dont know what the kodak printer or the nintendo wii run. the encryption is WPA TKIP. i had the router set up before the issue to only allow specific mac addresses to use the wireless and left that intact when i turned the encryption on. as i said i did not have the issue before the encryption was put into use.

[KC2UGV]

Are you on the latest firmware? Might be a bug that has been fixed.

[kb2crk]

the last time i checked i was up to date with the firmware. i will check that again.

[kb2crk]

just checked the router and it has v7.5 which is supposed to be the latest firmware

[W4GPL]

I don't know that model router very well, but there's should be a setting referring to key renewal, usually it's set to 3600 seconds. Is it happen as often as that interval is set to?

This is more for advanced users, but have you looked at OpenWRT? It's an alternative firmware for most SOHO routers and it's very good. Often far superior to what the OEM offers.

[kb2crk]

i will have to take a look at openWRT. it is possible that it is the key renewal and it is set to 3600 seconds.
i just changed it to 7200 to see if it happens only half as much.

[W4GPL]

Well, knowing that doesn't solve anything. It's possible that there's something funky going on when it renews the key.

I really like OpenWRT -- I highly recommend it.

Also, not that this will fix your problems, but if all your clients will support it, you really should be running WPA2 AES (CCMP) with a 64 character password.

[kb2crk]

i think all the clients will work with wpa2 but have to look and check the printer and the Wii. i do have the mac limitation set and it has worked well for me for years although it is a pain when i forget about that and try to add something. The Wii drove me nuts for a while until i remembered and added its mac to the list.

[kb2crk]

i forgot about the bosses kindle. i would have to make sure about its security settings.... just checked openwrt and it looks like it is good for up to the v2 routers. mine being v7 i will have to do a little more research.

[W4GPL]

Filtering by MAC address is worthless. You can find and spoof those in about 5 seconds. Strong encryption + a long non-dictionary based key is really the only means of having a moderately secure network. MAC filtering & SSID masking are just stop gap half measures.

I've done a bunch of wireless auditing over the years, sort of a hobby of mine.

[W4GPL]

Looks like DD-WRT supports your router.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database

DD-WRT is the same concept as OpenWRT. I believe it's just as good, but I have no direct experience with it.

[kb2crk]

i may just try that but since changing the timing of the key reset i have not been knocked off line. i will go to a better encryption as soon as i can get the network free.... how good is the WEP or RADIUS? again i have to make sure that everything here can work with it.

[W3MIV]

This probably won't help, but I have had nothing but troubles over the years with Linksys equipment. I went to an Apple Airport Extreme a few years back, and I have never had a single problem with it. I have rarely had to reboot it, and it works flawlessly; it has been in use for about three years now (it is the first generation Extreme, I believe). I use WPA/WPA2 encryption. When I switched to FiOS internet, the FiOS router came with its own WiFi router built into the modem. I turned that off, removed the antenna, and continued to use the Apple unit. It is expensive, but I have found it well worth the cost.

For the record, I run three Windows PCs, one Linux laptop and my xyl runs three Macs. My new laptop and two of the Macs run .11n and the two PCs and the Linux laptop run .11g.

[W4RLR]

For the record, I run three Windows PCs, one Linux laptop and my xyl runs three Macs. My new laptop and two of the Macs run .11n and the two PCs and the Linux laptop run .11g.You have good taste in wireless routers. Your wife has good taste in computers. :-)

[W4GPL]

i may just try that but since changing the timing of the key reset i have not been knocked off line. i will go to a better encryption as soon as i can get the network free.... how good is the WEP or RADIUS? again i have to make sure that everything here can work with it.WEP is worthless, crackable in seconds. RADIUS with WPA is good, but not practical for a home setup like yours. WPA2+AES, is currently the best combination for home users. It's not uncrackable, but it takes considerable time and massive amounts of CPU power -- most people use clusters to break WPA2.

Now.. if your password is found in a dictionary or a common phrase/string, it can be cracked in just a few minutes.

http://www.aircrack-ng.org/doku.php?id=cracking_wpa

Corporate networks use WPA2 w/certificates, plus some sort of second token, and then some sort of VPN/captive portal.

[kb2crk]

WPA2 enterprise or personal? VPN is a posibility. AES in in the options. my password is not in a dictionary nor a common phrase string. i also change it every so often. i have some things to learn about networking as i have learned by doing and reading. of course asking questions of the right people is always a great help. still no glitch since i changed the timing on the key renewal.

[W4GPL]

WPA2 Personal -- as for a VPN, that's not practical in this scenario either. Seriously though, WPA2 AES is 'good enough(tm)' -- Even WPA is fine.

WEP isn't even worth the overhead. If you're using WEP, you might as well not be running any security at all. Even the most basic Windows-based utilities can blow through that stuff in a matter of second.

[kb2crk]

i am using WPA personal TKIP right now. it was the first in the list when i set up the encryption. i figured i would ask about the options i had.. i do know that the local ISP installer does not know my info. i had the wireless router when i moved here and went with the standard dsl router. many people in the subdivision have the wireless built into their modems and many of them let the provider do the set up....

[NQ6U]

You have good taste in wireless routers. Your wife has good taste in computers. :-)

Same Wi-Fi router I'm running, Albi. It's been quite trouble-free.

[n6hcm]

another probably-out-there possibility: how's the air flow around your router? when you turn on encryption the box is working harder (to encrypt and decrypt everything) and if the box can't get cool enough you may have an outage.

also: can you correlate the failures to periods of high throughput?

[kb2crk]

the router has good air flow around it and it has happened with all levels of throughput. it has started again only now it is once every two hours. right on the key refresh schedule. i think when i am off on monday i am going to look into dd-wrt.