What's new

Problem with Belkin "N" Wireless Router (1 Viewer)

Mike Frezon

Moderator
Premium
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2001
Messages
60,683
Location
Rexford, NY
Anyone got any thoughts on this problem?

 

I've been using a Belkin "N" Wireless Router for the past year or so. My laptop has a Linksys PCI card. The two have worked together beautifully with no issues...until today.

 

The Linksys card still seems to work fine as it pulls in signals from various distant networks in my neighbor's homes...but can't get a signal off the Belkin router.
 

Two frustrating calls tonight to Belkin support had me reconfiguring the router and, of course, had the Belkin techs then zeroing-in on the Linksys card.
 

Since there were no changes of any sort in hardware or software on my network...wouldn't you just figure that the router went bad (in terms of the wireless process)? It still works fine for wired connections and for transferring the internet signal from my modem to other computers in the home which are connected via wired connections. It's just the wireless signal which seems to have gone kaput.

 

The Belkin guys said if I could try to get another laptop to find the wireless signal--and it didn't work--then we could discuss having Belkin try to fix/replace the router. It must be out of warranty. I'm not sure when I purchased it...but I'm pretty confident it was more than a year ago. I cannot imagine they'd replace it free of charge.

 

So...I'm curious what you guys think of the situation. I'm tempted to tell them another laptop wouldn't connect either and see what they say then. I begged them to understand that the wireless card was working fine since it was picking up signals from outside my home. But it was to no avail.
 

BTW, I have completely spared you all the stupid things that transpired during those calls.
 

Brian Sharp

Second Unit
Joined
Oct 1, 2005
Messages
264
Location
Robin Hood Country
Real Name
Brian Sharp
Had a Belkin "N" router and a D-Link "N" dongle for my laptop. This combination worked fine in Florida for about six months and then started to get connection problems. Spent the regulation few hours on the phone to Belkin but eventually gave up as they had manged to screw up the settings on my computer; ended up having to reload Windows. Strange thing was that I brought it back to the UK, plugged it in and it has worked fine ever since.
 

Jay H

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 22, 1999
Messages
5,654
Location
Pittsfield, MA
Real Name
Jay
I have a Netgear N Wifi router that all of a sudden would just get random dropouts, that would basically have my laptop loosing internet connection and then regaining it and then losing it. It was kind of frustrating to track it down. I changed the WiFi channel (there is a way to do that in software on the laptop's wifi settings) and fixed it right off. Might be interference but you can try to change the channel, I think there are like 12 of them or something.. It's something that is cheap to try anyway...


Jay
 

Todd Erwin

Reviewer
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2008
Messages
10,353
Location
Hawthorne, NV
Real Name
Todd Erwin
Mike,


Have you scanned for other wi-fi signals recently? It is possible that a neighbor is causing interference by broadcasting on the same or overlapping channel. Try using channels 1, 6, or 11, as these do not overlap within the 2.4 Ghz spectrum. Most routers use channel 6 as default, so try 1 or 11 first.


The other possibility is that the wireless portion of the router has died. It happens, especially on third-party routers like Belkin, usually shortly after the warranty has expired. I always stick with the Big Three when it comes to routers, Linksys, D-Link, and Netgear, and recommend using only those to my customers.
 

Mike Frezon

Moderator
Premium
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2001
Messages
60,683
Location
Rexford, NY
Thanks, Todd (and Jay). I'm pretty sure it has died. The little indicator light on the side of the unit (signifying the wireless signal) even stopped lighting. Not that the boys at Belkin were having any of that! They took every means they could to prove it was the receiver/laptop that was the cause of the problem.


I have since replaced the unit with a Netgear N 300 and everything has been fine since.

This is the 3rd wirless router I've had and I find your remarks about them giving out right after warranty (after a year or so) to be right on the mark.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,712
Messages
5,121,148
Members
144,147
Latest member
cennetkaralowa
Recent bookmarks
0
Top