7800N turns off every few minutes?

[Chappers]

Hello,

First post, please be gentle.

Just purchase a 7800N from amazon after realising my Netgear DGN1000 was probably the worst router on the planet.

Unboxed the 7800N, plugged it all in, adsl settings ok, wireless settings ok. Then it turns itself off. (The EWAN and WirelessWPS lights both illuminate orange, whilst all other lights go out - then they all go out.

If I press the power button off then on, nothing happens. I have to leave it at least 30 seconds before it will turn itself back on again. Could it be overheating? I fail to see how it can be, as it's in an ambient-temperature room on a flat surface with nothing around it. I suppose the casing feels a bit warm, but not what I'd call "hot".

Then it will work for about 3 or 4 minutes, only to do the same again. When it's "off", I can make out a faint glimmer in the outer-most lights from the front panel but they're definitely not lit.

Have I missed something, or do I have a faulty item which will have to go back?

It came with 1.06e firmware pre-installed out the box, and I haven't got as far as doing anything glamorous with it yet, just setting the WPA2/PSK and activating WPS and "Phyr", but I have tried undoing things to no avail.

Feeling slightly deflated and disappointed so far.

Please help!

Cheers

Chappers

[psychopomp1]

This is definitely not normal behaviour. I suggest you send it back for a replacement as it appears you've been sent a lemon

[Chappers]

Thanks, I've sent it off to amazon and they are sending me a replacement.

I think I just needed someone to confirm that I wasn't imagining it. I'm no stranger to routers and networking, but it just struck me as weird. I've had experience of many networking products in my time, and never had a router pack-up the moment it came out of the package before, but I guess these things happen. Fingers crossed the replacement will behave properly.

Cheers

Chappers

[tinytim]

I think there have been a few returns to Amazon reported here. Bad batch?

[Chappers]

Well if they send me another dud, then I will get a full refund and try a different retailer. I've not normally had any issues with anything I've had from amazon though so I will give them the benefit of the doubt for now... The new one has dispatched so I should have it by Tuesday/Wednesday. I will update this thread once I've received it.

[Chappers]

As an update to this thread, the new router arrived and seems to be working fine. I left it plugged in and turned on for 2 hours before I integrated it into my network, just to make sure. It might ultimately have just been the power plug on the old one that was caput, but as I'd only just received it I think it was better to return as d.o.a..

New router is nicely synched at a similar speed to my old Netgear DGN1000, although the Attenuation figures are about 59.0 compared to the Netgear's supposed 50.0. But then the actual line performance is no different or slightly better with the Billion on stock settings, so I'd be inclined to think the Netgear was lying.

Will be seeing how things go over the next few days then might enable Phyr and tweak my line down a bit. I need to check on wireless performance etc.

One good thing I've noticed is that my two Playstations both got NAT2 straight away without needing to faff about with port forwarding or anything, so we'll see how that turns out longer-term.

Apparently my local exchange (SLEAFORD, Lincolnshire) gets upgraded to ADSL2+ at the end of March 2012. BT's site test thinks my current line maxes out at 2Meg on regular ADSL but suggests it might get up to 3.5 on the ADSL2+ service. Considering I'm getting nearly 3Meg on the current service, I'm thinking I could get the Billion to push that boundary a bit when ADSL2+ rolls out .

[Tomken]

Looks like a result then

[Chappers]

Further update, all seems to be going ok.

Wireless range is definite improvement on the DGN1000.

Having some issues with DLNA streaming from a wireless laptop to a powerline networked PS3. Haven't done any port-forwarding or DMZ configuration, it's all just out-the-box uPnP and both my PS3s are reporting the correct NAT2 configuration. Might try restricting the wireless transmission modes when I get home as I understanding b+g+n is sometimes not a good thing to leave on. If there is a g+n option I will try that. Also might try reducing the network speed setting on the powerline network connected PS3 from Auto-Detect to 100-half duplex, just in case I it needs to be lowered.

One thing I have noticed, is that I have tweaked the SNR using the setting of "1" and the link is stable, showing a downstream sync of about 4.5Mbps which is great compared to my old sync speed of about 3mbps, but for some reason, the actual through-put when using a broadband speed testing site doesn't seem to change, it stays at about 2.6-2.8Mbps irrespective of what SNR tweak and what sync I have achieved. Is it possible that there is some other factor that could be limiting my real-world broadband performance?

My ISP is Orange UK and I have never had any problems with them in over 2 years.


EDIT: I Think I can probably answer my own question on that last bit, after reading one of the other threads. I suspect it may be down to IP Profiling at my local exchange. I will check the BT speedtester when i get home later to see if the Profile listed on there looks like one of the old-fashioned round-numbers indicating it will take about 3 days to increase after a stable connection. Fortunately, Samknows and BT indicate my local exchange is getting upgraded to 21CN WBC at the end of this month, so with any luck that will allow for more speed, and the instant reactive IP Profile method.

[tinytim]

Yes you have answered your question regarding tweaking correctly I believe.

As for the streaming , I'd restrict your wireless modes as much as possible. I'd also get Inssider & check the channels in use around you & go for one that's not in use.

I'd leave the PS3 settings as I doubt that's causing the problem.

[Chappers]

Further update,

All still going ok. Restricting the wireless transmission modes to g&n instead of b&g&n as well as pulling the PS3 down to half-duplex has resolved the DLNA streaming problem. Haven't seen a single DLNA 2104 or 2101 error since, which is better than any other router I have used on my network.

Have been gradually tweaking the SNR down, and have settled on a figure of 65500 which has allowed me an SNR margin of 3.9 - 4.0, and a sync speed of about 5200, allowing a real-world downstream of about 4500 on a good day. Considering my old router managed real-world of about 2000 to 2200, I'm quite pleased. Never had it drop at all either.

As mentioned previously, my local exchanged is rumoured to be going ADSL2+ in two week's time, so I might find things may get even better.

Does anyone happen to know whether moving from ADSL-Max to ADSL2+ requires any significant configuration changes or do you just leave everything as-is and reap the benefits? Do you have to contact your ISP to do anything, or should they move my service over without my prompting them?

Cheers

Chappers