Linksys WRTP54G Overheats/wired lan quits

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: May 29, 2007 Posts: 3

Howdy,
Ran a search and didn't find anyone else posting with this problem. I lose the wired lan when the router gets hot. The wireless & phone work, but the wired lan lights go out and the computer reports unplugged network cable. Took me a long time to figure out it does this whenever it gets hot. Any time my office gets over 70 degrees the lan goes out and I have to unplug the router and let it cool down. I have it standing on its side now as it seems to stay a little cooler that way.
Any suggestions or should I just toss it and get a different brand. This is the 2nd Linksys device I've had and both have been troublesome. (first was a different model and not a vonage device)

Thanks

Posts: 879 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Nov 05, 2005 Posts: 879

Make sure the device isn't too close to your other devices so as to allow air circulation. Have you tried placing a small fan near the WRTP54G to blow directly on it to keep it cool? If you decide to replace the WRTP54G, the Motorola VT2542 would be my recommendation if you want an all-in-one Vonage adapter and wireless router.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 18, 2006 Posts: 2

I ran into the same issue and spent hours trying to figure out what was going on until I came across this post. After letting the Linksys POS cool down, everything started working again. I have elevated the router on two small blanks to allow the meshed areas of the casing to be completely unobstructed and hope this will prevent the issue from occurring again.

Note that I called Vonage tech support, got to a tier 2 person (because I didn't have any faulty cables) and they had me change the network card settings so that (on XP SP2) the Connection Type went from 'Auto Sense' to '10 Mbps'. That also fixed the problem, but just for one computer and there was no good way to fix the problem for my network printer. What was really disappointing was that the support person could not tell me why the problem occurred - he could only give me a band aid to fix the immediate problem.

It would be really helpful if someone could explain the reason why overheating causes this behavior, and whether or not it is an indication of a soon to be dead router.

So the moral of the story - do NOT change any network card settings, just unplug the power cord for the router for an hour or two, make sure it is well ventilated, and then plug the power cord back in.

Posts: 208 · Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 9:27 am Post subject:

10mbps forces the card to work slower for intranet purposes, which should be ok for your needs unless you're using massive fileservers or big network sharing stuff

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: May 29, 2007 Posts: 3

Thanks for the replies. I'll try the 10 mps thing and see if that helps. I hate having to unplug it all the time. I was tempted to make some bigger holes in the mesh for better airflow, but everytime I went to the toolbox I had this overwhleming urge to grab a hammer.... Twisted Evil

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 11

I'm having the same problem with the router except mine seems to hold the connection better if I hook up 2 ethernet computers to it!

I contacted Vonage support and they tell me I will have to buy another unit since it is out of warranty to which I stated I would not do since I have been a loyal customer for almost 2 years and if they won't replace it I will be moving to a different VOIP!

How would it work if I were to use this router as just a phone adapter through another wireless router since the phone side of it works fine??

I'm thinking I would put the other wireless router right from the cable modem then plug the WTPG54G into it via one of the LAN ports?

Let me know what you guys think!

Also how can I slow the card down to 10mbps where is this setting?

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: May 29, 2007 Posts: 3

I changed my WinXP machine and JetDirect to 10MPS full duplex and disabled auto sense on the Jet Direct and everything is working fine, no shutdown. I haven't able to get the Win 98 machine to work yet but I haven't tried very hard either....

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 01, 2007 Posts: 1

I've had the same issue for some time, but never really frustrated by it until I recently connected a networked printer that kept losing link with the router. Since I rely on this being connected (and it was much more difficult to get it to reconnect than a PC) I was starting to get serious about fixing the issue. It also seemed to be getting much worse recently.

After beating my head against the brick wall with Linksys and Vonage tech support and getting nowhere -- googling the problem that I was seeing got me here. Once again, the power of the user community had an answer that the "experts" couldn't provide. I never imagined that overheating was the issue (but it makes sense since the problem has gotten worse as summer has arrived), but it clearly was the root of my problems.

I moved the router from its place on top of the cable modem (duh), placed it on its side and added a small fan and I have not lost link with any of my wired devices for almost 2 days! (after not being able to go for 2 hours...)

This is just a long winded way of saying THANKS! to everyone here for helping with my sanity.