TP-LINK MR3420: Needs Restart every couple of hours!!

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Charlie.

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Yesterday, I bought a TP-LINK MR3420 router for my Cell C woosh speedstick. Initially, it appeared to be working just fine - the 3G was faster than it was through the PC, the wireless was great and the LAN was better and all was well.

I have noticed a HUGE problem, though - it completely ceases to respond after a few hours and needs to be restarted EVERY couple of hours!

By "ceases to respond", I mean:
1. The wireless network goes down - can't be detected via InSSIDer on any of my devices.
2. The LAN goes down - DHCP doesn't serve IP addresses even.
3. Computers on the LAN that already have IPs can't use it as a router to get to the internet or browse to the administration pages.

The modem is a ZTE MF668 HSPA+ USB Dongle. The router has stock firmware which is dated "110418" and appears to be the latest available from the TP-link site.

Please HELP! I thought I'd bought both a bargain and a great product but it's really failing.
 
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Had the same problem with my MR3420 and a Cell C ZTE MF190 modem.

Router would just freeze at random intervals. "SYS" indicator on front panel would either be frozen in the on or off state, but not flashing normally. Only way to fix, was to unplug power and restart.

Worst of all the router was at a remote site and I had a 20min drive to go and reset it. Very annoying. Pity they don't have some "watchdog" reboot function, which detects the router has locked up and initiates a self reboot.

Try the 110617 firmware as Ajax suggested. Seems to have solved my problem.
 
Base122 said:
Pity they don't have some "watchdog" reboot function, which detects the router has locked up and initiates a self reboot.
Click to expand...

Only enterprise routers and servers offer that kind of functionality so it isn't surprising they don't have it. But you can do something very similar for very low cost if you really need it. I do it at home, my one router is wired VIA a relay which is controlled by another computer that has Nagios installed. As soon as Nagios reports a failure it turns the router on and off, it happens very rarely tho.

Also if you know the router only freezes every 24 hours you can have a remote computer run a script that restarts the router every 12 hours.
 
Gnome said:
Also if you know the router only freezes every 24 hours you can have a remote computer run a script that restarts the router every 12 hours.
Click to expand...

The site only has a CCTV recorder and the router, with no computer unfortunately.

Before the June firmware seemed to have resolved the problem, I was seriously considering one of those mains power timer switches which I would have set to switch off and then on again somewhere in the middle of the night, or even more than once a day.
Probably would have been the cheapest solution.

Another idea was one of these SMS controller devices so that I could send an SMS to switch a relay on and off to reset the power.
All just adds to the cost.

Can't see why they could not just implement a simple "watchdog" countdown timer on the CPU reset line, that is "refreshed" by the firmware. So firmware lockup = no refresh = reset. Maybe it was a cost issue.
 
Dont think it's the router that is the issue.

what setting do you have your 3G settings on,

connect automatically,
On demand, or
manual

The 3g modem will swtich off after a couple of hours of non use if 'on demand', and it takes a while for it to re-connect. usually does not.

could be the issue ?
 
Meteor said:
Dont think it's the router that is the issue.

what setting do you have your 3G settings on,

connect automatically,
On demand, or
manual

The 3g modem will swtich off after a couple of hours of non use if 'on demand', and it takes a while for it to re-connect. usually does not.

could be the issue ?
Click to expand...

Can't speak for Charlie. but mine is set for "connect automatically", so is always supposed to remain connected.

Definitely was the router, as the front panel SYS indicator stops flashing, which says to me the firmware is not running anymore.

Router could not be "pinged" or its Web Management page opened.
 
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I have had the same problems with my MR3420, with all versions of the software.

I have tried different modems, but this is not a modem problem, it is the wifi that goes haywire.

TP-Link need to provide stable software for this router, otherwise it is useless.

I am actually looking around for something else.
 
Jola said:
I have had the same problems with my MR3420, with all versions of the software.

I have tried different modems, but this is not a modem problem, it is the wifi that goes haywire.

TP-Link need to provide stable software for this router, otherwise it is useless.

I am actually looking around for something else.
Click to expand...

Toss'es coin, do I buy one, or don't I .... , do, don't, don't, do, ..... I not sure :(
 
elf_lord_ZC5 said:
Toss'es coin, do I buy one, or don't I .... , do, don't, don't, do, ..... I not sure :(
Click to expand...

It's difficult, there is no obvious great alternative - every modem that I can think of has some problem.

Thinking about the Netgear routers, they are more stable, but they also don't support the latest modems and they cost a lot more.

Actually, the MR3420 is a great router, they just need to sort the software out - but they seem either unwilling or unable to do so.
 
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For the time being, I am back to my Intellinet 300n 3G. It has a max speed of 7.2Mbps, but its stable and the service from the supplier is great. I found out today that the 3G doesn.t have connect on demand, but that to me is a nonIssue.
 
And I agree with Jola regarding the stability of the TP-Link. I hope they will bring out formware that is stable.
 
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I must just add that I have also had this firmware crashing/freezing problem on the MR3220 model as well.

I wonder if this problem has actually been reported to TP-Link?

I find it very difficult in this case to prepare a meaningful error report, as this is a very difficult problem to replicate and describe, other than "router locks up and needs power cycle reset".

It happens randomly and there does not seem to be any pattern to it. Seems to happen with a variety of modems and firmware versions as mentioned by others.

I have also seen the MR3220 work fine for a few days, then fail with the status page showing "identifying" for the modem and nothing more. This does not make sense, as the modem was correctly identified in the first place and had worked fine for several days. A reboot generally sorts this out till the next time.
 
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I have only ethernet connections to my router and it doesn't freeze up. A friend of mine uses the wireless and it does freeze up every day or 2. So if you can use ethernet in the interim it "should" take care of the problem until they release a bug fix.

EDIT: Just want to add that my wireless radio is disabled on my router.
 
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ajax said:
I have only ethernet connections to my router and it doesn't freeze up. A friend of mine uses the wireless and it does freeze up every day or 2. So if you can use ethernet in the interim it "should" take care of the problem until they release a bug fix.

EDIT: Just want to add that my wireless radio is disabled on my router.
Click to expand...

Now that you mention the issue with wireless, I remember reporting a problem to TP-Link regarding the 1043ND router over a year and a half ago. This had to do with the plug-in USB device network sharing service failing to start when the wireless channel selection was set to "auto". If it was set to a specific channel, the service would automatically restart normally.

They managed to replicate the problem in their lab at the time and it turned out to be that when the wireless channel setting was set to auto, the router would take longer to start up (checking for best wireless channel) and somehow the network sharing service would fail to start. Some timeout maybe?

Anyhow that was sorted out in the following firmware release.

I'm wondering now if this issue of either using auto or a fixed channel in the wireless settings is impacting on the identifying or operation of the plug-in USB modem and maybe randomly confusing the router, resulting in a freeze up?

ajax, maybe you can take a look at this and see if choosing a fixed wireless channel as opposed to auto has any bearing on this problem? I'll do the same my side. Anyone else willing to experiment with this, please share your findings.
 
Base122 said:
They managed to replicate the problem in their lab at the time and it turned out to be that when the wireless channel setting was set to auto, the router would take longer to start up (checking for best wireless channel) and somehow the network sharing service would fail to start. Some timeout maybe?
Click to expand...

I actually started suspecting this before you even posted and am busy testing this at the moment - I am now fixed to N, but this is a little inconvenient as I still have one or two G devices. Depending on how the tests go I may have to set up a separate G Access Point.

Another option is to disable wifi on the MR3420 completely, I have a Belkin 600N router that I can use for wifi.
 
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I have my wireless channel set explicitly to channel 6 and the problem persists. (Also, since I require wireless and bought this router specifically because it had wireless, I am NOT about to turn off the wireless radio and string cables.)

In the last few days, the problem seems to have changed to issues specifically regarding 3G connectivity - that is, the router still responds and can be pinged but the 3G connection dies.

The 3G lite on the router stays on but the light on the modem stops flashing - I think indicating that there is no connection.

This problem even persists AFTER a power-cycle.

I am very nearly ready to take this router back to the suppliers and demand a refund because, frankly, it's junk.

To those of you about to make a purchasing decision, I say this: DO NOT BUY THIS ROUTER. Perhaps, one day, they'll fix the firmware or the hardware or whatever the fook is causing these issues and the whole of MyBB will report that the MR3420 is brilliant. Until that day, it's a paper-weight.
 
Charlie. said:
To those of you about to make a purchasing decision, I say this: DO NOT BUY THIS ROUTER. Perhaps, one day, they'll fix the firmware or the hardware or whatever the fook is causing these issues and the whole of MyBB will report that the MR3420 is brilliant. Until that day, it's a paper-weight.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with the above, this router is not stable with any of the recent firmware revisions.

And TP-Link are not coming to the party with support for this device !
 
Charlie. said:
The 3G lite on the router stays on but the light on the modem stops flashing - I think indicating that there is no connection.
Click to expand...

When this happens, are you able to get to the router status page?
Does the 3G status show "identifying" only or does it correctly identify your modem and then only shows "connecting" (but never does)?
 
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