DG834GT reboots itself

Over the last few days I've have been experiencing a repeating problem with my DG834GT. It will, for no apparent reason, go into a continuous cycle of rebooting itself. It does not actually turn itself off, because the LAN indicator stays lit, but the power, wireless and DSL indicators go off for about two seconds, then the power light comes on, the test light flashes a few times and then the wireless light comes on for a second. Then the whole cycle starts again. Occasionally it will stay on long enough for the DSL to connect and then start the cycle all over again a minute or so later.

This problem has happened around the same time every evening for the last 4 days and lasts for about 2 hours. Then it seems to settle down and I have no problem with it for the rest of the evening and all the next day.

So far I have tried the following:-
1. Double checked all the settings.
2. Pull out the power for a while.
3. Disconnect the DSL.
4. Press the RESET button.

None of these have helped. In the case of the RESET, all it did was put it into a cycle of the power and test lights flashing alternately and never coming back on. I eventually pulled the power and it came back on still with all my settings intact, instead of the factory defaults.

I updated the firmware to v1.02.09 about 10 days ago and it was working fine up until this started.

Anyone have any ideas?

Psybernaut said:

Over the last few days I've have been experiencing a repeating problem with my DG834GT. It will, for no apparent reason, go into a continuous cycle of rebooting itself. It does not actually turn itself off, because the LAN indicator stays lit, but the power, wireless and DSL indicators go off for about two seconds, then the power light comes on, the test light flashes a few times and then the wireless light comes on for a second. Then the whole cycle starts again. Occasionally it will stay on long enough for the DSL to connect and then start the cycle all over again a minute or so later.

This problem has happened around the same time every evening for the last 4 days and lasts for about 2 hours. Then it seems to settle down and I have no problem with it for the rest of the evening and all the next day.

So far I have tried the following:-
1. Double checked all the settings.
2. Pull out the power for a while.
3. Disconnect the DSL.
4. Press the RESET button.

None of these have helped. In the case of the RESET, all it did was put it into a cycle of the power and test lights flashing alternately and never coming back on. I eventually pulled the power and it came back on still with all my settings intact, instead of the factory defaults.

I updated the firmware to v1.02.09 about 10 days ago and it was working fine up until this started.

Anyone have any ideas?

Click to expand...

Downgrade the firmware to previous version & see if it's stable again. If it aint broken just leave it as it is - Or check the Netgear forums for a solution. Netgear routers has a reputation of acting up when you upgrade new firmware, old story ..

Hi,

My NetGear router also did the same thing. Rebooted itself randomly. I thought it was the line or ISP, but checked with both and they tell me nothing is wrong on their sides.

Check this thread:-

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=79815

I mentioned my router there.

P.S. - I've got a DG834G, not DG834GT router. Maybe it's a problem with the DG834 series of routers.

Well now it seems to be fine, I haven't had any problems with it since I posted my last post on that thread, so I dunno. I was going to take it back to the place I bought it from for a swap out, but if it's working fine now, no need to.

Later,
:L:

Heat issues related

Its not a heat issue. The problem is too regular.

Based on a comment in the netgear forum, I'm pretty sure now that it is a power issue. The adapter which ships with netgear is not specific for SA (it comes with a plug adapter to fit our socket type) and may be too sensitive to slight power drops, which is consistent with the time this happens around early evening when demand increases... especially with the bad weather we've had down here this week and our already stressed power supply.

I'm going to try and get the adapter tested to see if I can replicate the problem as the voltage decreases, or try and get hold of a local adapter of a similar type to test and will report back if this solves the problem.

Oh wow. I would have never guessed it was that.

Yeah, the one that comes with the NetGear is for UK plugs. I just had an adapter lying around so used that.

Well considering it hasn't happened again, I'll leave it. but if it does happen again, I'll see if I can use an AC/DC adapter instead. See if that helps.

:L:

Piece OF ****e netgear.

Dont buy netgear routers alot of them overheat for no reason, that being said im not condemning all their products their wifi cards kick ass and work no issue, but for a router i'd go linksys , then possibly a billion.

Netgears have a tendancy to overheat and spam reboot.

J

I have heard that before, but then again, I think you will always find people that have been turned off a certain brand by a bad personal (or friends) experience.

I know several people that have Netgear routers and never had a problem. Mine has been on (baring the odd power failure) non stop for about a year and its barely warm, let alone hot.

Having said that, I would definitely recommend using the stands and keeping it upright which promotes better cooling. When I first installed it, I did notice that the desk would absorb and retain a lot of heat which I guess could cause a problem over time with the build up of heat under the router. Within a day or so I up ended it on the stands and its much cooler.

Strangely enough, before the rebooting issue...it was standing on it's side with it's little stands. And it was not hot or even warm to the touch.

After the rebooting issue, I took off the stands and put it flat down on a wooden desk. But it hasn't rebooted since.

Maybe I should put the stands back and see if it reboots again.

:L:

Irony is.

I think my DG834 just recently bricked itself. Going to go see a friend with ADSL and try my router there to make sur eit's not my line.

THe router switches on, orange "tick" link light flashes a few times then goes off, via web interface it says "nogotiating"...

Normally routers rebooting themselves is a power related issue, where the load gets high and the voltage being supplied by the power supply doesnt meet demand. I was getting that alot on my Linksys until i upped the power supply and it was stable after that

Well, I'm pretty convinced now that it is the adpater. Although I've not had an oppotunity to test and see if I can recreate the problem, the problem itself seem to have stopped as suddely as it started. It has not rebooted itself since Saturday night, which coinsidently was also that last time we had a very cold night with lots of rain.

I have the negear wifi router too, used it for around 2.5 years now and a few months ago (not too long after i did a firmware upgrade) it's started randomly freezing (especially when using wifi) and 2 days ago it started rebooting constantly for no reason - like every minute. I think its lifespan is coming to an end (how long do routers usually last?) so I'm using the telkom marconi wifi they gave free with self install which seems to be quite stable compared.

Oh, also, the plug is awful, it has to be plugged in face down to the floor, not against the wall because then it doesnt get power - seems to need its own weight to push itself in properly, not even black tape could fix that.

I don't think routers have a particular lifespan. I've read in other unrelated posts people talking about having the same router for years, but I suppose like any electrical equipment, you could get two identical models and one lasts for ever and the other doesn't.

Personally, with the exception of the rebooting, which I'm now 99% sure is related to a general drop in power in our area, in particularly when the weather is cold which causes an increase in load, I've not experienced any problems with this unit or the adapter.

From what I've read in other posts, freezing is often related to the firmware and resetting it to the factory defaults and then re-entering your settings is usually suggested, or downgrading the firmware to the last stable version you had.

A final conclusion, in case anyone else has this problem in the future.

Being a cold few days, my router started its rebooting thing again for an hour or so in the early evening, after having been stable for over a week, so I swapped it with a recently acquired Telkom adapter and it works fine. Swapped it a few times just to make sure and each time the router would reboot when using the netgear adapter, so clearly the 240v adapter supplied is too close to its tolerance to handle small drops in our 220v (unstable at the best of times) local power supply.

silver6933 said:

Heat issues related

Click to expand...

Could be. Mine got pretty damn hot and now that I created much more room and used the feet that came in the box for vertical positioning it is a bit better.

The user interface gets stuck now and again, but she is more stable after this and the obligatory firmware shift.

For those having the problem with netgear routers, I have had the same problem with Netgear DG834G router and have the solution. Here is my story.

I have had the router for almost 2 years with no problems. A really good router, easy to setup and configurable enough so you can use it (unlike some belkin routers which dont even do port forwarding ranges). Anyway, we had a power cut and when the power came back on it must have surged the adapter because it stopped working.

The symptoms are that the power light comes on then the internet light comes on a few seconds later, then almost instantly both lights go out as if it restarts itself. This cycle repeats for ever. Both lights are green and there are no orange or red lights during this cycle. This even happens when nothing else is plugged in to it except power. Here is the reason I know it is the adapter and that there is actually nothing wrong with the router.

Today at lunchtime, I purchased exactly the same router and tried the busted one out on the new power adapter and it works. It seems that the 12V switching adapter that came with the original router is stuck on 6.5V so it has enough power to light up the leds but something fails on booting the device so it gets stuck in a loop. I dont know much about switching adapters and dont know how they work, but it seems perhaps that the voltage is too low to power some of the circuits. Perhaps the adapter is supposed to switch in to a higher voltage mode and it just not sensing that the router needs more power. I am not certain how easy it would be to fix.

Also, something else to note is that the 6.5V wasn't even enough to wipe the memory using the factory reset button because I pushed and held it in many times to try and get it working again, but when I plugged it in with the new adapter it worked fine and had all my settings still.

So now I have two Netgear DG834G routers with one working power supply. Yae.

I hope this helps people out that are searching google for this problem.