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Forum Discussion
Power cord pen on the motherboard of this router to go bad
I just have been experiencing the same frustration five years later – there’s no reason for the power cord pen on the motherboard of this router to go bad when it just sits on a shelf and no one touches it. I hope they fix the issue because Net Gear customer service is terrible. He suggested maybe I was too rough in unplugging it and plugging it in for the second time in three years.
1 Reply
Every product has a warranty period. (automobiles, TVs, cell phones, hand mixers, ovens,..... and consumer WiFi routers) If the product fails before the warranty expires, the company replaces the failed product with something "good enough". (i.e. probably one that was returned). After the warranty expires, nothing. Some consumers decide that purchasing an extended warranty on everything they purchase is not a good investment. The money saved will pay to replace whatever fails after the warranty expires.
There are choices:
- Open the case. Look for a break in the printed circuit board near the power socket, and try to repair it. (No worry about voiding the warranty, because there no longer is one.)
- Purchase a replacement RBS50 satellite on eBay, Goodwill, etc. (They are not cheap. from $40 to $200.)
- Replace the system with a WiFi6 mesh system. There are LOTS of WiFi6 products on the market at under $150 for a router and satellite, such as eero, Google, TP-Link, (and a bunch of Chinese brands no one has ever heard of).
