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RAX200 Overheating, drops 2.4 & 5.0 WiFi but wired connections function well
I purchased my RAX200 this June and it has worked well until just three days ago. The problem presented as a slow throughput which escalated to intermittent drops. Checking the connectivity and bandwidth from the provider router/modem indicated all was fine (less than 3ms ping,1600 b pckt (+/-) 850 mb down and up (AT&T, Fibre)). I confirmed that the wired connections were working as expected. Troubleshooting 101, when all else fails, reboot. This is when I felt the surface of the router - hot. I then attempted to connect to router over WiFi and there was the problem, from the LAN I could login 2 of 5 attempts with the failures either being device not found or time-out error. If I was able to connect it would take significant amout of time to render the home page. Now I can not connect to the gateway at all.
Time to call support, 2 days later and after 2 restore from factory settings and I'm getting no where. WiFi is still not responding, Wired still works and they are running out of suggestions. I'm guessing at this point the WiFi antennas must be fried, both 2.4 and 5.0 are not respond at all regardless time "cooling" or restarting. Support keeps guessing what to do next but restoring the roouter a third time is not going to happen and all I want is an RMA at this point. Is there any diagnostic logs for the CPU/Internal Temps etc...? This is a residential product so I'm not finding much on diagnostics. Please advise...
- Good luck!
3 Replies
I don't have my rax200 setup right now to test.
A couple things I'd try.
1. downgrade the firmware. If a newer firmware is leaving a process running and maxing out the cpu, maybe its whats causing the issue. Try the downgrade to see if thats the issue. You know what they say about trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results :)
2. while debugging, I'd stick a fan under/on it to cool it. Heat is the enemy of electronics. If its overheating, you don't know what future issues its causing. I'd do the fan just temporarily while testing.
3. if you go to its ip address +/debug.htm so if your ip address is 192.168.1.1 go to 192.168.1.1/debug.htm that'll show you the load on the cpu/ram. Not a temp but at least you can see the load on it. might be handy.
My gut feeling is that the heat has already damaged the router. I powered off the device this afternoon for a couple hours (nice and cold) and the WiFi is completely down... cannot find the device. I have hardwire access and will try the downgrade suggestion afer work.
I like the /debug.htm suggestion, never knew that and apparently neither do the first level support guys. I was once a support rep and know its tough but at the same time know when you are guesing its time to escalate... the support techs say they cannot escalate the call unless I restore it a 3rd time... you know what they say about repeating the same action expecting a different response ... I am attempting an online RMA and I'm hopefull. I'll update this thread tonight if downgrading the firmware has any effect. Thnks
- Good luck!