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Netgear WGR614v7

I’ve reached the conclusion that this wireless router is pretty much useless. Despite my earlier efforts of heatsinking the processor (which did help), sending email logs when the log was full (unsure if that was useful at all), and updating the firmware to the latest and greatest the thing would still refuse to connect to the WAN randomly.

I did some more digging and figured out that the router doesn’t really have a WAN port, despite the port on the back being labeled as such. The switch controller is actually a six-port controller, and only five are used. Even though the WAN port on the router is physically separated from the other four ports, the switch controller sees it exactly the same as the rest. All five of the ethernet ports on the back are auto-sensing ports so any one has uplink capability. The polarity of the connection is tested during link or when more than three packets are received with inverted end-of-packet pulses. If any of the ports exhibit this behavior the switch controller reverses the port polarity and stores that status in a register. That port then becomes an uplink.

What I figured out was that if the switch ports are used for other devices, the router will eventually fail to uplink. That is, if you use it as an access point instead of a router, it’s fine. When you start using the  switch ports it gets confused. I have successfully had the router running for a while by connecting my wired devices through a switch and then uplinking just the switch to port 2, with the router then uplinking to the gateway. Evidently the router’s processor has an issue with its mapped memory.

I’ve now bought a Linksys E2500 wireless N router to replace this thing. You can get refurbished wifi routers at Cisco’s store for about half price.

Tags: Electronics