BleepingComputer.com: Lynksys Not Working?

Wednesday we lost internet connection. We went back and forth with Comcast, (our internet connection) trying to get online and they told us it's the router problem, not their modem (which is fairly new--less than a year).

Hope I explain enough here; The cable modem's 4 green lights came on, but not the orange "standby" light. The cable company says that tells them it's not their modem. They had me unhook the computer from the router and go directly to the modem. The standby light came on. But no internet.

Back to the phones with Comcast. They finally did some reset thingy and I have internet-- on this computer only because we are bypassing the router (so i have no firewall right now, either ). And we can't get the internet on the other two computers now.

The router is maybe 3 years old. One of it's antennas is broken off. It's a Lynksys. But it doesn't seem it should go bad this quickly. My hubby and his friend set it up, and they don't remember the password they set up. (I think they also don't even remember the user name, but my hubby won't admit to that, and stalls me when I ask him for it! ) I'm not sure how to "reconfigure it" as the cable people say we need to do, especially when i can't even acess the account! Any ideas?

We really do need the other two computers to be able to access the internet, because we homeschool, and the kids need to get online for some of their subjects. I don't want to have to pull the cord from the back of the modem, to plug their computers in every time one of us needs the internet. And my hubby's 'puter is in the shop, but when he gets it back, HE's gonna NEED the internet, too, since he works from home! AKKKKKK!

Maybe I oughta just kick the router out the window and go get a new one? See? It's making me crazy!! LOL!

Moderator Edit: Moved topic to more appropriate forum. ~ Animal

This post has been edited by Animal: 23 March 2007 - 02:57 PM

On the back of the router there is a small hole marked reset. If you get a paper clip or safety pin, you can return the router to factory defaults thus resetting the user name and password to admin. By default, the Linksys router has no password but you can change that during configuration. After doin gthis it should be a piece of cake to ge tyour internet up and running again.

HTH

I would be suspicious of the fact that they did a"reset thingy" Plug it all in again and see if it works. Maybe Hubby did not reset the password so it will still be admin (lower case) Otherwise use Baloo's suggestion and get back to admin. Maybe you know, but you must open a web browser and enter http://192.168.1.1 This takes you into the Linksys setup.

the 'reset' thing that comcast does is just allowing a different MAC address to gain access through the modem. They removed the MAC for the router and let the one from the computer retrieve a new IP address.

You can put your router back in (without having to call them to reset the MAC) by unplugging the modem, unplugging the router, plugging in the modem (power only), waiting for it to restart all the way, then connecting the ethernet cable to the router and powering it up.

Personally, I would ditch the Linksys, I have had nothing but problems with them over the last several years (routers anway, switches and access points seem fine). The Netgear that I have here works just fine.

Sorry it took me so long to get back--we had four people using my computer cuz it was the only one that could get online!! AKKKK!

twardnw, I did the unplugging thingy and all the computers came back just fine! YAY!! I hadn't had any trouble with it til now.


I was a little afraid of the reset button. We have the install cd and all, but I was concerned I would mess it up! Thank you all for the help.


Question: does a Linksys "go bad" in two years? I asked at Best Buy and they said i probably should replace it, because they kick the bucket at about 2-3 years. True, or not?


Thanks