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If your router is overheating...

P

ParanoiaBOTS

n00b
Joined
Nov 5, 2005
Messages
5
So I got a netgear router. A WRT54Gv5 to be exact. It worked great...until I started using it. I could not, for the life of me figure out what was going on with it. After many hours of research I deemed that it was overheating. After all why make a product that could actually DO what it was advertised for? Granted I use these poor routers up, I have them sorting and sending packets as fast as they possibly can. I run 3 wired desktops, a wired VoIP unit and anywhere between 1-5 laptops on wireless at any given time. This is connected to a 6Mb cable connection and typically has atleast one pc running bittorrents at all times as well as other pc's having shared drives, streaming music and movies..etc..etc. So I decided to do a little home project and attach a heatsink to my router to keep it from overheating. This was an interesting endeavor to say the least. It really enlightened me to how having the "proper" tools to do the job can make it 1000X easier, and better looking too. My first roadblock was that we did not have the proper tool to remove the screws from the router, so I got the smallest allen wrench I could fine and used that. By pulling the allen slightly sideways I could wedge it into the screw and remove it. The second problem we had was in cutting a hole for the heatsink...all we had available was a drill. So the duty of cutting the hole fell to my roommate, who did an excellent job I must say. After cutting the hole, we decided to use a lighter to melt off jagged edges and and plastic barbs that were hanging around. All in all I feel pretty good about this whole endeavor. It turned out looking pretty good...I think...LOL let me know what you think here is the pic.

IM001547.jpg


P.S.: Officially we are stating the router "overheated"...most of the people we tell this too are noobish enough to believe it.
 
Holy resize Batman!

Netgear doesn't make the WRT54G... that's Linksys. The router in the picture is not a Linksys. Anyway, I plan on adding some passive cooling to my WRT54G.
 
It turned out looking pretty good...I think...
Click to expand...

This made me laugh... :p that looks really ghetto, but hey, if it works then that's what matters.
How did you come to the conclusion that it was overheating? And are the syptoms gone now?
 
Cool... nice mod. It actually looks pretty neat.

:cool:

Anyways, yeah I had an access point that kept overheating. I would leave it in the freezer for 2 hours, and it might last another couple hours. Once the router heated up, I would have to redo this procedure.
 
Well the router ALWAYS ran a little hot, but I figured it would be ok. After several firmware upgrades/downgrades, and running some testing. IE...one pc only it wouldn't happen, 2 pc's no problems, 3 pc's..sometimes...etc I figured it was overheating.

Yes the symptoms are now gone, and I should definetly look into buying a dremel :D
 
LOL, I was only BARELY able to view the image without scrolling on 1920x1200 res :p

RESIZE PLEASE :p otherwise good job, I give it 3 foodstamps
 
There are a few people doing similar mods with Linksys routers also. It's a known problem that they overheat, my WRT45G would just quit after a few days, especially when I started connecting back and forth to my office. After my little mod, it hasn't failed me since.

Pictures: www.lukebarber.net/wireless-cooling
 
This is just IMHO, but whenever a customer or a person on a forum has a really bad problem with a router the first words out of their mouth are always the same, "I have a Netgear... blah blah."

I am really, really, hating Netgear routers this year. I'm down to just telling people I'm not going to troubleshoot them unless they buy a new Linksys or some other brand before we start figuring out what's wrong.

I suppose it could just be because Netgear is selling more routers than everyone else, but I don't think that's all there is to it. Come to think of it their wireless cards have been loads of fun too. (not)
 
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