How can I reboot the router from the computer?
September 25, 2011 10:59 AM   Subscribe

Like many people, I've got wireless router issues (Netgear MR814v2 -- yeah, it's getting old). I'm troubleshooting them as I can and haven't found anything that should be interfering, and all my firmware is up to date. Putting that to one side, I'm pretty tired of running down and up the stairs to unplug the router and plug it back in again (six to 10 times a day). My diagnostics show I've got connectivity between the computer and the router even when I can't connect to the Internet. Is there some way to reboot the router from my computer?
posted by bryon to Computers & Internet (14 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Not sure about actually restarting the router, but often flushing your DNS or refreshing your IP address can have the same net result. On a PC, go to command prompt and try

ipconfig /flushdns

or

ipconfig /renew
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:17 AM on September 25, 2011


Also, one annoying source of wireless network problems can be a nearby neighbor "hogging" the channel. If everything seems to be working ok but you just can't get a good signal, try using a different channel.
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:18 AM on September 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


I can reboot my wireless router by logging in to it from my computer. I go to 192.168.1.1 (other setups have 192.168.0.1) and log in to it [here are some default router passwords to help with this part, yours should be admin/password] and go into wireless settings and on my Westell, there's an option for rebooting.

On your router it looks like you can go to www.routerlogin.com or www.routerlogin.net. I'm not sure where in the admin panel you can reboot the conenction [on mine ut's under "advanced DSL connection"] but here's the manual and I bet by clicking around in the admin interface you can find it.
posted by jessamyn at 11:19 AM on September 25, 2011


Response by poster: I'll give the DNS flush a try next time I lose the connection. I've tried logging in to the router, either by the 192 or routerlogin, but I get told that I have no Internet connection and the page won't load. That's the confusing part, since I am still connected to the router. Oh, and my nearest neighbor is a quarter of a mile away, so no one is hogging the channel. (All good information I could have offered up front.)
posted by bryon at 1:13 PM on September 25, 2011


I had similar problems until I changed the channel on the router.
posted by whatisish at 3:26 PM on September 25, 2011


Response by poster: I just had a chance to try some things. I successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache, but when I tried to renew the ipconfig, I got this message: "No operation can be performed on wireless network connection while it has its media disconnected." A similar message showed up shortly about the Local Area Connection having its media disconnected. The computer's diagnostics show a connection to the router and 70% signal strength; that's why I think it should be possible to reboot from the computer. But I tried again to log in to the router, and it wouldn't do it. I had changed the channel before this loss and was good for about two hours.
posted by bryon at 4:05 PM on September 25, 2011


Maybe you can rig up one of those remote light switches. Plug the router into it, and use the remote to disconnect and reconnect the plug. Here's some examples of what I'm referring to.
posted by spiderskull at 6:10 PM on September 25, 2011


By the way, when the router craps out, is it because you using the connection aggressively (e.g. Torrents or online gaming)? Because if I open too many connections, my Linksys will die out (since it runs out NAT table space). This is a common problem.
posted by spiderskull at 6:12 PM on September 25, 2011


Response by poster: Those remote light switches are pretty cool. I can think of a few uses for them.

I don't do torrents or online games. I haven't detected a pattern to losing the router. I'd understand if it happened when I was sharing the network with the stepkid, who does do online gaming and such. But it happens frequently when my laptop is the only one using the resources, no other electronics are in use, and I'm just looking up a word on Google.

But in doing my troubleshooting, I discovered the advice somewhere to get into my wireless adapter preferences and add my router's IP address rather than to let the system figure it out. My signal strength hasn't wavered from perfect even once since I did that a few hours ago, so I may have solved the problem. Still, I think I should be able to reboot remotely when the need does arise.
posted by bryon at 9:35 PM on September 25, 2011


You shouldn't reboot your router, you should figure out what is actually the problem and fix that.

When it's down, can you ping your router? If you can ping the router, can you ping the isp gateway? If you can ping the gateway, can you ping the dns servers?

If none of these work, does connecting directly to the router instead of wirelessly fix the problem?

Does disabling wireless on your pc and re-enabling it fix it?

Does releasing and renewing the ip on your router fix it?

Either you have a bad router or your ISP is fucked up, either way, making it easier to reboot your router is a terrible way of fixing the problem. You should find out which is causing the problem and either replace your router or open a ticket with your isp.
posted by empath at 6:09 AM on September 26, 2011


Because if I open too many connections, my Linksys will die out (since it runs out NAT table space). This is a common problem.

This is, btw, easily fixed by loading DD-WRT on your linksys. You can specify higher max connections with that.
posted by empath at 6:10 AM on September 26, 2011


Also, what happens if you go upstairs with your laptop, and disable and re-enable wireless on your laptop -- does the connection pick up again? If so, it might just be a wireless signal strength issue. Wireless doesn't always go through walls very well. You might want to try moving your router or getting a wireless N router.
posted by empath at 6:12 AM on September 26, 2011


Response by poster: The IP trick I thought last night had fixed the problem didn't.

I'm using the laptop upstairs; there's a line-of-sight distance of about 15 feet between the router and the computer. It's an old farmhouse made of wood with lathe and plaster walls. But I've never lost the signal from the router, just the router's connection to the Internet. Maybe the next step is, as you suggest, empath, checking with my ISP.
posted by bryon at 11:08 AM on September 26, 2011


"No operation can be performed on wireless network connection while it has its media disconnected."

It that's the error you got, you are losing your wireless connection (despite the signal strength), and that has nothing to do with your isp. You have two possibilities:

A) You have a faulty wireless card in your laptop.

B) You have a faulty router.

The next step is to isolate the problem by replacing one or the other.
posted by empath at 5:47 PM on September 26, 2011


« Older Help me jazz up some yard sale prints!   |   Gossip or not Gossip? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.