Help, the routers going wonky and hates macs!

May 3, 2007 1:58 PM

Help! Strange networking issues... can a mac cause a router to go completely bonkers?

We just set up a new office and got a linksys 802.11g 2.4 ghz wireless router with speedbooster. We've found that it works just fine with the sole windows user in the office, but the minute the macs get on, the router starts going down every 10 minutes. Eventually it becomes so unstable that no one, not even the pc user, can use it as it has to be reset every 10 minutes. After the reset it works fine for another ten minutes, rinse and repeat!

One thing that maybe happening is the wlan goes down, but as I know practically nothing about networking, I have not a clue.

This is the second router (we returned the first one cause we thought it was defective).

Please help, this is driving us crazy!

posted by zia to computers & internet (9 comments total)

How is everything being connected? Wired or Wirelessly? Have you tried switching to the other method and seeing what happens?

First, check to see if both computers are being given the same IP address. Crazy things can happen when 2 computer get the same IP.

Also, there should be some error logging capability built into the router. See what the logs say.

Oh, and see if you need to upgrade the firmware on the router. Even though you just bought it, the router may have been sitting on the shelf while new firmware was released.
posted by Cog at 2:18 PM on May 3, 2007

What model is it? The Linksys WRT54G that I have has the same problem. There are problems with the entire line since they updated it with cheaper parts. I fixed it somewhat by installing different firmware on it (dd-wrt), but it still occurs every few days.
posted by fishmasta at 3:02 PM on May 3, 2007

I've found that my newish Macbook can fairly predictably knock my oldish Netgear offline minutes after it connects, while an iBook and a laptop running XP can play on it happily for hours. I suspect that the answer lies somewhere in this answer from a few days back, but have been travelling and haven't had a chance to see. I know you have a Linksys, but maybe it's something similar?
posted by nevercalm at 3:22 PM on May 3, 2007

It is the WRT54GS, and I installed the firmware upgrade and it is still doing this. I think we will be taking it back yet again. Is there one that you would recommend instead?
posted by zia at 3:24 PM on May 3, 2007

First, I'd suggest turning off SpeedBooster, as that's a Linksys-specific extension to the wireless protocol. If any single thing is likely to be incompatible, it'd be that.

Whether or not that works, you might want to consider replacing the GS with the slightly more expensive model WRT54GL. It's almost the same, but uses Linux inside (thus the L), and has more memory (good for high-traffic situations). The Linux version of the WRT is damn good and hardly ever breaks.

The G and GS originally ran Linux, but were redesigned about 18 months ago to be cheaper to manufacture; they cut the memory in half and switched to a commercial operating system, VxWorks. The Net is full of horror stories about the VxWorks models; they really suck pretty bad a lot of the time. Fortunately, you can still get a Linux WRT54, you just have to get the L version instead. It's basically the original GS with a new nameplate.

If you like the 54GL, you can extend its capabilities further with the free firmwares... because it's based on Linux, it's a very hackable router. If you're just using in a basic way, you don't need an open firmware. They expose the guts of Linux and let you use the router as a tiny Linux server. This can be really handy if you know what that's good for, and completely useless if you don't. :)

You CAN put the free firmwares on the new G and GS, but because the flash storage and RAM have been cut back so much in these models, I think it's much better to just buy a 54GL to start with.
posted by Malor at 4:23 PM on May 3, 2007

How do you turn off the speedbooster?
posted by zia at 5:25 PM on May 3, 2007

Usually it's in Wireless settings somewhere. I'm not running Linksys standard firmware, so I can't look, but it'll probably be either a checkbox or a dropdown menu item for Speedbooster. Set it to 'off' or 'disabled'.

I believe the default Linksys firmware is organized into tabs and subtabs... once you're in the Wireless area, there should be multiple pages with different settings. Ignore most of them. :)
posted by Malor at 8:46 PM on May 3, 2007

Based on personal experience, I'd chuck the Linksys gear and pick up a Netgear WAG302. It costs a little bit more than the typical home gear, but I've installed them in cross platform environments and have had excellent results.
posted by drstein at 9:45 AM on May 4, 2007

Oh, and yes, I read the other threads regarding Macs & Netgear stuff. Bump up a bit from the SOHO stuff. It's usually worth the extra cash.
posted by drstein at 9:46 AM on May 4, 2007