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[icemankent]

Ok, so I thought I found the problem - why I keep seeing "wireless restart" in my logs.

I thought it was due to WISH being enabled.
It turns out that is not the case - as it still happens, even when WISH is turned off.

I have firmware 1.23NA - which is the latest (and greatest ?).

In any event - there is absolutely no rhyme or reason for these restarts - they are random and can (and do) occur when there is even only just "1" wireless client connected.

To be honest, I have not even noticed anything when these "wireless restarts" happened - meaning I did not perceive a loss of internet connectivity.
I am therefore not sure how big of an issue this really is - except for the fact that one would expect them not to happen at all.

Any clues as to why these happen, and if it is an indication of a hardware problem ?

[FurryNutz]

What wireless mode are you using? Mixed?
There was a resent issue just like this that was being caused by an iPhone connection.

What wireless devices do you have? And what highest modes do they support?

I would do this: Set up WiFi for single G mode only @ 2.4GHz with out any security for a quick test. Clear the routers logs. Make sure all WiFi devices are turned off or the devices radio's disabled. Once you have the router set up, bring up one device and check the connection on the device and router. Go to some place on the device and check for internet or data thruput. If you have more than one WiFi device, turn off the 1st one and go to the next one and check the connection and operation. Do this for all devices one at a time to make sure they connect with out any issues and check the routers logs for any thing while your doing this. If you find anything then you'll know.

After this, turn on Security and set a pass word. Again try the devices to make sure they connect with the security. Check the logs again.

If you don't have any devices that use modes A, B or N at this time, then using Single mode G will be beneficial as the router wont have to do any broadcasting if no supported devices are going to be using those modes. Some people are using Mixed G and N @ 2.4Ghz. I only have one device that supports N so I run mixed sometimes.

I would also check the channels too, change them from auto to manual and check using chl 1, 6 the 11. If there are other WiFi radios in the near by vicinity, they could cause interference and thus making the WiFi reset and try to regain a stable broadcast on a different channel and why your seeing resets.

A lot of the issues seen in WiFi are just inherently to the beast and not a FW issue. Dealing with radio signals and various channels and frequencies can't be very complicated. Trust me. I've been in the Communications world for a long time.

Give these suggestions a try and let us know what happens. I hope we can help resolve this issue.

[icemankent]

Thanks.
I am using G-only @ 20Mhz, autochannel scan (currently on ch6), with WISH enabled.

Interesting that you should mention an iPhone issue, though - as there is an iPhone4 in the house - and it is wirelessly connected.
What is the issue with iPhones and this router and what is the fix ?

I think what I'll do first is disable the wifi on the iPhone4 to see if any of this improves - and then I'll try your other suggestions and report back on my findings.

[icemankent]

Ok, I tried everything.
Still get the wireless restarts happening.

I sure wish the Dlink log would give more of a "reason" for the wireless restart - so I could troubleshoot it better.
Something like (too much interference - need to switch channels - wireless restart), etc.

I have no idea - maybe I'll just stop looking at the logs and be done with it.

[FurryNutz]

What windows versions are you running on your connected PCs? Any of them Vista or 7? There has been some reports that IPv6 has caused some issues on this router as it is enabled by default on Vista. Not fully sure about 7. Let us know what you have running on ur PCs.

What kind of Anti Virus and Firewall programs are you using if any. There has been reports and certain AV and firewall programs can impact routers. Let us know what you have running if anything.
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=8272.0

Also do you have any wireless home land line phones around the house? If so, what are there operating frequencies. Might be from 1Ghz to 5Ghz. These can interfere and cause the router to exhibit these restarts. I've experienced this as well.

I'd like you to try switching the Wireless mode from G only 2.4Ghz to Mixed A and N at 5Ghz and see if you get the same issue. If you don't have any devices that support N however I think you should be able to connect to A mode. Don't worry if you can't get any thing connected. Let it run for awhile then go back in and look at the logs while at 5Ghz. I'd like to see if this happens on the 5Ghz band as well.

Please let us know.

[icemankent]

Ok, so far I have:
- disabled ipv6 on the only laptop that ran vista and had it enabled
no difference.

My router is hardware revision A2 - if that matters.

I am continuing to try different things as per your suggestions and will report back.

One last thing - is it at all possible that this brand new router is actually at fault (instead of me going on a witch hunt to find another culprit) ?

I had a dlink dir-625 (which I had for the last 3 years) and only 2 weeks ago replaced it with this dgl4500.
The 625 was rock-solid stable - and did not exhibit any wireless restarts or anything else buggy - (same exact devices and config here at home).

That's what makes me feel that the router is at fault - although I will keep trying to troubleshoot this.


PS - just checked the logs now and saw the following - which seems to be a big deal - never happened before:

[INFO] Fri Dec 10 20:44:48 2010 Wireless link is up
[INFO] Fri Dec 10 20:44:36 2010 Wireless link is down
[INFO] Fri Dec 10 20:44:36 2010 Wireless restart
[INFO] Fri Dec 10 20:44:36 2010 Disconnect all stations
[INFO] Fri Dec 10 20:44:36 2010 All Wireless shut down
[INFO] Fri Dec 10 20:44:34 2010 Wireless restart

What would cause the whole "all wireless shutdown and disconnect all stations ?!

[FurryNutz]

Ya, there is a possible HW issue with the router. There is another poster on here with the same HW version, A2. Over the years I have seen a good amount of posters with problems with A2 routers. I don't have a A2 to compare too. I have 2 A1s and both of them work great. Makes me wonder more that A2s could have more issues then A1s. Like i told the other poster, I might be worth going out and buying a different router and see if you have any issues there. If you don't see the same issues. I would get a hold of DLink and tell them what you have done.

It seems that you had a different router what worked well on your same ISP network and bring the 4500 online as introduced issues and leads me to believe there is a probable issue with this router, if you haven't changed anything upstream on the line.

Are there any other wireless routers in the area? Also please let us know if you have house hold wireless land line phones. As these can also cause interference with the router.

Do you have anyone near by that has Internet that you could take the 4500 router to and put on there network? This would also help to determine if the problem travels or not.

[icemankent]

Yes, there are quite a few wireless routers in the area - but with my previous dir-625, this was not a problem (boy I wish I still had that router !).

Anyway, I also did another test - using only 802.11a - since I have one laptop that can use it.
There were NO wireless restarts when using only a.

When I switched back to g, they restarts happened again.

TWO things:
-1-
I really don't notice any degredation in connectivity when these wireless restarts happen - in fact, if I did not look at the logs, I probably would never know there was a problem.  Obviously, my previous dir-625 never had any wireless resets, so I am bummed that this brand new dgl-4500 has this issue - being brand new !   If it was YOUR router, would you live with it, or return it for exchange/refund ?

-2-
The dgl-4500 came with firmware 1.21 on it.  Before even configuring anything I went to the tools page and clicked on "check for new firmware".  The router said there was no new firmware.  Since I (knew) that 1.23 was out there - I downloaded it separately.  (I wonder why the router reported that there was not any new firmware ?)
In any case, I upgraded the firmware to 1.23na, and then started configuring it.  (I did not do a factory reset as you suggested to others - since there really was no config on it to begin with).
SO, my question would be - do you think there is any remote chance that my wireless restarts issue is firmware related - or did I get a box with a bum wireless radio in it ?   Should I try DOWNgrading my firmware back to the 1.21 - or try reloading 1.23 ?

I now NEED a router at home, and I don't want to be (without) one if I have to ship this thing to either D-link or the retailer I bought it from.  I am hoping they would send me a replacement and then I could send them this one back when the replacement arrives ....  damn.

[FurryNutz]

Yes, there are quite a few wireless routers in the area - but with my previous dir-625, this was not a problem (boy I wish I still had that router !).

Anyway, I also did another test - using only 802.11a - since I have one laptop that can use it.
There were NO wireless restarts when using only a.

When I switched back to g, they restarts happened again.
Seems like if A works with out a restart and G does, and you have other wireless in the area. I'm wondering if interference is a factor for this router. Have you tried changing the channels?


TWO things:
-1-
I really don't notice any degredation in connectivity when these wireless restarts happen - in fact, if I did not look at the logs, I probably would never know there was a problem.  Obviously, my previous dir-625 never had any wireless resets, so I am bummed that this brand new dgl-4500 has this issue - being brand new !   If it was YOUR router, would you live with it, or return it for exchange/refund ?
All avenues should be investigated before determining if it's a actual router hardware issue. Just because the router exhibits problems when put online doesn't mean the HW is defective. I won't rule that out however other factors can impact how the router fuctions. Especially in close proximity to other WiFi radios and wireless phone phones. Any Wireless home phones in the area that you know of? Returning the router is an option and your choice. I would recommend also calling Dlink for advise. Another option would be to buy a different router and test it and see what goes on.

-2-
The dgl-4500 came with firmware 1.21 on it.  Before even configuring anything I went to the tools page and clicked on "check for new firmware".  The router said there was no new firmware.  Since I (knew) that 1.23 was out there - I downloaded it separately.  (I wonder why the router reported that there was not any new firmware ?)
DLink might not have set up the new FW to be broadcast to the routers automatically.
In any case, I upgraded the firmware to 1.23na, and then started configuring it.  (I did not do a factory reset as you suggested to others - since there really was no config on it to begin with).
SO, my question would be - do you think there is any remote chance that my wireless restarts issue is firmware related - or did I get a box with a bum wireless radio in it ?   Should I try DOWNgrading my firmware back to the 1.21 - or try reloading 1.23 ?

Was there a reason why you upgraded to v1.23? Was the router functioning well before the upgrade? It's always not necessary to have the latest and greatest if units are working well out of the box. Yes that is an option to download and see if there is any change. You might try and go back to v1.21.

I now NEED a router at home, and I don't want to be (without) one if I have to ship this thing to either D-link or the retailer I bought it from.  I am hoping they would send me a replacement and then I could send them this one back when the replacement arrives ....  damn.

I understand the frustration. I would definitely try this router at a friends place or family member if you can. Would be interested if this issue travels. I'm wondering since A mode works with out issue and G goes, and there are other radios in the area that could be having an impact on this.

[Hard Harry]

Wait...so these restarts aren't actually causing you any connection issues, in either throughput, latency, or packet loss? You said you wouldn't even notice them if you didn't look at the logs? Well not to be a jerk...but have you considered just not looking at your logs? I understand the tendency to want to fix something just because you can...but I think you may be investing too much time into a minor issue. Just my two cents.

[icemankent]

I contacted dlink.
They agreed that wireless restarts should not be happening (at all) unless I had manually changed a setting in the wireless setup, etc.
D-link is slow to respond to me, however.
Since 2 days have gone by without a reply to my last email, I am going to return it to where I bought it.

Since I cannot be (without) a router in my home (they estimated at least 15 days for the shipping, replacement, etc....) - I will go out to FutureShop/Bestbuy and pick up a DIR-655 to get me by until the replacement dgl-4500 arrives.

Since there is a 30-day return policy, I can take the 655 back for a refund IF my replacement 4500 actually works properly.


Lastly, I should not have to accept flaws in operation from a brand new router that costs twice what other models out there do.  I am happy the logs are there to assist me in troubleshooting a problem that could very well turn into a larger chronic issue that "does" cause a connectivity failure in the near future.
As far as loss of connectivity - whenever the wireless restarts happen, the wireless devices reconnect - so that is actually a problem.
As a consumer, I deserve to get the quality I paid for.

[Hard Harry]

Ok then. Good luck. ::grin::

[FurryNutz]

Let us know how both of those routers work. Hope one of them gets you up and running with out these restarts. Let us know.

[icemankent]

Update:
I bought a dir-655 last night (as a temporary replacement until I get new 4500).
What a nightmare !!

I cannot wait to return it to the store (but have to wait for my replacement 4500 first).

The dir-655 is buggy and slooooow !!!
(No wireless restarts, though from what I can tell from their cryptic logs !).
The web interface on the 655 is at least 5 times slower (no joke) compared to the 4500.
Almost every change/update you save on the 655 requires a restart - typically 30 seconds or so (wasted).
At first, this 655 was not "seeing" any hard wired or wireless clients.  I had no idea why - it almost seemed that it was not aggressive enough at giving out dhcp ip addresses.
EVENTUALLY, it populated itself with clients, so then I decided to reserve ips for these devices.
I almost ripped this router off the desk and threw it into the garbage it was soooo frustrating to set up.
The router got confused about ip addresses and what was dhcp vs reserved so many times that even after "saving" the changes, things did not set up correctly.
I actually had to reset to factory settings and reboot this thing about 3 times - just to try and get it configured properly.
Even now, with all clients connected, when I go to the status screen and click on wireless - it takes (forever) to populate the screen and is hit and miss whether it actually decides to display the wireless connected clients or not.  Unbelievable !
Regarding QoS, I have set up different priorities for traffic and when I check the internet sessions, it does display the streams,  however it does not display the priority - so i have NO way to verify if my QoS is working or not.
Regarding the logs - for some reason they LOOK very different than what I am used to on the 4500.  For one, they are broken into MANY pages, rather than allowing them all to be viewed on one page, which makes navigating the info a pain.  Plus, many of the messages it displays are strange:
For example, what is all this garbage ?

Priority Time Message
info Dec 14 21:05:12  [ 5641.620000] m_table count= 1 Del 01005e00 00fc000b 
info Dec 14 21:04:14  [ 5583.620000] m_table count= 2 Del 01005e7f fffa000b 
info Dec 14 20:54:28  UDHCPD Inform: add_lease 192.168.0.67 
info Dec 14 20:54:24  UDHCPD Inform: add_lease 192.168.0.67 
info Dec 14 20:48:56  [ 4665.780000] m_table count= 2 Add 01005e7f fffa000a 
info Dec 14 20:48:45  UDHCPD sending OFFER of 192.168.0.55 
info Dec 14 20:48:18  [ 4627.470000] m_table count= 1 Add 01005e00 00fc000a 
info Dec 14 20:48:00  UDHCPD sending OFFER of 192.168.0.97 
info Dec 14 20:47:57  [ 4606.000000] module arch cleanup nf_ubicom_streamengine_default_classifier: OCM instruction memory free of 0 @00000000 
info Dec 14 20:47:55  [ 4604.940000] module arch cleanup sch_ubicom_streamengine: OCM instruction memory free of 0 @00000000

What a collossal nightmare.  I cannot imagine how Dlink can get away with selling such a shoddy product.
Perhaps the processor on the 655 is junk, I don't know, but I have a theory.
The HARDWARE revision of the unit is B1.
It would almost seem that Dlink does a good job on their routers with the FIRST/original Hardware revision.
When they make a newer version, the problems seem to start.

Even Furry noted that his 4500's are on A1 (which work fine), and most problems are on devices with A2 (which mine is).

This dir-655 is on version B1 - so who knows "what" they've done to the hardware to make it this excrutiatingly frustrating to work with.
In the store, they only had 655s with h/w rev B1, so no luck there.

I only hope that I get my replacement 4500 soon, so I can take this white albatross back to the store for a refund - as its buggy behavior is making my blood boil !

[FurryNutz]

Have you gone over to the dir-655 forum and reviewed there issues there? I might have done that before buying this unit. How about any FW updates for this unit? Might help speed up it's functionality. Hard to believe that unit is that bad. Wow.

I'm getting a 4500 A2 unit from a buddy of mine in the mail. I'm going to be doing some testing on his unit and see how the A2 works on my network and with a Arris Cable modem. He's been having issues with it on his system. He sent it back to DLink for RMA and just got it back and still has issues. I'm thinking there is something incompatible with the 4500 and the Arris modems. I'll be checking for wireless restarts as well.

I can't wait. I'll keep you posted.