WRT54G2 won't get an IP

For a few weeks my mom was complaining about intermittent connections and I just figured it was my mom. Well recently she said she had no connection to the internet so I checked it out and sure enough it was dead. I was able to log into the router and see that while the internet light was on it did not get an IP, the Optimum modem showed a link to the router and internet connectivity. I was able to connect her machine directly to the modem and be able to get to the internet. So there is definitely something screwed up with the router. I tried a reset and firmware update with no luck. Any other ideas what could be going on?

 

Sounds like a problem with the router, if reseting did not work. Did you put your login info back into the router? Another option is try the dd-wrt firmware to confirm.

Things do fail, over time.

 

What do you mean by log in info? As far as I know there is no log in info needed for setup. At least I never set anything up on the laptop and it connected directly to the modem so I think it DHCP is all the setup you need. I will to find the dd-wrt firmware to see if that makes a difference.

I know stuff dies over time but this router is less than a year old. I have several routers from Netgear that have been running for years with no problems and would have thought Linksys would be at least as good.

 

In most all case ISP's that require a modem have login credentials. Normally User ID and Password is set into the router so this is automatic. Now some ISP services you only have a connect your PC or router. Some networks control there access by MAC address filtering. On these there is a section on routers that allow you to clone the MAC address of the PC used to setup the account, if a router was not in place. Any time a ISP tell you to switch a router to bridge allows them to see what hardware you have connected and you loose your NAT Firewall.

Now for wireless there should be some security setup WPA(2) AES and a PW Phrase for the security key. If you scan for networks your SSID should show up. If you are having problems connecting remove the location from your pc. Reboot, scan, connect and enter the PW key when prompted.

Personal FW at time can lock you out of your own network at times, too.

 

Try having the router clone the computer's mac address. Also, make sure you reset the modem anytime you plug a new device into it. I have OptimumOnline as well, and I can tell you for certain that you can't just unplug the computer and plug in the router and get an IP unless the router has cloned the MAC address. Every time the modem boots, it registers the MAC address of whatever's connected will refuse to pull an IP address for a different one until the modem's rebooted or the connection is pulled.

Also, check with the ISP. If they're jerks, they decided to block LinkSys MAC addresses and neglected to tell you. Happened to me once with another ISP,.