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[whitey019]

I just spent the last week and half trying to figure out why my DIR-655 (A4) kept periodically having wireless restarts (1-7mins).  Like most people on this forum and elsewhere I tried various versions of firmware, settings and flash methods.  I was all set to RMA this blasted thing when I decided to borrow another DIR-655, which was an older hardware version (A2), and it did the same thing.  Then I took the router to work and it worked there flawlessly; so it had to be my environment….but what.  I turned off all gadgets in the house including, phones, game systems, fluorescent lights, moved the router around to various locations and even asked neighbors to change channels on their wireless networks…all to no avail.   I borrowed a ***escope network analyzer to monitor the wireless activity and found nothing out of the ordinary.  Then I thought it has to be something in my network hardware…I started with the power.  After plugging things in to various different outlets, UPSs and surge protectors, nothing seemed to matter.  Next I disconnected all my wired computers, peripherals and switches and then an amazing thing occurred…..IT WORKED…..the highly proclaimed D-Link Dir-655 wireless router actually worked and did so continuously with no restarts at all.  Well, to wrap this up, it turned out that any time I plugged one specific computer into any wired switch (I have four including the DIR-655) it would immediately cause a wireless restart followed by periodic restarts.  I haven’t quite figured out what is going on, but I believe something must be wrong with the NIC in that system (RTL 8186C/8111C), because I have changed drivers, cables and connection point and nothing helps.  Hopefully writing this has not just jinxed me and I’ll provide an update after I get a chance to try another network adapter.

[EddieZ]

There are a few of users on this forum (the Dlink Router Bashers  ) that will still claim that you're wrong (and me too) and that the router is always at fault. Thanks for your contribution that also stresses that the environment can play an essential factor in router issues!! 

[whitey019]

I didn't mean to suggest that I had solved 'all' wireless restart problems, but just wanted to pass on information that might help someone else in their trouble shooting efforts.  I'm sure a lot of other people's problems are congestion at 2.4 Ghz and others may have bad hardware.

[grking@shaw.ca]

Thanks for your input whitey. I have been following this forum silently because I haven't got the tech expertise most of the other users have, your suggestion does seem as viable as any I've read so far. I haven't had my router working properly since 1.11 firmware. Constant drops  on my  router makes me wonder if it isn't a hardware problem somewhere.......
Lots of valuable information on this forum. I will continue trying all suggestions from Lycan, Eddie, and others until I get this thing working.

[JaLooNz]

There are a few of users on this forum (the Dlink Router Bashers  ) that will still claim that you're wrong (and me too) and that the router is always at fault. Thanks for your contribution that also stresses that the environment can play an essential factor in router issues!! 

But in this case, it should be obvious that a rogue NIC should not make the router drop its wireless connection.

[Sammydad1]

Hi,

Just a SWAG here, but it occurs to me that your "Rogue" NIC (as it was termed) is drawing too much electricity for some reason (as these things can often be mysteries) which is indeed affecting the internal power routing/transmission or possibly causing the power chips to overheat or some other physical phenomena inside your various routers, inducing the wireless drops you are seeing.

I have had NICs go bad, but once I determined it was a bad NIC, I just tossed it and put in a good one.

SD1

[EddieZ]

But in this case, it should be obvious that a rogue NIC should not make the router drop its wireless connection.

And you are blaming the router for this? What nonsense. Faulty NIC's can even kill your system. They shouldn't , but they can and do.
If you get punched in the face by a madman, do you also blame yourself? 

[whitey019]

The mystery deepens.  I replaced the NIC, but still every time, and I emphasize every time,I plug that particular computer into any part of my LAN the router immediately has a wireless restart followed by periodic restarts.  I'm not sure where to go now.... 

[EddieZ]

The mystery deepens.  I replaced the NIC, but still every time, and I emphasize every time,I plug that particular computer into any part of my LAN the router immediately has a wireless restart followed by periodic restarts.  I'm not sure where to go now.... 

Well, the issue stays contained to your PC. 

Did you get another Realtek NIC or did you get a proper one this time? Have you tried resetting the TCPIP and Winsock2 stacks?

[chipped]

Try replacing the PSU in that PC. It could be that the network card is not getting enough power from the PCI slot so its overdrawing to compensate?

When picking a power supply, feel how heavy it is, quality power supplies should be 1 - 2KG.

[MichaelL]

whitey019,

After reading your post, I had an idea.  Is it possible that your problem is the result of a  ground loop?  Is the PC in question plugged into a different circuit in your house?  It's not uncommon for electrical outlets, even in the same room, to be on different circuits and have their common and ground lines at different potentials from each other.  This can cause current to flow (when it shouldn't) between two devices connected together and plugged into different outlets or surge suppressors/uninterruptible power supplies.

If the router and PC are on different circuits, try plugging them into the same power strip and see what happens.

Just a thought,
Mike

[whitey019]

whitey019,

After reading your post, I had an idea.  Is it possible that your problem is the result of a  ground loop?  Is the PC in question plugged into a different circuit in your house?  It's not uncommon for electrical outlets, even in the same room, to be on different circuits and have their common and ground lines at different potentials from each other.  This can cause current to flow (when it shouldn't) between two devices connected together and plugged into different outlets or surge suppressors/uninterruptible power supplies.

If the router and PC are on different circuits, try plugging them into the same power strip and see what happens.

Just a thought,
Mike

Thanks Mike, I had the same thought, unfortunately it still causes the problem.  I also removed all surge protectors....as I've seen them cause some strange grounding issues also....but it didn't help either.  I think I'll try a shorter cable than the two 50ft ones that I've tried so far.  After that it would have to be the power supply or the mainboard itself.   

[KevTech]

I had a problem once where the network adapter kept disconnecting and I would have to disable then re-enable it (or reboot the PC) to get the connection back.
Turned out to be the power supply going bad.

[DCIFRTHS]

Thanks Mike, I had the same thought, unfortunately it still causes the problem.  I also removed all surge protectors....as I've seen them cause some strange grounding issues also....but it didn't help either.  I think I'll try a shorter cable than the two 50ft ones that I've tried so far.  After that it would have to be the power supply or the mainboard itself.   

Have you tried a different PCI slot?

[mpb]

I wanted to add that I was having this problem today.  It just started a few hours ago so I googled, found the threads on here, and tried things out.

On my DIR-655, first thing I did was try upgrading from 1.21 to 1.31 but the problem persisted.  When I read this thread, I realized that just when the problem started showing up, I updated Symantec Endpoint Protection on a wired machine, including the firewall features, and after rebooting it, my wireless computers (3 in all) started dropping like flies.  "Wireless Restart" showed up in the router log every minute or two, like clockwork.

I just shut down that wired machine and... whaddyaknow, the wifi status has been rock solid again, like it has been for the 2 past years I've had my DIR-655.

Now, I'm wondering if the firewall feature of SEP is doing something strange... I didn't have that part of SEP installed before, but upgrading to the latest release, I figured I'd include it and disabled the Windows 7 RC firewall instead.  I guess I better rethink that, or at least do more tests and see if indeed it's the SEP firewall causing the DIR to drop wifi sessions like hot potatoes.

So, before you wonder about whether you have a bad router, you might try it out with all wired-connections unplugged just to see if that solves it.  Whether wireless restarts are a problem with the NIC on some systems, or whether the DIR is mishandling some data in a very bad way, I'm not sure, but the wired-NIC is definitely the cause in my (and apparently other) cases.