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D-Link VPN Router => DSR-500 => Topic started by: lewiskerns on July 24, 2013, 11:49:16 AM

Title: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: lewiskerns on July 24, 2013, 11:49:16 AM
We replaced an existing VPN router in our network with a new DSR-500 (HW ver A1,Firmware Version 1.06B43_WW).  The DSR-500 was programmed with the same features as our previous router which included 3 public IPs, approximately 32 firewall rules, and one VPN connection.

The router locked up in about 12 hours and would not allow any traffic through, and would not respond to the web or console interfaces.  The router had to be power cycled to get it to function again.

The router continued to lock up every 18-24 hours.

We programmed a second, new DSR-500 the same as the first and swapped the routers.  The second router also locked up every 18 -24 hours.

We then split our network functions between the two DSR-500 routers, moving one public IP and the VPN connection to the second router.  Both routers continue to lock up.

Per Dlink tech support, I performed a factory reset on the first router and restored the configuration.  Both routers continue to lock up.

I contacted Dlink tech support two weeks ago and the case and logs files have been "endorsed" to an engineer, but no resolution yet.

Anyone experiencing any similar lock ups or freezes with the DSR-500?
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on July 24, 2013, 11:59:39 AM
Link>Welcome! (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=41537.0)

I would presume that using 2 same model routers and both doing the same thing, might be something with the connected devices and or cabling? CAT 6 is recommended.

I would try the following, disconnect ALL wired and wireless devices accept for one wired PC. Test with one wired PC and see if any lock ups occur. Then add either another wired devices or wireless device. Graduate adding them and see if the router locks up.

[/list]
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: lewiskerns on July 24, 2013, 12:46:51 PM
Thanks for the reply.  We're in southeast Virginia.

The network has worked well for over 4 years.  The only change has been to swap out the existing netgear router for the DSR-500.  We've baslically already done what you suggest when we split our network into two networks using two DSR-500s.  We maintained our web/email on one DSR-500, and moved our VPN connection and backups to the second DSR.  The second DSR is connected to only one server.  Both DSRs continue to lock up.  We have also tried removing the VPN connection to see if that was causing the problem, but the lock-ups continued.

That leaves, as the only common equipment, the cable modem and a Dlink switch between the modem and the routers.  We also have a DSR-250 connected to the same switch (and cable modem) running another network that has worked well for at least 6 months.  Our ISP had some significant backbone issues last month and used us to help debug the issues.  During that process, they replaced all of the cable lines from the street to our modem, replaced our modem, and tested network connections throughout our facility.  Since then, the only change has been the DSR-500.

If its something in our network, the Netgear was ignoring it.

The other thing I found curious is the DSR's shipped to us with firmware 1.06.  But according to the Dlink website, 1.04 is the latest.  I was offered 1.08 (beta) by one tech, but after further review of my case he said that we should not update the firmware.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on July 24, 2013, 01:44:41 PM
I would attempt to remove the switch as a test to see if there is any continuation of the problem. I would also attempt to take one of the 500's and move it to a different location, can you test one out at home by chance? It can be set up for a simple test on a home network to see. I would presume that even if the symptoms persist there that there is a problem with the 500.

As for FW, the most current version of FW that is released and not sure why it's not on the main site yet is DSR-500 A1 v1.08B51_WW.

I would try testing the above suggestion. If it still locks up, I would phone contact D-Link support and have them run thru there troubleshooting information and see if there is any thing they can do to figure this out, before updating FW.

Keep us posted.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: lewiskerns on July 25, 2013, 06:43:59 AM
After two weeks of calls to tech support, I was finally able to get an engineer to talk to me about the logs I had been sending in.  There were errors in the logs they've never seen before.  He was going to send me a (beta) firmware update to try.  I'll post the results when I have them, but I won't be able to take the network down long enough to do the upgrades until this weekend.

We have other DSR-500's installed at customer sites, but those are all running older versions of the firmware (1.03B23 & 1.04B58).  Those routers have not experienced the lock up problems, but do not experience the same level of traffic either.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on July 25, 2013, 06:57:48 AM
Keep us posted please.  ;)
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on August 05, 2013, 09:28:37 AM
Any status on this  ???
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: lewiskerns on August 05, 2013, 12:00:01 PM
This issue is still unresolved, but here's an update.

On Saturday, 7/27, I replaced both 500's with our old Netgear router and adjusted my servers back to the original config.  I then installed firmware version 1.08 (provided by Dlink) on both 500s, and then re-programmed our configurations.  To aid in debugging, we changed our configurations slightly as follows:

Router 1: handles a single public IP and connects to our web and email server

Router 2: handles 2 public IPs and handles our office computers, servers, VPN to remote office, and VPN passthrough used by our customers to connect to our backup server.

Router 3 is also a DSR-500 (I mistakenly listed it as a DSR-250 earlier), handles a single IP, and is used by our production group for computer build ups and repairs.  This router is running firmware 1.03, has been in service for many months, and has not had any issues.

Routers 1 and 2 were placed back into service in the network at noon on 7/27.  By 11pm, router 2 had locked up with the same errors.  Router 2 has continued to lock up every 12 hours or so since.

Dlink engineers have stated that we are overloading the router and offered to RMA the one router.  I was quite surprised by this comment.  We bought 4 500s at the same time and have several other, previously purchased, in the field in use at customer locations (firmware versions 1.03 and 1.04), so we are still evaluating what to do with these routers.  We're working with our customers to see if they are having similar issues.

As one more test, I am currently installing firmware 1.04B58 (available on the web site as the latest) into a third 500, and will be swapping it out with router 2 to see if it continues to fail.

I'll post an update once this latest test is compete.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on August 05, 2013, 12:13:10 PM
Any chance you can regress back to v1.03?

Keep us posted.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: lewiskerns on August 05, 2013, 02:47:57 PM
I currently do not have access to a copy of 1.03.  1.04B58 is the only one available on the web site.  If 1.04 fails, I can ask the DLink engineers for a link to download 1.03.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: lewiskerns on August 08, 2013, 07:37:52 AM
Update.
I was provided a link to a web site with all of the firmware versions for the 500 by a dlink engineer.

I started with 1.04B58, but there must be a compatibility issue or something as many of the configuration pages in the GUI were not correct.  For example, the WAN 1 setup screen did not contain fields for gateway, DNS, etc, but instead requested maximum idle time and second set of IP/max idle time.  Using the internet wizard, I was able to enter the proper information, but then the firewall rules, vpn, and other pages were also incorrect.  I forwarded screen shots to Dlink, and they suggested I re-install the firmware.

I reinstalled 1.04 again and had the same issues.

I then installed 1.03B23, and again had the same configuration screen issues.

The web site had an updated version of the 1.08 firmware I was given a couple weeks ago, 1.08B51.  So I installed that, uploaded the saved config file from the router that was still crashing every 12 hours, and placed the new router in service at 6pm last night.  So far, it is still running.

One thing I have noticed with the new firmware is that I am no longer getting this error message in the log:

[DSR-500][System][NIMF] dbRecordValueGet failed for rowid column

Previously, I was getting this message every couple of minutes.

I'll post another update in a day or two to let you know if I have experienced any more crashes.


Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on August 08, 2013, 07:45:47 AM
I suggest follow this for doing FW updates:
FW Update Process (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=42457.0)

Helps to ensure that FW is getting loaded correctly. Also I would recommend after the last factory reset, don't reload any saved configurations from file. Could be possible that something in the configuration files are not setting right or corrupting the UI. Set up from scratch after each factory reset and check the UI.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: lewiskerns on August 08, 2013, 08:58:09 AM
Each time I installed the firmware, I followed the steps you listed, as requested by the Dlink Engineers who provided the firmware updates.

Except for this last time, I also manually programmed the configuration, via the GUI, without using a backup config file in case there was an error in the previous programming.  Given this was the dozenth time or so I had installed firmware in one of these routers, I simply used the backup config for this last effort.  I also provided a copy of this config to the Dlink engineers, but did not get any feedback on its contents.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on August 08, 2013, 09:00:35 AM
Ok, was just wondering...really seems like there could be an issue here with these routers...
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on August 08, 2013, 09:38:22 AM
This issue is still unresolved, but here's an update.

On Saturday, 7/27, I replaced both 500's with our old Netgear router and adjusted my servers back to the original config.  I then installed firmware version 1.08 (provided by Dlink) on both 500s, and then re-programmed our configurations.  To aid in debugging, we changed our configurations slightly as follows:

Router 1: handles a single public IP and connects to our web and email server

Router 2: handles 2 public IPs and handles our office computers, servers, VPN to remote office, and VPN passthrough used by our customers to connect to our backup server. Any chance you can swap Router 2 with Router 3 below to see if the problem follows? I'm curious if this network setup on Router 2 could be a culprit in the router hangs.

Router 3 is also a DSR-500 (I mistakenly listed it as a DSR-250 earlier), handles a single IP, and is used by our production group for computer build ups and repairs.  This router is running firmware 1.03, has been in service for many months, and has not had any issues.

Routers 1 and 2 were placed back into service in the network at noon on 7/27.  By 11pm, router 2 had locked up with the same errors.  Router 2 has continued to lock up every 12 hours or so since.

Dlink engineers have stated that we are overloading the router and offered to RMA the one router.  I was quite surprised by this comment.  We bought 4 500s at the same time and have several other, previously purchased, in the field in use at customer locations (firmware versions 1.03 and 1.04), so we are still evaluating what to do with these routers.  We're working with our customers to see if they are having similar issues.

As one more test, I am currently installing firmware 1.04B58 (available on the web site as the latest) into a third 500, and will be swapping it out with router 2 to see if it continues to fail.

I'll post an update once this latest test is compete.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: lewiskerns on August 09, 2013, 06:46:11 AM
The new router (lets call it Router 4) with the latest version of firmware (1.08B51) crashed last night after 26 hours of run time.

I'm going to try to swap it with the router 3 (running 1.03) as you suggested to see if it crashes under the same load, but it will be over the weekend before I can take the network down to do so.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on August 09, 2013, 06:47:33 AM
OK, keep us posted....will be interesting to see what Router 3 does...
Have a good weekend.  ;)
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: jensen1080 on August 15, 2013, 08:49:55 AM
I have the same issue with my DSR-500.(nonwireless)

I had it at my house and i have another one (same model) onsite at my customers site.  i got the IPsec vpn working perfectly and almost every day it will freeze up. they are 100% identical and i have reset the faulty one many times to reset the memory!  i also moved it onsite so the link was between 2 business IPsec works great but when this thing locks up there is no way to talk to it.(i think the kernel is froze)

the other one has never had a hiccup.  so i have installed a sonicwall that communicates to the DSR-500 .  I have not had any issues in months.

i have also reset the faulty one and installed it in my house and did NOT setup IPsec on it and it still will freeze up randomly.  another little thing i see that is different from the good one it. when i go watch youtube videos, and i hit the play button i have to wait 15-20 seconds before the ad will start then there is another delay between the ad and the video usually. my home internet speed it 12/5 dsl.

Any ideas?
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on August 15, 2013, 08:53:30 AM
Link>Welcome! (http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=41537.0)


Are the FW versions the same between these 2 routers?
Can you swap out the good router for the one that hangs just as a test to see if the problem follows?

I have the same issue with my DSR-500.(nonwireless)

I had it at my house and i have another one (same model) onsite at my customers site.  i got the IPsec vpn working perfectly and almost every day it will freeze up. they are 100% identical and i have reset the faulty one many times to reset the memory!  i also moved it onsite so the link was between 2 business IPsec works great but when this thing locks up there is no way to talk to it.(i think the kernel is froze)

the other one has never had a hiccup.  so i have installed a sonicwall that communicates to the DSR-500 .  I have not had any issues in months.

i have also reset the faulty one and installed it in my house and did NOT setup IPsec on it and it still will freeze up randomly.  another little thing i see that is different from the good one it. when i go watch youtube videos, and i hit the play button i have to wait 15-20 seconds before the ad will start then there is another delay between the ad and the video usually. my home internet speed it 12/5 dsl.

Any ideas?
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: jensen1080 on August 15, 2013, 09:46:36 AM
Good one:
System Name: DSR-500
Firmware Version: 1.06B43_WW
Serial Number: QB9V1D1000030

Faulty one:
System Name:    DSR-500
Firmware Version:    1.06B43_WW
Serial Number:    QB9V1D1000027

live in the usa,   tryed on centurylink and comcast business class
i have done the master reset many times.  and reprogram it
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on August 15, 2013, 10:03:03 AM
Ok so they both have same FW.

Are the network and ISP setups between these routers the same or different? It would be a good test to swap routers to see if the problem follows. D-Link is tracking this issue and is working with the OP. If this seems to be a problem then I can forward this to D-Link for review.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: jensen1080 on August 15, 2013, 07:28:36 PM
I have brought the router from my house and the office building and both places it will freeze.  even freezes using default settings without a vpn programed.  its random, sometimes when it does freeze instead of the power light being green it will be amber, and you cannot ping it internally or externally.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on August 15, 2013, 08:46:18 PM
You need to phone contact D-Link support and get the bad router into RMA.

Let us know the results.

I have brought the router from my house and the office building and both places it will freeze.  even freezes using default settings without a vpn programed.  its random, sometimes when it does freeze instead of the power light being green it will be amber, and you cannot ping it internally or externally.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: jensen1080 on August 15, 2013, 09:04:26 PM
thank you
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on August 18, 2013, 11:51:06 AM
Keep us posted.

thank you
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: lewiskerns on August 22, 2013, 11:12:34 AM
One Last Update.

(see previous posts for descriptions of each router)

Router 4 (supporting 2 public IPs), running the latest firmware 1.08B51, continues to crash every 18-24 hours.  However, with the new firmware, it reboots itself after the crash for a total of about 3 minutes of downtime each time. At least we don't have to call someone in during the middle of the night.

I took one of our newer DSR-500s running firmware 1.08B33 and programmed it to replace the older DSR-500, Router 3, (firmware 1.03) that we've had running for many months.  This network supports a single public IP, up to about 20 computers, no firewall rules or special routing - just straight internet access.  The newer router ran fine for 2-3 days then crashed twice in an hour.  I thought I had narrowed it down to multiple public IPs being the cause, but after this experiment I'm not so sure.

I attempted to program the older router to replace the newer one that crashes every 18-24 hours, but the old firmware does not appear to allow routing from more than one public IP.

I also discovered that when attempting to program the older firmware (1.03 and 1.04) in Internet Explorer 9, many of the configuration screens do not display correctly.  But they display fine in Chrome.

So, I have requested an RMA for all 3 of the new routers.

In case any one else is having issues, the serial numbers for my units are:

                QB9V1D3000003
                QB9V1D3000014
                QB9V1D3000019

We also purchased a fourth at the same time, serial number QB9V1D3000032.  That one was sold to a customer with a very small/simple network and appears to be able to handle the load.

Thanks for your help.
Title: Re: DSR-500 locks up
Post by: FurryNutz on August 22, 2013, 11:25:52 AM
Thank you for the update and information, please keep us posted on how it goes with RMA. Seems like there is a problem with these new units.  :-\