router (SMC Barricade 7004ABR) slows internet to a crawl until unplugged

Hi group.

I have a strange condition my router seems to cause periodically.

I'm not sure if it's due to a large amount of internet traffic, since
it's a periodic problem, but it has happened after doing some major
downloading.

What happens is that my transfer rates slow down to something like a
dial-up rate even though I have dsl. I did a test at dslreports and
the download came back worse than a 33.6k modem in one test.

This was preceded by an obvious deterioration in surfing; pages took a
long time to download.

I have two systems plugged into the router. A K62-350MHz with WinXP
used only when downloading large files, say 200 to 700 MB. The rest
of the time it is off, but plugged into the router.

My main system is a 2500+ Barton with WinXP and I use it for
everything else, mainly surfing, minor gaming.

To fix the problem, I unplug the router (no power switch), disconnect
the lan cables, power down the computer, turn off the dsl modem, then
reconnect the cables, power the router on, turn the modem back on and
reboot. Everything back to normal.

I'm just hoping someone else has had a similar problem with this
router or any other and what can be done about it. I mean, perhaps by
the time a noticable decline has occured, the performance has suffered
significantly.


Other possible junk that might cause problems:

radmin for accessing the K6-2's desktop without using another monitor,
kb, mouse

zonealarm

turbonote

Vitrtual Daemon

There's no spyware on the system that AdAware can detect.


Thanks for any responses,

gene

Please respond to group; email address is just for spam. Thanks!

gene

gene <> wrote in
news::

>
> To fix the problem, I unplug the router (no power switch), disconnect
> the lan cables, power down the computer, turn off the dsl modem, then
> reconnect the cables, power the router on, turn the modem back on and
> reboot. Everything back to normal.

That's a lot to do. <g>

Why don't you just stop the download and try again later. You know DSL is
using the regular phone lines. Even with a voice phone call, a connection
can be re-routed to avoid heavy traffic on the lines in an area. A phone
call made from NY NY to Washington DC can be routed to LA, CA and can be
routed in the middle of the conversation and you will not notice it. But
data is another story.

Also, you're not the only doing downloads from the computer site, so
there is that to consider as well.

> I'm just hoping someone else has had a similar problem with this
> router or any other and what can be done about it. I mean, perhaps by
> the time a noticable decline has occured, the performance has suffered
> significantly.

I don't think the router has anything to do with it.

Duane

On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 21:48:40 GMT, Duane Arnold <>
wrote:

>gene <> wrote in
>news: :
>
>>
>> To fix the problem, I unplug the router (no power switch), disconnect
>> the lan cables, power down the computer, turn off the dsl modem, then
>> reconnect the cables, power the router on, turn the modem back on and
>> reboot. Everything back to normal.
>
>That's a lot to do. <g>
>
>Why don't you just stop the download and try again later. You know DSL is
>using the regular phone lines. Even with a voice phone call, a connection
>can be re-routed to avoid heavy traffic on the lines in an area. A phone
>call made from NY NY to Washington DC can be routed to LA, CA and can be
>routed in the middle of the conversation and you will not notice it. But
>data is another story.

Thanks for the reply Duane, but I guess my original post wasn't clear
enough. The problem develops over a couple of days, where opening web
pages gets really slow. I get to thinking it must be the ISP's fault
and I give it a couple days to sort out.

Waiting doesn't help, but if I go through that whole routine, the
problem immediately disappears. It's like upgrading from dial-up to
dsl all over again. The upside is it makes me appreciate high speed
all the more. I can't say for sure if it's a ping problem or a
download speed problem. dslreports.com's speed test seems to think
it's a speed problem, but seems like sometimes once a download starts,
it's fairly quick.

Just an annoying intermittent problem, not something that's going to
drive me crazy.

gene
Please respond to group; email address is just for spam. Thanks!

gene <> wrote in
news::

> On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 21:48:40 GMT, Duane Arnold <>
> wrote:
>
>>gene <> wrote in
>>news::
>>
>>>
>>> To fix the problem, I unplug the router (no power switch),
>>> disconnect the lan cables, power down the computer, turn off the dsl
>>> modem, then reconnect the cables, power the router on, turn the
>>> modem back on and reboot. Everything back to normal.
>>
>>That's a lot to do. <g>
>>
>>Why don't you just stop the download and try again later. You know DSL
>>is using the regular phone lines. Even with a voice phone call, a
>>connection can be re-routed to avoid heavy traffic on the lines in an
>>area. A phone call made from NY NY to Washington DC can be routed to
>>LA, CA and can be routed in the middle of the conversation and you
>>will not notice it. But data is another story.
>
> Thanks for the reply Duane, but I guess my original post wasn't clear
> enough. The problem develops over a couple of days, where opening web
> pages gets really slow. I get to thinking it must be the ISP's fault
> and I give it a couple days to sort out.
>
> Waiting doesn't help, but if I go through that whole routine, the
> problem immediately disappears. It's like upgrading from dial-up to
> dsl all over again. The upside is it makes me appreciate high speed
> all the more. I can't say for sure if it's a ping problem or a
> download speed problem. dslreports.com's speed test seems to think
> it's a speed problem, but seems like sometimes once a download starts,
> it's fairly quick.
>
> Just an annoying intermittent problem, not something that's going to
> drive me crazy.
>
> gene
> Please respond to group; email address is just for spam. Thanks!
>

It's a possible sign of router failure coming. Are you using a UPS that
helps protect the router? A router doesn't like electrical spikes on the
line due household appliances turning on and off, brownouts and sudden
lost of power on a routine basis.

Duane

>
>It's a possible sign of router failure coming. Are you using a UPS that
>helps protect the router? A router doesn't like electrical spikes on the
>line due household appliances turning on and off, brownouts and sudden
>lost of power on a routine basis.


Hi again Duane.

You might be onto something there. The only other instance of this I
noticed on google groups was someone saying that they've had
overheating problems with this router. They recommended raising it up
to allow for better heat distribution. I'm giving that a try; can't
hurt.

It's plausible the router could be wearing out. It's a hand me down
from a relative who used it for several years before giving it to me.
I'll keep an eye on it.

Thanks for your time, Duane.

gene

Please respond to group; email address is just for spam. Thanks!

I don't have your specs for your computer or OS but if you are running XP or
2K then it probably is the router. I would go into the router settings and
see what the logs for the hacker attack look like. If they are very full,
see if you can delete them or set the router not to log them at all. Unless
you are spending all of the time tracking them all down they really won't do
you much good unless you are the victim of a DDOS attack and want to report
it to the isp's involved. As far as all of that unplugging all you should
have to do is hit the little blue reset button that is on the front of the
router and that will start it over. I googled for the SMC Barricade 7004
ABR and it went right to the description of the router and then looked at
the picture of it. If your version looks just like that then the reset is
on the left on the same side of the router as the cat5 cables. If you are
running Win9x then you probably just have to reboot every couple of days
anyway because the RAM is full. For downloading I would suggest that you
use a downloading manager that will resume your downloads like
"FreshDownload" that doesn't have any spyware like DAP does. That will
automatically open several connections to your download at once and you'll
get it much faster, plus if the connection does break you can resume it
later.

Good Luck,
vic


---
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On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 12:17:52 -0600, gene <> wrote:

>Hi group.
>
>I have a strange condition my router seems to cause periodically.
>
>I'm not sure if it's due to a large amount of internet traffic, since
>it's a periodic problem, but it has happened after doing some major
>downloading.
>
>What happens is that my transfer rates slow down to something like a
>dial-up rate even though I have dsl. I did a test at dslreports and
>the download came back worse than a 33.6k modem in one test.
>
>This was preceded by an obvious deterioration in surfing; pages took a
>long time to download.

>I have two systems plugged into the router. A K62-350MHz with WinXP
>used only when downloading large files, say 200 to 700 MB. The rest
>of the time it is off, but plugged into the router.
>
>My main system is a 2500+ Barton with WinXP and I use it for
>everything else, mainly surfing, minor gaming.
>
>To fix the problem, I unplug the router (no power switch), disconnect
>the lan cables, power down the computer, turn off the dsl modem, then
>reconnect the cables, power the router on, turn the modem back on and
>reboot. Everything back to normal.

Are you havin' the problem with both machines?

>I'm just hoping someone else has had a similar problem with this
>router or any other and what can be done about it. I mean, perhaps by
>the time a noticable decline has occured, the performance has suffered
>significantly.
>
>
>Other possible junk that might cause problems:
>
>radmin for accessing the K6-2's desktop without using another monitor,
>kb, mouse
>
>zonealarm
>
>turbonote
>
>Vitrtual Daemon
>
>There's no spyware on the system that AdAware can detect.

If yer not havin' the problem on both machines, the problem probably
isn't the router.

How large is the hard drive?...and how much free space do you have?

Try rebooting without resetting the router. Also, try emptying out
your Temporary Internet Files folder.

Also, suspect Zone Alarm. Also remember...much of the Internet is
slower right now because the rash of viruses.

Good luck.


Have a nice week...

Trent

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!

Thanks Trent.

I've often wondered if I should bother with ZoneAlarm at all since the
router has a firewall, but I do like how ZA makes apps ask for
permission before accessing the network and the internet.

Good suggestions on keeping temporary internet files from getting
overloaded, I also do frequent spyware checks.

Not sure if both computers are affected. My old one doesn't see much
use and having xp on a 350MHz machine bogs it down to such a degree
that router problems would be hard to distinguish from generally poor
performance.

I'm sure the suggestions I've gotten here will help me out.

Thanks everyone,

gene


Please respond to group; email address is just for spam. Thanks!