Linksys BEFSR41 DHCP reliability

[jdc2000]

I have a Linksys BEFSR41 Cable/DSL router that is set up as the DHCP server for a location. Most of the time it works fine - when a PC is powered up it can get an IP address assigned with no problems. However, about once a week, there is some type of problem with the DHCP assignments. Sometimes, certain PC's will fail to obtain an IP address. The error they get on bootup is 'Cannot contact DHCP server'. Other times, all PC's on the network will lose connections to both the internet (Cable modem) and to each other. Powering off the Cable modem and the BEFSR41 will correct this. However, it is getting to be a significant annoyance.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of info on the reliability of the DHCP server on the Linksys BEFSR41/81 series of Cable/DSL routers. It would be nice to keep a DHCP server, but only if it is going to be more reliable. I'm now looking at assigning static IP addresses to all devices on the network to eliminate this problem. Some already require static IP's anyway.

Any info, experiences, or other data on this would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[noblevirk]

I am also experiencing the similar problem on my home network, I have Linksys BEFW11S4. It is also showing the same characteristics. I already assigned a static IP to the computer it is hooked up, when the DHCP become unavailable for the other computer, the static IP computer can not even ping the router nor ping any other website. The solution I am trying is the power cycle, I have to do this several times a week, sometime not even a once. I am confused why the router is showing these annoying behaviors

regards
noble

[Train]

My router stopped doing that after I placed a 2 inch extention under each foot on the route. It was overheating.

But have had to replace one, doing the same tricks, before I figured out the overheating bit.

[jdc2000]

Train:

Thanks for the info.

I checked the temperature on the current unit, and it seems to be running a lot cooler than most of the Linksys routers I've had previously, so I'm not sure that heat is the issue in this case. I'll still try providing a little better cooling to the unit to see what happens, but I'm not overly optomistic at this point that better cooling will provide a permanent solution. Any additional ideas or user feedback would still be appreciated.

[jdc2000]

Well, the problem continues even though the unit is reasonably cool. I'm going to leave DHCP enabled to allow new connections without assigning IP addresses manually, but I'm also going to assign fixed IP addresses to all devices that are permanently atteched to the network. That should eliminate the majority of the problems.

[Train]

Humm, that does not sound to good. But do let us know if the assigning helps any.

Sorry I was unable to answer before now, on vacation and finally got to a computer.