Toasted Router Saga

[Lenp]

At the end of last week I suddenly lost all network operation. No local or internet service was available. I traced the issue to a bad router, a chip actually overheated and turned its markings brown! Funny thing is that when I looked at the addresses (DHCP is being used) on the network aware printers, they were all way out of the expected range. I guess the router had a really bad few moments. Just after it stopped sending TCP/IP signals and bad addresses it started sending ISS (Internal Smoke Signals). A new router and it's back on line again. Also the older Linksys 3 port print server could not be ID'd so I'm replacing it with stand alone servers.
Anybody else ever experience a similar 'undocumented' feature?
All the time you save using computers is paid back when they crash, and often with interest!

Len

[haklesup]

Some routers and modems run fairly hot. I couldn't stack my old router and modem (either on top) or within 10 min, I would loose internet connection due to overheating. Unstacking the hardware and waiting 5 min to cool always restored the connection but I can see it going all the way to smoke for somebody.

A lot of the new hardware runs considerably cooler, my new modem runs reletively cooler but I have not replaced my router in some time. In addition to speed, chip makers are generally striving for lower power in all product categories.

Watch out for that energy star logo, recent news reports reveal it to be poorly managed and products being certified for not much more than submitting paperwork. One group certified an air cleaner with a feather duster taped to it as a low power model, 8 out of 10 bogus submissions accepted.

An efficient wall wart dosen't necessarily mean an efficient low voltage device.