WRV210 - Freezes - Hanging - Lock - VPN Don´t Reconnect

[davidstanquinijr]

Hi!

I'm using two WRV210 Linksys Cisco Routers to create a tunnel between two places with a pppoe adsl internet connection.

I made several tests with new 2.xxx and old 1.7xx firmware, and nothing changes.

Try to reset to factory defaults, and nothing changes.

I have two problems:

1) The router crashes after a time working, usualy around 24 hours, sometimes more, sometimes less. The lights still flashing, but nothing happens, no VPN traffic and no ping response from the router, and of course, no internet access. I could see just that the router works a bit hot, but, I think that is normal.

2) The VPN IPSEC was configured, and both configurations are identical. All value are the same, I am using the dyndns service. So, the VPN quickly connects and I can ping and access remote computers. Windows Folders, VNC, IT'S REALLY WORKS FULL. WORKS REALLY FINE. PERFECT.

BUT, when the router crashes, as I've told on problem 01, after remove the power cord and insert ir again, the VPN don't reconnect.

On log's, I could see that it's say that has no preshared key.

062   [Wed 22:48:10]  "TunnelA" #37: Can't authenticate: no preshared key found for `201.95.224.20' and `201.43.135.139'.  Attribute OAKLEY_AUTHENTICATION_METHOD

063   [Wed 22:48:10]  "TunnelA" #37: no acceptable Oakley Transform

064   [Wed 22:48:10]  "TunnelA" #37: sending notification NO_PROPOSAL_CHOSEN to 201.43.135.139:500

But, please, pay attention, it worked before. Nothing changes, nothing, the router just restarts. No configuration was lost, (I checked the VPN IPSEC TAB), but says that have no preshared key, BUT THE KEY STILL THERE.

The unique way to restablish the connection is go on the VPN IPSEC TAB, and change symetrical any configuration, as change MAIN MODE to AGGRESSIVE on both routers.

So, now are as MAIN. Tomorow probably it will crash, so, I will have to restart both routers, and change to AGGRESSIVE. So, when it happens again, i will have to back to MAIN.

If I change the preshared key, on both routers, It will work, too.

Anyone can help-me?

I really need a ultra stable VPN tunnel, and I think that CISCO could do it for me, but I think that I was wrong.

Thanks

David

[davidstanquinijr]

News!!!

The freezes just happens whit a PPPOE connection.

I´ve test it on different connections, 3G, Cable Modem and PPPOE, and it just freezes on a PPPOE. I think that the issue was on manage the connection, password, etc...

But, nothing to do, just wait a better firmware.

While this not happens, I´m using this two NEW WRV210 as ultra expensive wireless paperweight with VPN.

Thank you CISCO, great products, ein?

Dave.

[pjasa]

I also purchased the WRV210 after tons of issues trying to do VPN with the standard home Linksys equipment.   These issues started not long after Cisco took over Linksys, because prior to that I had no issues with my old Linksys routers/WAPs.  They were the most solid products ever.   Anyhow, I paid like $120 at BestBuy for this WRV210, double the price of any other Linksys, Dlink, or other WAPs, thinking business grade meant better quality.  Lo and behold, however, I have been having weird intermittent issues with this WAP since.  Upgrading the firmware makes no difference.  Types of problems observed:  dropped wireless connections, dropped connections to the internet even though the cable-modem is up and connected, long periods of unavailability across all wireless devices in my home, etc. etc.  Nothing on the logs, nothing on the device indicating what is going on.     This is frustrating, and going to the support site is not much help, Cisco doesn't seem to care unless you're a business spending $100K, this gets little attention or care.  It really seems this is a hardware problem, low-grade parts or low-grade coding of those parts, I dont know.   But because I use Cisco wireless at work ($12,000 solution) I KNOW this is a sub-grade experience.    Linksys, a trusted brand no more?   Thanks Cisco.

[dhupatel]

pjasa,

I apologize for the unfortunate experience, however I ensure you that VPN has worked properly under test environment. Cisco has introduced many advanced features and settings over Linksys. For the end-user, it has introduced understanding the feature and knowledge of possible conflicts.

ie. "QVPN will not connect with media-sharing active on the local client".

     -When such problems exist it is beneficial for the user to know basics about a "Virtual Private Connection". This would help them point in the right direction to get the proper set-up.

Although they may work under test environment, real-world scenarios include many conflicts and are only learned based on service issue reports. It may be possible to replicate each scenario and find a particular solution; however, it is beneficial to look at the broader scope of the problems as they are compiled to find a common solution.

As for the case on the WRV210, the VPN lock may occur due to PPPoE and ISP server address refresh intervals. A static WAN IP service from your ISP may help this problem.

- Dhumil

[pjasa]

Thanks Dhumil, but really there are major issues with the WRV210's software, it's undeniable.  I think it has too many bells and whistles which were not fully tested that get in the way with just simple operations.  My wireless signal drops at least once a week, I have to reboot the WRV210 to get it to come back.  As another poster mentioned, the switch continues to work, so all hosts on the LAN side are fine, but the router function and the wireless function crashes, it stops forwarding packets, stops working, necessitating a reboot to get things back to normal.   I also noticed that the more hosts I have on the wireless the more unstable the unit becomes.    I finally put another brand router in FRONT of the WRV210 to aleviate the wireless load down to 5 devices and now I only have to reboot it about once a week, prior to that it was about once every 3 days or so.   Another issue i noticed during my testing is that limiting the wireless to 802.11b made it more stable than running it in Auto mode (where 802.11g and b coexist).  When in Auto mode the whole thing slows to a crawl, so obviously the software is BAD, cannot handle both frequencies, traffic, and especially when put under load the thing cannot perform.  I am hesitant to buy a new router, I spent a lot on this one.  I think Cisco shoudl recall these things, and give us a REAL small business wireless router that has been tested and provides the performance we thought we paid for.

[tenpin784]

I am having similar issues with the WRV210. After some period of time (either a day or an hour, it doesn't seem to matter), the router will stop responding to pings and VPNs disconnect. The internal switch still works, as I can hit the LAN devices, but I can not go outside the LAN.

I have 4 of these units out in the field right now, and all 4 of them are doing it. They were running 2.0.0.11, so I downgraded them to 1.1.17.9, but the issues are still there. I have even tried swapping 2 of them with 2 that I had in the office as spares, and those ones are freezing as well. I had one on my desk, with no VPN, and after a couple of hours, it stopped responding. I have tried running both DHCP and Static IP address over a cable modem (no PPPoE), and see the issues with both setups.

I am not sure why these routers hang as much as they do, and am very disappointed. Linksys used to have such great devices, and Cisco has good hardware (the more expensive stuff), but these routers just seem to be plain junk.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

[clanfredi]

Hi,

I'm having exactly the same problem with my WRV210. I was able to create and store an error log which I'm attaching here for CISCO engineers. Please, take a look at the log and try and find out a possible solution.

Some weeks ago, we even got the router replaced by Cisco under warranty for they suspected a possible hardware failure. We received and put on line the replacement and got the same problem again.

This is becoming quite frustrating and our Director is evaluating replacing the WRV210 with another brand router, possibly more reliable!

Please, help!!!

Thank you.

Carlo

[davidstanquinijr]

The Best solution that I have found, was replace my new Cisco by 3Com routers.

David

skype: davidstanquinijr

[Eric Moyers]

Hello Gentlemen, My name is Eric Moyers.  I am a Network Support Engineer in the Cisco Small Business Support Center. I have just been made aware of this thread in the community post forum. I am deeply sorry that all of you are experiencing the issues that you are. I would like to ask a couple of questions. Have any of you called the Support Center and had a case created? If so, may I get those case numbers so that I can personally follow-up on your cases. 2nd I would like to know which firmware everyone is using? I ask that because I am getting two of our 210 routers out of the store room and going to mock this up in my lab now, to try and replicate your issue and see how we can solve this problem. I ask that everyone please give me a chance to work this.

Please rest assured, Cisco believes in their products and cares about our customers. We will do our best to resolve your issues.

My email is emoyersatciscodotcom.

Eric Moyers
Cisco Network Support Engineer
1-866-606-1866

[Eric Moyers]

Hello again Gentlemen,

I want to thank Mr. Lanfredi for responding to me. We are now looking at this issue and I have his information from the case that he opened with our support center. I will update this thread as I get more information.

Eric Moyers
Cisco Network Support Engineer
1-866-606-1866

[Eric Moyers]

Just wanted to update this thread that the issue is still being investigated and that I have not recieved any new information. But that as soon as I do I will relay it here.

Thank you for your patience will we work on this.

Eric Moyers
Cisco Network Support Engineer
1-866-606-1866

[sergeyshvets]

Is there any update on this issue? We have quite the same problem that WRV210 is restarting by itself. No VPN is used.

[andrejspuzulis]

I have found the same solution for this router - swaped it to Dlink.

Bye bye problems which i had for 6 months.

[fredyip123]

I have two of these WRV210 and I swear... they have been a pain in the backside.. they kept locking up.

I had to drive to the remote locations to reboot these routers several times before I gave up tweaking these units. I guess it's a relieve that I'm not the only one experiencing the same issues. Called Cisco Support and they immediately assumed its bad hardware, bad batch etc. So attempt to arrange me a replacement unit...  I just didn't want to waste my time... it seems like everyone are having the same issues... it gotta be a software/firmware related issue. I swear it would have been cheaper getting another model/brand... 

I waited for a year now... still no new firmware...helpppp

[andrejspuzulis]

Hello,

Guys, I have tree of them. All tree are with different bugs/problems. I can't replace they with another brand.I can change only for same models.But why should I do that? If they all work like this?

Try to downgrade it to Firmware Version: 1.1.17 . I can't 100% aprove that this help but for me looks that "cool router" works fine for 3 days. Seems that CISCO can't solve this issue with "latest" firmware and left us as is

And beware of forum moderators: they don't like when someone "offend" they forum (cisco).