RV 120W Wireless Firewall/Router corrupts data

Jeffesmi1 · ‎07-22-2011

I just recently replaced an older linksys pre-N router with a RV 120W. I thought this would be a good choice as a more professional router. I installed this router last week and things seemed to be working normally for web browsing, though I was receiving more incomplete pages and broken graphics. Yesterday, I tried to watch a youtube video a friend had sent me and it would not play. I tried several other videos from youtube and other sources with the same result: stalled videos, partial played videos followed by a spinning wheel. It was late, so I figured something was going on with Comcast and went to sleep. This morning, I was trying to download Anti-virus updates. The updates failed multiple times. I then tried some videos again with the same results. I tried downloading .ZIP files from several sources, and while the file completely downloaded, each and every file was corrupted and unusable. Before I called Comcast to complain about my Internet being flaky, I unplugged the Comcast Arris TM502G device from the Cisco router and plugged it directly into my computer fully expecting the problem to persist, but the problem immediately dissapeared. The immediate evidence is that the problem lays with the Cisco Router. It appears that I can't make any changes on the Comcast device as it has a comcast public IP address and does not seem to have any web or telnet interface to change the settings.

- On the Cisco router, I disabled every non-essential service: VLAN, QOS (bandwidth profiles), IPV6, etc

- I updated the FW to the newest version the day I installed the router

- I power cycled the router

- I power cycled the comcast device

I need to resolve this issue as soon as possible, but I'm not sure what to try next, and I'm confused about my support options after trying to navigate Cicso's support pages. It offers live chat, e-mail support, etc, but everything I go into requires a contract number. If anyone can offer me some advice on fixing this or how to get support for this new router, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Jeffery Smith

Jeffesmi1 · ‎07-23-2011

Update:

I reset the router to factory defaults and I noticed that even though I'd applied the FW update when I setup the router, that it was still listing it as 1.0.0.?, so I tried to upload the FW update again and watched it carefully this time. It ran for about 30 seconds and then rebooted the router. When I checked the status, the FW still wasn't updated. There was NO error message, NO indication that the firmware update had not only been unsuccessful, but had damaged the routers functionality. I downloaded the firmware again, and uploaded it. This time, it ran for several minutes before rebooting the router and it now lists 1.0.2.6 as the FW version and I can watch videos and download files again. I applied this same FW update to a clients router and now I'm concerned that they might start experiencing the same problem. Shouldn't the router update process catch a corrupted FW image?

Thanks,

Jeff

riroe · ‎07-25-2011

Hi Jeff---You asked about support for the router. You can give us a call at our Cisco Small Business Support Center

and we can look up your serial number and let you know what type of support that your router has. All of our routers

carry a one year free phone support. The hardware warranty depends on different factors. Give us a call and we can pull up the router details and let you know where you stand on the warranty dates. Our number in the US is 1-866-606-1866.

THANKS

Rick Roe

Cisco Small Business Support Center

Jeffesmi1 · ‎07-25-2011

Thanks for the information. I'm just glad the bad firmware image didn't brick my router. It seems to have behaved after I reapplied the FW update. Weird food for thought, since all the files I was downloading seemed to be corrupted, I fully expected a video I transferred from my laptop wirelessly to my DLNA before I'd figured out something was wrong to be completely corrupted and unusable. However, we sat down and watched it and it seemed fine. This begs the questions:

- Was only data being transfered through the WAN port being corrupted?

*or*

- Was only data being transferred through the Ethernet ports being corrupted?

I have no way to test it now, but it leaves me wondering where the problem was. Most likely it was the WAN port being affected, since I was able to successfully update the FW on an Ethernet connected computer, but the only computers I tried duplicating the problem on were hardwired, so who knows.

Since I found the answer myself, I don't know how to close this thread. Normally, I'd mark the correct answer, but I can't mark my reply. I think this worth leaving up as I expect many others would have missed this as well. Once you apply the FW update, who checks the numbers against the patch if the router rebooted and came back up like everything is fine? I know I used to, but after patching 1000+ FW on everything from routers to printers, you kind of get used to the firmware either working or not, and the devices detecting corrupt firmware. I guess I'll start checking again... oh, the bad habits we pickup.

Jeff