Linksys WRT54GL

[NotHereToPlayGames]

On 7/1/2023 at 11:28 AM, UCyborg said:

Wow, the legendary WRT54GL! Introduced in 2003, Linksys still sells it in 2023! Anyone here still uses it?

I still have mine around here somewhere!

But no, I no longer use it as my Roku wireless devices would not connect to it.

[UCyborg]

I think if I could have just skipped desoldering part, I might have got somewhere already. You think those smears could look worse than they really are? I'm ashamed to photograph it, it does look horrible. There is actually a *bigger one below where antenna connector is mounted from the factory, just much less dark.

BTW, last year I still saw this model of router on sale directly from Linksys, sure pricey for the capabilities, but this year, they might have actually stopped producing it.

Edit: [*]not bigger than mine, just rather big one.

Edited June 14, 2024 by UCyborg

[UCyborg]

Oh, one more thing, the method with which I was somehow successful with that one hole was melting solder on it and using solder pump. But just couldn't reproduce the success on other holes.

Edited June 13, 2024 by UCyborg

[UCyborg]

In the end I did it, old capacitors out, new capacitors in. The clumsy one just needs a lot of time. Desoldering pump seems to work well, unless you fail to heat the right area well, which must have been my problem.

But it was only partial solution at best. The one capacitor where the power goes in must have really been kaput, at least that area doesn't measure 0L on the multimeter anymore. But where second and the last one from where power goes in are connected, with new ones in place, they still read 0L. I did measure new ones before connecting them and they're fine.

Something else must still be shorted. I guess this is where easy fixes end. Behavior with more decent power supply remains the same, the power is cut shortly after powering up due to short circuit.

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, UCyborg said:

Something else must still be shorted.

Those modern boards have a lot of fuses, more likely a fuse gone kaput.

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, UCyborg said:

I did measure new ones before connecting them and they're fine.

Did you measure their capacitance? New ones doesn't mean good, there's a lot of fakes on the market. I recent;y purchased Samhwa, I was under the impression no one will ever make fakes of such crap.

In the end, Samhwa is a terrible brand, They failed within a month.

[UCyborg]

16 hours ago, D.Draker said:

Those modern boards have a lot of fuses, more likely a fuse gone kaput.

I think this board is more on the retro side at this point. As far as I can tell, there's just one fuse, the yellow thingy near the power connector, it just cuts the power from the board if it blows so nothing would light up in this case.

16 hours ago, D.Draker said:

Did you measure their capacitance?

Yeah, it's what I actually had in mind when I said I measured the new capacitors. I just wanted to see if I could get the router going for a while, so just bought random ones I could get locally. Could always get more reputable ones from one of those big distributors like DigiKey or Farnell, but unless confirmed they were really the biggest problem to get the device going, it didn't seem worth buying them and have them shipped from who knows where.

Actually, it only occurred to me at the later point that if everything else was OK, probing capacitor through-holes when the capacitor is not inside, multimeter should have picked up on resistance, at least I think it's logical they shouldn't behave like if you just bridged the holes with solder, so no (read very low) resistance and just "beeep". The multimeter I got is one of those smart ones, for basic measurement parameters like voltage, resistance, continuity, you don't have to select the mode.

So in that regard, only one pair of holes changed between having the old capacitor in and removing it, going from no resistance to resistance.

I think this leaves only one another simpler component, the two diodes near the power connector. I suspect removing them wouldn't reveal anything new. When measured in circuit, there is a larger difference in resistance, depending on which lead you put each probe, and I read that's expected from a diode.

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, UCyborg said:

Yeah, it's what I actually had in mind when I said I measured the new capacitors.

Understood, you need to take into account, they also work as resistors, the cheaper (older) the capacitor, the higher the resistance.   Capacitors from old boards may only be 85 degrees which leads to high ripples.

I recently recapped a monitor, I didn't have caps of 105 degrees, so I took the 85 ones, the monitor behaved oddly after a couple of hours, the brightness was fluctuating until I replaced with the proper 105 degree ones.

Reason - high ripples after heating up.

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, UCyborg said:

I think this leaves only one another simpler component, the two diodes near the power connector. I suspect removing them wouldn't reveal anything new. When measured in circuit, there is a larger difference in resistance, depending on which lead you put each probe, and I read that's expected from a diode.

Don't overheat them when soldering out. Put something cool on them. Even a simple screwdriver can help. When measured in circuit, there is a larger difference in resistance - it's nothing out the ordinary,

[UCyborg]

On 6/14/2024 at 12:01 AM, NotHereToPlayGames said:

25-40W is fine for hobbyist 60-40 / 63-37 tin-lead solder.

But 60W works better on today's lead-free solder.

Yeah, I was working with lead-free solder, so not the easiest option I guess.

Anyway, the diodes are fine, I suppose this router is done for.

[66cats]

On 6/22/2024 at 8:52 AM, UCyborg said:

lead-free solder

Abomination, abhorrent to God. Since you're running into HW problems in another thread (which might involve replacing caps), get some regular 40/60 tin/lead rosin core solder. When you desolder, add some of this to the solder joints -- resultant alloy will have a lower melting point & make parts removal much easier. 

[UCyborg]

Looks like it won't be necessary for now.

What about 63/37 variant? Some swear by it.

[66cats]

3 minutes ago, UCyborg said:

63/37

No opinion, it's supposed to melt all at once, instead of being semi-molten over a few degrees range like 60/40. By 60/40, i just meant basic tin/lead solder, not exact Sn/Pb ratio.

Re. your bad memory stick: have you tried all the usual stuff, like different slots/raising the voltage/loosening timings? BTW, generic 800MHz DDR2 sticks are still cheap/plentiful on US eBay, ~$5 shipped, "buy it now," for a 2GB stick. 

[D.Draker]

On 6/29/2024 at 6:40 PM, 66cats said:

BTW, generic 800MHz DDR2 sticks are still cheap/plentiful on US eBay, ~$5 shipped, "buy it now," for a 2GB stick.

I tried those (about 10Euro per stick, some tome ago), came with Elpida chips, didn't boot. Crap. Some say those are AMD only, high latency.

[D.Draker]

On 6/16/2024 at 6:41 PM, UCyborg said:

In the end I did it, old capacitors out, new capacitors in.

I hope you didn't use those...

https://external-preview.redd.it/FNuOVGJe3bfXiS2DsN4_oBt9PFy3YnKMKYwZHbRz1mU.jpg

 

 

On 6/22/2024 at 8:52 AM, UCyborg said:

I suppose this router is done for.