Downgrading Ancient Linksys BEFW11S4 WiFi Router is Like Downgrading from Vista to XP (Makes Things Better)
I keep an old Linksys BEFW11S4 802.11b WiFi router running as an access point (DHCP server and other features turned off) to use with things like a Sony PSP that only has 11Mbps WiFi. The 802.11g router is the real router and only speaks with other "g" devices. The BEFW11S4 has been flaky ever since I updated its firmware to 1.52.02 about two years ago. But, I didn't pay attention to it since it is rarely in use (it mostly sits there to use its additional 4 100Mbps Ethernet ports). I finally got around to trying to figure out why it is so flaky and ran across this two-year old blog item...
How to Fix the Linksys BEFW11S4 Router
...by Kevin Worthington. His problems sounded a lot like mine. And, his advice was to downgrade from firmware version 1.52.02 (the last update for the BEFW11S4 provided by Cisco/Linksys) to version 1.50.14. Linksys' website doesn't list this older firmware. But, fortunately, Kevin provides this link to Linksys' ftp site...
BEFW11S4 firmware version 1.50.14 (ftp link)
So, I downgraded my old Linksys box as suggested and its seems a lot more stable now. It is like downgrading from Vista to XP. Things seems faster and more functional on the old Linksys WiFi router box now.
BTW: The Sony PSP seems to connect more reliably when the Preamble is set to Short instead of the default of Long.
psyb0t Worm Infects DSL Modems & Routers
It was only a matter of time until the DSL modems and home (consumer) routers we all felt so safe about were the targets of attack. If you own a DSL modem or home router that uses Linux Mipsel as its firmware operating system, check out this PCMag.com item...
New Botnet Runs on DSL Modems and Routers
So, which routers use this Linux Mipsel? PCMag.com's article doesn't mention any. But, it looks like one of them might be the popular Linksys WRT54G wireless router based on this info:
Old GeForce FX 5200 Says Bye Bye
The old GeForce FX 5200 graphics board in my even older but reliable PC running Windows XP became unusable after years of service. You can see the first problem during the BIOS boot process where the GeForce boot info characters looks odd. Windows XP begins the boot process with its splash screen. But, it soon switches to a blank screen. Sometimes a screen of noise fills it up with an arrow cursor from XP. Other times, the screen just remains blank the LCD goes into sleep mode because it doesn't detect any signal. My guess is that corrosion of the solder points of one of the two graphic memory chips caused a short circuit. You can see the suspected culprit in the photo above.
I used the on-board graphics output to keep the PC running. However, after years of looking at the GeForce provided display, Windows XP looks horribly aliased and slow using the graphics chipset provided on the system board.
eMachines D3024 Does Not Boot if Mouse is Dead
I have an old eMachines D3024 that I use to run Fedora Linux. This morning it got "stuck" on the BIOS screen while booting. I went through the usual behavior of reseating RAM (DIMM) and internal cables. That didn't help at all. Then, I noticed that the Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse Receiver 2.0 (a USB mouse RF receiver) was not lit up when the PC was turned on. It normally lights up a small LED on the front of the receiver. So, I grabbed a wired mouse and plugged it in to the PC. And, yep, the PC booted with a functional mouse attached.
This is the first time I've see a PC that would not boot past the BIOS startup screen just because a mouse was not installed. So, it sure was a head scratcher problem for me.