11-28-06

Linksys BEFSR41 Router

After months (and likely longer) of my internet randomly dropping connection, i was reading on the web about one fellow who had replaced a 1000uf/16v capacitor that was bulging in his Linksys router. No other information though.

I was to the point of getting another one but being an old tech i had to try.

My case had no screws. The front blue plastic housing snaps on over the darker housing. The snaps are on both sides where the blue meets the darker housing. Pry gently to get it apart.

Then the back will come off.

Now you are left with the circuit board and a darker plastic bottom. There is a single Philip's screw that holds this on and note the four plastic snap on's from the bottom plastic. Now slide the board off, you will hear the little snaps slide off.

Note the 2 larger 16 volt 1000uf capacitors. Mine had a noticeable bulge in one of them at the top. A lack of a bulge does not mean a good capacitor though. My plan was to replace them with 25 volt 1000uf capacitors for better reliability.

First I cut the old capacitors on top of the board to leave just the old leads sticking up. You will have to cut about mid ways in the body of the capacitor thus destroying them. You could desolder them from the underside but i decided on this method to reduce chances of damaging the board and since i am going to have to lay the 25 volt cap's on their sides anyway.

To replace with the 25v ones though i soldered leads on them, wrapped them in electrical tape to prevent shorting, and lay them sideways to fit back in the case.

Reassemble.

After several weeks of using the router after the mod, its been very reliable. I use to have several dropouts an hour and now only one dropout in about 2 weeks.

73

Chuck

AF4O