N66U daily reboot- wear and tear?

[Deleted member 27741]

Cool, dude I'll check out some info on the jffs flash. I have seen it discussed before so I know there are a bunch of threads referring to it. I think people took me a little too seriously in this thread. I will use smileys or whatever from now on, as my intentional sarcasm (post 6) and hyperbole (post 14) were not taken as the fairly ridiculous jokes they were intended to be. Who says hater anymore?

 

[KGB7]

No worries dude. As I said before, we do test people and force them to use their own knowledge and common sense where ever and when ever applicable, with only good intentions.

Try spending time on battlelog forums (ea/dice games) if you haven't already. That's a troll city infestation, but amusing at the same time.

 

[sm00thpapa]

It's all good bro. No hard feelings. We all here to help and learn from each other. I'm rebooting my router right now for the 10TH time today. LOL!

 

[Deleted member 27741]

Ha! Amateur! It probably took me 20 reboots to get usb logging working. Not really sure if it is working right because I'm so unfamiliar with linux code, but it seems to be working... Gotta say, this scripting thing rocks.

 

[KGB7]

Noobs.

When I was testing alpha tomato firmware on ac68 router, I had to power cycle and reset it at least 30 times under an hour just to get to recovery mode.
Almost had a brain aneurism.

 

[oldgringo]

Do you keep your tv on 24/7, 365?

What about the microwave? Does it always stay on?

This is not such a good example. Why it is so incredible? TV has standby mode, microwave has even display with clocks. And what about the communication of some security devices? Let's switch them off for a night?
What's the reason to switch off the device which has been designed to run continuously? To keep it in a good shape? For how long? Why should I be proud of 10 year old router? Or even TV? You know, there is a lot of different aspects and points of view, take it easy, this is a funny thread.

 

[RMerlin]

I don't know for the RT-N16 and RT-N66U, but all the newer routers used by Asus use a NAND that has a very good number of possible PE (Program-Erase) cycles. They use a chip that is designed for more busy writing, which is why it is now safe to use for storing syslog (assuming your syslog isn't VERY busy - a typical syslog only gets 10-15 writes per day).

That chip used since the RT-AC66U is specced to support up to 100,000 PE cycles according to the spec sheet...

My RT-N66U probably saw more reflash and nvram writes than any of you ever will experience, and it's still working fine. My RT-AC56U is also probably getting there, as it's my main development router this past year.

A software reboot will be perfectly fine. A hardware power cycle however will definitely reduce its life expectancy, but not due to flash wearing out. All electronics sustain their highest stress level at the moment they are turning on, as there's a rush current going through the device as it goes from zero power to full power.

Best real-life example: light bulbs tend to die at the moment you turn them on, and more rarely as they are already turned on.

And there's also the mechanical wear on the power switch. A few persons reported broken power switches on these forums.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
In my almost 40 years in the field, I never heard about wear and tear caused by too many reboots. Only moving part in the router is
cooling fan which has nothing to do with boot. Repeated powering up/down may be, not repeated boot.

 

[wh7qq]

Hi,
In my almost 40 years in the field, I never heard about wear and tear caused by too many reboots. Only moving part in the router is
cooling fan which has nothing to do with boot. Repeated powering up/down may be, not repeated boot.

This thread started with a question about the RT-N66. It is fanless unless user modified! Not sure where you could squeeze a fan into that case.

The power switch and the reset switch are moving parts and the power switch may see some inrush current as the on-board caps are charged.

 

[Deleted member 27741]

In my almost a couple years now out of the field (home user) I have yet to see a router with a fan.

I think a fan cooled router would be all the rage.

 

[KGB7]

In my almost a couple years now out of the field (home user) I have yet to see a router with a fan.

I think a fan cooled router would be all the rage.

Linksys wrt1900ac has a cooling fan. Saw it in person at Microcenter few days ago.

 

[KGB7]

This thread started with a question about the RT-N66. It is fanless unless user modified! Not sure where you could squeeze a fan into that case.

The power switch and the reset switch are moving parts and the power switch may see some inrush current as the on-board caps are charged.

Computers, laptops, tablets, etc are turned off and turned daily by billions of people around the world. And so far the world is still spinning.

 

[Deleted member 27741]

So, have we concluded that a router rebooted every day for as long as it works will last just as long as a router that runs alongside it without rebooting much (say once every 6 months or so)?

Cause I gotta know.

 

[sm00thpapa]

So, have we concluded that a router rebooted every day for as long as it works will last just as long as a router that runs alongside it without rebooting much (say once every 6 months or so)?

Cause I gotta know.

I would say so.

 

[neil0311]

Hahaha... man. Sorry but a lot of haters here? The arrogance, the sarcasm... Makes me wish I could lock this thread. Clearly it is going nowhere.

I was hoping someone might have some actual information about the hardware and the potential for wear and tear caused by daily reboots but alas, snarky answers and "you must be doing it wrong" are pretty much it. Why bump a thread with this drivel?

Thanks smoothpapa for an attempt at a reasonable answer.

I apologize to anyone that has the misfortune to wonder the same thing and run into this troll fest of a thread.

Allow me to offer a slightly different view, and one that I mean without sarcasm or arrogance.

A question was asked that assumes use of the router in a manner not typical. That in and of itself will mean that many people will respond with "I only use the router this way, as designed." That's not sarcastic or arrogant, but just providing a response. Will someone reply who has experience rebooting their router several times a day? Maybe. Will they have any empirical information regarding the impact of that operation to the ultimate lifespan of the router....doubtful.

The reality is that a router is a product that has pre-planned obsolescence. In 2 or 3 years it's going to be obsolete. Well made "solid state" electronics should last beyond that point, so if rebooting of the router decreases that overall lifespan by 10%, does it really matter? 20%...does that matter? 50%...even that probably doesn't matter. If someone could give you statistics that rebooting more often than once a week does cause harm, would you stop doing it?

After all, it's a $200 consumer electronics product. It's not a $50,000 vehicle. Use it as you want and replace it when it breaks with a better and more up to date version...for $200.

 

[RMerlin]

In my almost a couple years now out of the field (home user) I have yet to see a router with a fan.

I think a fan cooled router would be all the rage.

Interesting fact: the original RT-N66U design had a cooling fan. That version was never released to market however. This is why the released version, without a cooling fan, was called "Rev B1".

The fan on the WRT1900AC is surprising. It doesn't seem to ever run unless under very high stress, and even then it's apparently so quiet that you wouldn't notice it. Not sure why Belkin felt the need to put one.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Interesting fact: the original RT-N66U design had a cooling fan. That version was never released to market however. This is why the released version, without a cooling fan, was called "Rev B1".

The fan on the WRT1900AC is surprising. It doesn't seem to ever run unless under very high stress, and even then it's apparently so quiet that you wouldn't notice it. Not sure why Belkin felt the need to put one.

Thanks for the info Merlin. I always wondered why the N66U released as a B1.

 

[DrTeeth]

Allow me to offer a slightly different view, and one that I mean without sarcasm or arrogance.

A question was asked that assumes use of the router in a manner not typical. That in and of itself will mean that many people will respond with "I only use the router this way, as designed." That's not sarcastic or arrogant, but just providing a response. Will someone reply who has experience rebooting their router several times a day? Maybe. Will they have any empirical information regarding the impact of that operation to the ultimate lifespan of the router....doubtful.

The reality is that a router is a product that has pre-planned obsolescence. In 2 or 3 years it's going to be obsolete. Well made "solid state" electronics should last beyond that point, so if rebooting of the router decreases that overall lifespan by 10%, does it really matter? 20%...does that matter? 50%...even that probably doesn't matter. If someone could give you statistics that rebooting more often than once a week does cause harm, would you stop doing it?

After all, it's a $200 consumer electronics product. It's not a $50,000 vehicle. Use it as you want and replace it when it breaks with a better and more up to date version...for $200.

Best answer here. I'll buy you a pint if you ever make it to North London, England

 

[jim769]

I would prefer not to have a fan if possible fans do work well for cooling they also suck air and dirt into the router over time that will make the heat sinks less and less effective.

 

[KevTech]

In my almost a couple years now out of the field (home user) I have yet to see a router with a fan.

First revision of the RT-N66U with fan.

http://vr-zone.com/articles/exclusi...-n66u-dark-knight-dual-band-router/13760.html