Router stops broadcasting wifi and then reboots when wired PC is turned on

[#1]

Do I need a replacement router?

After several months of OK use my Plusnet fibre router keeps stopping broadcasting wifi - once every few days but on some days it is more frequent. I've double-checked using a wifi scanner that there is no wifi signal on either the 2.4 or 5 GHz channel.

Usually the router light is still blue. When I then turn on my wired PC to investigate the router status the router tends to reboot by itself. Sometimes it will reboot, connect to the internet then reboot again several times before settling down.

This can happen even when the router has recently been turned off and on again. It also can happen in the middle of the night or during the day when people are out, so it doesn't seem related to heavy usage.

When things are running smoothly, broadband speeds are always completely fine at around 70+Mb/s.

[#2]

Hub One should not reboot by simply turning on your computer wired directly to the hub.  ie. the blue power light (and blue broadband light) should not change colour.

It could the hub or the mains power adapter that is faulty.

fwiw, if you log into the Hub One and go to Troubleshooting menu.

Then I think go to Event Log?

Filter on 'boot' messages.

It should provide a history of every time the hub has been started which may coincide with your observations.

I think you need to contact Plusnet and get them to exchange the unit if it is less than a year old, if no agent responds to your post.

[#3]

The Hub One records me turning it off and on again at 8.31, and shows my Diskstation and wired PC connecting (on ports 3 and 4 respectively).

But there is no log of whatever happened prior to this: i.e. when I turned the PC on; the Hub One lights started flashing various colours and my Diskstation woke up.

I am probably going to need to take a more careful log of what occurs the next time this happens.

08:31:49, 30 Nov.	( 36.470000) 5 GHz Wireless: Rescan, Reason: 'Restart'
08:31:49, 30 Nov.	( 36.470000) WiFi auto selected channel 6
08:31:49, 30 Nov.	( 36.470000) 1-​93::2-​93::3-​93::4-​92::5-​93::6-​94::7-​95::8-​94::9-​95::10-​95::11-​95::12-​95::13-​95
08:31:49, 30 Nov.	( 36.460000) 2.4 GHz Wireless: Rescan, Reason: 'Restart'
08:31:49, 30 Nov.	( 36.460000) Wire Lan Port 4 up
08:31:49, 30 Nov.	( 36.460000) Wire Lan Port 3 up
08:31:48, 30 Nov.	( 35.950000) WAN Auto-​sensing running.
08:31:43, 30 Nov.	( 30.620000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2
08:31:39, 30 Nov.	( 26.630000) WPA2 mode selected
08:31:39, 30 Nov.	( 26.630000) WPS enabled
08:31:37, 30 Nov.	( 24.730000) WPA2 mode selected
08:31:37, 30 Nov.	( 24.730000) WPS enabled
08:31:28, 30 Nov.	( 16.130000) System start Button press
00:00:51, 11 Apr.	ath10: STA c4:50:06:f2:bd:5e IEEE 802.11: Client disassociated

[#4]

Did you try setting the Filter to 'boot' to show only boot up messages?

If you also go to Advanced Settings -> Broadband -> Connection  menu, it should show how long the current broadband connection has been up and running.

[#5]

Looks like I'm getting restarts about once every 2 weeks since August. Actual problems I've had are more frequent than this. Sometimes I or someone else will have done a restart because of problems or perceived problems.

08:31:43, 30 Nov. ( 30.620000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2 08:31:28, 30 Nov. ( 16.130000) System start Button press 00:00:32, 11 Apr. ( 32.990000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2 00:00:17, 11 Apr. ( 18.480000) System start  14:38:22, 15 Nov. ( 30.680000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2 14:38:07, 15 Nov. ( 16.100000) System start Button press 00:00:31, 11 Apr. ( 32.140000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2 00:00:15, 11 Apr. ( 16.650000) System start Button press 09:38:32, 08 Nov. ( 32.470000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2 09:38:17, 08 Nov. ( 17.910000) System start  09:20:04, 04 Nov. ( 33.330000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2 09:19:48, 04 Nov. ( 17.730000) System start  11:15:28, 26 Oct. ( 28.850000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2 11:15:15, 26 Oct. ( 16.460000) System start  18:52:56, 05 Oct. ( 32.150000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2 18:52:40, 05 Oct. ( 16.360000) System start  13:00:08, 19 Sep. ( 30.810000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2 12:59:53, 19 Sep. ( 16.630000) System start  09:58:35, 30 Aug. ( 31.020000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2 09:58:20, 30 Aug. ( 16.200000) System start  00:39:16, 12 Aug. ( 33.870000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.237.2.2 00:39:01, 12 Aug. ( 19.130000) System start TR069 13:00:11, 01 Jun. ( 32.290000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.226 12:59:55, 01 Jun. ( 16.540000) System start  06:24:24, 22 May. ( 31.730000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.226 06:24:08, 22 May. ( 16.310000) System start  16:46:22, 01 May. ( 31.560000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.226 16:46:06, 01 May. ( 16.180000) System start  10:53:01, 25 Feb. ( 30.910000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.226 10:52:47, 25 Feb. ( 16.870000) System start  19:08:24, 26 Jan. ( 31.930000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.226 19:08:08, 26 Jan. ( 16.270000) System start  17:44:19, 26 Jan. ( 32.570000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.226 17:44:02, 26 Jan. ( 16.250000) System start  15:20:53, 26 Jan. ( 32.010000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.226 15:20:37, 26 Jan. ( 16.270000) System start  10:58:07, 26 Jan. ( 31.560000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.226 10:57:51, 26 Jan. ( 16.120000) System start  07:30:17, 26 Jan. ( 31.770000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.226 07:30:01, 26 Jan. ( 16.080000) System start  01:06:00, 26 Jan. ( 39.370000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.226 01:05:45, 26 Jan. ( 23.820000) System start TR069 20:29:13, 25 Jan. ( 27.150000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.217.1.1 20:28:58, 25 Jan. ( 11.840000) System start Button press 00:00:17, 23 Oct. ( 29.400000) System up, firmware version: 4.7.5.1.83.8.217.1.1 00:00:01, 23 Oct. ( 12.650000) System start

[#6]

The log doesn't appear to show evidence of frequent hub restarts/reboots.

I wonder if you are mistakenly thinking the hub has shut down and rebooted, when in fact it may be trying to reconnect to the broadband service after an unexpected loss of fibre connection.  The power light will probably change from colour blue to orange then back to blue when connection is re-established.

If the hub genuinely reboots, the hub should show a constant green power light while it boots up.

It would not explain why the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wifi signals disappear though.

I think we could do with some help from a Plusnet agent such as @Gandalf to post your recent connection history.

Hub lights.  Plusnet Hub One is a rebadged BT Home Hub 5

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10282/~/what-do-the-lights-on-my-bt-hub-mean%3F

Same info can be found if you dig around in the Plusnet Help guide

https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/router-setup-guides/

[#7]

OK, thanks for these clarifications.

"Reboot" would appear to be the wrong word.

However, prior to the final "button press" reboot at 08:31:28 there is nothing in the log: no evidence in the log of the loss of wifi signal, the turning on of my wired PC or the attempts by the router to reconnect to the internet.

I guess if the log is not continuously written to then me turning it off and on again may have lost some of the messages...?

The next time this happens I will attempt to look at the logs before I do a hard reset.