DSL Modem and Router overheating? anyone else have this kind of problem?

Question

I'm wondering am I the only one that has to deal with this, my router and DSL modem kept on overheating, requiring me to reset every 60-90 minutes, it was very irritating. I fixed the problem with a few heatsinks here and there and some premium thermal paste, but I find it just very odd.
My ISP is SBC/Yahoo, the modem is a "speedstream 5100". the router is an Airlink 101, 4 port, 10/100, B/G/N wireless router. During regular internet surfing they worked flawlessly without any modifications. My DSL speed is 3 mbps, they work fine at that speed. but with sustained high speed downloads, such as downloading very large files or P2P file sharing, the high speed downloads would cause the router/modem to over heat every hour or so. I realized there was likely a heat issue after discovering each time I had to reset the devices they were extremely hot (like burn-hand hot). bought a cheap northbridge heatsink for the modem, and 2 smaller sinks out of my salvage bin for the router. now I can download at 200KB/sec for over8 hours straight without having to reset the router/modem.

Obviously I don't think this is supposed to happen, its not even that much electrically explainable. the AC adapter for each device is like 10 Watts tops, and currently even with the heatsinks, each at least 30 watts passive cooling thermal capacity, get overwhelmed by the heat every now and then. they get up into 100-120F and shortly after the device fails and needs to be cooled down/reset. The whole problem just doesn't make any sense. How can the router/modem make several times more heat than the amount of power available? Is this some kind of manufacturer's design flaw? I mean its a real WTF?! problem.

Does anyone else experience this kind of issue?

Answer 1

power outlets - you are on the same branch circuit aren't you? if you don't have all your computer equipment on the same branch circuit, unplug and put them all on the same outlet now! the branch circuit is probably all along one wall usually. and the other side of the room is the other branch, and they are at 2 different poles.



it is also quite possible that you have a hot and neutral swapped. check your outlets with a plug tester. they are cheap. get one at sears or a hardware store.



this can cause damage to your equipment. a guy I know's printer caught fire years ago because the printer was across the room.



some models of routers are known to be hot, like the linksys wrt320 I think it was which reviewers say melted plastic and shutting down or being flaky. qwest dsl modems also get hot but I have not heard of them shutting down.



The old blue linksys WRT54G series routers were really nice, and you could flash them with dd-wrt firmware. I think they are still available.



you shouldn't be operating in a hot room or in the sunlight. besides sun erases cdr's over time.



try a different router. send the old one back.

Answer 2

This is a challenging question, and one that made me curious for many years.

Answer 3

Sorry I don't know about this

Answer 4

I want to know this too