# Can someone explain this?



## my4fireflies (Sep 3, 2014)

We have a belkin router. Two nights ago the internet stopped working on our phones and one of the two rokus. My sons' still had access through their xboxes. This morning we woke up to find that belkin is no longer listed as one of the wi-fi options and the ONLY one is one called broadcom. Does this make ANY SENSE to ANYONE? FYI--I know NOTHING about internet, ethernet, clouds, USBs, wi-fi, tethering, or the like. When given the option, I took TYPING in high school because I was SURE that computers were just a fad. So I need the most basic of explanations. Thanks. gre:


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Unplug the router. Let sit for a minute or two. Then plug it back in and let it boot up.
After booting up turn on the computer and see if it will once again connect.
Many electronic items when not working correctly Unplug it, don't just turn it, off or use the Reset button if there is one. Completely take the power away, and most electronics including this router will reset themselves once again. 
Then let the computer start up and do its own searching for the network, and lets hope it once again finds the router.


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## my4fireflies (Sep 3, 2014)

OK. We called Belkin. They checked it and said someone hacked our router. They wanted $180 to reconfigure it. Dh said no thanks. We will just buy a new one. I'm so confused.


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## sniper69 (Sep 23, 2007)

my4fireflies said:


> OK. We called Belkin. They checked it and said someone hacked our router. They wanted $180 to reconfigure it. Dh said no thanks. We will just buy a new one. I'm so confused.


my4fireflies - instead of paying belkin to reconfigure it, do a "hard reset" to get the router back to factory specs, then it can be set up again. http://www.belkin.com/us/support-article?articleNum=10771 explains how to reset to factory defaults. After it is reset, connect the router to your computer through an ethernet port (with nothing else connected). Type in 192.168.2.1 in your browser (url bar where you would usually type web addresses). It will ask for a username and password. Belkin usually uses admin for a default username (or it is sometimes even left blank) and for a password from the factory, there usually isn't one. Go into setting and change the default router username and password to something else. It might ask you to relog in after you save that. Then go back into the settings and change wireless security to wpa2 and make a random passcode of letters (uppercase and lowercase) and numbers. Try to make this passcode at 20 characters (or more) in length. Then when you set up your ssid (network name) the passcode you entered will be used to connect computer, xbox, etc to the router. Any other specific settings (i.e. for dsl or cable) can usually be gotten from your ISP. 

I'm assuming that before your wireless security was WEP. Generally it takes about 30 seconds to a minute to "hack"/get into a WEP secured network. Then if the default username and password were still used on the router - someone could go into the router settings and change things. WPA is more secure, but WPA2 would be the network security to use. Some routers offer WPA2 enterprise, but that is only used if you have a server setup (most people don't).

If you have any setup questions, post away, I'll try to help.


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## sniper69 (Sep 23, 2007)

BTW, if you don't want to redo your existing router and are set on buying a new router, the ASUS AC68U (or AC68R - they're both the same but different model number) are a nice "cadillac" router. I use the ASUS AC68U as one of my routers in the house and it works great. Plus setup is easy and if you want to dive into the world of custom firmware, you can get even more features using Merlin Asuswrt with it. 

The problem with a new router is that most decent routers are $100-$200 for a new router.


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## my4fireflies (Sep 3, 2014)

Got a much better router. The belkin wasn't enough for our needs anyway, so we will be much happier now. Thank you SO MUCH for all that info! I appreciate your help!


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Make sure you change the default password on the new router.


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