Someone may have accidentally pulled on or kicked a cable, causing it to unplug or become loose. This may sound like a no-brainer, but we sometimes forget to check the most obvious solution before moving on to more complicated ones. It’s also possible that past overheating may have damaged the router.
If the vents are blocked or you have the router in a hot location - like on top of a tower PC that heats up - overheating could be causing instability. If it seems very hot, ensure that it’s getting enough airflow. Check your router’s temperature to see how hot it is. This overheating can damage the router over time or just make it unstable. Like any other electronic device, routers can fall prey to overheating. Installing an alternative firmware like DD-WRT might help. If you have to frequently reboot your router, the manufacturer’s firmware may just be unstable and buggy. Some devices may have a power switch, but the unplug-and-plug-back-in method applies to all routers. If you have separate modem, you may also want to try unplugging your modem’s power cable and plugging it back in after a few seconds. The reboot process is simple on most routers - unplug your router’s power cable, wait a few seconds, and then plug it back in. This shouldn’t be necessary, but many routers seem to need an occasional reboot to keep working well.
Whether websites are failing to load, everything network-related seems slow, connections are dropping, or your wireless is flaking out, you may just want to try rebooting your router.
Have you tried rebooting it? Yes, once again, the lowly reboot is the solution to many network problems. RELATED: Why Does Rebooting a Computer Fix So Many Problems?