Netgear R6300v2

[momaka]

Re: Netgear R6300v2

I'm not sure exaxtly where to test voltages at, but at the 330uF 16v cap, near the power plug, I get 12v when plugged in and power button off. It drops to 11.7v when power button is on while bricked and 11.6v when powered on and not bricked.

These voltages seem about right?

Well, nothing you can tell without a scope anyways.

Unfortunately, it appears there are a lot of buck-type regulators (anywhere where you see a coil) instead of linear ones. Linear regs are usually easy to test, as you have an input and an output to test voltages. For the buck-type regulators, you really need a scope to see the ripple/noise they are putting out, because if there's anything to go "partially" bad with those, it would be excessive noise/ripple on the output.

An easier route might be to install parallel ceramic capacitors with all of the buck-regulators' output ceramic capacitors (all of the groups of ceramic capacitors in the upper-left corner of this picture.)

[Longbow]

Re: Netgear R6300v2

The link to the NVRAM chip tells you which pins do what. These things don't have a unique reset pin, but are reset via serial data commands. Don't worry with the chip, unless you have found that heating/cooling the chip itself reproduces the problem. The thing to check if possible is the main micro. If that thing is a BGA then forget it unless you have a schematic. Locate the various regulators on the board and check the voltages. A failing filter on these regulated lines can cause erratic power up behavior, you can be sure. But that doesn't mean it HAS to be a filter capacitor. Go ahead. Check them with your ESR meter.

I'm guessing the wall wort provides 12v d.c. or more, so there are probably 12v, 5v and 3.3 volt regulators on board. Some selective freezing might help you zero in on the problem. On something like this you need a healthy dose of luck. Beyond finding a bad filter cap or loose connection, they are way too complex to get into the component level. Then there is the whole issue of re-flowing the board.

[Gorrillasnot]

Re: Netgear R6300v2

Thanks for the info guys.

Unfortunately I don't have a scope or ESR meter, or the skills to use them for that matter.

It would be nice if they would make routers like TVs with voltage testing points labeled on the board.

I replaced the 1 capacitor down by the power connector (is this the main filter cap?) and it didn't change anything.

I've tried heating the chips and board with a paint stripper gun on low settings which also didn't help..actually made the router completely dead (no lights at all) until it cooled off a bit and have also tried putting it in the freezer over night (I know not a good idea..condensation) which made no difference.

I couldn't find the package type of the CPU (Broadcom BCM4708A0) but I would bet it is BGA..I did try heating the crap out of the heatsink on top of the CPU, with my paint stripper gun, and letting it cool back to room temperature in hopes of "reflowing" it but it didn't help.
I know it would take special tools and skill to reball it (not worth it).

I'll probably poke around at the various regulators I can spot and hopefully stumble onto the problem..in the meantime I have it placed in a semi permanent location running flawlessly (as long as i dont power cycle/powerloss) as a client bridge.

thanks again guys