Is your Belkin router suddenly not connecting to the Internet? If so, there may be a relatively simply fix that will solve the problem.
For some unknown reason—most likely a firmware update, but this hasn’t yet been confirmed—several models of Belkin routers have simply started refusing to connect to the Internet. A Reddit thread on the issue appears to point to issues with a Belkin “heartbeat” server, which apparently doesn’t respond at unexpected intervals.
Edit 4:17 PM: Belkin has solved the problem.
In any case, users aren’t able to connect to the Internet. The BelkinCares Twitter account has been busy dealing with the issue, and Belkin has put up a status page addressing the problem.
“We are aware of reports of an interruption to internet service when using some Belkin routers with several internet service providers,” the company wrote. “Our team is diligently working to root cause the issue. Our call centers are also experiencing a higher than normal call rate so hold times are longer than normal. Our call centers have no solution to this problem at this time.”
Belkin also sent PCWorld the following statement, which identifies the affected routers.
““Starting approximately midnight on October 7, Belkin began experiencing an issue with a service configured in certain Belkin router models that causes a failure when it checks for general network connectivity by pinging a site hosted by Belkin,” the company said. “We know this issue has affected select older Wireless-N Belkin router models including F9K1102, F9K1105, F9K1113 and F9K1116. We are continuing to investigate other possible routers that may have been affected. We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Until there is a fix in place, we have identified a workaround for customers that are using the F9K1102 and F9K1105 routers to regain internet connectivity. That work-around as well as ongoing updates can be found at our outage status page for more information: www.belkin.com/outage.”
The company has not yet identified a root cause of the problem, the Belkin spokeswoman said.
So how can you get back online? Connect to Google. Google maintains its own fixed DNS servers, which often serve as a independent point to solve DNS issues.
According to Belkin, here’s how to do it:
For Windows:
Begin by clicking Windows Logo > Control Panel. Click Network and Internet. Click on Network & Sharing Center. Click the name of the connection you wish the edit, to the right of Connections. Click Properties. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties. Click the radio button next to Use the following DNS server addresses:. This will allow you to enter the DNS server addresses. The DNS addresses are as follows: Preferred DNS server: 8.8.8.8 Alternate DNS server: 8.8.4.4 Click OK on each of the windows and close the Control Panel. Your computer is now configured to use statically assigned DNS server addresses.
For Mac OS X:
You’ll need to first head into the System Preferences… Then click on the Network icon… Then you’ll want to select your network card on the left—you’ll see in my example that I’ve got an AirPort card—and then select the Advanced button near the bottom right corner. Once you’re there, switch over to the DNS tab, and you can start adding in DNS entries into the list. If you see entries that are grayed out, just ignore them, and click the + symbol at the bottom to add new ones. You can add the following two items to the list: 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
iOS:
First, enable WiFi on your device and connect to the WiFi network you want to use. Then, tap the blue arrow button on the right side of the network name to tweak its settings. Now, select the DNS field and enter 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4. Separate different DNS addresses with commas.
Android:
Open the Settings on the device. Select “Wi-Fi”. Long press your current network, then select “Modify network”. Mark “Show advanced options” check box. Change “IP settings” to “Static” Add the DNS servers 8.8.8.8 to the “DNS 1”, and 8.8.4.4 “DNS 2” fields. Press “Save” button, disconnect from the network, and reconnect for changes to take effect.
That’s it. Let us know how it goes in the comments.
This story was updated at 4:17 PM PT with to note that Belkin has issued a fix for the affected routers.