Netgear routers really suck. They get really hot and then just stop functioning until you turn them off and let them cool down. This affects the wireless and not the wired portion usually. I’m only using a WRT614 router as an 802.11g access point, but it’s been totally unstable. I found out that I am not alone. Almost everyone who gets one of these has it start overheating at some point.

So, I went ahead and modded my router by slapping a fan on top, cutting holes, affixing screws and nuts, and soldering the fan power to the internal power input. It isn’t the best looking thing in the world, but it seems to be completely stable now. Check out the pictures over on my Flickr photostream.

PS – Sorry for the blurry picture quality. I’ll probably redo these at some point. I just snapped these in low light early this AM when I got home from a friend’s apartment (where I did the drilling and soldering).

PPS – Yes, I’m a huge nerd.