Suppose you’re at home and surfing the internet on your laptop or mobile. But suddenly, you get disconnected, and the device shows “No Internet.” What’d you do?
If the situation is router light flashing but no internet, you must quickly restart your router first. Most of the time, rebooting a router once or twice can reconnect it with the internet precisely. Usually, routers or modems stay active 24/7 without any break. So, they can lag sometimes and drop the connection. Restarting can be a good way to boost performance and speed.
Apart, there might be some other major issues when your router suddenly disconnected despite staying plugged in. Today, we’re focusing on those facts along with some quick solutions to help you get rid of this irritating problem.
Quick Facts:
- When you see some lights are on but in different colors, like router yellow lights, you should know that the router is trying to tell about some functions’ inactivity. You could easily troubleshoot then.
- Lights always stay green or blue when the router and the internet connection are fully okay.
- If the internet and other connectivity lights are flashed on or blinking, yet there’s no internet, you need to go for a deep check.
Types of Light in a Modern Router
Before moving forward, you must know which router light is for what. There can be several LEDs indicating different things. So, let’s check them out.
- Power: This one’s pretty obvious, and most of us know what it means. The power sign shows whether your router is on or off. Even if there’s no activity, the LED would be glowing till you keep the router plugged in with a power source.
- Internet: The internet light means your router is attached to internet connectivity. You can be sure the ISP is transmitting data or bandwidth.
- Ethernet: Ethernet indicates the connection of the router with a LAN cable. The other side of the LAN cable can be attached to a Hub, Desktop, Modem, main Internet box, etc.
- USB: Some routers can have USB ports alongside LAN ports at the back of the construction. If any USB port is in use, the USB light would blink.
- WPS: The activity of this sign indicates the status of the Wi-Fi Protected Setup.
Possible Causes of Router Light Flashing But No Internet
It’s time we tell you why a router light can flash yet doesn’t provide an internet connection. Let’s see if any of the reasons match your situation.
Continuous Usage
Even machines do need rest sometimes, like humankind. Usually, we don’t give any breaks to our modems or routers. Because of consecutive hours of performance, routers and related software can lag a lot and fail to work accordingly. In such moments, routers would release the internet connection and get you in trouble.
Too Many Connected Devices
You can connect all your smart devices with a single router. But connecting too many devices can slow down the internet speed in each device, and ultimately, you’d feel like there’s no internet.
Outdated Softwares
If your desktop or smartphone has outdated software or drivers, they’d fail to catch any wifi or wireless network. On the contrary, the outdated system software of the routers can also cause the same kind of trouble.
Overheating
You can hang or place a router anywhere you feel comfortable. But sometimes, a few places can make the router store heat rather than release it. Overheating can stop any sorts of functions, including providing wireless connectivity.
Antivirus & Firewall
Some antiviruses or OS firewalls are very strict, and they can force a device to stop connecting with a new and unknown network. When you buy a new router or change router settings, your device might fail to recognize the signals and prevent them from connecting.
Voltage Instability
Another very common reason behind router lights flashing but no internet is voltage instability in the user’s house. The power voltage’s sudden ups and downs can be a great obstacle to your router’s performance. Asa result, your router might get some heavy damage.
Torn or Ripped Off Wires
If the LAN, Ethernet, or power cables are torn or ripped off in a place or two, it could slow down the internet speed. The worst-case scenario would be the router getting fully disconnected. You can’t only blame the wires here. In some cases, the ports are also the ones to be blamed.
How to Fix Router Light Flashing But No Internet
As the reasons are done describing, now we need to focus on troubleshooting. Here are the ways to make your router work normally and have a stable connection like before.
1. Restart or Reboot Router
As said before, the first thing you can do in this type of situation is to reboot the router. You can either press the reboot or restart button in the router or unplug the power cord and internet cables from the router and reconnect after a minute.
This technique works most of the time. So, better try this method before taking any big step. A quick reboot always gives the required rest to your router.
2. Change Router Placement
Nowadays, some home appliances can increase the room temperature or create magnetic fields that easily block wireless connections. If you shift your router somewhere cool and have no chance of connection blockage, the problem might get solved, and the router would stay good for years.
3. Reset Router
The best possible way to resolve the matter is resetting a router when rebooting doesn’t work. Each model has a unique way of getting factory reset. Follow the manual and reset the router to give it a fresh start.
4. Update Drivers and Software
Normally smartphones and computers automatically get updated under internet coverage. But a few system bugs can stop the OS from telling you to update your device. You can always update the drivers and software related to the internet in your devices and routers to gain smooth upload and download speeds.
5. Give Manual Permissions to the Router
System defenders and paid antiviruses can block internet connections. You can manually go to the system settings and gain permissions for the router.
6. Limit the Usage
Log into the router system from your device and see how many devices are connected. Block all the unnecessary devices from there. You can also turn on the Mac address permission option to prevent any unknown access to your Wifi.
7. Change the Cables and Plugs
If there’s no issue in the system, try changing the LAN cables and plugs. Additionally, changing the router’s power adapter can also help a bit. Damaged or ripped cords can slow down the internet speed. So, if you find out the cables are torn, don’t waste a minute; purchase a new set of wires.
8. Contact the Internet Service Provider (ISP)
When all methods above don’t work, the problem is at the main source. In this case, the only thing left for you is to contact your ISP and tell customer support to fix the issue ASAP.
How to Know If My Router is Broken?
We’ve discussed every possible move you can take when you don’t get internet despite the router showing it’s active. What happens if your router is no longer in good shape to work?
Well, there’s no other choice than to replace the old router with a new one. But before that, you need to know if your router is truly damaged or not. There are some common ways to confirm your router’s status. Among them, we’re discussing an easy one for you.
- Borrow a different router from a friend or shop.
- Connect it with your internet connection.
- Keep the new router in the same way as your old router was.
- Try surfing the internet with a device for half an hour.
- If possible, do some heavy downloading or streaming to check the speed.
- When everything seems good, you can consider your old router is of no use.
Note: Try using the usual socket and adapter when checking your internet connection with a new test router. By this, you can also find out if the adapter or socket is the cause that’s bothering your internet connectivity.
Summary
Having no router light flashing but no internet is a common and simple matter. But finding out the cause is pretty time-consuming. You need to be patient and find out the actual cause behind the problem.
If you can find out the thing that’s troubling your Wifi, you can fix it within no time by following the methods we’ve discussed earlier.
And most importantly, change your internet cables once every two years if possible. Routers won’t last more than 5-6 years even if maintained properly. Thus, you might have to change your old router and get a new one for a better experience.