I’ve been having a look inside my Netgear DG834Gv5 ADSL modem router, and I’m beginning to suspect the poor thing is getting a little too warm. The underside of the white plastic case has started turning brown, which is generally a good indication that something inside is getting rather toasty!

After a suggestion from someone on the ASSEMbler Games forums, I decided to open it up and have a look. There’s quite a bit of discolouration around one corner of the case, particularly near a group of three components on the circuit board. Lovely!

Fortunately, there’s a fair bit of clearance inside the housing, so I reckon I could fit some small heatsinks over the troublesome area. I’ve just got to find some suitable ones and work out how best to attach them.

Looking at the circuit board without the case, it almost resembles a little city. All those tiny components sitting there doing whatever it is they do, while a few of their neighbours apparently try to turn the router into a toaster!

Another thing I’d like to improve is the wireless reception. I’m only getting around 50% signal strength in the next room, so it’s good to see the antenna arrangement might give me something to experiment with.

The modem also crashes occasionally, although a quick restart usually gets it going again. I’m hoping a little extra cooling will help with that, particularly if those hot components are making the whole thing rather unhappy.

For now, I’ll track down some heatsinks and see what I can do. It’s not quite supposed to be a space heater, even if it seems determined to become one!

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