This is just to let people know of a problem and solution I found with my RouterBoard

I ordered an RB1000U to do some heavy lifting on our network, but didn't even finish configuring it before I noticed a problem. When I issued a restart from the CLI or Winbox, the router never came back. It hung with the green and blue LEDs on (the green LED is supposed to turn off at some point during/after boot). After a hard reboot, the router would startup normally. I did spot a kernel panic once when I had serial connected.

I opened the case as there were no WARRANTY VOID seals and checked out the board. Saw that it used the same RAM at my laptop (same brand even, Crucial). So I popped out the supplied 2GB card and put in a known-good 2GB card from my laptop. And it works! Put the old card back in, and the problem is back. Ran the RB's ram test on the original 2GB stick, but it found no problems. I didn't want to spare my laptop's 2GB card, so I dug up a compatible 512MB (Nanya) card and popped that in. Tested the RB1000, and it's back to normal. I probably don't NEED 2GB in the router, but RAM is cheap so why not...

Figured it would be easier to RMA the memory myself through Crucial than to bother roc-noc where I purchased the RB. I already have the memory mailed off now.

This is just to let people know of a problem and solution I found with my RouterBoard

I ordered an RB1000U to do some heavy lifting on our network, but didn't even finish configuring it before I noticed a problem. When I issued a restart from the CLI or Winbox, the router never came back. It hung with the green and blue LEDs on (the green LED is supposed to turn off at some point during/after boot). After a hard reboot, the router would startup normally. I did spot a kernel panic once when I had serial connected.

I opened the case as there were no WARRANTY VOID seals and checked out the board. Saw that it used the same RAM at my laptop (same brand even, Crucial). So I popped out the supplied 2GB card and put in a known-good 2GB card from my laptop. And it works! Put the old card back in, and the problem is back. Ran the RB's ram test on the original 2GB stick, but it found no problems. I didn't want to spare my laptop's 2GB card, so I dug up a compatible 512MB (Nanya) card and popped that in. Tested the RB1000, and it's back to normal. I probably don't NEED 2GB in the router, but RAM is cheap so why not...

Figured it would be easier to RMA the memory myself through Crucial than to bother roc-noc where I purchased the RB. I already have the memory mailed off now.

Sorry about that. I just found your note on this. I have another customer with the same problem. I think the Crucial RAM must have a problem in RB1000s. Funny thing is, we switched to crucial after problems with Kingston. Thoroughly tested and it worked great. Sold a bunch too. I guess the RB1000s are real sensitive to what RAM chips they use. I'm guessing that crucial changed the chips on us.

Tom

Turns out that the RAM was and wasn't the problem. Same symptoms with the replacement RAM. So I just installed that RAM in my laptop (where it's working fine) and I'm using a 2GB card out of my laptop in the RB1000 and it's also working a-ok.

Would you mind sharing the brand and part number of the 2GB RAM module that does work in your RB1000u?

By "work", I mean that you can issue a system reboot command and it goes through a full reboot without hanging.

I just tested two Crucial 2GB and Kingston 2GB sticks that I had on my bench. Both failed.

And it hangs just before RouterBoot runs.

Funny thing is that runs just fine and without errors until you issue a reboot. After the reboot is issued, it consistently shuts down, begins to restart and then hangs probably where the RAM is tested or initialized. I've seen bad RAM before and it doesn't act that way.

The 1GB Crucial RAM that I have works just fine. Same with the 512MB modules that ship with the RB1000.

I am beginning to think that this is a bug and something that can be fixed in RouterBoot.

Many thanks,

Tom

Right, the RAM is obviously good, and I ran it through the RB memory test and it passed fine. The memory in my MacBook Pro is also Crucial, but a different part number. I'll have to pop the cover off my laptop to check the part numbers, but I can do that now... stand by...

The "incompatible" RAM included with the RB1000 is Crucial PN: CT25664AC667.M16FJ2
The RAM I borrowed from my Mac that works is Crucial PN: CT25664AC667.16FG

I'd be curious to know what exactly the issue is. I'm an ex Apple tech; new to Mikrotik, but the troubleshooting process is about the same for anything. Figured swapping the RAM was worth a try before I went trying to return the whole RB.

-Paul

I'm about to order another RB1000U. I'm seeing on the roc-noc store that 2GB is no longer offered and max Ram on the routerboard specs is 1.5GB. Is that because of this issue?

No, the RB1000 has always had the 1.5GB memory limit. It's just hard to find 1.5GB sticks of RAM, so Roc-Noc goes up to the 2GB modules. RouterOS is still only using 1.5GB total.

Scott

The "incompatible" RAM included with the RB1000 is Crucial PN: CT25664AC667.M16FJ2
The RAM I borrowed from my Mac that works is Crucial PN: CT25664AC667.16FG

I'd be curious to know what exactly the issue is. I'm an ex Apple tech; new to Mikrotik, but the troubleshooting process is about the same for anything. Figured swapping the RAM was worth a try before I went trying to return the whole RB.

-Paul

Mikrotik is working on it. Crucial thinks it might be the SPD (Serial Presence Detect) which is different between the two modules.

In the mean time, we bought a bunch of the compatible RAM modules to upgrade our RB1000 stock as needed and we are now testing for the soft reboot problem.

Tom