Anyone else seen this.

That looks like MIPS. The Cause register bits 2-6 gives you the type of exception. For yours:

Cause[6:2] = 5 which means 'Store to illegal address'

TNP's has:

Cause[6:2] = 10 which means 'Reserved instruction'

codes from:

Theo

Agreed - but my point was, PSU issues could cause any or all of these...

Yeah, I found that just after asking - thanks. Looks like these are about a tenner each, from various sources. I guess I was hoping there was a mechanism to report the router's *internal* temperature though...

Not router or flash memory but I had experience of set top boxes overheating and becoming unreliable usually because the feet they fit to the boxes only allows a few millimetres of air to circulate under the box. I've often fitted taller feet and/or put the boxes on a a couple of pieces of 2"x1" timber to increase the air flow beneath the box. Also I don't stack one box on top of another that may be generating heat nor operate the boxes in an enclosed cabinet.

To an extent, that is what you will get if you plug it directly into the router's USB socket without an extension lead - the USB socket will be at or near the mobo temperature. If you do use an extension lead, then you could sit the sensing bit on top of the router case above the vents. Or, you could go with a sensor that has a remote probe like:

For what it is worth, I have used lots of Draytek routers for the last

PSU is original and I have no particular reason to think its degraded

However, point taken.

I wish it's not a Y2K problem that's not yet fixed. Did you update to the latest firmware?

I stood ours on its side; that seemed to help.

It is a very effective first step

You effectively double the area to convect heat away from the unit

And.. change the mostly useless power supply Capacitors!..

Is this actually true, specifically referring to Draytek routers? Or just to Set Top Boxen (in which case I probably agree)

I have previously looked for reports of such problems with Draytek kit, and found none. I also took a look inside my previous Draytek router (when I was getting ADSL issues, see uk.d-i-y thread passim) and all the caps looked good (visual only check, I agree)

in the past 20(ish) years I've changed dodgy electrolytic capacitors in two set top boxes, one Samsung TV and a Netgear router.

No. And in fact mostly today capacitors are not as prone to failure as they once were.

There was a period where bad chemistry was taking out millions of them. They have all gone

The Draytek self-reboot is well documented. PSU degradation or firmware bit rot seems the most common cause

I have re-flashed the firmware and it has stayed up since.

Can you refer me to this documentation please? Thanks, J^n

I've done plenty as well - two Topfield PVRs, at least one PC Motherboard, and quite a few Power Supply Adapters for starters. But I do not think the Draytek has a problem here.

Draytek cost 3 tjmes as much as a cheap Netgear or D-link: They can afford to use good components

Yes, especially equipment that came out of S Korea. Often the ones I've had to replace have brand names that maybe pretend that they are from a well known company such as SamYoung (Not Samsung!). I've generally found that the failed capacitors tend to be physically smaller (often the same diameter but shorter) than replacements for reputable capacitor manufactures.

There is still the 10C rule for electrolytic capacitors where in general the life span doubles with every 10C drop in temperature, and shortens by x2 for every 10C increase in temperature.

A reputable capacitor manufacture may quote 10,000 hours at 85C which is approx 1.3 years if your equipment is operated continuously at 85C. In reality well designed equipment would be running at, say, a maximum of

More reputable equipment manufactures would use capacitors rated and

I had my Topfield apart twice for capacitors. Initially is was thought that only a couple of values had problems but then a couple more years down line it was found that other capacitors in the power supply failed.

The failure was progressive and caused some power supply output voltages to rise significantly and if left too long took a out a tuner transistor. Luckily all of this was fully documented by users and the instructions for repair could be found on line.