How to Reset a Router or Modem - Hard Reset and Soft Reset

Last Updated:-June 10, 2010
In many instances, we need to reset router or modem as the part of troubleshooting steps. Before explaining how to reset your router, you should understand what is reset. By resetting your Router / Modem, your device will go back to the factory default settings and again you may need to configure it. So before resetting your router, you should better learn how to reconfigure your router or take the backup of current device configuration.


When should I reset my router?
There are some situations like your router or modem stops responding or configured the device incorrectly, you may need to reset your device. Sometimes after upgrading to the latest router /modem firmware, you may need to reset your router/modem as instructed by the manufacturer.

In rare cases, if you forgot the router login password, you may need to reset the modem to set a new password. So the major reasons to reset a modem or router are:

  1. To reset incorrect Router/Modem settings

  2. Malfunctioning of Modem or Router

  3. Forgot Router or Modem password. To read more about this scenario click on the link below.
    I Forgot My Router Password and How to Recover It

  4. Reset a modem or router as part of the firmware upgrade process


Different methods to reset your router



There are three different types of router resetting.

1. Soft Reset

2. Hard Reset

3. Power Reset



1. Soft Reset
Soft reset is done by selecting the reset options through the router administration page(web interface). Depends on various firmware and manufactures, these options come in various forms like a reset to factory default, reboot with factory settings etc.

You should select the particular option and click OK. Now the router starts rebooting and within one minute it will be back with default factory settings. This kind of reset is known as soft reset.


2. Reset by holding the reset button (Hard Reset)
If a soft reset is not working for you, next option is holding the reset button of your router for 30 seconds and release your hands after it.

You can find reset button usually near the power button a small hole which can be pressed by pen tip or pin. Procedure to hard reset your router and modem are:

  1. Hold reset button using a pen tip or pin for 30 seconds

  2. Make sure power light is blinking while pressing the reset button

  3. Release your hands after 30 seconds and wait for one min(make sure power light is steady).
    Now your router has factory default settings.


3. Power Reset a Modem or Router
If the normal reset didn't work on your router, you can perform a hard reset. It is the most powerful reset form for any kind of Small Office Home Office devices(SOHO) like routers and modems. Steps to power reset your router are:

  1. Hold reset button for 30 seconds (make sure power light is blinking)

  2. Unplug the power cable (never release your hands from holding reset button) for 30 seconds

  3. Connect the power cable and still hold the reset button for 30 seconds

  4. Release your hands now (you are continuously holding the reset button for 90 seconds)

  5. Now wait one minute and make sure power button is steady.

It is recommended to perform a power cycle after resetting your modem. To learn how to do this, click on the link below.
How to Power Cycle a Modem or Router

17 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:33 AM

    Dear technical assistance:

    I need your advice concerning with "BELKIN F5D8231-4 V1000 ROUTER" which I use. I wanted update the program (Firmware Update) with V5000 but it automatically cancelled and said that I used wrong update. After that I cant connect to my computer for going to this(192.168.2.1 ) address. Also I tried to push RESET button, but it's also didn't helped. How can I restore the program.
    After " Firmware Update " it's can't connect to local network and couldnt find it's address (192.168.2.1). I tried RESET but its also didn't help and the routers blue light blink all the time. Also I tried to do 30/30/30 hard reset ( I read it in forums) but again no result. How can I return the program?.

    Sincerely,
    Vahe Khachatryan
    E-MAIL V.XACHATRYAN@MAIL.RU

    ReplyDelete
  2. I suggest you to perform a power cycle after performing the hard reset to fix this issue. Make sure the power light is flashing while you are pressing the reset button.

    How to Perform power cycle

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:30 AM

    Thanks it helped

    ReplyDelete
  4. I need to reset my Nokia Siemens Router 1600. Can you help

    ReplyDelete
  5. Admin5:33 AM


    You can follow the steps mentioned in article to reset your Nokia Siemens Router.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous5:34 AM

    I have a Tata boradband modem. Is it recommended to reset it if I am disconnected from Internet ?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Admin5:36 AM

    You do not need to reset your Tata broadband modem all time. There might be many reasons for your Internet disconnection. What error message or warning you are getting while trying to access Internet ?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous4:20 PM

    tell me please how to reset my bsnl modem to factory settings ? I lost my bsnl password and user name

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi,

    I have BSNL teracom ADSL 2 modem with wifi. I recently changed the IP address of the modem from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.2.1 and turned off the DHCP server as I wanted to connect my BSNL FTTH connection and wanted to use the teracom modem as wifi router. After turning off the DHCP server in teracom, I am not able to connect to either 192.168.1.1 nor 192.168.2.1. I tried doing a Hard Reset but this has not helped. Whenever I reset using a toothpick for more than a minute, the power lights turns red. But still I am unable to connect to either 192.168.1.1 nor 192.168.2.1.

    Your help will be appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Nanadan,

    Once the DHCP server which is providing IP address to your PC is turned off, your computer will be assigned windows default IP address. Which out IP address in the same range you cannot connect to the modem (which doesn't have DHCP now).

    You need to assign static IP address (192.168.2.240 for ex) and try to conenct to the modem.

    http://www.corenetworkz.com/2008/02/how-to-resolve-issue-when-ip-getting-is.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Alex,

    Thanks for your reply. I tried the above steps by trying to assign the static ip address like 192.168.2.240 but still I am unable to connect to modem.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Nandan,


    while pressing the reset button, have you seen the blinking of power light ? Power light must be blinking while resetting a modem. Once complete the resetting, you must connect it to a computer with no static ip address is assigned.

    After hard reset, the modem will go to factory default settings. So do the following procedure now and let me know the result.

    1. Hard reset modem for 2 minutes

    2. Connect the modem to PC using Ethernet cable

    3. Open Command prompt (type cmd on Search and click command prompt)

    4. type ipconfig and press enter. Let me know the result

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Alex,

    Thanks for the reply.

    When I tried to press the reset button(after several attempts) the Power and Internet turned red but was not blinking. I held the reset button for almost 2 minutes and Power, DSL and LAN1 was green(stable). Then I plugged the Ethenet/LAN cable to my laptop and below are the results. I have hidden few things by the "XXXXX".

    C:\Users\XXXXX>ipconfig

    Windows IP Configuration


    Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

    Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
    Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : XXXXX

    Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

    Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
    Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::74ad:d313:36d7:2c73%10
    Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.44.115
    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
    Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

    Tunnel adapter XXXXX:

    Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
    Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

    Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

    Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
    Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

    Tunnel adapter isatap.{0072BFFE-008F-4042-98DE-401DE542C3A8}:

    Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
    Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Nandan,

    It seems your modem is not reset properly. Make sure the pen nib/paperclip is pressing hard enough the reset hole and the power light is blinking. It is possible that in some devices, instead of blinking the power light may simply change the color.

    Analysis of the CMD Output

    Your modem is not in factory default settings and not providing an IP address to the computer. The IPv4 address 169.254.44.115 means Windows generated Automatic Private IP address called APIPA and it is not suited for communication. You can more about this issue from the link provided before.

    http://www.corenetworkz.com/2008/02/how-to-resolve-issue-when-ip-getting-is.html


    Since you have tried all steps provided in the link below, I really suspect the status of the the modem. Please tell the exact model number of the modem , so I can refer specific user manual.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous9:16 AM

    Hi

    I've forget my bsnl wifi router password and I've rested it by preesing 2 sec. Reset button but still signal is coming and I'm not unable to connect it

    ReplyDelete
  16. model is DNA-A211-I-0001.01
    how to configure it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. @Dr.Virendra,

    I guess you are looking for procedure to configure modem model DNA-A211-1 with BSNL Broadband connection. I give you link to my older post which explains
    the procedure to configure modem for BSNL Broadband connection. Since it is for a different model, interface may look different but the
    procedure is same.

    http://www.corenetworkz.com/2010/06/configure-internet-connection-in-bsnl.html

    ReplyDelete

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