2Wire and AT&T woes

About a year ago I decided to move to AT&T DSL service (without phone service). I don't have huge download requirements, so the DSL Direct Pro package with 3.0 Mbps speed was plenty for my web surfing, email, and occasional media downloads.

One uneventful day, I powered on the 2Wire 2701HG-B DSL Modem to discover a dead modem. Well, I later found out that it wasn't quite dead. The power light was red and the wireless light was green... both were on and steady. Aside from that, nothing was working!!!

I was close to buying another replacement from Craigslist but I thought I'd search a bit longer to see if there was something I overlooked. Well, this is where patience and a little bit of persistence pays off.

First, I found that the power supply is faulty on this unit. They usually die after several months to 2 years for the majority of units in use. Great! Replacement power supplies were available online from anywhere from $8 to $15 depending on where you found them. You could even find it on AT&T's online store http://www.att.com/equipment/accessory-details/?wtSlotClick=1-002RE7-0-1&WT.svl=calltoaction&q_categoryid=cat2020062&q_sku=sku3950283&q_manufacturer=&q_model=

This sounded like a great solution compared to buying another used unit for at least $30 bucks, especially when the modem itself was technically fine. I was a click away from buying the power supply when I saw in the corner of my eye something that read "1000uF"...

Capacitor??? I had a similar repair done for a BMW temperature control (BMW E36: Repairing the Climate Control Computer) before which also involved a capacitor. Capacitors seems to go out frequently in electronics. Whadya know?!?
Someone did the work of troubleshooting the actual root cause of this stupid issue that both AT&T and 2Wire apparently refuses to acknowledge and/or fix for their customers. Go figure.

Long story short, there is a 1000uF capacitor (show below) in the wall wart that has dried up and failed. Went to radio shack and bought a replacement, cracked open the wall wart, replaced the capacitor, and powered up the modem.



It's alive!!! Instead of buying a new modem for $80, or a used modem for $30+, or buying a replacement power supply for $10 (more with shipping), I spent $1.59 and a little bit of time.
Thanks to the community online that made this information possible, I was back online within a few hours and having saved a ton of money. What more can you ask for?

Here is a link to the original page discussing both the problem and the solution (2wire 2701HG-B power light red).