Why Do I Have an Orange Blinking Light on My Linksys?

Linksys produces a brand of routers that connect to your Internet service via a cable and then transmit information back and forth to your computer. Wired routers send information to multiple computers on a network via cables, while wireless versions deliver data through the air to a single machine or multiple computers. Linksys wireless routers have an orange light located on the front of the device to indicate the power is on. A blinking orange light is an indication that the router firmware is malfunctioning. Firmware is information stored inside the router that aids in the device's basic function.

The most basic way to attempt to fix a router problem is to reboot the device. This is accomplished by unplugging the power cord, waiting for a minute and then plugging the power connector back in. If the orange light continues to blink, you will have to update its firmware.

Even though the wireless router is malfunctioning, downloading new firmware is possible by disconnecting the malfunctioning Linksys device from the Internet connection in the wall, then using that jack to plug your machine directly to the Internet. If this is not possible, use another computer that can connect to the Internet. You can download a firmware update directly from Linksys (see Resources).

Once you have the firmware update available on the computer affected by the malfunctioning router, open the file and follow the instructions to upgrade the devices firmware.