Belkin router not working

Bogof_Babe

I have an orange (intermittently turning green) light flashing on my Belkin router against ADSL, and it won't connect my Macbook Air to the internet. I've tried resetting it by holding a paper clip in the little reset hole for 10-15 seconds, and switching off and on again both the router and the Mac, but now nothing is working. I think I may have killed it .

I know absolutely nothing about such things (my brother-in-law set it up for me originally) and I can't understand technical instructions (I've been looking online but it's all beyond me). Currently tethering my phone wirelessly to my Mac so I know that side of things is working.

I really just wondered if it is likely that it's beyond repair. I've had it about five years and never had a problem until now. I'm on the BT network, the landline phone is working okay. I have googled to see if there's any BT problem in the area but there doesn't seem to be.

Sorry to have such little working knowledge of how to fix things when they go wrong. I was wondering if anyone has any simple suggestions to try!

Edited to add maybe I should get a BT router, in case mine has suddenly become incompatible?

System

It might just be the micro filter that has gone dodgy. They're only a couple of quid so I'd change that first.

Only problem is if you hit the rest switch you need to go into the settings page and set up the internet connection again.

Given its 5 years old and you're not the most technical maybe phoning up BT and getting them to send you out a Homehub so all you have to do is plug it in and you're off.

flashg67

If you've reset it completely, it may/will need your broadband user name & password re-entering.
You can buy a used BT hub on ebay for a few quid - they've served me well

Bogof_Babe

Thanks both. My sister is going to ask my b-i-l if he'll come over and have a look at it, but I may have to go the new device route (was going to put "new router route" but that sounds silly!).

If it wasn't for being tied into a BT contract I'd get one of those Huawei routers - 40GB for £24 so quite reasonable. I don't need a landline.

that

you only need a microfilter for your phone to cut out noise, The ADSL path bypasses the filter, so remove the filter to test stuff

if you have reset the router to factory defaults, as that paper clip may have done, your password and SSID are changed to isp defaults