Even the best Wi-Fi routers run into problems occasionally. That’s why it’s essential to keep the most important specifications in mind to avoid slow connections or low Wi-Fi signal strength. Even if you’ve picked the right router for the job, there will come a time when you need to know some basic troubleshooting steps, and how to find the manual for your router. One of those times is if you notice an orange blinking light on your router that wasn’t there previously. This could signal one of a few things going on, and it’s important to know what to check first.
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Why does your router sometimes have a flashing orange light
It usually indicates a problem with your internet
Whether you use a modem or a router to connect to the internet, the front of the device will usually have some LED lights on it that indicate normal operation or potential issues. Most of the time, there will be a solid white or green light that indicates a good connection to your Internet Service Provider (ISP). When issues occur between your router or modem and the ISP, the light on the front often blinks orange to show that it is having issues connecting to the internet.
The most common reason for an orange blinking light on your router is a temporary disconnection from your ISP, or a glitch with your router hardware. This can be easily fixed with a quick power cycle.
Power cycle your router
If you have a modem as well, power cycle both
1. Find the power source for your router, and unplug it from either the router or the wall socket for one minute.
2. Plug the router back in and wait for the lights to stop blinking.
3. If you have a modem and a router, unplug both devices for one minute.
4. Plug the modem back in, and wait for the lights to stop blinking. Once they do, plug the router back in as well.
Check for outages
If you have power cycled your router, or both devices, and the orange blinking light is gone, check that your internet is working as expected. If not, check for outages in your local area on your ISP’s help pages.
Here are the most popular ISPs outage pages. You can also try looking on Downdetector for your ISPs name.
- Xfinity
- Verizon Fios
- AT&T
- Spectrum
- Frontier
Check for updates
If your internet is working as expected, but you still see a blinking orange light, it could be that your router is trying to install a firmware update. Automatic updates could take up to 15 minutes to complete, so leave your router alone for that length of time if you think it might be updating. You can also trigger a manual update, if you think the update is stuck for any reason. If your router has an accompanying app, install that and search for an option for firmware updates and start the process.
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Reset your router
The last thing to try before contacting your ISP or router manufacturer is to factory reset the router. This will remove any settings that you changed, including any custom login details, and put the router back to the state it was when you first received it. Often, this can fix mismatched settings between changes of firmware or other issues that are keeping you from getting online. As it will erase your login details, find the defaults for your router before you start. This is often on the barcode sticker on the router itself, or you can find common router defaults at sites like RouterPasswords.com.
If your router isn’t on this list, check your manual for how to reset it.
- Reset your Netgear router
- Reset your Spectrum router
- Reset an Xfinity router
- Reset a Verizon router
It could also indicate the state of your Ethernet connection
Flashing orange lights on your Ethernet ports usually means data activity
It’s not only the front of your router that uses lights for communicating its state to you. The rear of your router where the Ethernet ports are also has LEDs on most units, which use solid colors or blinking patterns to give you an immediate visual read on what’s going on. If you’ve noticed blinking orange lights at the rear, you might be wondering what they mean.
Ethernet ports usually have two LEDs, on the side where the clip on the cable plug goes. The LED on the left indicates activity, and the one on the right indicates the link speed. The good news is that a blinking orange LED on the left side is nothing to worry about, as it means data is being transmitted across the cable. The activity LED will be solid orange to show that it is connected properly, and blinking then steady usually means that the link is in sleep mode, often when your PC is off.
The LED on the other side is either orange or green, and indicates the link speed. On 1 GbE ports, this will be off if connected at 10 Mbps, orange if connected at 100 Mbps, and green if at 1 Gbps. The only time to worry here is if you know your connection should be at 1 Gbps, and it shows a different status, it often means you have an issue with your Ethernet cable. Try unplugging it and plugging it back in, to test if it was a loose connection, or try another Ethernet cable if it still has issues connecting at full speed.
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