Can a router cause a box to crash??
 

I've just been away for the weekend and I came back to find my Mandrake 10 desktop switched off. I booted it and all looked well. My server (on the same LAN) didn't respond to ssh (or anything --- even the cd wouldn't open) so I was forced to reboot that too. My Linksys router had the red "Diag" led lit on the WAN section. I booted that again. All seemed well --- apart from all of my LAN ips being different - not a problem because I've only got 4 boxes at home. I then discovered that my ip had been changed (I'm on a dynamic cable deal --- no static here) - this rarely happens!! My question is this --- could anything that the router does cause a Mandrake 10 box to completely shutdown and my Debian server to crash? I wouldn't worry too much --- but this is not the first time that this has happened. I have another router to use if it's possible that the Linksys is malfunctioning in some wierd way --- I'd just rather not change it if I don't have to.
Thanks.

Can a router cause a box to crash?
Probably not.

My first guess would be a voltage sag. The voltage didn't drop enough for the server to power off but enough for the other equipment. The power drop out caused the router to partially reboot which would of caused the WAN IP address to be changed. I say partially reboot because of the error light on the router.

I've also seen laser printers cause a voltage sag when powered up or when printing. Have you been present when this has happened before? Do you have an UPS connected to any of your equpment? Do you have any way to monitor the line voltage for such an event?

Im not sure about this but it mite tell ou something if you look in the system logs?

Maybe your port has blown?

Curious. My server was *suddenly* unreachable yesterday. It hadn't crashed ---- it's ip had changed. I find it very strange that dchp would reassign for "no good reason" ---- this didn't used to happen on my network ---- the boxes would have the same assigned ips forever. I didn't check to see whether my workstation had changed aswell. Is this normal?? Is an ip change after less than 24 hours acceptable? I haven't changed any of the routers settings but I have noticed that when I log in using a browser, sometimes all of the menus are not there:the pages are incomplete. Could this be a firmware failure??
Hmmmmm. Wierd.
PS Thanks michaelk, Freaky Dave and mclalan ---- I'll be investigating those avenues later. Unless I get my hammer out first .... :)

Wow. The server did it again tinight. It changed from 192.168.1.102 to 101 for no reason. My workstation is stil the same ip. I'm confused. Is it the router or my Debian server?

Thats just your router releasing the ip to your box, its perfectly normal.