Your internet went down, so you headed off to check and found the LOS light blinking red on your router.
LOS stands for “Loss of Signal.”
Unfortunately, there are tons of reasons why this might have happened.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
- Your internet service provider is down for maintenance or has a breakdown
- You forgot to pay your bill (always a possibility unless you’ve set up automatic payments)
- Your ISP needs to reactivate your service
- There’s a problem with the cable leading to your router
- There’s an issue with the cable’s connection to your router
- Your router’s settings are incorrect or have been erased
- There’s some kind of a software glitch
- Your router is faulty
Fixes For LOS Light Blinking Red On Your Router
So, how can you solve the problem?
We’ll look at each of these possibilities in turn, starting with the possible at-home fixes you can attempt when dealing with a LOS issue.
1. Check Your Cable
Chances are, you’re on what is usually a nice, fast fiber connection. Could the cable or its connection be faulty? Start by checking whether the connections are tight.
You can try unplugging them and plugging them back in. Give it a couple of minutes to see whether that worked.
If you notice that the connection isn’t tight, the connector may be damaged.
Sometimes, pushing the connector on the end of the wire in or wiggling it helps (even technicians do this when trying to determine the cause of a fault), but be aware that you may encounter the LOS problem again.
While waiting to see whether your router connects again, check the cable itself. If you notice damage or a kink in the cable, its core may be damaged. But even if you don’t see visible damage, don’t rule cable damage out entirely.
If you happen to have a spare cable handy, you can try using it instead, especially if you notice a pinch-point or kink on the one you were using.
2. Restart or Power Cycle Your Router
If there’s some kind of internal software glitch going on inside your router, restarting it might do the trick.
Unplug it for a few seconds and then let it boot up again. Still got a blinking LOS light? Try the good old power cycle.
Power cycling is what you’re doing when you unplug your router from the mains and leave it off for five minutes or so before starting it up again.
If you call your ISP about troubleshooting, it’s usually among the things they recommend for all kinds of issues.
After plugging your Huawei router back in, give it a few minutes to start up – and then check to see if the blinking red LOS light is still doing its thing. If it is, it’s time to move to the next option.
3. Check Your Router’s Settings (If you Know How) or Factory Reset
This is among the last of the “it could be on your end” fixes. But it takes a little time even if you’re fairly sure of how to do it. It’s your call: try it now or eliminate other possible problems first.
Sometimes, routers “forget” their settings – especially if they’ve been off for a long while.
If you don’t know what your settings should look like but can remember how you configured it when it was new, you can try a hard reset or factory reset.
If you choose the factory reset, you’ll have to reconfigure your router from scratch.
To get it back into its default state, you’ll press the recessed button on the back of your Huawei router and hold it in for a few seconds. When you release it, the router shuts down and restarts with a clean slate.
If you aren’t confident about this part of the operation or it feels like too much trouble, you can skip this step, leaving it till last. Remember, there are still other possible reasons for that LOS light blinking red on your router.
So, what’s left to consider? Your router might be faulty (you can try another one if you have a spare) or else the problem isn’t on your end of the connection at all.
So, the time has come to consider whether your internet service provider might be to blame.
4. Check if Your ISP is Down, Call Your ISP Now, or Wait it Out
If you aren’t overly fond of going through your ISP’s tech support, you aren’t alone. Some ISP’s will send out SMSes to clients affected by an outage. If yours does, check your phone to see whether there’s a problem in your area.
Of course, if your internet comes with an app, there’s a chance that you’ll receive a notification there instead. It’s worth a look before getting into that sometimes endless-seeming support queue.
Another way to check if there’s a problem with your area’s internet is to use a site like Downdetector. It monitors outages and can even show you a map indicating whether there are issues in your area.
Of course, since your internet is down, you’ll have to use your mobile phone and its provider’s internet.
Having eliminated these possibilities, you have two options: wait and see, or get on the line to your ISP. Of the two, the latter is the surer solution.
5. What if Your ISP Can’t Identify Your Problem?
Your ISP will check their systems and may ask you to turn off your router so that they can reset your connection.
They’ll probably run you through some of the things you’ve tried already, like power cycling your router. They might also talk you through a factory reset.
If, in the end, they can’t pinpoint the cause of your problem, they will log a fault, and most of them will tell you that if the problem turns out to be on your end, you have to pay for the service.
If you’re able to sort it out yourself, you’ll be able to save some money. It’s up to you to decide whether you’ll wait for a technician or whether you’d like to try a few more things from your side first.
6. Router or Cable: Your Likeliest Issues When it’s Not Your ISP
If you’ve already gone through the support process with your ISP and they can’t see why you aren’t getting internet, there’s a good chance that your router or its cable are faulty.
We already suggested trying a spare cable or spare router. If you don’t have these, perhaps a friend or neighbor will be willing to help.
Alternatively, you can take them to your ISP’s local store and ask them to test the items there. It could save you the cost of a technician coming over.
LOS Light Blinking Red: We Hope You’re Back Online!
With your LOS light blinking red, you’ve LOSt internet – OK, we know it’s not funny. But we do hope that our article helped you get back up and running.
Last time this happened to me, it was a fault on the ISP’s side, and it took a 20-minute call to get it fixed. And yes, I tried the at-home troubleshooting first.
All in all, it took about half an hour to run through all the options other than the hard reset which I skipped.
On another occasion, my Huawei router showing the red LOS light was, in fact, broken after a thunderstorm-related power surge. Let’s hope all’s well with yours!
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