DSL modem restarting by itself

Over the last month or so, my DSL modem, a Netopia 3341 supplied by my service provider, has been restarting itself for no apparent reason.

When I first received this modem, it was supposed to be pre-configured for their service. Apparently, it either got reset to its original factory settings or they forgot to configure it before sending it to me. One of their service reps gave me the settings over the phone to get it going. Once it was working, I changed several settings, starting with replacing the pathetic default password with a better one, as much you can with an 8 character limit . I disabled remote administration, closed the telnet server port, and changed the web server port to one in the upper range that wasn't used by anything that I knew of. I'm suprised my ISP hasn't complained about my disabling the remote administration, but they haven't said a word.

Everything worked fine for several months. Then I started seeing the modem restart itself for no apparent reason. At first, it was every few days or so between incidents. It gradually increased in frequency until it was happening many times an hour. Yesterday, the modem was restarting itself almost every minute. When I unplugged it from the phone line, the restarting ceased. Plugging it back in caused it to begin restarting all over again.

I disconnected the phone line, reset the default port back to its original setting, and turned the remote administration back on, thinking that it was my ISP making it restart, trying to change something. It ran normally again, no restarting. I didn't like leaving it on its default settings so I again disabled the remote administration and changed the default port to an uncommon one but much lower one. It hasn't restarted in the last day or so. As far as I can tell, something from the internet was triggering the restarting, but I have no idea what or why. I don't think it was my ISP anymore as no settings were ever changed. They have my phone number and e-mail addy, so it's not like they can't reach me if my changes were a problem for them. Anyone have any ideas what else could have caused this restarting? If it helps, I was using port 43287 for the internal web server. According to the modems instructions, any port number should work. I'm presently trying another port in the upper range to see if the problem is limited to just that one port or if it's a problem on all upper ports.

Ideally, I'd like to replace their modem with something better. The local computer shop doesn't carry DSL modems, just routers. Anyone suggest a good replacement?
Rick

 

Overheating? Malformed packets o packet flooding (firmware bug?)?
I would like to know about good DSL modems too.