A big thank you to (non-Cisco) folks that actually fixed this problem. The freezer worked!
I had the same problem as everyone else here and tried all of the same things (different reset times, different order of booting up, leaving router unplugged all night, etc.). This problem rears it's ugly head every time I lose power to my router & now it looks like I may actually have a consistent way to fix it.
I previously contacted Cisco/Linksys. After the basic troubleshooting that by now we all already know how to do, they presented me w/ the following options: 1) One time fix-it fee 2) Fix it fee good for a year 3) "Special" discount on purchase of new router. I quickly googled their recommended router and found that Amazon offered it lower than their "special" price. It was only about a $5-10 difference and they still wouldn't match it. Cisco/Linksys really needs to work on their customer service, as well as product bugs.
Thanks again to those that discovered this fix.