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Forum Discussion
Nighthawk M1 Ethernet Port Timeout
Hi,
We have a M1 Router which we are testing before purchasing more. Everything that we use if for seems ok with one exception. The Ethernet port seems to go in to some standby mode after reboot or a period of being disconnected and reconnected. The workaround for this is to press the power button which wakes the device up, however this will not work for us. This same behaviour happens after powering on the device for the first time. I.e. I must power on the device, wait for it to start up and then touch the power button again to get the Ethernet port to work.
I've looked in the settings and I cannot find any option that relates other than an option to stop the WIFI from going on standby, which I have also tried disabling to no effect.
I've noticed a bunch of other threads with people complaining about this issue, but they also had other problems so I didn't want to hijack their thread.
Are there any plans to fix this in a firmware update, and if so when? I’m willing to review a beta firmware.
Thanks.
32 Replies
I'm having the exact same issues with the Ethernet port. After a complete night without much network access, the Ethernet port completely stops responding. I'm not talking about DHCP response, but simply physical Ethernet connectivity not happening at all.
I usually have to reboot the M1 completely to get it working.
Has this problem been solved yet by a firmware update? I still have the problem with the Ethernet port timing out. I guess you're on the Australian Telstra network. I'm based in the UK with a provider calleed EE. When new firmware is released by Netgear, there are probably different versions for Telstra and EE. I'm currently on version NTG9X50C_10.20.05.00 - does this look anything like the Telstra firmware release numbers? My M1 is connected to an unmanaged Gigabit Ethernet switch, into which I also have 2 access points connected, for Wi-Fi distribution. I'm running the M1 without a battery but with a more powerful mains charger equipped with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 technology (backwards compatible with the M1's Quick Charge 2.0). Before I replaced the supplied 2A charger, the M1 constantly rebooted when the battery was removed.
Hi
That's great news, ArodiD - thanks for following this up. Will this new firmware version also be made available to EE customers in the UK?
I am interested in further details as well, will the firmware be provided here on the netgear website?
The fact that each mobile network provider appears to have a customized version of the Nighthawk M1 firmware would probably mean that firmware releases wouldn't be made on the Netgear site but would instead be automatically downloaded by the M1 directly from the provider. My M1 regularly checks for updated firmware - you can see this in the M1 browser-based interface under Settings > Administration > Firmware Update, where the date of the latest auto check was made.
I'm running my M1 as my main household router on an upgraded mains charger (with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 technology) and no battery. However, I've noticed that there's a warning on the Firmware Update page under the manual Upload Firmware section, saying "Software Update unavailable when battery level is below 20%". Of course, with the battery removed, the "Battery Charge Level" in the Settings > Nighthawk M1 Status > Diagnostics is reading 0%. So my guess is that when running on a mains charger without the battery installed, the M1 might never auto upgrade itself. In fact, I've just clicked the check for updates button and it's hanging with "CHECKING..." displayed on the button and below the button it states "Last checked undefined". So I may need to put the battery back in from time to time to check for updates and install them. If this is the case, I'll write another post to confirm it.
This is good news ! I've also been struggling with the ethernet port timeout. I would also like any additional information when available.
Also will the firmware be provided here on the netgear website?
Thanks
W4WN
I kind of abandoned this question a while back as we didn't get much of a response for a few months. Glad to see people are getting some benefit out of it.
We ended up instructing our site guys to press the button twice during startup. From this point forward the port remained up until the connected firewall was restarted.
At some point during last year (Aug 2017), version 10.16.04.04 was released to Telstra customers. This meant the port came online during the initial power on and the button no longer needed to be pressed during startup. We could also reboot our firewalls without having the port go down. The port will still, however, timeout after a period of time when nothing is connected to the LAN port. I checked a couple of spare routers we have sitting here for later versions but they still doesn't get anything beyond this point. So, the fact that people are saying there are newer versions, I assume that some have been withdrawn or the update process doesn't really work properly...
Logging in now, I realised that I was contacted by Netgear in Dec 2017 with an offer to beta test via PM. From the comments it looks like the full release is about to come out anyway, so I'll wait to see what happens.I hope this post helps some people understand what our experience across about 10 devices. If you are in urgent need of a fix, perhaps contact Netgear support as there is a beta available.
Very helpful Hindmarsh - and explains why I am still intermittently getting Ethernet port shutdowns afterI am running 10.16.04.04
I have the MR1100 patched into a Draytek Vigor3220 (WAN Aggregator) and have noted that whilst the port shuts down, it maintains link status (in at least some cases) and Draytek doesn't know what to do with it. Interestingly I have had HUGE success and almost no adverse speed difference using the cheaper Netgear LB2120 modem which has no battery and a completely stable Ethernet Port. The LB2120 is a better fit for Optus SIMs as it also supports LTE Band 40 which has faster download but slower upload than Optus LTE B3/7/28. This is a particularly good fit when the two are used together (MR1100 settled on B28 and LB2120 settles on B40 meaning the session-based load sharing on V3220 prefers LB2120 for sessions that are heavily upload and LB2120 for sessions heavier download)
Cheers
Mine here are :
Firmware Version NTG9X50C_10.20.05.02
Build Date 2017/11/24
AT&T US
Hindmarsh that's hopeful news on a forthcoming update, thanks. I've pretty much given up on these as unlike others here I've had no luck whatsoever getting them to connect to any router or switch. I've tried all the tricks mentioned in this forum, even changing the MAC address of three different brands of router to MACs from PCs & laptops known to connect via ethernet to the Nighthawks. My suspicion is my carrier does not want these being used in this manner. If anyone has achieved ethernet connectivity to an external router or switch here in the States I'd sure like to hear about it. Netgear Support, if you're listening here I'd be very curious to try the Beta...
My Ethernet port still goes to sleep on reboot and possibly even a cell tower change? Randomly occurs and connected uptime timer resets.
This on new firmware on AT&T, version NTG9X50C_12.02.06.00 and have Ethernet Sleep set to disabled.
Is this isolated to AT&T firmware? they added the ethernet sleep option but seems to not change sleep on reboot.
I have to connect to device via wi-fi, push button, switch data offload to ethernet (link light then comes on) then swith offload back off everytime this happens or I manually reboot.
I am having the same issue.
Firmware version NTG9X50C_12.05.05.00
Firmware build 2018/07/25
Internet Provider AT&T
We need the internet to be on all the time, but every 5-6 days, we will have to reset the router to connect to the internet again.
I have talked to AT&T Support about this several times and even changed out the Router and the SIM card, and the problem still persists.
I'm desperate for any solution since I had to go to my jobsite almost every weekend to reboot this and it's getting old very quickly.
Thank you very much in advance.
Interesting, I don't think I've seen this Ethernet timeout issue on my AT&T Gen1 unit. I'll have to setup a more extensive test. I'm not using the Ethernet very often and usually keep it set to a 2min timeout. When I disable the Ethernet standby, the battery seems to drain very quickly (dropping from 100% to ~25% charge overnight, versus from 100% to ~75-80%, if largely sitting idle). But these tests have been while running on battery -- not plugged in. And I wasn't supper diligent about checking to see if it could still pass data versus just having a link light.
If you power cycle the mr1100, while the Ethernet switch/router/AP is connected and powered, does the Ethernet come on and stay on on the mr1100 (mine does)? If so, could you just take the battery out of your mr1100, use a QC3 charger (Anker) on a "lamp timer" and set it to automatically power cycle the mr1100 every night at like 3am (or 7am) for for example?
How long does it take for the Ethernet port to go to sleep / time out? Does it have to be completely idle for this to occur? Could you setup a small PC / raspberry pi / etc. to ping the IP address of the mr1100 every minute or so to keep it awake?
Yes, Netgear should fix this. Have you created a support ticket with them? I doubt AT&T will be much help.
