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Constant issues with Nighthawk XR500 router
Good afternoon. No choice but write short summary on my experience in using Netgear Nighthawk XR500 and router, including 2x EX7700 mesh extenders. Really dissapointing basic functionality is pre...
There is a new firmware released very recently please try that and do a reset after the update https://kb.netgear.com/000062867/XR500-Firmware-Version-2-3-2-114
Hi - thanks for letting me know about the firmware. I’ll update it now.
When you mean reset, do you mean loose all my config and setup again?
When you mean reset, do you mean loose all my config and setup again?
- Also are there any firmware notes to see what issues this new update resolved?
- Yes a factory reset so completely setting up from scratch. There are just firmware fixes posted on that version but as I have found previously, that doesn't always seem to be the case.
- This is quite a significant step and effort with no real reason what it will fix.
I’ll do the firmware update first and see what effect that has. If still no joy I’ll do a full reset and reconfigure. If that doesn’t work I’ll sell the lot and buy something that does lol 😂 Hi,
Ok so I took the time yesterday to reset the router to factory defaults and change the SSID, bring the router down to a simple configuration. Once done I then reset and reconfigured each EX7700 extenders, initially next to the router then placing in the desired locations.
Today whilst working from home I noticed I had connectivity issues during the day, my apple and Alexa devices could not attach to the router.
Apple devices asked for the password again, and when attached message said no internet. This caused the device to go back to mobile data 4g The Alexa devices just said obtaining IP and would never connect.
My laptop on the other hand worked ok, although the wifi signal would drop to 1 or 2 bars then back up to full bars again on my laptop (windows 10).
I also noticed as I write this, that some devices loose internet connectivity, but still remain on wifi, whilst others have internet access. Really puzzling as to why some devices would just loose internet connectivity but still be attached the router. Unclear if this is a router or ISP and modem connectivity issue.
Only resolve on this yet again was to reboot my router again, I did this through the url interface, however also noticed that I had to reboot both extenders as well.
Its working again now, but for how long?? The reliability of this setup is really bad. Also I noticed that something significant has changed since original purchase. I remember when I first set this up, both extenders would have excellent 5.0 signal status to the router. Now with the extenders in the same locations and the router also in the same please, signal strength on the extenders to the main router is bad, to the point where it does not connect at all. One of the extenders that says it has good 5.0 signal strength will drop connection to the XR500 router all together, causing any devices to be connected to it not to access the internet.
So far since resetting to factory config, and reconfiguring hardware and attaching a handful of devices the problem is worse.
Its looking like ill have to raise a ticket, however I have no support contract. Surely this technology is not working as designed, any advice would be appreciated. This will be my last ditch attempt before I have to swap out the whole thing router/extenders and probably complain, im having to tether from my mobile phone just to post this!
- Could you try the latest beta version? There are a lot of fixes and I'm hopeful that it will improve your experience, specifically the dropouts that you're seeing: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4mwe5sx81gsc129/XR500-V2.3.2.114-DumaOS3.0.203.img?dl=0
I'd suggest a factory reset after as there are a lot of changes. - Thanks for sharing.
More reboot joy during my work day. Had to reboot router as devices dropped offline and could not reconnect.
One EX7700 lost connectivity so switched off and was ok just attached to router as I moved closer to it. Now nothing will connect to router and no SSID is being broadcast. Have rebooted several times now and also trying to factory hard reset no joy 😔.
It’s quite astonishing! Another evening playing with the router. How much do these cost again....?? - Upgrade the router with the TFTP method and with the firmware I gave you previously, that will upgrade you and should give you access. Then perform a factory reset after you've let it upgrade and hopefully it should all work from then on.
https://kb.netgear.com/000059634/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-Windows-TFTP Upgraded and reset to defaults. all seems to be working. EX7700 mesh extenders still show weak connectivity to the router and this often means poor performance for the attached devices. Although at the same time, my phone has full signal strength connecting to the router at the same position where the wifi mesh extender is located.
Though my trouble shooting I think the issue is more with the mesh extenders connectivity with the router and as they drop connection attached devices to the mesh extender also drop. Its not obvious at the time as they all share the same SSID so it is not obvious from the device that this has happened.
I won't connect the mesh extenders for a few days and see what the performance is like. If it turns out this is the issue, this will still give a problem as the whole point was to get improved coverage in my house.
Ill keep thing thread going with updates... Thanks again for advice and support.
- You're very welcome, looking forward to hearing from you, hopefully it's a good result on the router front.
- Update on my situation.
Further problem determination on the router undertaken, bringing to lowest config, I.e reset to factory settings updated the firmware, now running beta version firmware.
Recap on setup. 1 x XR500, 2 x EX7700 mesh extenders.
I think I had 2 issues;
1 - constantly being asked to rejoin network and password for joining network being incorrect.
2 - regularly loosing internet connectivity despite being connected to the WiFi ok.
I think the firmware updates have helped with #1 issue, not had this issue again on any of apple devices.
#2 issue I think was down to a poor connectivity issues between the router and extenders. The extender would loose connectivity to its host router, but any devices connected to that extender would then not have any internet access. This was difficult to trouble shoot as there is no obvious way or alert that tells you the extender has dropped from its host without physically looking at it and checking the connection led. Also because the SSID is the same it’s not obvious what that device is connected too, the router or the extender.
So I moved my router to a different position, to ensure connectivity was better to one extender, and I tested, no issues all week, I then moved the router back, issues started again. Further investigation appears interference from my TV was impeding my router signal. This in turn made connectivity to devices including extenders drop as described above in #2.
I’ll keep this thread open for now, however if anyone else is having similar issues be sure to check if any other devices could be interfering in anyway.
Since moving the router the quality of services through the house has been much better and able to move rooms and not be booted from meetings etc whilst working.
Thanks - Fantastic job troubleshooting that, well done for finding the issue and thank you for posting the solution, I'm sure it will help others in similar situations.