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Latest 2.3.2.32 firmware cripples the XR500
I’ve only had the XR500 router for about a month. Unfortunately, so far I’m not at all impressed with the main selling feature that is DumaOS and I’m frustruated to the point of potentially exchanging it for a different make and model. Luckilly I purchased the BestBuy’s extended warranty.
The router was running the previous 2.3.2.22 firmware mostly fine. However, I was unable to setup my USB printer for a network share and devices connected to the 2.4Ghz network were randomly getting disconnected completely off of the WiFi for a few seconds. As I was using the devices I would see the WiFi icon turn gray and dissapear, just to reappear back solid a second later.
I updated the fimware last night to the latest version 2.3.2.32 hoping that the printer and WiFi issue would have been resolved. This is where the issues really start.
Immediately after the upgrade installed I lost the internet access on all devices. I could still get into the XR500 admin page to monkey around with the settings but I could not get online with anything in the house. I couldn’t even get to the modem admin page or even ping its 192.168.100.1.
I power cycled both the modem and the router several times and everytime the DumaOS would tell me that I was disconnected from WAN. That’s when I decided to factory reset the XR500 router.
After the factory reset it took the router a bizzarely long time to auto configure the internet access before it redirected me back into the main GUI, but eventually I was back online. Strangely, in the internet configuration settings, if I changed the “use the PC MAC address” to “use XR500 default MAC address,” I would immediately lose internet access and no amount of power cycling would fix it until changing the setting back to the “use the computer’s MAC address.” I left all QOS settings stock.
My internet speed is usually slightly over 200/10. With the newest firmware update my download speed is now a consistent 60-90 download. The upload hasn’t changed; however. Direct connection to modem tests fine at 200 down and 10 up. Disabling all router’s QOS settings doesn’t help.
I still can’t connect my PCs to a laser USB printer even though I had no issues with my previous ASUS router. I still get random disconnects on WiFi.
I was reading on these forums that firmware updates get published every 3 months. Is there a chance that these issues might get resolved sooner since they so severely cripple the router’s functionality? Is there an easy way to downgrade the router’s firmware to the previous version? I didn’t purchase a $300 Gaming Router just to get my download speed get cut more than half.
Thanks.
A quick status update on the issue. I few days ago I replaced the brand new Arris TM1602 modem that I got from Spectrum/Charter last month since I’ve just found out that the Arris modem has that garbage Intel Puma6 chip.
In its place I put an equivalent Netgear CM600 and now I’m running the .32 FW without any speed or MAC address issues; however, I still get WiFi devices disconnect on me for a few seconds when on the 2.4Ghz band.
So the .32 FW issue might have been related to the Arris modem, even though it seems to run fine with the XR500 on the .22 FW version.
23 Replies
- I’m wondering if this is what happened to me... my power was out when I got home and when it came back on my internet would only connect to my phone no matter how many times I reset it (at first it wouldn’t connect to my phone either). The issue persists and I can’t figure out a resolution
Not sure. Could be a coincidence. Try factory resetting the XR500 from within the DumaOS GUI or by pushing the reset button.
It worked for me at least, but I’m still having a bunch of other issues post firmware upgrade.
Doubt that I’ll ever hear an official Netgear response. I’ve never had luck on official manufacturers’ forums in the past :(
Hi Oleg - we replied to you on our own forums (Netduma) so let us know over there what outstanding issues you have. Thanks!
OlegP wrote:
Strangely, in the internet configuration settings, if I changed the “use the PC MAC address” to “use XR500 default MAC address,” I would immediately lose internet access and no amount of power cycling would fix it until changing the setting back to the “use the computer’s MAC address.” I left all QOS settings stock.
My internet speed is usually slightly over 200/10. With the newest firmware update my download speed is now a consistent 60-90 download. The upload hasn’t changed; however. Direct connection to modem tests fine at 200 down and 10 up. Disabling all router’s QOS settings doesn’t help.
I feel like this has been the case since I've owned this router. The thing will randomly decide it doesn't want to renew the lease with it's main MAC address and will only work with the computer MAC address option. Using the computer MAC option cuts internet speeds to 1/3 of normal. Working with Spectrum I can get it to work for a short period on the routers MAC if I hold the reset button on the cable modem but once the router decides it wants to stop working once a day and I have to restart it; I'm back to square one.
I've never factory reset a router so much in my life and the constant flurry of issues every day really wears you out. It really feels counter-productive to have netgear designing and maintaining part of the software and netduma another part. Getting updates once a quarter that don't seem to make anything better and each update ends up getting the standard factory reset response. Who wants to setup their device from scratch every few months? I can only imagine if the Meraki's at work required this, who in their right mind would purchase something knowing that.
At this point I'm waiting for Spectrum to help us resolve some issues with our line and after that if there are still issues and the old Linksys doesn't have me spending hours each day fiddling with setting just to get an IP from the ISP; this thing will have to find a new home.
I also have Spectrum for my ISP. Last month I got a brand new Arris modem from them since everyone was getting bumped up to the 200/10 speeds. On the same day I decided to upgrade my aging ASUS router that had served me so well. That’s when I went with the internet hype and got the Netgear XR500. Oddly enough, there aren’t any reviews on smallnetworkbuilder even though this thing has been out for many months.
I only started getting the speed issues post firmware upgrade. After reading these forums and the ones on NetDumas own site I’ve came to a conclusion that this router might not be for me because waiting 3 months between firmware updates is just insane, especially since I’m actually getting slower internet speeds with a equipment that touts itself as the ultimate gaming router.
Also, performing factory resets on the router after every firmware update is just the icing on the cake.
Yeah, I'm sure the Arris modem doesn't help the cause. Feels like around the time of the 200/10 bump things went down hill in this area. Don't think any of that is an excuse for the router issues though.
Atleast you can downgrade your firmware if the last one was working fine for you.