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Forum Discussion
XR500 disconnects from cablemodem multiple times per day
Every morning when I wake up, and once or twice additionally throughout the day, the router loses connection to the cablemodem. I have both wifi and cat5/6 devices connected. All can still access the network (both wifi and hardwire), but not the internet. If I look at the cablemodem lights, the internet is showing up and ready, but on the XR500, I have the orange internet light. I can still access the router admin page (again using either wifi or hardwired connection), and sure enough, it shows that the internet is disconnected.
To fix it, I just have to momentarily unplug the lan cable between the cablemodem and router. Internet is restored in about 5 seconds.
For troubleshooting, I've done the following:
1 - made sure cable modem and router are running latest firmware.
2 - restore to factory the XR500.
3 - left all unplugged for about 15 minutes, then plugged in cablemodem, then plugged in router after internet was up.
Everything comes up fine, then the connection loss starts up within 4-8 hours.
Also as part of troubleshooting, I've tried swapping out 2 other older, crappier routers in place of the XR500. Both work just fine. Neither one has had a single connection loss. I tried a super old Linksys WRT54 (? I think) for 3 days, and I am currently using a D-Link DIR 825 that's been up with ZERO drops for 4 days. No drops, but I have crap WiFI range / speed, no QOS etc. Hence why I bought the XR500...
Almost forgot, I have a PS4 Pro and a PS4 connected via LAN cable. First I made sure they can't auto update at night, that didn't prevent disconnects. Then I just unplugged the LAN cable completely AND turned them fully off (weren't used for about 4 days), and again, the disconnects kept right on happening, same frequency.
I spent a while on the phone with tech support, and am now awaiting a call back tonight... I've seen lots of other folks with this similar problem, but haven't seen any fixes other than the ones I tried above. Seems like I probably have a bad router, but if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
Thanks!
Network info:
Cox cable, 100MB connection, using Arris SB6190. Latest firmware via Cox.
XR500 running 2.3.2.40.
Netgear 24 port unmanaged switch (I actually removed the switch from the network and went down to 4 connected LAN devices to see if the switch was causing disconnects. The disconnects still happened with same frequency with switch in the network or removed from network).
29 Replies
Could you temporarily downgrade back to the previous firmware and see if the issue continues: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/XR500.aspx#Firmware%20Version%202.3.2.32
That will help us to isolate the cause. Thanks.
Ok thanks for the suggestion. I just reverted to the .32 firmware and put the XR500 back in service. I'll let you know in the next few days how it's going.
Update: Router has been up with no disconnects for about 48 hours at this point.
I'll keep watching for disconnects. Do you know what's causing the problem? And will it be fixed in the next firmware update after .40?
Thanks.
Be aware of your Arris SB 6190 modem:
Something to review.
Aaarrgh wrote:
Every morning when I wake up, and once or twice additionally throughout the day, the router loses connection to the cablemodem. I have both wifi and cat5/6 devices connected. All can still access the network (both wifi and hardwire), but not the internet. If I look at the cablemodem lights, the internet is showing up and ready, but on the XR500, I have the orange internet light. I can still access the router admin page (again using either wifi or hardwired connection), and sure enough, it shows that the internet is disconnected.
To fix it, I just have to momentarily unplug the lan cable between the cablemodem and router. Internet is restored in about 5 seconds.
For troubleshooting, I've done the following:
1 - made sure cable modem and router are running latest firmware.
2 - restore to factory the XR500.
3 - left all unplugged for about 15 minutes, then plugged in cablemodem, then plugged in router after internet was up.
Everything comes up fine, then the connection loss starts up within 4-8 hours.
Also as part of troubleshooting, I've tried swapping out 2 other older, crappier routers in place of the XR500. Both work just fine. Neither one has had a single connection loss. I tried a super old Linksys WRT54 (? I think) for 3 days, and I am currently using a D-Link DIR 825 that's been up with ZERO drops for 4 days. No drops, but I have crap WiFI range / speed, no QOS etc. Hence why I bought the XR500...
Almost forgot, I have a PS4 Pro and a PS4 connected via LAN cable. First I made sure they can't auto update at night, that didn't prevent disconnects. Then I just unplugged the LAN cable completely AND turned them fully off (weren't used for about 4 days), and again, the disconnects kept right on happening, same frequency.
I spent a while on the phone with tech support, and am now awaiting a call back tonight... I've seen lots of other folks with this similar problem, but haven't seen any fixes other than the ones I tried above. Seems like I probably have a bad router, but if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
Thanks!
Network info:
Cox cable, 100MB connection, using Arris SB6190. Latest firmware via Cox.
XR500 running 2.3.2.40.
Netgear 24 port unmanaged switch (I actually removed the switch from the network and went down to 4 connected LAN devices to see if the switch was causing disconnects. The disconnects still happened with same frequency with switch in the network or removed from network).
- Yeah, thanks, I noticed that as well during the whole troubleshooting process. I ran the dslreports puma test, and did not get any red boxes or indication anything was wrong. Not sure if that test is fool proof or not though.
Some ISPs don't allow for STATIC IPs to be set on there modems or routers. Espeically when the connection is a Dynamic DHCP connection. If the router or modem disconnects after setting a static IP address, remove it and revert back to Dynamic DHCP.
Update:
So far the connection has been up for almost 6 days with no disconnects. The only thing that the Netgear support had me change was the DNS. I'm now using 1.0.0.1 instead of the Cox Cable DNS that the router was getting automatically.
I did not end up trying setting a static IP for the router (didn't want to make multiple changes).
Anyhow, I'll give it another day or two, but so far the connection appears stable.
Question for you guys though... why in the world would using a different DNS server make a difference here. Does the router just not recover properly if the Cox DNS has issues?
Thanks for the help.
Some ISPs DNS are spotty sometimes. Is NOT suppose to be like that or effect connections however it does. DNS and IP is part of the DHCP handling with the ISP Modem and services, you can get an IP and DNS addresses, however if the actual services are not working, especally with DNS, then this can effect internet access. You would need to let your ISP know about this if your having problems with there DNS being used.
You can try 1.1.1.1 and 9.9.9.9 as well. I use these if ISP DNS doesn't work well for me.
You don't always have to use ISP DNS.
Aaarrgh wrote:
Update:
So far the connection has been up for almost 6 days with no disconnects. The only thing that the Netgear support had me change was the DNS. I'm now using 1.0.0.1 instead of the Cox Cable DNS that the router was getting automatically.
I did not end up trying setting a static IP for the router (didn't want to make multiple changes).
Anyhow, I'll give it another day or two, but so far the connection appears stable.
Question for you guys though... why in the world would using a different DNS server make a difference here. Does the router just not recover properly if the Cox DNS has issues?
Thanks for the help.
