Brand new RAX120 router stops responding multiple times per day, requires reboot

While waiting to repalce the RAX120v2 with an Asus router I see that there is a new version of firmware.

For grins, installed the latest firmware, V1.2.1.22, did a reset (yes little recessed button with a paper clip, waited 30 seconds), reconfigured fresh.  Still randomly reboots.

I tell you, it is not your device or firmware, its the brand. I used them for years. But, they've become an island at the expense of, what I guess, is their shrinking user base. I gave up on them.

Thanks for letting me know about the firmware update and that it did not fix the disconnect problem. I shipped the RAX120v2 back to the Netgear store for a refund yesterday. I moved my old R7000 down to the basement as the main router and configured the RAX120v1 as the AP. I will upgrade its firmware this weekend to the new version just to see if anything changes. So far it seems to be more stable on the WiFi then version 2 was. I think for now I am going to wait on buying another router to replace the old R7000. I was looking at the WiFi 6e routers last night. I like the Asus GT-AXE11000 but for that much money it should have a 10 gig port on it:-) 

I have the v1 and not had any of your issues, since both use the same firmware I would say its not the routers unless you were unlucky and got two duds, I have not had issues with my 120 in the last year and a half, I think maybe its your enviroment, maybe the power soirce you are plugginbg it into? Mine has never rebooted.

 Also are you in the UK or USA? It seems USA users have more issues than UK users, maybe because we use PPPoE, also Armor makes the router unstable, and you have to make sure you have dialup turned to all the time and timout out set to 0. Dont use 160Mhz and have auto updates turned off.

Well you should consider yourself very lucky. I have now had both v1 and v2 and have had lots of issues with both but mainly with v2. There is nothing wrong with the power here or my environment and I live in the USA. I also do not use Netgear Armor and I am disabling the auto updates. Not sure I understand the "dialup turned to all the time and timeout out set to 0" suggestion. I am hooked to a Netgear CM1000 cable modem with 400/20 service. Also if I can't use the 160Mhz WiFi per your recommendation what is the point of me or anyone buying this WiFi 6 router? I returned the RAX120v2 router to the Netgear store this week for a full refund during the return window because it was unstable. The v1 seems more stable from what I can tell but it is far from perfect especially for nearly $400. My first support call was about performance on the Multi-Gig port. It would start out speed testing to 480 mbps down but then quickly degraded to 30 to 60 mbps. Trust me I really wanted both of these to work. I think the hardware has excellent specs and they are nice looking routers. However Netgear skimpped on the firmware development. Its clear that I am not the only one having these issues. I would have even been willing to fork out some extra money to get a stable firmware for these routers if it meant they would have worked correctly.  

Because right now there are virtually no devices that use it, 80Mhz is more than enough. Factory resettin g is important, even Asus say to do that after a big change in firmware, you hold the reset in for about 20 seconds. leave to reboot the router takes about 5 minutes to completely boot. Set up as new, never with a config file as this brings low level code changes fronm the last firmware which may be incompatible. Also I'm not lucky, I know many users with 120's and they have no issues like yourself. I'm not saying you are not having them but to faulty units, In doublt it.

 I know this router very well but cant really comment due to a NDA I signed, but I was in there from mid 2018 with the RAX120 beta testing leave it there. Its a very fast stable device. In internet settings set dialup to always on and idle timeout to 0 and press apply. Otherise the router goes to sleep! Back to 160Mhz yes you can use that with wifi 6E the 6Ghz band will support 160Mhz with no issues, 5Ghz not so much, and even the latest iPhones/iPads dont support 160Hmz. As I said few devices do and this will just make things worse as you clash with orther 5Ghz neighbours, leave it on 80Mhz on 5Ghz and 20Mhz on 2.4Mhz as forcing 40Mhz with any router reduces thoughput in busy areas with lots of routers using 2.4Ghz.

My new (non-NetGear) router has been working great for the last 0 days 14 hour(s) 29 minute(s) 39 seconds. My NetGear router RAX120v2 would have re-initialized at least six times in the time period.

The RAX120v2 has excellent specifications, perfect for my home enviroment. I have nothing wierd that consumes a lot of bandwidth in my home. USA by the way.

I expected to unbox the router, setup a simple "initial" configuration and later look over the features and fine tune my enviroment. I could not get a stable setup with a simple inital configuration. I had expectations that the router would work and if I had issues, NetGear support would help. Level one support, try this, call back later. Nothing worked, they closed tickets with no resolution.

Truly appreciate all the suggestions to help resolve the issue with constant initialization of the RAX120v2 routher.

Just to recap, list of items that did not work for me.

* Reflash the firmware, reset the router back to defaults, manually reconfigure (do not use saved config). No change.
* change the wireless network channel to:2.4GHz - 11 and 5GHz - 161. No change.
* change MTU size, kindly select ADVANCED > Setup > WAN Setup. In the MTU Size field, enter a 1492 value. No change.
* change static DNS on the router to Primary DNS - 8.8.8.8, Secondary DNS - 8.8.4.4. No change.
* Try a different plug. Removed from an APC-1500 Smart UPS and connected to a different (non UPS) outlet. No change.
* Told by tech support to go back to revision levels of firmware. Unable to do, router errored revision too far back.

Each time I would add notes to the NegGear service ticket. Only when I contacted NetGear support, via Chat, is when the would read the tickets. I was waiting for furter instructions, they closed the ticket due to inactivity.

* WiFi only using 40Mhz (2.4Mhz) and 80Mhz (5G)
* Disabled AX. No change.
* Tackled Layer 1, changed cables. No change.
* Installed the latest firmware, V1.2.1.22, did a reset and still no dice.
* Added fans to rule out thermal, as best as I could. Room where router was located, residential, room temp.
* Removed internet connection, turned off WiFi, only LAN connected PC, router still initialized.

Experience, Employed (retired) by a large engineering firm for 31 years. Started with mid-range systems, IBM-36 with dumb terminals connected via twin-ax (PC's were XT and AT, non network at the time) to complex networks and servers. I know the terminology.

I probably, by some long shot odds, had two bad routhers. I did not want to try a third, went in a differrent direction.

My wife is not riding my back about the network. My life is better, she is happy.

If you get a good one, congrats. They are nice routers based on the specs.

Bye All,

:EOM

Similar experience. @DITCHNETGEAR

I read your recent comment and it took me a little time to figure out how I was going to respond so here it is. First off you sort of gave yourself away with the comment "cant really commit due to the NDA I signed" which tells me your opinion is biased at best. Secondly I think your posts are kind of insulting. You can clearly see by reading the posts in this blog and many others that a lot of Netgear customers are having serious problems with the Netgear AX series routers. So please stop acting like its just something I am doing wrong because its clearly not just me. I have never written firmware for a router or any piece of hardware for that matter so I do not claim to be an expert. However I do have a computer science degree and have been working as an application developer for 23 years now so I am not stupid. Netgear has totally dropped the ball on the firmware for these routers and its a shame because the routers have great specs. 

I looked for your suggested changes under "Internet" on my RAX120v1 router but because I am using it for an AP router its grayed out. When I have to factory reset it again, and I will, I will set it up as the main router at least temporarily to change those settings to see if it affects anything after I switch it back to AP mode. I have already factory reset the router twice now since I upgraded to firmware V1.2.1.22 and I am still having issues with the router. The newest bug I have been seeing with the last couple firmware versions is that all the devices are not showing up under the "Attached Devices" but they are showing up over on the R7000 main router as wired. Power cycling did not fix this so I factory reset it again. Very annoying.

I am willing to consider all suggestions but I am starting to think I may have to ask Amazon to take this one back to. I can't wait around for Netgear to decide to fix these problems. My wife and I both work from home and we can't be having our jobs disrupted by dropped WiFi  connections. It disconnected her from her online church service this morning. This is intolerable.

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Killhippie wrote:

Because right now there are virtually no devices that use it, 80Mhz is more than enough. Factory resettin g is important, even Asus say to do that after a big change in firmware, you hold the reset in for about 20 seconds. leave to reboot the router takes about 5 minutes to completely boot. Set up as new, never with a config file as this brings low level code changes fronm the last firmware which may be incompatible. Also I'm not lucky, I know many users with 120's and they have no issues like yourself. I'm not saying you are not having them but to faulty units, In doublt it.

 I know this router very well but cant really comment due to a NDA I signed, but I was in there from mid 2018 with the RAX120 beta testing leave it there. Its a very fast stable device. In internet settings set dialup to always on and idle timeout to 0 and press apply. Otherise the router goes to sleep! Back to 160Mhz yes you can use that with wifi 6E the 6Ghz band will support 160Mhz with no issues, 5Ghz not so much, and even the latest iPhones/iPads dont support 160Hmz. As I said few devices do and this will just make things worse as you clash with orther 5Ghz neighbours, leave it on 80Mhz on 5Ghz and 20Mhz on 2.4Mhz as forcing 40Mhz with any router reduces thoughput in busy areas with lots of routers using 2.4Ghz.

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Completely agree with you mudbone. There seem to be multiple people on this website that are either Netgear fanboys or paid by Netgear to make it seem like there is nothing wrong with their product. I have had all of the same issues everybody else here has had with this router and have done all of the steps as listed over multiple months. I have two friends that have this exact same router and have had the same issues. I even RMAed one of these routers to run in to the same issues. Techincal support is useless because they don't listen when you tell them it's not just the WiFi breaking, but also the wired ethernet connection. When I pay for a high-end product I expect high-end performance and not to be testing their software for them. Constantly having to fully factory reset a router is not an acceptable solution when it ends up having to be done multiple times a month sometimes. I will never be buying a Netgear networking product because of this experience. I have a 7 year old Netgear AC router and never had to factory reset it.