Nighthawk RAX120 Traffic Failing on Wired Network.

Question

I bought a Nighthawk RAX120 router, and configured it for my network and ISP. Everything worked fine.

I Then performed a Firmware Upgrade to RAX120-V1.2.1.22 and the Wired Network connections started failing.

When on a wired connection I still get DNS returned, and if I perform a Telnet to a host, eg telnet google.com 443 it will connect for a short time then disconnect, interestingly if I telnet google.com 80, it keeps its connection

If I browse to something the error returned is “ERR_CONNECTION_RESET” or “ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED”

When it this state, wired connections still work perfectly for resources inside my network, it is only internet connections that fail, I have also connected via multiple ports on the router to rule out one bad port.

I have since rolled back to RAX120-V1.2.0.16 and re-set the router and configured it again, it still failed with the same symptoms.

I Spent 2 Hours on the phone to Netgear support last night, and that failed to address the issue, so now I am here.

Does anyone have any suggestions of where to take this next, or do I just take it back for a refund?

antinode · Answer

&gt; [...] if I perform a Telnet to a host, eg telnet google.com 443 it&gt; will connect for a short time then disconnect, interestingly if I telnet&gt; google.com 80, it keeps its connection&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "keeps its connection" for how long?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What makes you think that that behavior is abnormal?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; $ date ; telnet google.com 443 ; date&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tue Jul 20 10:10:34 CDT 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trying 142.251.32.14...&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Connected to google.com.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Escape character is '^]'.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Connection closed by foreign host.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tue Jul 20 10:10:44 CDT 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; $ date ; telnet google.com 80 ; date&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tue Jul 20 10:18:36 CDT 2021&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trying 142.251.32.14...&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Connected to google.com.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Escape character is '^]'.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Connection closed by foreign host.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Tue Jul 20 10:22:36 CDT 2021&nbsp;&nbsp; Around here (D7000[v1], V1.0.1.78_1.0.1), one does fail faster thanthe other.&nbsp; Which hasn't bothered me.&nbsp;&gt; I have since rolled back to RAX120-V1.2.0.16 and re-set the router and&gt; configured it again, it still failed with the same symptoms.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; From that, some people might conclude that the firmware update wasunrelated to this "problem".&nbsp;&gt; Does anyone have any suggestions of where to take this next, or do I&gt; just take it back for a refund?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Try a test or a problem description which provides some usefulinformation?&nbsp; I wouldn't expect a different router to change thebehavior of Google's web servers.

Veshengo · Answer

Thank you for not being Helpful,I have given examples of the behaviour, In short the Router Won’t connect to the Internet via the Wired network.“&nbsp; Try a test or a problem description which provides some usefulinformation?&nbsp;&nbsp;“Did you note the fact that I had stated I spent 2 hours on the phone with Netgear support, did you note I have identified the errors returned in the browser?If you feel there are some tests that could provide better information, then feel free to suggest them.

antinode · Answer

&gt; Thank you for not being Helpful,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; You're welcome.&nbsp; And I thank you for the large can of red herring inyour problem description.&nbsp;&gt; I have given examples of the behaviour, In short the Router Won't&gt; connect to the Internet via the Wired network.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That's too "In short".&nbsp; And what about the non-Wired network?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Won't" is not a useful problem description.&nbsp; It does not say whatyou did.&nbsp; It does not say what happened when you did it.&nbsp; As usual,showing actual actions (commands) with their actual results (errormessages, LED indicators, ...) can be more helpful than vaguedescriptions or interpretations.&nbsp;&gt; Did you note the fact that I had stated I spent 2 hours on the phone&gt; with Netgear support, [...]&nbsp;&nbsp; Did you notice that I did not participate in that conversation, andhave no idea of its contents?&nbsp;&gt; [...] did you note I have identified the errors returned in the&gt; browser?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I might have gotten distracted by the pointless Telnet nonsense,which did not demonstrate a failure.&nbsp; I didn't look very closely afterthat.&nbsp;&gt; [...] it still failed with the same symptoms. [...]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Always?&nbsp; Occasionally?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Visit http://netgear.com/support , put in your model number, and lookfor Documentation.&nbsp; Get the User Manual (at least).&nbsp; Read.&nbsp; Look for theLED descriptions and "Troubleshoot".&nbsp;&nbsp; To what is the router connected?&nbsp; Some kind of modem or ONT?&nbsp; Haveyou tried bypassing the router, and connecting directly to that?&nbsp; Howdid you decide that the router is at fault, and not some other gizmo?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Have you tried the usual panacea, a settings (misnomer: Factory)reset and manual reconfiguration?

Veshengo · Answer

I fail to see any red hearings, but let us go through this further.“And what about the non-Wired network?”Sorry I hadn’t explicitly stated this, good point. Yes Wireless connections work perfectly.When using a Wireless connection with the same device (So unplug the net cable on my computer and use wireless (Same device)) and all traffic works.Note also, I have attempted to use the wired connection with the Wireless card disable to ensure there is no case of asymmetric routing, and this didn’t address the issue.“"Won't" is not a useful problem description”That is true, butIf I browse to something the error returned is “ERR_CONNECTION_RESET” or “ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED”Is a useful problem description with the two additional factors ofI still get DNS returned, and if I perform a Telnet to a host,&amp;“wired connections still work perfectly for resources inside my network”“I might have gotten distracted by the pointless Telnet nonsense”That telnet “nonsense” was to show that there is still a connection of sorts, it will resolve DNS, it will route traffic to a target, so discarding it as nonsense seems to be counterproductiveAll symptoms are consistent, none of them are intermittentIn terms of the LED Indicators they are flashing white for all connections, no evidence that the router believes there is an issue“To what is the router connected?&nbsp; Some kind of modem or ONT”A Cable Modem“&nbsp;Have you tried bypassing the router, and connecting directly to that”No, because the router works fine when using wireless.“How did you decide that the router is at fault, and not some other gizmo?”Because the router works fine when using wireless.“Have you tried the usual panacea, a settings (misnomer: Factory) reset and manual reconfiguration?”Yep, at least 5 times now.Any thoughts?

antinode · Answer

&gt; That telnet "nonsense" was to show that there is still a connection of&gt; sorts, it will resolve DNS, it will route traffic to a target, so&gt; discarding it as nonsense seems to be counterproductive&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; My impression was that you were complaining about the time-out error.Not answering the question ("What makes you think that that behavior isabnormal?") didn't clarify what you intended to show.&nbsp; When you'recomplaining about comm errors, a test which shows a comm error is notobviously a demonstration of success.&nbsp;&gt; [...] Wireless connections work perfectly.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That's much more significant than any cryptic Telnet experiments.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; How many different wired devices exhibit the same problem(s)?&nbsp;&gt; When using a Wireless connection with the same device (So unplug the&gt; net cable on my computer and use wireless (Same device)) and all traffic&gt; works.&nbsp;&nbsp; "Same device", but not, I'd guess, the same IP address.&nbsp; And it isdifferent hardware.&nbsp;&gt; "wired connections still work perfectly for resources inside my&gt; network"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Does that include between a wired and a wireless device?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I've never seen it, but I can imagine a hardware problem in the pathbetween the router's LAN Ethernet stuff and its WAN side.&nbsp; Wired-LAN towired-LAN could work through such a problem if the network switch is arelatively independent functional block.&nbsp;&gt; [...] reset [...]&nbsp;&gt; Yep, at least 5 times now.&nbsp;&nbsp; If I were desperate, then I might try loading the old firmware onemore time, doing another reset and manual reconfiguration, and verifyingthat multiple wired devices suffer from the same misbehavior.&nbsp; In thatcase, I'd tend to suspect the hardware.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Assumptions:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; "If I browse to something" means multiple popular sites (Google,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Netgear, ...)&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; More than one computer/device exhibits the problem.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; No conflicting (static?) LAN IP addresses.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Definitely not something I've seen or seen reported.

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Nighthawk RAX120 Traffic Failing on Wired Network.

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