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RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset
I have had the RAX120 for about 7 months now with no issues. I started working from home three days ago with no issues. Then yesterday and today all day my router would stay connected but lose Internet. With the app I was able to remotely check internet speeds which I still had at the router 250 mbs but zero internet at my computer and wifi devices. I would reset the device and everything would work again for about an hour and half until it did the same thing. I have to work so all day yesterday and today I've been resetting my router. I went on the Netgear website and updated to the latest firmware today and change the 2.4ghz and 5 GHz channel to the recommended channels. I reset the device and thought everything would be fixed. However, I've now reset my device two more times and am growing in frustration. I turn to all of you. My internet is working on my hard wire devices such as my home server which gets routed through this router. I still have signal on my devices just no internet. Can someone help with what's going on?
96 Replies
I'm having the same issues as many of you.
Firmware - V1.0.1.118
I think where it get weird is when people start talking about browsers being the issue.
I'm not seeing this issue being related to a certain browser. What I'm seeing is a problem with a few Apple devices on WiFi, which started at some point maybe a firmware version with this router. I'm only observing this is on my Apple TV 4K's and an old iPhone 8. My Android, smart home IoT devices, iPad's, Computers (Macbook Pros, Desktop, old HP Laptop), iPhone XR, iPhone 11 Pro Max, are all fine.
To temporarily resolve the issue, all you have to do is disable WiFi and re-enable it on the device in question, or you can just reboot.
I also want to note just like other people have already noted. It doesn't appear to be an issue with the network, meaning the effected devices appear to still be able to communicate with other devices on the network, they just can get out to the internet.
Here is something else I want to note - When I first got this router (this one and the extender I forget the model number on that one). Which was around Black Friday 2019. On the early firmwares all my devices would have this same issue. Intranet, device to device communicate working fine, but Internet connectivity broken. When I would bring up the Nighthawk app on my iPhone it would show internet "offline." Rebooting the router would resolve it, I would have to do this maybe once or twice a week.
As of this posting I show an upgrade option for the router in the iPhone App. I'm going to try upgrading the firmware (if thats what it's upgrade and see if the issue is resolved.
If I might enquire ... what was the version number of the firmware update? My issues started pretty much right after I used the Nighthawk App to upgrade to version V1.0.1.122.
I know this doesn't help in resolving the issue, but I upgraded from .118 to .122 using the app. It was flawless. The router (RAX120) has also been flawless. There are a couple of quirks now with the app such as I can't change the icon on some of my connected devices. The app wants to label my DirecTV boxes as desktop computers. Then when I check again on another day, it's something different. It gives me an error if I try and change the icon. (The names I've selected for all of my devices are unaffected, its just the icons.)
Months ago I was in the same boat as everyone else. I finally got it stable on .114. I then had issues initially with .118 and I did multiple pin-hole resets and eventually got it solid. I then upgraded to .122 and that has also been solid.
So I'm not letting Netgear off the hook. There have just been too many issues, issues I've experienced myself. But at some point, for me anyway, they all just went away once I got .118 solid. No major issues since with the router with the exception of ReadyCloud. If you don't care about ReadyCloud then it doesn't matter.
- For me it has been so many challenges with this router in last 14 months and I am out of all warranty.
1. Random internet drop in wifi and wired connection.
2. Random restarts
3. Router stops responding
Roll back on firmware, different firmwares, factory reset works and then after 2-3 weeks same story.
I will lookout for class action now, worst product for that kind of money.
Goodbye to Netgear - Manually update firmware with a laptop. Do not use the Nighthawk or Genie app.
https://kb.netgear.com/23960/How-do-I-manually-update-the-firmware-on-my-NETGEAR-router
I started having the same problems. I will guide you through the initial steps of connecting your router to your laptop.
You may have to go to a friends house with internet.
1) I first disconnected my AX4 router from my modem and then restarted it.
2) Next I reset my AX4 nighthawk to factor settings by pushing the reset button (the small hole on the back). It takes a few minutes to restart. I held the button for 10 seconds then released it and this started the reset process.
3)Furthermore, I connected my laptop to my wifi connection (I used my old router. If you don't have a wifi connection, I recommend going to a friends house who has wifi).
3) Moreover, I connected my router, that is currently powered on with all of the LEDs green except of course the internet one, to my laptops ethernet port. Ethernet cable is in port 1 on the Nighthawk router.
You are now ready to continue with installing the firmware. See the link above. Start on step 2. Just turned mine into a $500 access point. Ugh. Not happy!
Details are so important to help people understand your issues.
What steps have you taken to solve what ever issue you have?
Bought a different router. Problem solved.
- Had terrible problems with dropping so I added both 5 and 2.4 guest options. It ain’t perfect but I get on the net now and speed is great. Hitting over 600 MBPS most of the time I can live with it!!
- How has this been going on over a year and Netgear has still not fixed it? I called them and they just repeatedly told me it was my ISP’s fault. It’s ridiculous a “top of the line” router like this drops internet all the time. lol
- I've just picked up one of these today and right out the box the 5ghz won't work. Has a red light on the advanced setting and won't let me enable it. This is with smart setup on or off. Seems like a very problematic router
Have you factory reset it after it updated its firmware? 1.2.0.16 really needs that reset, if not try it, but if you have done that (it only takes a few minutes) its probably hardware, so not so much a troublesome router just bad luck if it is. Mine has been fine apart from a buggy QoS in the current firmware is bugged and is also basic, no dynamic QoS on this unit.
I hope you can factory reset the router and get it working or just exchange it. Also be aware a newer Revision 2 unit is coming out soon that will do up stream MU-MiIMO and UL OFDMA as well as TWT and BSS, the original unit canot do UL OFDMA or Upload MU-MIMO, so if you have not got a revison 2 (It will say on the box and it does 160Mhz not 80+80) then maybe wait for new stock.- Hi there, thanks for replying. I actually factory reset it via the pin last night and it's now working as expected. Seems I have the v1 but I got it at a steal and I don't think the v2 will benefit me yet.
Thanks
- So I bought this about a year ago, to upgrade all my hardware, and have had issues with connectivity. At first, I blamed my ISP since it can’t be this $400 router. I had Spectrum come out over the next few months and change out ALL of the line to my home and in my home. I was still having issues. I decided to contact Amazon, since this is where I bought it and they redirected me to Netgear support. Gave them a call and got someone to help me (keep in mind, almost a year after purchase). Support helped me out and had me change channels and update some other things and it seems to work. After about an hour later, everything went down the toilet. Nothing was getting any type of internet. So, I reset the router to factory steering then called Netgear back a few days later since I figured this was working fine. When I got on the phone with support, they told me they couldn’t provide me any phone support because the 3-months phone period that they provide has expired and that I would have to purchase phone support in order to get help! Wtf?!?!? “What do you mean? I was just on the phone with tech support three days ago and they didn’t give this crap. They just made everything worse for me. Now, I have to pay you for a problem that you basically created?!?” After about 15 minutes of arguing with this person they told that they would do this one-time and provide me support. They transferred my call... expected hold time... 9 hours!!! Never been so furious in my life that I just hung up and contacted Amazon again. They’re doing an investigation into the situation and are going to refund me the price of the router. Been a pretty bad experience with Netgear. Don’t think I’ll buy a product from them again.
I had the same problem. Its the router for sure. I turned off the wifi and bought some access points. I havent had a problem since. Been up and running for 4 months with no connectivity issues.
The low speed thru stressed out is what I need assist identifying. Per your idea, I attempted three one-of-a-kind devices (laptops) wired to the router however the speeds nonetheless are low. I also attempted exclusive cables however no development.
- I have the RAX70 and was running fine for about 1 month up until about beginning of March. Then all of a sudden certain device lose wifi after a day or so and others are still OK and only way to get wifi back to those devices is to reboot router. It has happened to my cellphones and laptop but not my Amazon Echo's, HP printer, Direct TV receiver, or Samsung Smart TV as they continue to work just fine when this is happening.
Have been dealing with Netgear tech support for the last few days and nothing has been fixed, after many diffrent attempts, from multiple individuals and now waiting to hear back from them as 2 days has passed and were suppose to reach out to me already to send another router as this one is more than likely defective as everything they have tried does not work. Factory reset has been done multiple times, changed settings, changed modems 3 times with 2 diffrent types, was on latest update .88 and had me go back to .78 because supposedly after all else has been done, last yech said there are some known issues with the most current update being .88. - I have the RAX70 and was running fine for about 1 month up until about beginning of March. Then all of a sudden certain device lose wifi after a day or so and others are still OK and only way to get wifi back to those devices is to reboot router. It has happened to my cellphones and laptop but not my Amazon Echo's, HP printer, Direct TV receiver, or Samsung Smart TV as they continue to work just fine when this is happening.
Have been dealing with Netgear tech support for the last few days and nothing has been fixed, after many diffrent attempts, from multiple individuals and now waiting to hear back from them as 2 days has passed and were suppose to reach out to me already to send another router as this one is more than likely defective as everything they have tried does not work. Factory reset has been done multiple times, changed settings, changed modems 3 times with 2 diffrent types, was on latest update .88 and had me go back to .78 because supposedly after all else has been done, last yech said there are some known issues with the most current update being .88.- My new RAX20 started the same thing the 1st day and continues on. The only thing on wifi when it happened was a Roku and my phone. All else is wired in. This garbage.
My R7800 does NOT do it. It has to be this router. Grrrr.- So the last thing Netgear asked me to do was to do a factory reset and go to a previous version of firmware because they said that they have been having issues with the current one which is .88. It has been a little over 1 week since doing that and so far the internet has not dropped. We shall see if that fixes the issue. However if that is an issue with their latest firmware they need to fix it.
