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Forum Discussion
RAX40 Firmware 1.0.3.80 Crash/Bug Log
Hello folks, can everyone please log all the issues they are experiencing with the RAX40 router on 1.0.3.80 firmware under this thread, I see there are several threads going on about the issue, figured if we collect them all under one location, Netgear may take a look at the issues?
My issue are;
- The firmware broke the connectivity with the EAX20 WiFi Extender, extender can not connect to the router
- Same situation doesn't exist with EX7500 Router
- With Smart Connect I experience some wifi connection drops with mobile devices.
389 Replies
I really appreciate this community. Thanks to Retired_Member for starting this thread to highlight the issues with this router. I hope you get a replacement or a refund for the time, effort and money you've put into this product and company.
I raised a ticket for replacing this router but I have decided against it and instead, will be buying an AX router from ASUS in the next sale. I just wanted to recap the absurdity of what I have had to put up with, with regards to this product. I am sure others have their own version. This will put things into context for community members who have had a pleasant experience with netgear products and may wonder why we're frustrated.
- The first experience with a wifi router is the setup and setting this router was not easy. The router was not recognizable by any device after setting it up and it took me little over an hour to set it up after physically resetting it a few times.
- Then came this brilliant update which completely broke the router. I have had to spend at least 4 hours to get it working after turning off features which are touted as basic features for this kind of router.
- As I'm writing this message, this thread has 319 messages and 4681 views. While the community has been supportive, there is noone from netgear who has checked in (I don't know if moderators count). For a thread with so many views and messages for something negative, it should have gotten someone's attention.
- I waited patiently and did not ask for a beta to test because I thought maybe they will have an update in a month or two. Instead, for 6 months, they kept an unstable firmware available on their support site. Then they casually release a firmware which effectively turned the router into an AC router which one could get at a third of the price.
I'm in India, I don't have any option to get another model of this router (not even the v2) if I ask for a replacement, I do not have confidence in their service. Asus has released 4 updates to their equivalent router in these 6 months which address bugs and/or security issues.Either netgear doesn't know what they are doing or they just don't care about their customers. I have been observing how they have been handling this situation and it does not instill a speck of confidence in their products/service/expertise. All the best to everyone trying to get a replacement and fingers-crossed that the router you get works.
They simply DON'T CARE!
I have not seen anyone from Netgear even take the time to read abd reply, not even a courtesy like "We are working on it" (even if it's a lie).
They have lots of other Products and if they keep selling, why bother fixing an issue that wont be a profit for them.
I made my peace with this I moved back to firmware .60 (more stable) and restart now and then just to avoid problems, saving for a router from another Brand.
Instead of commenting here try giving them bad reviews on amazon, ebay and walmart, to help other innocent future customers from falling for this junk Brand.
I upgraded my RMA for 17 dollars and now Netgear will send a RAX43 first and then will include a shipping label for the RAX40. If you guys can get your RMA to upgrade your RAX40s for the 43, make sure you select the second option in the RMA options. Finally this whole 6 months long ordeal is coming to an end. First time ever for me to have dealt with an electronic device issue this long. I recommend the RAX40 owners contact support as soon as possible and state that Netgear is replacing RAX40s with 43s
Hi, thanks for starting this thread.
I have an RAX40 running V1.0.3.80_1.0.1 firmware.
Was experiencing multiple dropouts per day. Spoke to my ISP - they confirmed it is a router issue.
Also purchased an EAX20 extender. Would not connect to RAX40.
Followed advice from this community and downgraded firmware to V1.0.3.64_1.0.1
At least I can connect the extender now. Shame it no longer has Smart Connect.
Have lost many days to this router. Netgear phone support was completely useless - told me to return my extender because it's faulty!
I'm waiting for confirmation that the 1.0.3.88 firmware won't brick my router. Would really prefer Smart Connect than having to manually select.
Cheers
My recommendation to you is ... return it and get your money back if you can.
Run, don't walk... This is the biggest piece of garbage I have ever had.
Buy anything else.
I'm surprised nobody has started a class action for this.
Hello All,
this is my very last message : again the same issue (I was so confident); now I'm at the end!
So I went to my provider. They were ok to give me money back w/o any discussion.
I added 30€ to obtain a brand new rt-ax82u ... So for any issue (?) I have to change community.
Good luck
R
I also upgraded to the 1.0.3.94 firmware. I enabled Airtime fairness. But I quikly disabled smart connect because it gave me some issue. I also had to reconect my dynamic DNS. I will make an update if I have some problems
I updated my router today and so far it seems fine. I did a factory reset, upgrade, another factory reset and then re-configured the thing to give it the best chance of working and not having issues due to an old config. The real test will be this weekend when various family comes over and there will be more devices.
I use mine in AP mode and not as my main router. This update introduces one issue in this particular configuration. The router admin page now forces one to access it using the www.routerlogin.net domain rather than allowing the IP address. Since the device is not my router and not handling my DNS it's unable to intercept those requests so you end up at their help page instead of the admin UI. I had to add a hosts file entry for the domain in order to regain access the admin page.
@ aoeex
I'm running firmware 94.
I am able to access the admin page using the IP address of the router and by www.routerlogin.net. I am not running in AP mode but not sure why that would make a difference.
Using the IP just results in the router issuing a redirect to the domain now. The domain only works if the RAX40 is providing the DNS services for your network as it will respond to a DNS request for routerlogin.net with it's local IP address. If the RAX isn't the device processing DNS requests then that domain instead resolves to it's public IP which takes you to netgear's help page.
Most people in most situations probably wouldn't have an issue as the RAX40 would be their main router and their DNS host so everything would work fine.
Since I have mine in AP mode, it's not handling my DNS queries (the main router does) so the routerlogin.net domain resolves to the public IP and shows the help page, not the admin UI. Due to that, and the fact that using the IP just results in a redirect to the domain, the admin UI is effectively inaccessible in such a configuration. A local override of that domain via the system's hosts file or a local DNS server is necessary for it to work.
Just updated to 1.0.3.94. So far so good. And my dropping packets issue is now gone as well!
Update on my last post. The new update is fine most of the time but some days I'm experiencing lost of internet connection. The local network kinda working but I can only ping the router. I tried using Google DNS without success. So I don’t really know what to try.
ok having major issues trying to access router admin page via browser.. anyone else? any fix? Christian_R you will need to raise this with your team as a major fault with this firmware release.
Hello itsmehuey,
Thanks for looping me in. Are you still experiencing issues with accessing the admin page via web browser?
Regards,
Christian
Man, it took Netgear this long to release an actual fix with 1.0.3.94 !
Now my RAX35 is no longer dropping connectivity having to reboot constantly.
I shelved this unit as it was unusable but updated the firmware when I saw it was available and so far night and day as far as reliablity goes.Really Netgear?
I upgraded my RAX35 from firmware 1.0.3.88 to 1.0.3.94 a few weeks ago and so far I haven't had any dropped connections. I did have an issue where the firmware update assistant seemed to hang on downloading the new firmware. I refreshed the page and it worked the second time. A few weeks ago I did have an issue where new connections wouldn't connect. Existing connections still worked. I rebooted the router and haven't seen the issue since then.
I tried connecting a variety of devices and only an old Apple device wouldn't connect after enabling WPA2-Personal + WPA3-Personal. It works when just WPA2-Personal is enabled.
I did notice that the "Advanced Setup / Wireless Settings / Enable Router's PIN" option was re-enabled after I made a change on the "Setup / Wireless Setup" page. I disabled "Enable Router's PIN" again and it remains disabled.
I had a bad experience once with my R8000 auto firmware update. Hung and the router would no longer reboot. Had to use TFTP to reload the firmware again. Hence ever since i manaully update and not want to take the chance doing the automated way.
This latest firmware is holding up so far, i have 47 devices connected presently with a mix or wired and wireless (smart appliances, wireless bridge, wireless cameras and kids gaming and video conferencing as well.
Cross fingers!
