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Forum Discussion
RAX40 Wifi Connection Issues with Multiple Devices from Various Manufacturers
I got a RAX40 last month and have had issues since i opened the box. I am running the unit in Access Point (AP) mode. List of issues:
- With 1.0.2.46 firmware I was not able to use a WPA2 password more than ~20 characters. The webpage would not save the changes to the password past those character limits. (Its overkill but I use 63 and I don't want to change it to less)
- Because of this, I downgraded to 1.0.2.44. The following issues described below are with this version:
- Not all clients were able to see the SSID or connect to the network. Most of these problems were alleviated when disabling the "ax" funcationality on the wireless setup config page.
- However, all wifi devices connected to the network drop and cannot connect back to the network. In this case, I have to turn off and turn back on the unit for the devices to connect again. This happens from every few hours to a couple days. Some devices drop first than others but ultimately they all drop and cannot connect. The list of devices I have connected to the network by manufacturer:
- Google homes (various versions)
- Pixel 3
- iPhone XR
- Samsung TV
- Sony TV
- Dell laptop
- Lenovo laptop
- Nest
- Nintendo Switch
- Nintendo WiiU
I previously had a R7000P and never had any drops like this over the course of 5 plus years. My guess is that since this a new product and Netgear decided to have its users do extended Beta testing that these are issues that need to be resolved via firmware updates. I hope the firmware developers can notice these items and get them resolved quickly. The ethernet ports work fine at gig speeds on the unit acting like an unmanaged switch. If I am travelling I would not be able to access the Nest etc.
55 Replies
Hello camping147,
Thanks for taking the time to post a detailed description of the issues you're experiencing with your router. I'd like for our support team to get in contact with you. If you're interested, please send me a message with your contact info and serial number.
~ChristianTalking to support has been useless so far. They just go through their runbooks and don't care about the troubleshooting or investigation I have done so far. I was able to update the firmware to xx.60 but the connection issues still persist. I keep having to turn off and on the router every day or so in order for the devices to connect back to the network. I also was not able to log into the router when in this state. This leads me futher to believe it has something to do with the unit. If someone could put me in contact with someone who can help effectively I would appreciate it.
- I have had issues of my wifi dropping since I bought this last year. I kept having Comcast come over and try to fix it because I thought it being new wouldn't have been the issue now I'm seeing people have the same problem as myself. Has anyone had luck on a fix? And isn't it insane that you only have 90 days of customer support? You pay more money for a better product and you can't get decent customer service... What the hell.
Did you try the latest firmware that just relased? 1.0.3.80? I appear to have somewhat stable connection with this firmware release.
I'm also having constant connection drops, primarily from older devices or "cheaper devices". I had to buy a NEW netgear USB antenna from the nighthawk line and that seems to work, however it doesn't randomly drop. I'm 3 feet from the router with NO obstructions. My son's older computer has a netgear USB WNA100 that worked fine until I swapped to this new RAX40 router and drop drop drop drop and just keeps dropping. Ipad keeps dropping. Acer laptop keeps dropping. I've called techsupport and we reset, which I argued would serve no purpose and then we changed channels. The netgear nighthawk USB antenna is working, however, the others continue to drop and then reconnect and drop. This includes 2 year old NETGEAR USB Stick. I found on another site a link to update software, did that, keeps dropping.
Why no moderator answer to my question. This has been THE WORST router from Netgear I have ever gotten. Now the warranty period is expired. You can google this connection problem and it's all over the internet so you guys know it's an issue, and yet no fix. Unexcusable for a nearly 300 dollar router. My devices KEEP dropping from the router!
You can read my ORIGINAL post up above from back in January!
Get the same error, purchased RAX40 three months ago, and all devices continues to drop wifi connection several times in a week. When the problem occurs, wifi signal seems totally disappear and can't be searched. Had to restart the whole router, but wifi configs will get back to factory settings after restart. To be honest RAX40's firmware is totally a nightmare. RAX40 doesn't look like a netgear product at all.
Hello windmgc,
Welcome to the community! May you try enabling/disabling AX to see if there are any improvements.
Thanks,
Christian
Hello,
just to share :
I also have many issues with my RAX40 using Firmware Version V1.0.3.64_1.0.1 here in France
- 5G wifi not working after some time
- some devices can't connect >>> reboot fixes
- hangs of whole RAX40
- reset to factory defaults w/o any action
I joined support who asked for monney and I payed for NOTHING!
This product too young is full of bugs.
Best regards.
Ethernet ports is not stable for me. I connect my Samsung Q90R through LAN, I thought it was stable, but no. Receives many notifications about unstable network connection. Same is my phone. It connects and disconnect
went to netgear and found it (was not there some days before) ...downloaded
Before change I made a white boot and surprise : now there is a "new firmware clic here" What I did!
New f/w in place; hope not to find new features.
Regards
Ron
Be aware of the new 06-2020 firmware !! it is a nightmare !!! it doesn't work more than 1 hour !!! i will try tonight to downgrade my RAX40. This stuff is a bug himself !!! I paid for that and if I could I would prefer a refund ! Hoorible stuff this RAX40 !!!
I have been with RAX40 for just over a month now. Unreliable from the start. I ended up turning off every feature possible so I was running just with the 2.4 Ghz channel and no AX. I still have drop outs from various devices and even found the routers DNS service to be unreliable. The upgrade to V1.0.3.80_1.0.1 has made no difference to the bad performance. Had two calls with NETGEAR but no fix achieved. I'm so tempted to go back to my old TP-LINK router. Does NETGEAR ever acknowledge they have a problem with their product?
No more 1.0.3.80 firmware proposed through the NightAwk app' :-) perhaps too much bugs !
the last one is now v1.0.3.64_1.0.1 (for France)
Please Netgear take time to do a good job and that we obtain an entire functionnal system with all you promised !
Thanks.
Regards.
I had to send in my RAX40 after the firmware update since it was bricked and now they pull the firmware. Is Netgear going to refund my 17 bucks in shipping I spent to send them and get sent a new device for a mistake they obviously made? Probably not since they "Take no responsiblity at all." Last Netgear product I buy. Absolute rubbish.
- I have been having the same issues for the last 4 weeks, but it has been getting worst in the last few days (connection drops every 1-2hours). Disabled AX et al. But still same issues.
I can’t believe I spent that much money for such a piece of garbage. What’s taking so long to provide a bug fix, netgear? It’s a shame. RAX45. I have the same problem with my older VisioTV and Roku units drop connections and then I have a problem reconnecting. This capability is so fundamental it is hard to imagine Netgear getting it fixed.
Oh how I feel all your pain as I go through this issue myself. Who gives 1 year on hardware but only 90 days of technical support. I just paid $90 for 6 months of support. I explained how the router keeps loosing connectivity but the tech just gave himself a pat on the back for getting my wifi up and running. Now I have wait until it craps out again to wait on hold for next round of troubleshooting. I have been doing IT for over 20 years, I know a bad router when I see one and bad tech support too. Any guesses on what my next router will not be?
Still in my 90 day support and just got in contact with NetGear. Reported that I am still getting regular WiFi drops outs from multiple devices and even unresponsive DNS at times (even though internet DNS still available). Was advised by NetGEAR Level 1 support that I needed to downgrade to Firmware Version 1.0.3.62 BEFORE they would escalate to Level 2 support. I was on V1.0.3.80 previously which was the latest at the time of posting. Downgrade successful and so far so good, but I will need a day to be sure. Will update then.
Hi all,
As per my previous reply, I just want to let you all know that downgrading to firmware 1.0.3.62 was a huge improvement. I don't experience the regular dropouts anymore. A lot more stable than 1.0.3.80. Not 100% perfect but worth sticking to until Netgear sort out the latest version. Hint: turn off auto upgrade on the router.
Exactly same issues as everyone is describing, its not even a faulty unit, had it replaced by Amazon (since NETGEAR support was trying to CHARGE ME FOR THE REPLACEMENT UNDER WARRANTY!!!!!!) and the new unit has the exact same issues, speed is lower than Vodafone power station, the RAX40 is simply trash made out of a trash firmware and extremely unsable router, it is a complete pile of trash....
DO NOT BUY this router, doens't matter what you want, it does not provide the advised features, it is simply unuseable, nevery buying anything from netgear againI've even tried downgrading to V1.0.3.64_1.0.1, didn't work at all, this is a low cost version of their nighthawk modems using cheap components, so they're just using customers as test subjects to maybe (a really low standards maybe) have a functioning version someday...
Return it and go with Asus or even Tplink (it is better than Netgear nowadays), just stop using netgear and that is it, they will eventually learn by the mistakes and how much s#%! they did make us endure...
