RAX80 randomly disconnects LAN cable

Sounds like a common problem. Following the community's suggestions, I reverted to an older firmware and my Internet would only disconnect about once a week rather than every day. Then support recommended I reinstall the most recent firmware which I did about three days ago and since then I've had no disconnects. Possibly downgrading and reinstalling the most recent firmware will help for you as well.

Jim

Hi Panda9, 

Please refer to KB article below on how to upload a firmware manually. When you get to step 1, you may choose which firmware you'd like to upload to your router. 

https://kb.netgear.com/23960/How-do-I-manually-upgrade-firmware-to-my-NETGEAR-router

Christian 

I may try that.  

However, I've since did a factory reset as everyone else has already done a million times.  Of course, that did nothing, and actually made the issue come back more often.  SO, I have an X4S and an older R6300.  I was going to go back to the X4S however, that unit had the exact same issues the RAX80 has.  Just drops internet.  And usually what I would do is unplug the CAT6 cable from the modem going to the router and wait about 5 seconds and plug it back in.  It would come back up and work for another day or so.  This is the same issue as the RAX80 and the same solution works for a day or so.  

There must be some kind of hardware/firmware issue here.  The same code is causing the same issue on different hardware.  I generally don't lose my WiFi, it happens but most of the time that isn't the issue.  Just not getting past the router out to the internet.  

Also, I think I mentioned that when I disconnect the CAT6 going to the modem.  I drop all of the other network ports/devices for about 2 seconds.  Those links go away, which has nothing to do with internet access.  Like again they are tied together and it should not be.  You should be able to use the "switch" independent of the Internet uplink port.  Disconnecting the internet port shouldn't cause you to drop the LAN.  Anyway.  I've moved back to the R6300 for LAN/DHCP/Routing to the modem.  Disabling the radio 2.4/5Ghz.  I'm using the RAX80 for Access Point only and all the 2.4/5Ghz radio's it has.  My main concern is watching AppleTV for my kid and not dropping that all day long. 

WiFi again was mostly fine.  So even if that starts to not work again.  I can do a simple reboot to fix that.  

From a network hardware perspective.  This looks like bad firmware talking to the hardware and failing without recovering.  There must be a software crash that happens.  Don't know what triggers it though.  However, when it crashes (OS-Firmware) the hardware just locks up and you drop your internet port or you lose your WiFi as others have stated happens.  Turning features off sometimes seems to help some, but not always.  Hardware wise, I'm sure this thing is MORE than capable of doing DHCP, Routing, and all the bandwidth etc.  But, the software can't it seems.  

I feel your pain Panda9!  After wasting hundreds of $ on Negear routers in the past several years the RAX80 put me over the edge.  After only 4 months I shelved it and bought a TP-Link that has been flawless.  Not one drop which is so refreshing after several every day with the RAX80.  Good luck in your adventure.  I for one am completely done with Netgear.

I literally have had the EXACT same experience as you. Same devices and timeline etc. I've been really looking into this but haven't been able to resolve it. I really hope we both get some answers on this. Best of luck.

There is a new firmware version 1.0.3.88 that resolves the LAN / WAN disconnections. Just have to do a factory reset after upgrading firmware. 

Thanks SAM_the_GAM   What are you using to determine that there have been no drops?   After a long time of getting booted out of online console games, I only figured it out by looking at the router logs.  There were no other indications that a drop was occurring.  I would be thrilled to be able to reconnect my xbox to ethernet instead of wifi, but I would like to be sure that this really was fixed before going through the hassle of a factory reset.  The chances of remembering all of the settings are slim to none.  

I just checked log files and sure enough, there are the dreaded entries that occur when the WAN disconnect occurs::

[Internet connected] IP address: xx.xx.xx.xxx, Wednesday, Jun 03,2020 11:33:35
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Wednesday, Jun 03,2020 11:33:34

Huh.  Another anomaly.  I don't have any log entries prior to 5:30 today, just this repeated about a few hundred times.  Weird.
Wednesday, Dec 31,1969 19:00:00
Wednesday, Dec 31,1969 19:00:00
Wednesday, Dec 31,1969 19:00:00
Wednesday, Dec 31,1969 19:00:00

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ubedawg wrote:

Thanks SAM_the_GAM   What are you using to determine that there have been no drops?   After a long time of getting booted out of online console games, I only figured it out by looking at the router logs.  There were no other indications that a drop was occurring.  I would be thrilled to be able to reconnect my xbox to ethernet instead of wifi, but I would like to be sure that this really was fixed before going through the hassle of a factory reset.  The chances of remembering all of the settings are slim to none.

 

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I am checking the router statistics in the Advanced screen. I am checking the uptime. After about 48 hours WAN / LAN still disconnect and reconnect. However, the disconnections are happenning less often then with previous firmware giving the illusion that WAN / LAN disconnections is resolved.  

Wanted to use a wifi 6 router, since most of my devices are compatible.

First I bought the new AX6, had connectivity issues both wifi and LAN.

Fought with it for a week, returned it to Costco, and I decided to give Netgear another shot.
So I got AX8 5700 from Costco 3 week ago. Wanted to use a wifi 6 router, since most of my devices are compatible.

Exact same issue other are having. 
iPv4 or IPv6 didn't seem to matter.

Constant disconnects. Both the TV and the Xbox one X disconnect simultaneously. Oddly, the windows 10 PC on port one never disconnects.

Swapped out the Cat5e's for cat6 on the Xbox, no dice.

My son games and I ask him, when I get disconnected,  he says he is still online. I tried static IP's for all of my devices. Worked for about 48mhours. I have to power cycle the router to reconnect my devices, or reboot the devices.
Both the LG TV and Xbox, show not connected via LAN. Previous nighthawk X4 was flawless with the identical setup. 

The 5ghz network just disappears, and when I log into the router, the channel number just shows ASCII type jibberish.

Have to reset or power cycle to get the 5ghz back.

latest firmware, have not reverted to prior firmware, seem pointless.

I have reset to factory settings, still no long term resolution, as if a day is long term, but for this issue it is.

I haven't had issues like this in over 20 years dating back to 802.11b, when it went mainstream.

Last I check, it's 2020 and we didn't just start using wifi and Netgear most certainly should be able to fix this after the first post popped up.

I have spent too much time trying to resolve an issue I should not be having in this day and age of wifi, especially LAN issues.

I feel like I'm back on AOL dial up, just waiting for,the next disconnect.

Going to return this and hook my X4 back up, until I can decide which brand and router I will be getting.

Hello nchtrs, 

Welcome to the community! Have you had a chance to contact our Support Team regarding this? 

https://www.netgear.com/support/default.aspx

Christian 

I haven't had a chance to goto Costco and do a return yet, so this week I decided to power cycle the router for 10 seconds every evening, and only the router, not the modem. The outcome was no surprise, no disconnects have occurred at all, and everything works as it should. I do work for an ISP and have been dealing with trouble shooting wireless routers since they were first introduced. We used netgear for many years for our customers. All the usual SOP trouble shooting has been done. It is definitely a firmware issue. The corrupted/ASCII WiFi channels are all telling in this regard. My internet equipment is on a battery backup, so power flickers do not occur on the router or modem as they always have a consistent and steady power source. I also have maintained my static IPs for my devices as well out of curiosity. Damn thing works perfectly, as it should without a power cycle. I only ever made it 4 days without an issue when I first got the router and then the issue became more erratic and frequent, sometimes only minutes between disconnects, then it would be fine for an hour or two. The odd thing was, a power cycle only corrected the issue for a brief time. I also never did a factory rest until my 5ghz ssid just disappeared and the 2.4 ssid was present, but I could no longer connect to it either and I could not make any changes because of the firmware corruption. I could not even click on channel selection drop down, it did not exist on the 5ghz menu, but it was fine for the 2.4. The new firmware works as long as I powercycle, its the long term, where it is expected to just work and not require a power cycle, as my old tried and true X4 behaved, that I miss.

I wonder if setting up an auto power cycle with a programmable power outlet plug would case any kind of damage to the router in the long run. Could be set up to run daily or eveyry ither day at any given time.

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nchtrs wrote:

I haven't had a chance to goto Costco and do a return yet, so this week I decided to power cycle the router for 10 seconds every evening, and only the router, not the modem. The outcome was no surprise, no disconnects have occurred at all, and everything works as it should. I do work for an ISP and have been dealing with trouble shooting wireless routers since they were first introduced. We used netgear for many years for our customers. All the usual SOP trouble shooting has been done. It is definitely a firmware issue. The corrupted/ASCII WiFi channels are all telling in this regard. My internet equipment is on a battery backup, so power flickers do not occur on the router or modem as they always have a consistent and steady power source. I also have maintained my static IPs for my devices as well out of curiosity. Damn thing works perfectly, as it should without a power cycle. I only ever made it 4 days without an issue when I first got the router and then the issue became more erratic and frequent, sometimes only minutes between disconnects, then it would be fine for an hour or two. The odd thing was, a power cycle only corrected the issue for a brief time. I also never did a factory rest until my 5ghz ssid just disappeared and the 2.4 ssid was present, but I could no longer connect to it either and I could not make any changes because of the firmware corruption. I could not even click on channel selection drop down, it did not exist on the 5ghz menu, but it was fine for the 2.4. The new firmware works as long as I powercycle, its the long term, where it is expected to just work and not require a power cycle, as my old tried and true X4 behaved, that I miss.

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I returned it to Costco yesterday. I'll wait for the next revision and give them another go. I like being a first adopter, however not at the expense of my sanity. I understand nothing is perfect when it first comes out, but LAN should always work, without the hoops to jump through.