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Forum Discussion
Rax80 smart connect issue wifi dropping
Ive been having issues with my RAX80 since purchasing it , if i leave the router with the seperate bands (2.4ghz &5ghz) it runs fine but once i activate smartconnect all i get is intermittent connecti...
SLPigletRider wrote:So I'm not alone with my RAX120 (firmware version 1.0.0.84). You buy top-of-the-line, so you think, and get this. How this made it out of testing is a mystery? I can't keep a consistent connection (Wifi), on any of my devices, and the router is literally on the same floor, just one plaster wall away, maybe 20ft, maximum bars for signal strength. Also the speed, which should have been around 240Mbps down, was more like 40 on most devices.
I disabled Smart Connect, AX and 20/40 MHz channel co-existence, in a desparate attempt to stabilize the Wifi. I don't which of the 3 does it, but it's better. What's the point of buying a router with all these features if you have to disable them all just to get a stable connection?
Netgear is about to lose a long-time faithful customer. I wonder if they care.
Yes... the router says I'm on the latest firmware as of right now and has been rebooted AND power-cycled more times than I care to think about. I've yet to do the factory reset.
So I was a cat whisker away from returning this AX120 when I tried the last roll of the dice. I downloaded a Beta version of the firmware, the very latest, from Netgear's website. This was V1.0.1.100. (It's NOT officially deployed since the router firmware update mechanism tells me that my old version is the latest and doesn't see this one.)
After uprading the firmware, the situation was even worse. Instead of getting the ISP rated 200Mbps, I was literally down to 24Mbps with me in the same room just 3 feet from the router. That was it. That was the final straw. I was done. The box was sitting there on the floor and I started heading for it. But then I remembered the factory reset. Using this latest BETA version of the firmware, I did the factory reset. Afterwards I did not tweak any of the settings, just left everything as is, and, for now, I'm fine. I'm consistently getting 239Mbs down.
I don't know how long this will last. I don't know what will happen if the router reboots. I don't know what would have happened if I had tried the factory reset on the old firmware. And I'm CERTAINLY NOT going to factory reset this router every few days.
I will update this thread in a few days to see if this holds.
So in short, I believe the factory reset definitely improved my situation. We'll see if it fixes it.
Unfortunately I was not as lucky attempting to factory reset my RAX200. SmartConnect still continues to drop out.
I had my 2nd call with LVL 2 support (Bernard) last night. I gave him all the details he wanted with the exception of the wireshark packet capture and the router debug logs, because I had not been instructed on how to retreive them from the router (turns out, it's routerlogin.net/debug.htm).
Now I will enable debug logging and turn SmartCapture back on to give Netgear the information they hopefully need to figure out the issue.
I provided information on at least a half dozen separate bugs throughout their Netgear Nighthawk Android app and the web interface for the RAX200 setup and configuration. Errors such as javascript exceptions (sortable.js) and even 404s from the internally hosted web app (product_types.json).
I believe I've been escalated to a LVL 3 tech next - I'm eager to talk to someone on the phone who has the knowledge and experience to cut to the heart of this matter and fix the issue with their engineering team for the benefit of us all.
That aside, it does hurt to buy a top of the line product only to discover you are doing free beta testing for Netgear.
So it's been 2 days now. And I'm still solid (220+Mbps down) on my Wi-Fi. So two things were fixed for me...
- The 5GHz radio disappearing constantly
- Wi-Fi speeds sub-50Mbps down when it should be 200+
What did I do?
- Went to Netgear's website and downloaded a Beta version (V1.0.1.100), the very latest, of the AX120 firmware. (I didn't check for other models.)
- I installed the new firmware.
- Without backing anything up, I just did the factory reset, inserting the end of a paper clip in the reset hole and holding it for 5 seconds.
- I did not restore any backed up config, since I didn't have any. I just went with the factory settings.
- I used the Nighthawk app to configure the router.
- I left it like this, not changing any settings.
I'll update this thread again after about a week or so, assuming the router doesn't reboot for some unknown reason on its own.
- From my own experience & several of the comments here recently, my assumption would be that most of these issues are caused when upgrading from the factory delivered firmware to the latest firmware when the device is started the first time at the customers home.
I'm guessing here there is no automatic factory reset & the large change in firmware causes some kind of corruption.
I'd guess this is why a complete factory reset seems to work for several of the users including me.
christian, do you have any information you can share with us based on the support information you have received from several users?
Are any of these issues accepted?
Will they be addressed in the next update?
Is there a timeline for a new release?
I have seen that one update for the RAX80 was removed straight after it was showing as available.
Doesn't really give me confidence any improvements are coming.
GabboI too am getting annoyed at this £300 router behaving like a cheap £50 router.
The main reason I got it is due to the claim that it can support over thirty wireless devices. Mine now shows a list of 15 "unknown" devices in the app and my alexa's are all taking it in turns to show the red ring of disconnection.
I am not being funny here but surely I shouldn't have to go about downloading beta firmware for a consumer product.
I am still within hardware warranty time frame, does this allow for replacement/refund for a product not fit for purpose?
Thanks
Hello Everyone,
Our engineering team is currently investigating similar reports and I will be sure to provide an update as soon as possible. For anyone interested in working with us directly, please feel free to send me a message with your contact info and serial number.
Thank you for your patience,Christian
- Hello Christian, thanks for keeping us updated, it's good news I hope.
Can you be a bit more specific about which issue(s) the engineering team are looking into?
