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Forum Discussion
Tri-Band vs. Dual-Band allocation?
How are resources allocated with a WiFi 6E Tri-Band router Versus a dual band WiFi 6 router? If a WiFi 6E router is installed yet the only devices around use WiFi 6 is the third band simply a wasted ...
Right now the only wifi6 device in the house is an iPad Air 4. I am having an RAX120 delivered tomorrow. I need coverage for a 2600 sq. Ft. House. I have about 15 devices online at one time.. 11 of those are WiFi connections. I’m replacing an 8 yr old R8000. I have a Mac wired to Ethernet that I will will use to install and manage the router through Firefox.
As the router is enroute to me (of course) I am now reading that the RAX120 has issues with the power supply that create multiple ongoing reboots. I am also reading that one needs to use a command line to issue the command to use the fan, that it defaults to “off”.
Id like to know the experiences of others with the constant reboot. If it is a common issue if it happens to me I’ll have an idea if I should waste a lot of time trying to fix it.
Thanks for the thoughtful responses.
Pete D.
I would thumb thru recent posts regarding RAX120 reboots:
the RAX120 is a pretty solid device. Problem is, you're reading on the forums. the forums are where people come with issues so if you search, you'll find issues with every device netgear has. If you read the reviews on the RAX120 from review sites and places like amazon, they're pretty solid. But there's always a few devices (or people) who've got issues.
So I'd try it out first before condemning it.
Yup. You bet. I need to see for myself. My question was just to satisfy my curiosity as to what your experiences were. Given that reviews can have a large number of people that are venting, I find it curious that the reviews for the Tri-band model on Amazon are consistently better overall. That’s not a scientific comparison by any means and I will just wait and see.
And if you get something from Amazon and it doesn't work out for you, you can send it back. Usually 15-30 days is what Amazon offers and if anything appears bad from the unit, be sure to use the return time frame.
For the RAX120, and pretty much all modern models, they have thermal sensors for all of the major components that could impact stability and can get hot. The current cooling solution seems fine.
The stability issue seems more like an SOC voltage scaling and LLC config issue if it is anything like some of the single board ARM systems. (issues like that can be fixed in firmware)
The router has multiple thermal sensors and the fan comes on long before they reach a critical temperature. In such a case, if you get improved stability from getting the temperature well below the design thermal range before the fan kicks in normally, then it often points to SOC voltage issues, e.g., if a batch of VRMs are outputting slightly lower than they should be, and need a few extra millivolts offset.
While I can't be 100% sure without actually having both a fully stable unit and one that has issues and probing the voltage rails as close to the SOC as possible using an oscilloscope, it is a potential issue, especially if a device has been undervolted, or a using a voltage curve designed to reduce thermals as much as possible, where variance in components can result in rare stability issues.
You may have even experienced issues like this on some PC motherboards, if you pushed the max stable overclock for your CPU, while trying to keep the voltage as low as possible. if the motherboard ever fails, odds are likely that applying the same overclock settings may not be fully stable on the replacement board, or it may be stable but temperatures may be 1-2C hotter due to variance in the VRM.
Heatsink for the RAX120:Wow…. That’s a lot. This model has been a round a while (v2). Sounds like the design is way too close to tolerances for a device that is not new, is at the top of the product line, and sells at a premium.
Is there a way to control the fan? High/medium/low?
The 120 isn't really top of the line. There is a RAX200 and now RAXE500.
Bye the looks of it, that fan should have been a bit bigger IMO. I believe the fan was intended to be automatic and turn ON when the heat triggered at a certain level.
Some have found there is a fan control enable or disable on the routers debug web page. This seems to be seen on the v2 version of the 120. Not sure if the v1 version has some or same issues. There is a long thread regarding v2 reboot problems that users are seeing. One user found the fan controls and enabled it seem to help some, however other users posting adding additional force air cooling under the router which seem to have now help keep the router from rebooting. Laptop coolers are recommended, even with routers that don't have fans. I keep on under mine 24/7.
