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Forum Discussion
RAX54v2 Lock up issues with Smart Parental Controls on
I had a RAX45 for less than 2 years and worked okay, until I turned on the Smart Parental Controls. anywhere between 2 to 5 days apart, it started to drop internet connection while wi-fi connection with devices were maintained. Only recourse was to cycle power on the router. After it happened repeatedly over a two-week period, I returned it to Costco for full refund (perk of having bought it there).
Thinking that the RAX45 just wore out over the very short usage period, I didn't think much of it and just grabbed the new router at Costco to replace it and transferred Smart Parental Controls subscriptions to the new router (RAX54S, well RAX54v2 as identified by the router's admin web-based access page).
It was going well for the first 9 days of full-time usage at home, until tonight when it decided to mis-behave and not allow any connection to the router via Wi-Fi or ethernet port. I had to cycle power on the router...
It's been very frustrating trying to troubleshoot either of these routers because both routers' error log gets wiped out when power is cycled on the units...
Bottom line, my question is this - are others who use the Smart Parental Control having similar problems of the router locking up in one form or another periodically? My speculation is that with the Smart Parental Control activated, the router seems to become far more unstable after running for a few days, as if it's running out of resource (I'm guessing on RAM usage because even right after power cycle, it's already using up 450MB out of 497MB available), and its underlying software doesn't know how to recover properly.
These aren't the only routers or brands I've setup, configured, and maintained over 25 years both at corporate world and at home. Unfortunately, I'm getting frustrated with this "new" router already since it's exhibiting similar symptom as the old one it replaced.
Thanks in advance...
4 Replies
AZDesertRat wrote:
Bottom line, my question is this - are others who use the Smart Parental Control having similar problems of the router locking up in one form or another periodically? My speculation is that with the Smart Parental Control activated, the router seems to become far more unstable after running for a few days, as if it's running out of resource (I'm guessing on RAM usage because even right after power cycle, it's already using up 450MB out of 497MB available), and its underlying software doesn't know how to recover properly.
Might be worth passing this one by the people who use, and manage, Smart Parental Controls.
NETGEAR Smart Home Parental Controls - NETGEAR Communities
There are also various pinned messages that might be worth browsing.
Thank you for the suggestion. Done after not finding nothing about this already in the forum. As a first-timer I didn't realize there was separate form related to Smart Parental Control.
AZDesertRat wrote:
As a first-timer I didn't realize there was separate form related to Smart Parental Control.
This place is a mess. We all get lost from time to time.
(reposting from general router community per recommendation received)
I had a RAX45 for less than 2 years and worked okay (actually fine with virtually no operational issues), until I turned on the Smart Parental Controls. Anywhere between 2 to 5 days apart, it started to drop internet connection while wi-fi connection with devices were maintained, or just no connection was possible to the router via wi-fi or ethernet port. Only recourse was to cycle power on the router. After it happened repeatedly over first two-three week period, I returned it to Costco for full refund (perk of having bought it there).
Thinking that the RAX45 just wore out over the very short usage period (after only 2 years?? What was I thinking...), I didn't think much of it and just grabbed the new router at Costco to replace it and transferred Smart Parental Controls subscriptions to the new router (RAX54S, well RAX54v2 as identified by the router's admin web-based access page).
It was going well for the first 9 days of full-time usage at home, until yesterday evening when it decided to mis-behave just like the old router and not allow any connection to the router via Wi-Fi or ethernet port. I had to cycle power on the router...
It's been very frustrating trying to troubleshoot either of these routers especially because both routers' error log gets wiped out when power is cycled on the units and so there's no way of checking what may have been logged (if anything useful) before it freezes up and becomes useless...
Bottom line, my question is this - are others who use the Smart Parental Control having similar problems of the router locking up in one form or another periodically? My speculation is that with the Smart Parental Control activated, the router seems to become far more unstable after running for a few days, as if it's running out of resource (I'm guessing on RAM usage because even right after power cycle, it's already using up 450MB out of 497MB available), and its underlying software doesn't know how to recover properly.
I'm paying subscription fee for this function, Smart Parental Control, and it certainly seems to this software/electrical/computer engineer of 30+ years that SPC itself is the primary suspect for destabilizing the router. Who pays to have their equipment to become more unstable?
These two aren't the only routers or the only brand I've setup, configured, and maintained over 25 years both at corporate world and at home. Unfortunately, I'm getting frustrated with this "new" router already since it's exhibiting similar symptom as the old one that just got replaced.
Thanks in advance...
PS:
Hardware Version RAX54v2
Firmware Version V1.1.3.18_2.1.14
GUI Language Version V1.1.3.18_2.1.46.1
Operation Mode Router
CPU Load CPU1: 8.47% CPU2: 8.00% CPU3: 0.34%
Memory Usage(Used/Total) 466MB/497MB
Flash Usage(Used/Total) 113.24MB/256.00MB
System Uptime 0 days 09:37:54PPS: this all really started because I naively wanted to consolidate equipment by decommissioning slow-and-no-longer-updated 1st gen Circle box and use the "integrated" Smart Parental Control, hoping for up-to-date filtering/control capabilities, which hasn't been the case either: biggest and most critical function missing is that there's no way to block/allow ip addresses, certain URLs logged by Smart Parental Control (SPC) cannot be acted on (to block/allow) and is just there as "FYI". Does Netgear SPC team believe that all servers and computers on the net are URL name mapped?
