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Forum Discussion
Re: CAX80 Multi-gig ethernet port dropping
I am also having this exact issue. Just with the 2.5g port. The port functions for an undefined period of time then the blue light goes off, the connection stalls, then it drops to 1g. Even on 1g the ...
WTF, the cable connection page is irrelevant. The multigig port fails on the LAN not the WAN. The multigig port fails even if I remove the COAX cable and use the CAX80 as a router only with no internet connection. I'm going to go ahead and post the status screen, but I want to stress the issue is with the multigig port with wireless radios enabled.
This is a FACT. I went out my way to purchase a new USB 2.5GbE from ASUS and the problem still persist. I believe it is the NIC inside of the CAX80 itself. No matter what I do, no matter the settings, no matter the drivers Realtek... Even the latest that came out literally two days ago (March 22, 2022) the damn cable modem cuts out while gaming.
I can use my Wi-Fi 6 on my PC and it will not disconnect, but I want to be wired. I PAID for this to be WIRED and no matter the firmware on the device the NIC fails. I have spent enough money. I believe I need a newer revision of this product and hopefully a different NIC is inside of it. If not, Netgear will lose a customer for this generation of products. I'll come back in a few years when we're on Wi-Fi 8 or above.
You'll need to contact NG support about this:
https://my.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx
If there is a problem, NG will need to review it and fix it as this is beyond forum help.
Good Luck.
- Sorry fellow CAX80 buyers, looks like we are being shrugged off here. Maybe if enough people report this, something can get done but I have opened a few tickets and called about the same problem over and over and have spent hours totalling days on the phone with support troubleshooting with no results and random ticket closes with no solution. After discovering this potential solution with turning off wifi, I connected a 2.5g ethernet adapter to a completely different CAX80 a friend of mine has on a different ISP (COX). He hasn't upgraded any wired devices to multigig yet, so he wasn't complaining about any issues, but around 20 minutes later, the port crashed and throttled down to 1gig, just like mine. Most port crashes are accomplished by connecting a wifi 6 device to the netgear 5ghz network at 160mhz bandwidth and then running a speed test on the wireless client back to back a couple of times. I also caused port crashes with video confrencing calls on a wifi 6 client, specifically microsoft teams in my case, and also when my cellular calls were using wifi calling. When a port failure happens, the blue multigig light goes solid blue for about 3 seconds, then the light turns off completely for 10-15 seconds. Afterwards, the multigig light comes back on white and starts to reconnect to devices on the multigig port. All other 1g ports are unaffected. Looks like your options are turning off wifi if you want the 2.5g port to work without drops and speed reduction with stalled performance or dont use 2.5g devices if you want the wifi on. If you want both wifi and multigig as advertised by netgear, good luck. Either put pressure on netgear to fix or buy something else. Guess I'll need to turn my $400+ modem/router combo into a basic everyday modem only and rely on my AP's for wireless.
As mentioned in one of my posts already, I have passed this on to NG. Will take time for them to collect information and review and fix this. So for now. I recommend ANYONE using the 2.5Gb port, don't use it. The other LAN ports are available to use and don't seem effected by having WiFi radios enabled. NG has been made are of this issue some of you are seeing. So you'll have to patient while NG gets this fix. No idea when that will be. I'll try and post if NG passes any fix information to me regarding this.
Thank you.
Honestly, this issue has been going on long enough. I have been reading these posts daily. I can see months of people complaining about the same thing. Over and over. I too have had a technician come out and say everything is fine. To be safe, I forced them to rewire the house. And guess what, the 2.5GbE signal continues to drop. I will do as you suggested and disable the Wi-Fi, for now. Luckily for me, I recently purchased this device on March 17, 2022, and I am a Best Buy Totaltech Member which allows me 60 days to use and return this product. As far as I see it, I will give NG up until May 15, 2022 to resolve this issue.
On the other hand, I have been looking for alternatives. I can purchase a Cable modem that supports a 2.5GbE and purchase a Wi-Fi 6 router separately. This solution will cost more, but I can at least isolate any issue with networking. Alternatively, I found that Motorola has a similar device to the CAX80-100NAS. The cable modem from Motorola is the MG8725. It supports DOCSIS 3.1 and touts the same AX6000 Wi-Fi 6. After dealing with NG and the CAX80, I performed deeper research into the product, and it seems safer for me to just swap it out.
Customers should NOT have to become unpaid technicians just to get a product they've paid for to function as advertised. I know I don't enjoy being lied to and/or robbed by companies I have grown to trust over many years.
Ready to digress? Here are some links to the competitor's product: Motorola - MG8725 AX6000 Cable Modem.
Motorola MG8725 32x8 DOCSIS 3.1 Modem + AX6000 router Black MG8725 - Best Buy
MG8725 DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem + WiFi 6 Router (motorola.com)
Amazon.com: Motorola MG8725 Multi-Gig Cable Modem + Built in WiFi 6 Router | Approved for Comcast Xfinity Gigabit, Cox Gigablast, Spectrum | Plans Up to 6000 Mbps | DOCSIS 3.1 | AX6000 | Motosync App : ElectronicsAs mentioned in one of my posts already, I have passed this on to NG. Will take time for them to collect information and review and fix this. So for now. I recommend ANYONE using the 2.5Gb port, don't use it. The other LAN ports are available to use and don't seem effected by having WiFi radios enabled. NG has been made are of this issue some of you are seeing. So you'll have to patient while NG gets this fix. No idea when that will be. I'll try and post if NG passes any fix information to me regarding this.
Thank you.
Well, I really wish I had read this specific thread before I bought this unit and wasted all the same times the others have posted here with NG support.
I too have had this problem with the 2.5 Gbps port and now see the futility of trying a different unit, since it seems to be a product defect (firmware problem---call it what you will). So, it will have to be Motorola MG8725 for me also.
As to the person that was waiting until May 15th, please don't wait. As you can see, NG is still clueless about this one. As long as only fools with 1 Gbps ports buy this for the wireless part, they will ignore the minority that want the wired connection at this higher rate.
I applaud your bravery to speaking up and against this product and lack-there-of support for people who spend their hard-earned monies on a company we've trusted.
I have been using the Motorola MG8725 every since returning that piece of tom-foolery and have been a very SATISFIED customer. It has the SAME Wi-Fi speeds with more customization and while the Wi-Fi is enable the 2.5GbE port WORKS. I am going on 36 days without an issue.
You will not be disappointed.
-DizzieeOh, that is GREAT news!!! Thank you for the vote of confidence with the Motorola version. It should arrive tomorrow, so very excited to finally have something that works!
...and on a side note, my WiFi bands both have passwords that contain a % symbol. I type the password in the configuration page and even click the eyeball button to confirm it. The passwords do contain the % symbol.
After I save the page, the passwords on the main page and on the advanced page both only show the text up to the % symbol. The symbol and any text AFTER it are not displayed. Since my devices are connecting, I am assuming the correct password was stored, but this is also another defect that the NG support team ignored when I told them about it.
- Thank you to everyone who keeps reporting this issue. I am still several months in with no resolution in sight. I have had wifi disabled going on a month now and the 2.5gb port functions great. Last week I needed to upgrade all my APs to something different and turned the CAX80 wifi back on temporarily to avoid wifi interruption and almost instantly the 2.5gb port failed and dropped to 1gb. After replacing APs, I disabled the wifi again and port is operating correctly. So it's still a choice right now, wifi or 2.5gb port, still won't work at the same time consistently.
Thanks for reporting this test. I am not sure if turning off the 2.4 Ghz band will do the trick also (leaving 5 Ghz on). That was the last thing NG support told me to try as a test.
At this point, I would give up on that thing. We did not pay for EITHER OR, we paid for BOTH. Get rid of that thing on eBay for like half the price and get the Motorola MG8725. It's great on the other side of the fence. I promise.
I can (and will) still return in to Amazon for full refund. So, hopefully this nightmare will be over soon. I still wish there was a solution by the NG team, but it may just be a hardware problem they can't solve with software and are just keeping quiet about it.
Any progress on this?
There is new FW available as well.
Mellojosh wrote:
Thank you to everyone who keeps reporting this issue. I am still several months in with no resolution in sight. I have had wifi disabled going on a month now and the 2.5gb port functions great. Last week I needed to upgrade all my APs to something different and turned the CAX80 wifi back on temporarily to avoid wifi interruption and almost instantly the 2.5gb port failed and dropped to 1gb. After replacing APs, I disabled the wifi again and port is operating correctly. So it's still a choice right now, wifi or 2.5gb port, still won't work at the same time consistently.Adding here, this happens on Mac connected via Caldigit TS4 as well (with latest NG firmware 2.1.5.2), except the connection doesn't go to 1GB, but just drops entirely - multi gig light goes out, connection goes dead. Resetting Caldigit or re-plugging LAN cable has no effect.
Having read this forum, astonishingly disabling and re-enabling WiFI fixes the issue, thanks for that. Nice to be able to fix it temporarily without having to reset the whole router.
What CAT# lan cable are you using between this dock device and the multi gig port? CAT6A STP is recommended.
pitchshifter wrote:
Adding here, this happens on Mac connected via Caldigit TS4 as well (with latest NG firmware 2.1.5.2), except the connection doesn't go to 1GB, but just drops entirely - multi gig light goes out, connection goes dead. Resetting Caldigit or re-plugging LAN cable has no effect.
Having read this forum, astonishingly disabling and re-enabling WiFI fixes the issue, thanks for that. Nice to be able to fix it temporarily without having to reset the whole router.
- 10Gb cat 7. I didn't come on here to add a voice of support to the fact there's actually a serious issue if I was just using too slow a cable 😝 same cable worked fine at 2.5gb the past 2 years with my Xfinity modem.
So is the CAT7 cable UTP or STP? There is a difference.
- Yes, STP. But even if it was UTP, if it's never dropped once with my previous modem at those speeds for 2.5 years, and now happens all the time with the new one, this indicates an issue with the new modem, even if that issue is with error handling. I shouldn't -need- to change all my already-above-spec-and-previously-working cable in this scenario... I'll give a different one a try though.
Something to open a support ticket with NG then:
https://my.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx
https://www.netgear.com/about/contact-us/
pitchshifter wrote:
Yes, STP. But even if it was UTP, if it's never dropped once with my previous modem at those speeds for 2.5 years, and now happens all the time with the new one, this indicates an issue with the new modem, even if that issue is with error handling. I shouldn't -need- to change all my already-above-spec-and-previously-working cable in this scenario... I'll give a different one a try though.
