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NightHawk x10 r9000 wifi dropping issue
Hello, I just purchsed Netgear Nighawk X10 AD7200 R9000 wifi router last week and i installed the latest firmware version 1.0.1.36 and I am having issue where the WIFI SSID Drops totally from the...
FYI to all:
I called Netgear support to tell them flashing the firmward didn't work, so they are going to replace the unit. I exeplained to the representative that there were mutliple users complaining of the same issue on the community site, and he told me that the team that handles the advanced issues (tiger team, he called it) told him to replace the unit. There wasn't anything else he could do.
Maybe if the next unit has the same problem they will finally engage engineering, as no one seems to be watching this community site.
So, just to make sure that I wasn't actually missing anything, I set up a spare Raspberry Pi 3 to montor the 2.4GHz network. It's been running for 27 hours now, checking signal strength every 2 seconds.
Here's the extract, showing the distribution of the signal strength over that time period:
1 Link Quality=44/70 Signal level=-66 dBm
79 Link Quality=45/70 Signal level=-65 dBm
441 Link Quality=46/70 Signal level=-64 dBm
3802 Link Quality=47/70 Signal level=-63 dBm
8414 Link Quality=48/70 Signal level=-62 dBm
3210 Link Quality=49/70 Signal level=-61 dBm
7031 Link Quality=50/70 Signal level=-60 dBm
20856 Link Quality=51/70 Signal level=-59 dBm
4758 Link Quality=52/70 Signal level=-58 dBm
6 Link Quality=53/70 Signal level=-57 dBmNo errors, nothing over that time period that would indicate the signal dropped.
Unfortunately, the RasPi only supports 2.4GHz but it's the only Linux host I have available where I can easily script this sort of thing. It's theoretically possible that something is happening on the 5GHz wlan that isn't happening on the 2.4GHz wlan, but I'm not seeing it. The work I do is very interactive and demands constant, stable connectivity between my home office and the entities I work with. My 4K TV is also connected to the 5GHz network, and I would expect any instability to be obvious when watching 4K/HDR content ... and I do spend 2-3 hours most evenings doing just that.
Is it possible that local RF congestion is causing your grief? I live out in the country and can't see any BSSIDs that I didn't set up myself. I no longer have any 2.4GHz non-wifi devices (other than Bluetooth), don't live on the flight path near an airport, can't see any high tension wires, microwave or cell towers within a mile or so of the house, etc.
It was very clear Congestion isn't causing it. My logs show this is happening whether anyone is at home or not. Granted, we have a lot connected overall, but this hasn't been a problem. Here is what has transpired.
Prior to the r9000, I had the r8000 as our main router. The r8000 has always worked like a charm. I bought the r9000 because I liked the new benefits this was to bring, and I am a nerd when it comes to tech... love having the latest and greatest. Plus, this having built in Plex server was a plus.
So I disconnected my r8000 and put in my new r9000. Same location, same everything in the settings. I did not set up Plex at this point. It seemed to be working well. I've worked from home for the past 4 years, so I am on the internet constantly. We soon began noticing drop outs, but I didn't think too much of it at first. However, my son was complaining he kept lagging while playing online games, and I also found my self either lagging, or at worst, getting disconnected from online games.
At this point, there was only one finger to point to, and it was the new r9000 router. I moved its location, but still had the same issues. I tried resetting on multiple occassions. I always made sure the firmware was up to date.
A couple weeks of this, I decided to put the r8000 back in as the main router. And again, works like a charm. All the lagging and disconnets went away. The r8000 works great.
So, I then decided to set up the r9000 as a bridge to my LR site. My LR site has a QNAP server, XBox One, Tivo Bolt, and a PS3 connected. As I put in a previous post, I found I had to turn the r9000 off and back on mutiple times a day, to the tune of adding a Wemo swtich so I can yell at Alexa to turn off and then back on.
The r9000 wasn't working properly as a router, and now isn't working properly as a bridge. That is when I searched for issues for the r9000 and found this site.
A couple of weeks ago, I replaced the r8000 with the r9000 as our main router again. And surprise, it still drops connection! So now I have a script logging the disconnects. Like I just posted a few days ago, it happens multiple times during the day from a brief few seconds up to a half a minute.(and side note, it SUCKS that the r8000 does not have the ability to be used as a bridge!)
So here I am, with an expensive brick.
And Netgear can careless. Apparently they got my money, and they are ok I have a crappy product.