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Forum Discussion
R7000 drops wi-fi and USB drive intermittently
I've had my R7000 for several years and it has worked well until recently when it started dropping the wi-fi connection and the USB 3.0 port intermittently, about every 24-36 hours. The lights keep on blinking but when it does this, one can't access the router's control panel, even on a wired device. Eventually, the wired devices show as 'not connected to the Internet', too, though they continue to work. Rebooting with the power switch on the back always fixes it, though.
I'm on firmware update V1.0.11.134_10.2.119. I think it was after updating the firmware a few months ago that the router became less reliable.
I did a factory reset today and re-entered all my settings. Not sure yet if that's going to help.
I also noticed when doing that, that sometimes the USB device settings are hard to access - the 'edit' button causes the settings to appear in a pop-up window and I had to enable pop-ups in my browser.
More concerning, I can't seem to set security options on the USB drive - I turned off all but the networking setting and then had to disable the password controls on that, for the drive to be visible to the computers on my network. Leaving any of the password settings on, mapping the drive gets a username/password challenge, but putting in the router's admin/password combination doesn't work. The drive is a standard external USB drive, a 4TB model. It is fully accessible when plugged directly into a computer, or when connected to the router with no authentication requirements.
Some folks seem to be suggesting downgrading the firmware. I'm wondering if the router's just plain worn out?
I have already disabled QoS and IPv6. It is a pretty basic setup, I've got about 15 devices with a combination of wired and wireless connections. Guest access, Armor, and Parental Controls are all disabled. I don't have any remote access set up, nor do I have any range extenders, it is connected to the ISP's device for the WAN and the ISP's device is in bridge mode.
If I still can't get it to work reliably I'm getting a new one, but hoping there's some simple fix I haven't thought of.
4 Replies
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
The ISP's device is a "Fibre + Gateway 2.0", mfg by Technicolor | CommScope, model CGM4331SHW | TG4482. As stated previously, I've disabled all of its extended funtions, it is simply a bridge providing a WAN connection to the Netgear router. A detailed description of it can be found here: https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-articles/equipment-info-fibre-gateway-2-0-xb7/ta-p/29898.
Currently, wireless is set to auto and 153, and 20/40 co-existence.
I'll try the other things you've suggested!When I had my R7000 connected a couple of weeks ago:
Router settings
Smart Connect - Enabled
5Ghz radio - On
Manual Channels 1 and 40(Was 161 however one camera kept going off line so I changed channels)
QOS - Off (Onboard speed test app fails to report accurate speed results. Seen this on other NH routers as well.)
WMM - Enabled for both
Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence - Off
Beamforming - On
Airtime Fairness - On
I don't use USB drive so I can't say what maybe happening with your drive.
Mfr and size of drive?
Does it have it's own power supply if it's a large sized drive? 100Gb or more?
Try a different USB drive. Something small like a thumb drive to see if it does same thing or different?
Not many wi-fi neighbours - only 1 close enough to register on a scan, and that house is at least 100 feet from mine. I have a couple of wireless printers that show up as potential access points, too.
