NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Cannot Turn off Smart Connect!
Honestly, about ready to just be done with this RS500 router. Today, it decided to turn on Smart Connect all by itself....we suddenly could not find our network SSIDs. Logged in, found that Smart Connect was suddenly on, so all under one SSID. Which we do NOT want. To make matters worse, we cannot uncheck it! I have messed with it for the past 2 hours trying everything and it will not let me uncheck the box. Anyone ever have this happen before, and how do I fix it? Am I stuck with having to do a full factory reset and have to redo ALL of my settings all over again? This has been the worst router I have ever had.
If anyone can help, please do because I am completely stuck.
Tried the app, tried incognito windows, tried 3 different browsers, cleared page caches, you name it. I cannot uncheck the box. 1.2.7.2, no updates available. This is just crazy with this thing.
20 Replies
To make matters worse, we cannot uncheck it!
This refers to page 67 of the User Manual?
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RS500/RS500_UM_EN.pdf
(notice that the User Manual does not mention the 'app' having ability to enable/disable Smart Connect. Is there an option on the 'app' for this feature?)
Hi, thanks, I tried the app, but no, there is no option there to change Smart Connect. If you look at the pic I attached, you can see what I mean, it is checked and grayed out. I cannot uncheck it. I cannot find any other setting that would force smart connect to be on. Like I said, it just turned itself on out of nowhere.
Is there anyone from NG that could weigh in here? Like, what has happened....how did this just turn itself on in the middle of the day, and now we cannot uncheck the setting?
Which browsers did you try? MS Edge, Firefox or Opera?
Can you access it by using the Nighthawk mobile app?
Can you select manual channels 1 and 40 or 11 and 48?
Can you disable the wifi radios all together?
How about powering OFF the router for 30 seconds then back ON?
Brand and model# ISP modem/ONT that the RS router is connected too?
Not sure what Opera is, but Edge, Firefox, Chrome, also private windows for each of those.
Noted earlier, the app does not have any controls for smart connect
Channels I can select but since SC is on, I cannot separate out the SSIDs, pw, or choose what bands I want devices to connect to.
I did turn off the radios, back on...hid the ssids, and even installed last version of FW. no change. so I updated back to current fw.
I have turned the router off and on so many times now I cannot even remember lol. every time, it comes back locked on SC, cannot turn it off.
Modem is my Moto MB8600, has always been fine. like i said, this just happened out of nowhere midday yesterday. we were in living room, suddenly lost wifi. noone could find their ssids. logged in, saw SC was now on, and we cannot turn it off. It just did it all on its own while we were just playing a board game.
Is there anyone from NG that could weigh in here?
(sigh) Netgear provides 90 days of 'complimentary support' with a new purchase (from an authorized reseller). After that, the customer can contact Netgear support only after purchasing a support contract. Thus, support staff are communicating with paying customers and engineering staff are working on assigned projects.
Many of us came to the Community Forum because our '90 days' were long past and we were reluctant to pay to talk to some 'level 1' person.
The RS500 has appeared quite often in the Forum the past few months, so there is an outside chance that someone from Netgear may weigh in, but........
I just sent a PM to Router2371 to see if we can get the router's config file. Thanks.
I have posted this before...doing so again, as I am looking for further help. Each day, normally around 3pm. my devices lose connection and freeze up. Sometimes my digital photo frames and ALWAYS my Amazon Echo Show 5. I have done factory resets on the devices. I have unplugged the units and the RS500 router a hundred times. I even just did a factory reset on the RS500, but that was because it turned on Smart Connect by itself and grayed out the option to turn it off. Even with all that, each day, my items freeze around the same time. The only thing I can think of is the DHCP leases ending every 24 hours. Is there any way to exclude a device from doing so? I have already set a reserved IP address using the mac address of my echo show 5. Has not helped. I did an experiment and connected it to my phone as a hotspot around 250pm....it did NOT freeze up at 3 as it normally does. So it seems to be the router.
Does anyone have any ideas, solutions....does anyone else have this issue? I am on the latest firmware. I did also re-flash to last FW...same problem. So went back to the current FW. I have tried everything I know to do....turned off and on protection engine, QoS, etc. I really thought that by reserving the IP address, it would fix it for the echo show 5, but nope. Thanks.
What was the results of the PM with NG? Did they send you any information or a build of beta FW?
No. They just told me to do a hard reset. Which did get it so I could uncheck the Smart Connect. However, when I re-loaded the saved configuration, it went back to forced on, unable to be turned off. So there is SOMETHING in a setting that is forcing that on. They do not know what what or why. Told me to just do another hard reset. And still no answer on why my devices freeze up every 24 hours. Not helpful at all. Which is why I am posting here again. They have no idea why it is doing that, or forcing on Smart Connect all on its own.
The only thing I can think of is the DHCP leases ending every 24 hours.
DHCP on the LAN side, or on the Internet/ WAN side?
Don't own or operate any NTGR consumer routers. I would expect certain indications of DHCP renewal issues in the router system logs.
DHCP is a very smooth process in general. It's not that the renewal doe await until the last opportunity - technically, a DHCP client does refresh at about 50% of the lease time, long before the last attempt is made. It does not start the process from scratch with a new discovery.,.
When a device uses a DHCP lease, it automatically tries to refresh its IP address at 50% of the total lease time (known as the T1 timer).
The client sends a direct message to the DHCP server to ask for more time without dropping your connection.
How the DHCP Renewal Process Works
At 50% (T1 Timer): The device enters the renewing state. It sends a direct (unicast) request to the original DHCP server to extend the lease.
If the server replies with an approval, the timer resets back to zero.
At 87.5% (T2 Timer): If the first server does not answer by 87.5% of the time, the device panics slightly and broadcasts a request to any local DHCP server on the network for a renewal.
At 100% (Expiration): If no server responds by the time the lease fully ends, the device must drop the IP address and look for a brand-new configuration.
Its technically and logically the exact same process if the DHCP server on the router serving the LAN, or on the ISP WAN / Internet side.
Historical, few ISPs (eg in Germany) did use a forced disconnect if the Internet connection, leading to a forced close of all NAT sessions, all established IP and UDP, kind of a remaining reminiscence of the old dial-up Internet connections.
Thanks for the explanation, but that still leaves me....where? Once again today at 301pm, my devices froze. If not DHCP, then what else can I change? Should I just turn off DHCP completely? I have already turned off IPv6 too, just as a precaution. Did not help. It does not happen when on my phone hotspot. It can be on an ad or it can be on a photo. Could my router be just refusing to renew the dhcp to my devices at those earlier times you mentioned? I have given a static IP address to the Echo. Has not helped. I just do not know what to do.
Hi Router2371,
I have sent you a private message. Please kindly check it when you have a moment.
