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avtella's avatar
avtella
Prodigy
Nov 04, 2025

RS700 pinging Google DND every 4-5 secs on AP Mode

I am currently using my RS700S in AP mode behind a pfSense firewall. I noticed the router is pinging 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 every 4-5 secs showing up in block alerts, more of nuisance than anything with it flooding the logs rather than any connectivity. I assume it's trying to check for an internet connection, but there needs to be a way to block/stop the RS700S when in AP mode. I assume this is not just the RS700 but other models probably doing the same as a lot of them share similar core firmware.

10 Replies

  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    Guru - Experienced User

    Does this ICMP connection pattern persist if the pfSense Firewall does not block it?

     

    Even though the RS700 is in AP mode, was the DNS setting set to Google DNS at some point? (8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4)

     

    • StephenB's avatar
      StephenB
      Guru - Experienced User

       

      Seems to me that the only reasons the AP might care about the internet connection are

      1. to sync time with NTP
      2. remote management access via the nighthawk app

       

      So you might check if the NTP port or the time server is also blocked by the firewall. 

       

      I don't know what cloud server is used for remote management, and am not seeing any way to disable that in the RS700 manual. 

       

      Either way, it's not obvious why the RS700 would try to ping both Google DNS addresses when making connectivity checks.  You might try a factory reset, and set things up again.

      • avtella's avatar
        avtella
        Prodigy

        Definitely not NTP as it's set to an IP address direectly, not update server because that is blanked out (you can in debug page), remote access is disabled on app side, though the option is not on the router UI side, pretty sure it still disables having spoken to engineers before long back regarding something else for another model.

         

        Pretty sure it's for connectivity checks because some others like Glint OpenWRT based routers do the same. It's pinging both Google DNS servers as it's trying a fallback when one fails, most DNS servers have fall backs addresses.

         

         

  • StephenB's avatar
    StephenB
    Guru - Experienced User
    avtella wrote:

    I noticed the router is pinging 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 every 4-5 secs

    Actually it looks like one of the clients (192.168.1.3) is doing the pings.

     

    So maybe look more closely at that client.  What client is it?  

  • FURRYe38's avatar
    FURRYe38
    Guru - Experienced User

    Is the RS at 192.168.1.3 in AP mode? 

    How is the RS configured for AP mode? Dynamic or Static IP address?

    avtella wrote:

    I am currently using my RS700S in AP mode behind a pfSense firewall. I noticed the router is pinging 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 every 4-5 secs showing up in block alerts, more of nuisance than anything with it flooding the logs rather than any connectivity. I assume it's trying to check for an internet connection, but there needs to be a way to block/stop the RS700S when in AP mode. I assume this is not just the RS700 but other models probably doing the same as a lot of them share similar core firmware.

     

  • That IP 192.168.1.3 address is the RS700 itself, yes static, it is not a client. Clients are set to different IPs. Happens even with no clients connected to it so it's pretty confirmatory. Pretty sure it's trying to check for connectivity hence that many ICMP pings to Google DNS servers.

  • As to the other question pings are less frequent with the RS700S set too bypass filtering. DNS for AP mode is set to the firewall (192.168.1.1) which in turn points to Quad 9.