Re: Nighthawk M6 Pro turns itself off a couple of times a day

rloberto · ‎2022-07-19

I recently purchased an M6 PRO from Telstra to replace an AC800S that was an always-on service in our home. The AC800S battery swelled and exploded, nearly combusting in the process.... Luckily it dropped the cellular signal in the process, I lost internet, looked at the router and removed it from the house with a set of cooking tongs as it smouldered to death.

Both the AC800S and M6 PRO are used solely as the Internet connection/default gateway, with other network devices handling DHCP, WIFI, LAN etc. Cellular is much faster, better value for money, and more reliable than any other internet technology in my area.

The AC800S was fine for 3 years (until the battery issue) and replacing with the M6 PRO was to gain benefit from our local cellular towers being recently upgraded to 5G.

After some quick config it worked out of the box and has great 5G speed. However a couple of times a day the internet drops out, and when I go to look at the device I find it powered OFF. I have removed the battery from the device to run it is AC mode only (as suggested in the manual, and based on my experience with the AC800S...)

I've checked a couple of specific settings to ensure everything is set OK:

Power Manager > AC-Powered Only (No Battery) = Highlighted green showing it's active

Mobile Router Setup > Tethering > Use USB Port for "Charge Only" (selected)

At the time of writing this post, there is no newer firmware available, either online or via the firmware checker on the device's Firmware updater via the Administration page.

Firmware Version: NTGX65_10.01.38.00

Firmware Build date: 2022/05/05

If I pull the USB-C power cable out, and plug it back it, it boots up and works fine again. Sometime for 8-10hrs, and then just turns off again.

It's operating through a tested/compliant GPO (power point) using the AC adapter supplied in the box. There is no heat/temperature on the device or power supply, and they are both at room temperature.

Has anyone else had this same problem?

There would be no point taking the device back to Telstra shop as they have zero ability to provide technical support, and in my opinion it's either a firmware or hardware fault. Anyone from Netgear care to chime in, and provide support here?

wscholl · ‎2022-07-20

Yes, I have the same problem! We have one at our house as a fixed internet solution because that's all we can get in the rural area we live. The previous model worked great until AT&T made it quit working. No problem. We upgraded to the 5G M6 Pro and it worked fine until it started powering itself down. The other issue is that some of the devices won't automatically reconnect when it's powered back up. Namely Google Nest products and Sonos. Not sure where to go from here. Netgear support has been very unhelpful so far and hard to understand.

rloberto · ‎2022-07-20

@wscholl you make a very good point, every time we power up the M6 PRO, all of our Google Home/Nest products need to be rebooted, as it's only those devices which do not reconnect. I have even tried setting a static IP to those devices, and it made no difference. And as mentioned, we are not using the M6 PRO for wifi or DHCP services.

Blanca_O · ‎2022-07-21

Hi @rloberto @wscholl

Welcome to NETGEAR Community!

If there is no activity for a period of time, the device will power down to save battery power. You can change the WiFi standby time by doing the following:

Via Web UI

Access UI > General > WiFi band > change WiFi Standby to Disabled

Via Device LCD screen

Tap WiFi > Options > WiFi Standby > Disabled

Regards,
Blanca
Community Team

wscholl · ‎2022-07-22

I have it set up to not use the battery at all. The instructions said to remove it altogether.

rloberto · ‎2022-07-25

Hi @Blanca_O

Please read the original description I have written in detail above.

The battery is not in device, and it's configured to use AC power only.

The device is not being used for Wifi connectivity at all.

rloberto · ‎2022-07-31

I managed to find an AC800S second-hand on marketplace for $20 and restored my old config onto it. I've just had it running for 72hrs without fail.

As soon as I reconnected the M6 PRO (and disconnected the AC800S from the network) within 2 hours the device had turned itself off, and once again all of the Google devices stopped working (until they had a power cycle).

This is clearly a hardware issue. Would be nice if Netgear acknowledged it, and offered a timeline for resolution.

This device is $750 and does not provide a reliable service at all. Certainly not for a business, which is what Telstra dictates as the preferred device.

For what it's worth I've been in the IT business for over 20years, managing large scale corporate and ISP network infrastructure. The M6 PRO should be marketed as a paper weight.

GraemeM · ‎2022-11-06

I too have this problem. I have spent hours on the phone to Netgear and it always ends up with the technician saying that everything is OK and you won't have the problem again. There is obviously a problem with my Nighthawk M6 Pro and Netgear seem incapable of accepting this. I run the M6 on mains power with the battery removed. It works fine until it powers down. I then have to disconnect and reconnect the power to restart. When it boots up everything is back to normal - until it powers down again. The M6 is less than 2 months old. It seems to me that there is no point contacting Netgear again when the M6 powers down as they will only ask me to start up again and everything will appear normal - They will then tell me the problem is fixed and it won't occur again. By the way I have done this. Other than buying another modem has anyone any ideas?

jimsmithjojo · ‎2022-11-08

RIght out of the box this thing was garbage. The screen was somehow zoomed in on mine and I had to reset it just to power it on propoerly. The lcd screen is laggy as hell and is highly unresponsive most of the time.

Same issues that you guys have mentioned. I have had this M6 Pro for 3 days and I can't take it any longer. It just randomly shuts down, loses broadband connectivity, no internet. It will not save power settings either. Every time the device reboots the screen timeout resets to 1min. Ethernet port is terrible. Sometimes it's enabled, sometimes it's not. It only works half the time and then just stops working. I have 5 bars of service in my area and it keeps rebooting losing connection to the tower.

I thought that I might have purchased a bad unit... but sounds like you have the same issues. I am on the latest firmware. (unit updated the F/w automatically. was worse after the update).

JohnPeng · ‎2022-11-08

@jimsmithjojo wrote:

RIght out of the box this thing was garbage. The screen was somehow zoomed in on mine and I had to reset it just to power it on propoerly. The lcd screen is laggy as hell and is highly unresponsive most of the time.

Same issues that you guys have mentioned. I have had this M6 Pro for 3 days and I can't take it any longer. It just randomly shuts down, loses broadband connectivity, no internet. It will not save power settings either. Every time the device reboots the screen timeout resets to 1min. Ethernet port is terrible. Sometimes it's enabled, sometimes it's not. It only works half the time and then just stops working. I have 5 bars of service in my area and it keeps rebooting losing connection to the tower.

I thought that I might have purchased a bad unit... but sounds like you have the same issues. I am on the latest firmware. (unit updated the F/w automatically. was worse after the update).

Please check and make sure the device has been upgraded to the latest release.

Could you please advise your device SKU?

Thanks

JohnPeng · ‎2022-11-08

For those reporting the device stability issue when using the device without battery, this is an known issue and FW fix is available and we are working with the carriers to get the new release approved before we release it.

Thanks

rambopd · ‎2022-11-13

Hi John,

Would that also fix the issue of internet speeds slowing until a reboot?

JohnPeng · ‎2022-11-13

@rambopd wrote:

Hi John,

Would that also fix the issue of internet speeds slowing until a reboot?

This may be a different issue. Please provide the following information first.

1. AT&T or Firstnet SIM?

2. Use the device with battery or without battery?

3. How many clients and how clients are connected to the device, WiFi/Ethernet/USB, etc.

4. Please also capture a model.json file and send PM to me.

Thanks

John

rambopd · ‎2022-11-13

1. Firstnet SIm

2. Use the device without battery

3. 23 clients are connected throught google wifi pro that is connect to the M6 Pro Via ethernet.

4. The model.json file was sent.

Thanks for the help.

jimsmithjojo · ‎2022-11-14

SKU: 6238D

Yes. it has been updated to the latest firmware.

masterbeat · ‎2022-11-15

Agreeing with the other comments on this thread. The M6 is junk. How dare Netgear sell an $800 piece of crap like this. Who tested it?

@JohnPeng I bought this for a road trip and it hasn't stayed running for longer than 20 minutes to an hour max yet. I'm running plugged in WITH BATTERY. AT&T SIM. It's never warm (I've read about overheating issues, but it never feels warm).

Constantly locks up, screen flashes, can't get it to respond to anything, and have to pull power and battery to reset it.

You need to push the fix to this in next 24 hours (or give it to us as beta) or this is getting returned to Amazon.

JohnPeng · ‎2022-11-15

@masterbeat wrote:

Agreeing with the other comments on this thread. The M6 is junk. How dare Netgear sell an $800 piece of crap like this. Who tested it?

@JohnPeng I bought this for a road trip and it hasn't stayed running for longer than 20 minutes to an hour max yet. I'm running plugged in WITH BATTERY. AT&T SIM. It's never warm (I've read about overheating issues, but it never feels warm).

Constantly locks up, screen flashes, can't get it to respond to anything, and have to pull power and battery to reset it.

You need to push the fix to this in next 24 hours (or give it to us as beta) or this is getting returned to Amazon.

I think your model is MR6150-100NAS. Please help to capture a model.json file and send PM to me. Would like to see the network conditions when the issue happens.

- Logon to the webui (http://192.168.1.1 ) as an administrator
- Navigate to URL http://192.168.1.1/model.json via the same browser window
- Capture the results (by selecting all + copy) and send it back

Thanks

John

masterbeat · ‎2022-11-15

@JohnPeng

jimsmithjojo · ‎2022-11-16

My M6 Pro has now decided that it can't find a signal. It just endlessly sits there "Searching" for a signal. Had 5 bars up until today. Worked fine for 5 days (Didn't even have to touch it). Today, I unplugged it and put the battery back in to use as a mobile hotspot.... crash. No signal. Called AT&T and they rest the pin, APN, etc and it worked for 5 minuted before losing the signal again. (I have a 5g iphone with a great signal, same location).

Going to try to take this device back to AT&T tomorrow to swap it out.

jimsmithjojo · ‎2022-11-17

Toom mine to AT&T today and it completely froze up and went into a boot up loop.

After an hour and a half, they swapped it out for a new one. (My old one was 11 days old). The new one works! Haven't had any issues with it at all. I will of course report back here if/when this thing catches fire or bricks itself.

Megga59 · ‎2022-11-20

Mine does the same thing. I removed the battery and just leave it plugged in. It drops signal and says searching. I unplug it and plug it back in it comes back on. Completely random.

Blanca_O · ‎2022-12-08

Hi, All,

Kindly check for an available firmware update and let us know how it goes.

Regards,
Blanca
Community Team

eharbison924 · ‎2022-12-25

It has been a total waste of money and time. I am returning mine. And going back to my old wifi hot spot. It has to be better than dropping the signal every time it powers down... though it should not as the battery is out and it is plugged directly into the outlet. Firmware is up to date. It's just a piece of crap to say the least...

robadams321 · ‎2023-01-25

I just purchased the Nighthawk M6 pro last week from the AT&T store and it worked great, for 2 days. Then it shut off for no reason. This happened twice so far. The only way to turn it back on is to unplug it and plug it back in the wall. The battery was removed as per instructions because I was planning to leave it plugged in at all times. This is my only WiFi source and wanted it so I can monitor my security camera and thermostat at my remote hunting cabin. I am 3 hours away and can't just go over and turn it back on every time it decides to shut off. Should I return it for a refund or is there a solution?

JohnPeng · ‎2023-01-25

@robadams321 wrote:

I just purchased the Nighthawk M6 pro last week from the AT&T store and it worked great, for 2 days. Then it shut off for no reason. This happened twice so far. The only way to turn it back on is to unplug it and plug it back in the wall. The battery was removed as per instructions because I was planning to leave it plugged in at all times. This is my only WiFi source and wanted it so I can monitor my security camera and thermostat at my remote hunting cabin. I am 3 hours away and can't just go over and turn it back on every time it decides to shut off. Should I return it for a refund or is there a solution?

Could you please check the FW version on the device?

Thanks