D6400 keeps dropping internet connection

[JonHC]

I own a D6400 which I’ve been having problems regarding random disconnects from the internet (I’m on ADSL). I’m going to be quite detailed so please bear with me!

I purchased the D6400 at the end of May this year and installed it using the Setup Wizard. Everything was fine without incident for the first 2 months. Then the router began to randomly disconnect from the internet and it wouldn’t reconnect until I rebooted the router. There is no set time period that the router disconnects, it could be after 10 minutes, and hour or more or during the night when its not being used.

My first thought was that it must be down to my ISP (which is TalkTalk) as I hadn’t made any changes to my router. So I called them to find out if there was any issues with the phone line which they checked and ran some tests only to find out there was nothing wrong with it. I then decided that maybe there was a fault with the router, but to be sure, I reverted back to my old Belkin router to see if the internet kept disconnecting. I left the Belkin router connected for a week and during that time I had no dropped connections at all, but I can’t continue to use the Belkin as it’s old and just isn’t powerful enough to cope with all the devices I had connected to it.

As a result, I returned the D6400 back to the store and exchanged it for a new D6400. I installed the new router, making sure that I installed it using an ethernet cable and not Wifi and with nothing connected to the router but after a couple of hours, the internet disconnected again. This happened a few more times so I contacted Netgear to see if they had a solution. The answer I got from them was to re-install the firmware and then reset the router which I did. That solution didn’t work so I went back to Netgear who suggested making some changes to my WAN settings so as instructed, I changed the MTU size to 1492, disabled Port Scan and DoS Protection and disabled SIP ALG. That hasn’t worked either and Netgear’s final suggestion was to return the router and have it replaced, which I already did before I contacted Netgear in the first place.

Yesterday, I reverted back to the Belkin router and noted down all the settings so I could compare them with the D6400’s settings. So after going back to the D6400, the only difference was the MTU size so I changed it to the Belkin’s setting of 1454 (TalkTalk say the setting should be 1432 but that didn’t work for me when I tried it). I rebooted the router and crossed my fingers.

No luck, the D6400 still disconnects from the internet and now I don’t know what to do. Surely it can’t be a fault with the router. I just don’t understand how it worked great for the first 2 months and now I'm getting this problem, even after replacing it. I can only assume that my ISP has changed something which the D6400 doesn’t like (but not the Belkin!).

Sorry for the long winded post but I’m hoping someone out there has the answer for me!

[michaelkenward]

I see that you are confusing the issue by posting in two different places.

D6400 Firmware Confusion - NETGEAR Communities

Yesterday I moved the modem to my TalkTalk line. It worked OK to begin with but overnight it dropped the line. It then failed to reconnect without a reboot.

The modem then worked all day until a few minutes ago, when I was in the middle of reporting my experience! The line dropped again. Once more I had to reboot to restore the connection.

[Miranda_B]

Did you manage to resolve this please.  I am having exactly the same problems.   Just reverted to my old Linksys to type this as the D6400 is virtually unusable.

I too had one which worked fine until a couple of months back and also began to go slow and drop connections.   Replaced it with a new one today - no better, probably worse in fact.

[michaelkenward]

You can try reverting back to the original firmware. The one they launched it with. Or you could file a support request and see if they will let you have a beta version to test..

Which ISP are you on? So far the problems seem to be on ADSL services running on BT wires.

[Miranda_B]

Hi  there, thanks for the reply.      You are absolutely right - ASDL on BT.    I have  reverted to V1.0.0.22_1.0.22  which seems to have sorted it for the time being.

Thanks

Miranda

[michaelkenward]

That makes another victim.This firmware seems to have something against people who sit on the end of BT's copper cables.

Netgear is on the case.

You might like to file an official support request. It might speed up the fix. Netgear might even take pity on you with some instant help.

[----me----]

Add another victim to the list.

I am on VDSL with Talktalk in the UK (it goes across BT infrastructure). My D6400 worked ok for the first month then failed to maintain a connection beyond 12-15 minutes (roughly the point at which the DHCP lease expired for the WAN connection to the ISP); failing to allow any external traffic until it was rebooted (internal network and wireless remained unaffected).

I originally suspected a line/ISP issue, and after that was excluded a configuration change by my ISP (perhaps a change of brand of kit they are using at the exchange).

My original ISP supplied Fibre box and router when reinstalled were fine. As was a second ISP supplied unit I have, plus a third combined VDSL modem/router(a cheap looking Huawei thing - possibly the most low rent router I have ever seen)

I returned the original D6400, but the replacement exhibited identical behaviour. I have reverted the firmware, performed multiple hardware resets and many different combinations of MTU, and tried other solutions suggested/provided by Netgear none of which resolved the issue. I spent in excess of 10 hours messing with firmware/resets/settings soI think I gave it a fair chance.

I was even more surprised when the most recent cheap and nasty ISP provided box has outperformed the D6400 on wireless range and speed on both 2.4ghz and 5ghz, not at all what I had expected.

I have a lot of Netgear kit and have often bought their devices over others - switches, routers for my office and they have all been fine - but they have lost a longstanding customer with this terrible device, I simply dont want to waste hours of my life that I will never get back trying to fix their poor QC on hardware/firmware.

To be fair the customer support has been excellent - but ultimately fruitless.

So the D6400 went back today.

Best of luck everyone - I hope you have more success than me.

[SiWhite]

I'm having the same issue with my D6400 also on BT. The home hub 3 it was to replace is solid. Using "34" firmware.

[michaelkenward]

If you download the "at launch" firmware from the support pages for this modem, you may find that it is much more stable. This issue is now some months old and Netgear has had plenty of time to fix it. The new firmware could arrive any day now. File a support request and see what happens.

[PaulKesterton]

Just reported exactly the same issue to Netgear support. Purchased on 22 September 2015, rock solid until yesterday...

Using the V1.0.0.38_1.1.38 firmware. Lets see if they can suggest anything.

[michaelkenward]

You have the latest firmware. For several of us, this is the one that fixed dropped connections in earlier firmware.

If it worked fine for a while with that firmware, it doesn't sound like the firmware.

Have you reset the modem?

You could try older firmware to see if that helps.

Which ISP are you on. Most of the earlier dropped connections related to people on the end of BT's copper.

[PaulKesterton]

My review on Amazon: I purchased the D6400 version on the 21 September 2015. Everything was flawless until a few days ago when it suddenly dropped the ethernet connection. Our main computers are connected via ethernet. I have been on forums and sought advice from Netgear support. I have tried no end of resets, downgrades of firmware and modifications of the settings suggested by Netgear support. No matter what I do, after a while it again drops the ethernet link. I have replaced all my ethernet cables and noise filters throughout the house. My time, my money... Today was the last time I will reset this router. It either works or its going to be returned to Amazon. I have been a loyal Netgear user for 10 years, the router the D6400 replaced was a rock solid DGN2200. 

On BT Infinity through a phone line...

[Al_uk1977]

Hi,

I have the same problem.  My D6400 router was fine until i applied the update two nights ago, now it's intermittent to the point I don't know if this message will go through.   I tried downgrading to version .22 but that doesn't seem to have fixed anything.  The GUI Firmware still shows .34, so i don't know if that's causing an issue or whether that just affects the user interface data.

when the connection drops the router software still says it's connected, even though nothing will go through - is this the same with other people?

Netgear customer support invited me to pay to get help, or advised that i came on here.  The irony was lost and I had to point out that reporting an interent connection issue online would be a problem, but they said then I'd have to pay - which isn't really helpful for what i believe to be a Netgear firmware update issue....  not very customer friendly there Netgear i'm afraid!

Can anyone advise what I can do to sort this out?    I haven't tried a different router as I don't have one to hand, but it was perfectly fine before the update.

al

[michaelkenward]

---

@Al_uk1977 wrote:

Netgear customer support invited me to pay to get help, or advised that i came on here.  

---

This is becoming a constant refrain. If Netgear wants to upset people, then turning support into a profit centre is a good way of going about it.

---

The GUI Firmware still shows .34, so i don't know if that's causing an issue or whether that just affects the user interface data.

---

If your modem still shows that firmware, it suggests something amiss.

How did you flash? On line or from the saved file? I prefer the latter.

Did you factory reset the beast after the flash? I always backup the settings before I do that. Restoring them later does not seem to affect the firmware, but it does save the effort needed to reconfigure things.

[syncsolo]

Mine kept dropping connection as well on the .34 firmware, but after resetting it and setting up the connection again it was fine - for about 5 weeks...

It was dead yesterday morning and reconnected for 10 minutes then I had to reboot it > ok for 10 minutes again, then wouldn't load any web pages at all, even when it was saying it was connected, The netgear support made me feel like tearing my hair out! "Try altering your MTU or change the WIFI channel" ect and it made no difference. It's lucky I still have my TalkTalk HG633 router, that worked fine and stable albeit a bit slower on WIFI. 

I saw there is a .38 firmware available anyway and tried that after resetting my D6400 once again! So far it's been stable and I hope it stays that way, because if it fails for good I have a feeling netgear support will make it very difficult to get a replacement unit. Yo-Yo messages with them reading from a script with endless troubleshooting and not listening to what is said is a nightmare! It's lucky I sorted it out by myself in the end. If I'd have known I would have such ongoing issues I would have never have bought the damn thing! 

[michaelkenward]

TalkTalk? You have my sympathy. Me too. But I am on a BT line and TalkTalk has told me to push off. (Now I am with an unknown entity called Fleur.)

The .34 firmware was a disaster for many people on the BT network. .38 fixes it.

---

@syncsolo wrote:
If I'd have known I would have such ongoing issues I would have never have bought the damn thing! 

---

Indeed. The strange thing is that the beta firmware worked fine. So did the initial release. It was only when they threw .34 at us that the sky fell in.

[Al_uk1977]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your help.  I allowed the router to update itself to start with and then when that didn't work and when I could get a connection, I downloaded all three firmware versions and reverted to .22 manually via a wired connection.   I have reset the router a few times and while it seems to have improved a little, i'm still getting drop outs and its not right. 

I agree that Netgear support charging is not useful, especially when the cynic could point to the money making efforts of issuing a prombelmatic firmware update and waiting for people to need help...   I have to say, at the moment, my thoughts are that if I can't get this resolved then I'll send the router back for a refund as it's not doing what it should.  I've used Netgear for years as they've always been reliable, but the lack of customer service is quite surprising and is making me think twice.

Any advice on what I can do to move forward?  I plan to re-install version .38 today to see if the GUI firmware changes to that version and then try reverting back to .22 which I know worked previously - again looking to see what the GUI version changes to.  Oh for a simple life....

[PaulKesterton]

A Solution...

I was in touch with Netgear Support all last week. I tried everything they suggested — downgrades, upgrades, MTU, DNS and resets, etc. Nothing worked until this. Why exactly this worked I haven't a clue, but it has remained connected now for six days. Backup your settings and give it a go. Once it was working again I upgraded to 38, reset the MTU to default and adjusted the DNS to OPEN DNS again.

Thank you for writing us back.

1. Could you please send the screen shot of the log files.
2. Please perform ON and OFF reset on the device by following the steps

1. Turn ON the device and hold the reset button for 30 seconds.
2. Then OFF the device and wait for 30 seconds.
3. Again, Turn ON the device and hold the reset button for 30 seconds.
4. Now, OFF the device and wait for 30 seconds.
5. Turn ON and wait for 30 seconds.

Please make sure you have to take the screen shot of the log file before performing ON and OFF reset.

Please reply us back if the issue still persists.

[michaelkenward]

Maybe it is just because I have this modem, but it does seem to have more than its fair share of problems.

It is probably my fifth or sixth Neatgear modem over the past 20 years or so. (I started with the original DG834.) At the moment I have the D6400 and a DGND4000. The latter has never shown any sign of odd behaviour. Nor have I seen many reports here of issues. That's more than I can say for the D6400.

[marcshann]

Was getting dropouts on Optus network aus, just updated to V1.0.0.38_1.1.38 too, will see if they continue, speed goes from 14mbp/s to 0 for around 5-20 secs then creeps back up for 5 or so minutes then repeats.

[marcshann]

Update: OK, so after a few months of a very irritating issue the latest firmware .38 seems to have fixed it, my speed sits at a steady 12-14mbps (which is exceptional for Australian Adsl2+) I've gotten a couple of dropouts whilst playing online games but a quick ookla shows a constant speed on my end so I can only assume it's their server. Also once the firmware was installed I performed an ON and OFF reset do it may have helped. Thanks everyone for their input 🙂

[david70382]

Hi there,

Needless to say I have had the same issue with my D6400. Such  a shame as I've always considered Negear stuff as completely bullet proof before this.

I'm going to flash the .38 firmware soon but whilst I still have an internet connection I thought I'd ask anyone if the same troubles apply to the D7000 and D7800. I ask just in case I end up throwing money at the problem in an act of desperation. I'd hate to make such a sacrifice and find I was still in the same boat.

Thanks,

David (Not so proud owner of a D6400 for 2 months).

[michaelkenward]

If by "the same issue" you mean the subject of this discussion, .38 seems to fix it for the handful of people who got clobbered..

Other problems are a different matter.

[david70382]

Yes. The subject under discussion.

Do the D7000 and D7800 suffer from the same problem as is being discussed in relation to the D6400, does anyone know?

Thanks,

David

[michaelkenward]

If those devices did suffer from what now seems to be a solved issue for the D6400 – for most victims at least – there would almost certainly be separate discussions relating to those models.

A search of this forum should find anything along those lines.