Is there any known fix for the issue with the DM200 in modem mode? Recurring drop outs

[hetzjagd]

Hi Guys,

Like a lot of other people I have lost way too many hours trying to figure out why these modems cannot work properly in bridged mode.  Initially it all seems to work fine then after a few weeks the internet connection drops and cannot be reconnected without factory resetting the modem and starting the tedious process of setting it up again and configuring it to bridged.  Without factory resetting the modem the connection status remains as disconnected.

It's ridiculous how hard it is to get this working without fault considering the router that I want to bridge it to is also a Netgear product (an Orbi).  If I plug in a TG789 modem/router the internet connects without issue.  If I setup the dm200 as a modem/router the internet connects without issue.  I need the wireless function of the Orbi though.

I cannot easily check the firmware version but the DM200 is updated to the latest.  I actually have two DM200's and they both have the exact same issue.

What should I be trying? Is there a way to have the DM200 running as a modem/router but then use my orbi with it?  I also have a raspberry pi running pihole that I want to handle DHCP.

[michaelkenward]

---

@hetzjagd wrote:

Like a lot of other people I have lost way too many hours trying to figure out why these modems cannot work properly in bridged mode. 

---

I don't recall seeing that complaint here on quite a long time. So perhaps you could provide a few links to where you have read these reports. Then we can tackle your issue with a better understanding of what you see.

In my case, I have had two DM200s running in bridge mode 24/7 for four years or so and have never experienced issues that I can put down to the modem.

I know it is easy to blame modems and routers for network issues – that is the default response when you complain to your ISP – but they are just links in a chain.

I do have disconnects on one of my lines, but these invariably track back to my crummy rural Internet service (BT). I can go for months without seeing a problem, and then the sky falls in and I get a spate of disconnects. It happened last week and magically fixed itself after a couple of days. I did report the problem to BT, which may have prompted it to investigate its end. BT did acknowledge a fault on the line.

---

If I setup the dm200 as a modem/router the internet connects without issue.  I need the wireless function of the Orbi though.

---

You don't need bridge mode if you just want wifi. The Orbi has an AP mode that should work with your DM200. My Orbi is an AP mode, albeit behind an R7800 router.

---

I cannot easily check the firmware version but the DM200 is updated to the latest. 

If you can't check the firmware version, how do you know it is the latest?

I realise that it isn't easy to check the firmware version of the DM200 without messing around, but you seem to be doing that anyway, so a credible check might be worth the effort.

I always keep a copy of the latest installed firmware. Then I check from time to time to see if there is a newer version that I should think about installing.

Visit the support pages:

Support | NETGEAR

Feed in your model number and check the documentation for your hardware.

That page will also have any software, firmware and drivers for your device, if they exist.

No updates in the past two years.

---

Is there a way to have the DM200 running as a modem/router but then use my orbi with it? 

---

See above, but be aware of this:

Disabled Features on the Router when set to AP Mode | Answer | NETGEAR Support

[hetzjagd]

Thank you for your reply and understanding 🙂

Setting the Orbi to AP mode sounds like it has some potential except that I do use port forwarding for file sharing and plex.

As far as your scenario goes, I can't tell if I'm in the same boat but I could be.  I ping pong between blaming myself, my isp or the local infrastructure, and/or the DM200's.  I've contacted my isp previously and the response has been useless. The usual "restart this, factory reset that, ok it still doesn't work, we'll escalate it" and then in a couple of hours or a day or so it starts working again and they don't provide an answer as to why it happened or how I can prevent it and I'm none the wiser as to what they or I did to fix it, if anything.

I know the firmware version is the latest because I updated it to the latest a couple of months ago during one of the previous times I had this issue.  However I've since been able to log back into the DM200's and verify they are certainly on v1.0.0.66

As far as the history of the complaint and it not being around for a while - I think people just gave up and moved on.  At the risk of it sounding like a cop out, I'm so stressed and frustrated by other life problems, now compounded with my network/internet, I just don't have it in me at this time to go read through different threads to find the particular ones I'm thinking of.  I believe you are correct in that they are mostly older threads.

I'm going to have another go with it all soon if I can muster the strength.

[michaelkenward]

---

@hetzjagd wrote:

As far as the history of the complaint and it not being around for a while - I think people just gave up and moved on. 

---

Or they discovered that they were barking up the wrong tree.

It is frustrating when people talk of "lots of problems" without telling us what they were. That makes it impossible to use those "problems" to help when troubleshooting. It also raises doubts about the validity of new problems.

Search - NETGEAR Communities – DM200

Why not stick with the modem that works?  The DM200 is just a basic modem. No extra features worth speaking about.

[hetzjagd]

I mean the problems are as I described and as you have apparently witnessed previously.  Sudden failure of the dm200 when in modem-only mode to get connected to and provide internet to any attached devices with no change of settings or power interruption.  For whatever reason, and to further obfuscate the source of the issue, I now can't seem to get internet on either DM200 whether it's in router or modem mode.  All three lights on the DM200 remain green while this is happening.  I promise you I will grab those threads as soon as I can but I'm limited without a working internet connection in the meantime and searching and browsing forum threads via a phone is a chore to say the least.

Further info is that I'm in Australia and my isp is TPG.  It's a VDSL and PPPoE type connection.  Our VLAN id is 2.

Here's one of the modems in router mode

https://imgur.com/a/MJ5vJjF

Here's the other modem and it's the same thing.  Shows a connection in router mode, change it to device mode and wait and the internet never comes up no matter how long I leave it, or if I power off the dm200 and power it on again.

https://imgur.com/a/ZPy9brM

and here's some screenshots of the orbi while it's not able to see the dm200 in router mode as having internet.  Same things show when I connect the dm200's in modem mode to the orbi.

https://imgur.com/a/YtWxiKN

Factory resetting both the modems, the orbi, and the TG789 I'm using to narrow down that it appears to be something with my Netgear devices doesn't seem to change or fix anything.  The TG789 happily connects to the internet though.

[hetzjagd]

Ok minor progress.  The DM200 works mostly fine with the internet in router mode.  It was giving me dns errors despite that it was showing my isp's two dns servers, I could ping them fine, and that the ethernet adapter settings on my laptop were set to get dns automatically.  Changing the dns to cloudflare and google on the ethernet adapter fixed that up.  No idea why it doesn't like my isp's dns's but presumably not something that needs to be dwelled on.  From there I switched the dm200 to modem only mode where it presumably would maintain these same settings and 'just work as a modem' but it shows the 0.0.0.0 ip address and dns's like in my screenshot and never changes from these.  Despite this all three lights on the modem remain green and the dm200's wizard, which requires some sign of life from the phone line and internet connection to proceed, is able to complete.  I can't figure it out.