Netgear XR1000 Looses config after power cycle - Has happened 3 times in 4 month ownership.

[Blarn_Kranston]

Good day everyone,

I am having an issue where my 4 month old Netgear Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router will loose the config and go back to the factory default "initial setup".  All SSIDs, passwords, QOS, traffic management and network settings are gone.  The only things that seem to remain are my updated device names and some other administrative things.  It seems most of the functional services were reset.

I also had a back up of my config that I took after this happened the 1st time so I could easily restore.  In both times since my back up where the config has been reset, the back up did NOT work at all.  It did not reset any of the list info, not even my admin password or SSIDs.  So I reset my router up again, and took a back up again.  When it just lost its config for the 3rd time, neither the 1st, nor 2nd back up config worked to restore anything.

I see some other threads of this happening on other DumaOS devices, but not much mention of the XR1000.  At this point, I like the preformance of DumaOS, but the stability of it is a total 0.  Everytime I reboot my router I worry that I am in store for an hour long router recofig session.

I opened a case when it 1st happened and got the typical "We don't see anything wrong, let us know if it happens again."

Sadly, I am out of my 90 day "Pro support" period, so I can only turn to the community for suggestions.  I am a 25 year long network engineer, so I have been pretty through in my analysis of the router, and nothing seems like it SHOULD cause this issue.

Thanks in advance.

[Netduma-Liam]

Thank you for posting and thank you for the detail!

Could please just clarify which firmware version you're running?

The backup config option only backs up configuration in Network settings as far as I'm aware, so things like your device naming and IP allocation will be backed up but QoS and Geo-filter settings will not be.

[Blarn_Kranston]

Hi Liam!  Thanks for the quick response. Here's some of my observations on the issue.

• I would expect it to back up all the network configs (Smart connect home and guest SSIDs, admin password, WAN and LAN settings, QOS/GEO settings, etc) as those relate to access, and any changes might break previous access and should be backed up.  However, none of that was retained.  The strange thing is that it seems to have not lost device names.  I renamed every device in my home as I have a lot of wifi LEDs in various rooms.  All those new names remanined after the "reset".  It seems that the only thing that is lost is everything required to gain access.  🙂
• I also noticed that all of the "advanced" network settings (MIMO, OFDMA, etc) were also reset to a disabled state.

It was almost like I issued a "reset everything to factory defaults, but keep all my new device names" option.  Even the "initial setup" script runs the next time I log in.

I would like to clarify this does not happen every time I reboot, just randomly about once every few weeks when the router looses power.  Could the loss of power be causing the issue?  Should we only issue a reboot command via the DumaOS interface?

Anyway, my version is:

I am running the latest version:

Board ModelFirmware VersionDumaOS Version

XR1000

1.0.0.52_1.0.38

3.0.187

[Netduma-Liam]

Thanks for the details!

I know that the Netgear Backup Config feature will only backup Netgear settings, so it won't retain configuration of things like Geo-filter and QoS or other DumaOS features, but I don't see why it wouldn't backup all advanced network settings as well. 

It sounds to me like the loss of power is what's causing the reset issue, how do you have the XR plugged into power? Is it going directly into a wall outlet or is it plugged into a power extender?

[Blarn_Kranston]

Hi again Liam,

It is currently plugged into a small battery backup along with my providor router.  I confirmed with my wife that her preferred way to reboot the router when it needs it, is to power off the battery back up, wait 10 seconds then power it back on resulting in a reboot of both internet devices.    While this is not as "nice" as a reboot from within the DumaOS, I don't believe this should cause a factory reset, correct?

[Netduma-Liam]

Thank you, despite not being the cleanest way of rebooting, I agree that it shouldn't factory reset in this scenario.

What the reason for needing to reboot like this? Is this due to another issue with the XR1000 or is this unrelated?

[Blarn_Kranston]

We live out in the country and our DSL internet connection isn't very fast (50mb/12mb).  Many times a reboot of the provider gear and XR1000 seems to help with random connectivity issues.  I may just move the XR onto a different power source so rebooting the provider router won't affect the XR, and see how that works.

[Netduma-Fraser]

Have all the settings that you want to keep adjusted/set, then reboot the router from the interface. Wait 2 minutes before trying to access it. Once this is done it should keep all the settings the next time the power is lost.

[Blarn_Kranston]

I have just completed the reboot from within the interface.  I appreciate all the help Liam.  Please let me know if there is any other info you need on this issue.   I guess only time will tell if it is still an issue.

[FURRYe38]

Be sure to save off a back up configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves tine if a reset is needed or the system looses it's configuration. Which it should not. 

[patrickbedgood]

Just purchased the XR1000 today and this just happened to me. The only reason I was forced to reboot the router is because I was no longer able to login to the admin console due to a different error. I've used the RAX35 WiFI 6 router over the past year and if this router is already giving me this much trouble, it may make its way back to the local Best Buy. I too work in Technology every day and this is unacceptable, I had to setup my WiFi settings again, everything had to be setup again like it just came out of the box.

[Netduma-Liam]

Sorry to hear this!

What firmware version is it running out of the box?

What was the other error that caused you to have to reboot?

[patrickbedgood]

The error received is below and its happeing again this morning. This happens when you reboot the router using anywhere access, for instnance, if you needed to reboot your router remotely when you are away from home. When I reboot the router from the web console in my home, this does not happen. This is an issue, I have several Ring and smart devices and when I travel, there may come a time where I need to reboot the router due to a storm or outage. I am running the basic firmware out of the box, V1.0.0.52_1.0.38 on the NetGear NightHawk Pro Gaming XR1000 router. 

haserl CGI Error

Failed to readline from 'config get DumaOS_Theme_Version'

[Netduma-Fraser]

Thank you for the information, first time I've heard of it being caused this way, does the same happen if you enable remote management on the router and then reboot remotely using the interface?

[patrickbedgood]

I have not tested rebooting remotely via the interface, it appears if you reboot from the interface everything is fine. I just rebooted the router again using my mobile app, away from home and the router reset back to factory defaults again. I am contacting NetGear Support because this router is only 3 days old and I will have to take back to Best Buy and revert back to my RAX35 model, I just can't deal with this. I need to be able to reboot via the mobile app when I am away from home, in the event something happens with my other smart devices, sensor, or cameras. I am very disappointed with this behavior!

[Netduma-Fraser]

We've not had anyone try to reboot it in that way before so we would need a developer to look into this so if it is essential for you then it may be best to return it unfortunately until it can be resolved

[patrickbedgood]

Yes, my NightHawk RAX35 could be remotely managed and rebooted just fine, no config loss at all! 

[patrickbedgood]

I just purchased the XR1000 a few days ago and this has happened to me 5 times already. I was testing the ability to reboot the router when away from my home using the mobile app and it resets to factory defaults every single time. So disappointing, did anyone determine a resolution for this issue? My RAX35 netgear did not do this at all! I opened a ticket with Netgear today and of course, they said they will have to get back with me. Should I have them replace the router for another?

[Netduma-Fraser]

As mentioned, we've not had anyone trying to reboot in that way before so it will require developer intervention but that could take some time. A replacement is unlikely to have an affect