New Firmware v2.3.2.108 (XR500)

[Netduma-Fraser]

Hi all, 

We have another firmware for you to test. Thank you for your patience so far. I don't have a change log available at the moment but I assume you would like to try it now vs waiting any longer. Once I have the change log I will update this post with it. 

I would highly recommend you do a factory reset after upgrading for the freshest installation.

Firmware: https://www.dropbox.com/s/akudcavvw87jrk8/XR500-V2.3.2.108.img?dl=0

[Xavg]

Hello,

Thank's for the update ! Trying right now

[kxndal]

At work right now..😑 Does this firmware have Auto-QOS and the new Options in Traffic Prioritization?

[CoronalAurora]

Few things seem worse or still not right straight off the bat. Factory reset was done before testing. Browser cache cleared.

1. I still have wired devices in device manager going offline and online randomly (Every 5 seconds or so), including my PC and Sky Boxes. Some on a desktop switch some directly into router.

2. Network Snapshot - The scale along the bottom doesn't show and appears glitchy as half a device name appears in bigger font in its place. It is also now a list with scroll bar showing all devices not just the top 5 or so. Cannot easily see what bandwidth devices are using anymore unless you hover over the red or blue bar which is constantly changing, this is a lot less easy to see whats going on and looks and feels like its broken.

3. Connection benchmark ping under load tests don't appear to be applying congestion control at all.  Even with it set to Always. Therefore my ping under load for download and upload is extremely high, Download about 100ms and upload 150-350ms !! With previous firmware was getting much closer (Within 10 ms) to my idle ping of 12ms. . I have no way of testing different slider values with this firmware. I think Congestion control is active as bandwidth on another device appeared to be limited correctly its just I have no way of testing congestion control settings.

Thats all for now.

EDIT: Even with Congestion control set to Always Download bandwidth is not being limited which would explain the ping under load figures. However Upload bandwidth does seem to be being limited.

[Xavg]

For the congestion control part i have the same result. The ping is much higher (10/15ms) than with the latest stable release (ftth 300/300).

Ipv6 (Orange) is not working because no dns is returned by the xr500. Setting up manually and it's working. Also when the ipv6 is turned on, the block services is working only with the ipv4.

Device Manager is working but many device switch online/offline randomly.

Telnet is not here (why netgear ? :/)

Can't change the dns ipv4/ipv6 with Orange Dhcp. All is greyed out.

The router has been reset and flashed with tftp. No backup has been restored.

I have tried with a r7800 and ddwrt with equivalent features and i have much more better result on the same ftth connection for the qos / ipv6 / speedtest.

[Killerelite06]

@Netduma-Fraser Are you sure you uploaded the correct file ?

1. The geo-filter doesn't show host/client tickrate just ping 

2.QoS we still don't have the auto congestion control option ???

3.Connection benchmark doesn't function on underload test upload/download 

4.Still have devices that show offline 

5.We still dont have a auto select wifi channel on the 5GHz band

6. We still don't have the AdBlock feature 

On the plus side my UPnP tab finnaly shows signs of life with the PSN port (9308) showing up but still no CoD port(3074)

[quadrophenic]

Normally I am straight on a new release but based on comments already, think I might skip this one 😞 

Getting concerned that dumaos 3 will never be stable on XR500. Starting to feel sorry fo the netduma guys too, they have a lot of hardware to work on now and it feels like they are struggling to keep up. 

[CoronalAurora]

---

@CoronalAurora wrote:

Few things seem worse or still not right straight off the bat. Factory reset was done before testing. Browser cache cleared.

1. I still have wired devices in device manager going offline and online randomly (Every 5 seconds or so), including my PC and Sky Boxes. Some on a desktop switch some directly into router.

2. Network Snapshot - The scale along the bottom doesn't show and appears glitchy as half a device name appears in bigger font in its place. It is also now a list with scroll bar showing all devices not just the top 5 or so. Cannot easily see what bandwidth devices are using anymore unless you hover over the red or blue bar which is constantly changing, this is a lot less easy to see whats going on and looks and feels like its broken.

3. Connection benchmark ping under load tests don't appear to be applying congestion control at all.  Even with it set to Always. Therefore my ping under load for download and upload is extremely high, Download about 100ms and upload 150-350ms !! With previous firmware was getting much closer (Within 10 ms) to my idle ping of 12ms. . I have no way of testing different slider values with this firmware. I think Congestion control is active as bandwidth on another device appeared to be limited correctly its just I have no way of testing congestion control settings.

Thats all for now.

EDIT: Even with Congestion control set to Always Download bandwidth is not being limited which would explain the ping under load figures. However Upload bandwidth does seem to be being limited.

---

Ok so after further testing and a reboot.

1. Device manager wired devices going offline/online still happening.

2. The glichy looking Network snapshot with no scale appears to be a browser problem with my main pc. My work laptop displays it just fine. Will investigate this one further. Could be versions of Chrome/Edge, it happens on both Chrome & Edge on my main pc, but is absolutley fine on both Chrome & Edge on my work laptop....very frustrating but appears to be my problem.

3. Congestion Control appears to be working correctly if I have a game running. QOS set to Dumaos Classified Games all devices. If I don't have a game running and just set it to always on it doesn't ALWAYS limit the download but does limit the upload. It seems a bit inconsistent. Maybe it takes a little time to actually enable or maybe its a browser problem again. Further testing required.

4. Connection benchmark ping under load no longer takes into account QOS or Congestion control settings. My figures are very high no matter what I have set in Congestion control. Was getting A+ in last firmware but now can only get D..:-(  I get A+ for both speed and average ping btw.

[CoronalAurora]

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2. The glichy looking Network snapshot with no scale appears to be a browser problem with my main pc. My work laptop displays it just fine. Will investigate this one further. Could be versions of Chrome/Edge, it happens on both Chrome & Edge on my main pc, but is absolutley fine on both Chrome & Edge on my work laptop....very frustrating but appears to be my problem.

---

Found the reason for number 2.  Its the windows display scaling percentage. I have a 1440p monitor which is set to 125% scaling in windows display settings. If i put this back to 100% the problem goes away. It was fine at 125% in the last firmware though. My work laptop is just 1080p so is already set to 100%

[rbarba23]

ipv6 still not working correctly

[rbarba23]

[Raf1212]

you still have disconnection of the internet, and a problem logging into the routerlogin website

?

[Anton774]

am having issues seeing where any fixes even got made.

1/ GEO filter has no lock feature on the map so when trying to scroll down it just keep zooming in and out on the map instead.

2/ Ping Heatmap still does not work

3/ Connection benchmark still does not work

4/ No adblock features

No need to install this version of the firmware since none of the new features is working or featured. Going back to the old update. Since this beta version is a waste.

How can you take so long and still not fixed the issues like GEO filter and Ping Heatmap or add a simple feature like a lock tap on the map so when you scroll down it doesnt zoom in and out like crazy ?

[Retired_Member]

Like others have experienced, the new firmware is also causing my LAN devices to disconnect and reconnect frequently. My IPv6 is also now broken.

I'm bailing on this beta.

[Toadie0909]

I guess I will keep waiting. I have yet to upgrade to 3.0. 😞

[CoronalAurora]

There were 5 things I wanted to see in this firmware.

1. Nothing that works get broken.

2. Device manager fixed once and for all (Wired devices going offline/online, signal strength actually showing instead of N/A)

3. IPV6 fixed

4. Geo Filter & QOS detection for PC games working without having to do set as a console workaround.

5. Fix for random loss of internet connectivity on all devices requiring a reboot.

None of these appear to have been met with this update apart from maybe number 5. but the jury is still out on that. Very dissapointed. The thought of waiting another 2-3 months for another try is very depressing. Apart from some UI tweaks in Device manager, Connection Benchmark regressing and the broken scaling on Network snapshot, I can't see what has changed at all on this build. Thats me out i'm afraid, it shouldn't be this hard, looking for another router.

[bryer84]

Having updated and tested, the only thing that has changed is that the router is now a lot more stable with the loading of RAPPS and overall stability in it's operation that stops it crashing. 

The issues that were reported back in September are ALL still present, it's almost like Netgear has changed their bits and pieces in the firmware to resolve the app hangs, but left the Netduma stuff the same and not updated anything with the fixes.

So for me the following doesn't work:

1. QoS and IPv6 don't work together. You can either have one or the other, not both.
2. Weird issues with assigning DNS servers for IPv6, even if you specify them to use Cloudflare, it will default to ISP provided.
3. QoS doesn't appear to assign/detect traffic correctly.
4. Issues with ping reporting and speed reporting in the Connection Benchmark.
5. DCHP issues with devices that assign random MAC addresses getting prevented from rejoining network with static IP assigned (Android devices)

3 months of waiting for another broken firmware. 

Will be putting the XR500 in the pending WEEE drop off cupboard now, as I'm done waiting for it to be fixed. What a wasted opportunity.

Just for clarity on this, I recently had to buy a replacement equivilant from a competitor to keep online, this device has been set up identically from a setup point of view, same IPv4/IPv6 DNS servers, same QoS setup where possible, same DHCP settings, I've pretty much mirrored it from the XR500 and it works fine, before people start stating there is an issue with the configuration somewhere, as the alternative works flawlessly.

[Netduma-Fraser]

I’ll try to address each of your points so apologies for the long post. If you can all do me a favor and keep the issues as concise as possible initially that would really help and then as we determine it is an issue we can get more information.
@kxndal No Auto-QoS or additional Traffic Prio options
@CoronalAurora I mentioned awhile ago that it is normal as if a device isn’t using the internet for a moment then it will appear offline. It is technically accurate in what it is portraying. Thank you for the report on Connection Benchmark I have been able to reproduce this and will let the team know. For Download Congestion Control where are you testing to see it isn’t being reduced? Will push the other issues again.
@Xavg Will report the Ping Under Load issue. Block services are you referring to the feature in Settings or Traffic Controller? Can you provide a screenshot regarding being unable to change DNS with Orange DHCP please?
@Killerelite06 I am quite sure it is the correct file. Are you manually pinging hosts or using Auto Ping? Not Auto Setup yet. Will report Benchmark. See above for offline devices. Auto 5GHz channel is for Netgear so can’t comment on that. Adblock is up to Netgear to decide whether they would like to include it. We’re not guaranteeing every single feature will be tested in beta, some may come later, we want to ensure stability right now.
@rbarba23 I can’t see your picture yet, could you explain please?
@Anton774 that is a feature rather than a fix. Heatmap, are you referring to the page not loading or some games not showing all servers? If the latter that is to do with the cloud so we will continue to update that. Reported benchmark. See comments on features not included above.
@Retired_Member thank you for the report, I’ll let NG know. What about IPv6 is broken for you?
@bryer84 thanks for the initial positive comments. I will report IPv6/QoS again. Are you using an ISP router that also has DNS set? Could you explain the assigning/detecting traffic issue please? Will report benchmark. Could you explain the MAC issue more please?

[Toadie0909]

Is the r2 and other nighthawk routers having these issues?

[mreich1978]

@Netduma-Fraserwhen can we expect the release/change notes to be posted for this update?

[rbarba23]

IPv6 isn't working at all. I tried factory reset I tried dhcp I tried auto detect I tried auto configure  Duma OS auto detect isp dns but when testing on any device no ipv6

[CoronalAurora]

@CoronalAuroraI mentioned awhile ago that it is normal as if a device isn’t using the internet for a moment then it will appear offline. It is technically accurate in what it is portraying. Thank you for the report on Connection Benchmark I have been able to reproduce this and will let the team know. For Download Congestion Control where are you testing to see it isn’t being reduced? Will push the other issues again.

---

@Netduma-Fraser  I was just doing a speedtest with my phone after setting CC to Always. It doesn't matter now though, that was happening when I had just setup the router after factory reset. I have now restarted a couple of times and it appears it does now limit the bandwidth on download. Not sure if its just the reboot that fixed it.

The device manager stuff I don't really accept though, none of the wifi devices do this and indeed my wired through 8 port switch Hive Hub (Central heating system) doesn't do this and also the xbox doesn't do this wired either. All the other devices, particularly my Sky boxes do this all the time. I've even watched it go offline online multiple times whilst the Sky box is downloading from on-demand. One of my wired through the switch devices is the management port of my modem. I can telnet and get to its web management page but it NEVER shows online. My Ring base station also only comes online a few times a day then promptly goes offline again. Maybe they aren't using much internet but surely it should be reporting whats connected to the router rather than what is using internet??? These problems only started happening with the 2nd beta firmware, can't remember which version number that is.

[Retired_Member]

Just to add to the comment about wired devices going offline and online, its not just in the device manager window. My TV was saying "lan cable disconnected/reconnected" every couple of minutes. Didn't do this on the previous beta and certainly not when I reverted back to .66.

@Netduma-Fraser The XR500 showed that IPv6 was connected but I couldn't get it to flow through to any of my devices. Was fine on the previous beta, and is working great now I'm back on .66

[Anton774]

After having the firmware running for a few hours and playing around with the wifi settings it suddenly starting working. Heat map works now, connection benchmark works now, wifi calling is stable again. Still wish a Blu Ray option would be added in device manager and a lock function on the maps would be added so when scrolling on the page for more features doesn't mess up my zooming on my map. When i first downloaded the firmware this morning it didn't work probably but after few hours it just started to work. Cant explain why or how but I am glad its working and is stable.

Thanks @Netduma-Fraser 

I am one of the few who can say "well done"

[Netduma-Fraser]

@Toadie0909 Each platform running the beta or 3.0 will have its own bugs some are exclusive to the platform and some not.
@mreich1978 I’ve chased so hoping by end of day.
@rbarba23 do devices get an IPv6 address in Device Manager at all? Public IP is still showing IPv4?
@CoronalAurora glad to here it is working now. Okay thanks, I’m assuming devices aren’t disconnecting or anything while this is occurring?
@Retired_Member okay interesting, and I assume you’ve tried different cables/ports to rule those out? Okay so no IPv6 shown for devices in Device Manager and public IP still IPv4?
@Anton774 that is brilliant to hear! I will request a Blu Ray option and lock again.