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Nighthawk XR500

drjason
Tutor

Nighthawk XR500

I've been having a similar problem with my XR500 running V2.3.2.134, the 2.4GHz channel just seems to turn off. The LED for 2.4GHz turns off, the remaining LEDs for power, internet, etc remain on. The WiFi on/off button is unresponsive.

 

I haven't had a chance to investigate if the 5GHz channel or wired connection is still working. Kids start screaming for their internet and a power cycle is required.

 

I've thought about running some sort of logger to see if the 2.4GHz channel is turning off when we're not using the network. When you power cycle the router the system logs are erased. However there may be a way to keep them:

 

Goto http://you.router.ip.address/debug.htm and Save the Debug Log. It might have something that can be used to diagnose the problem. There are options to 

- Start Debug Log Capture when boot up

- Enable LAN/WAN Packet Capture

 

You can add a USB device to store the LAN/WAN Packet Capture. 

 

This is unfortunately probably not something we can fix by adjusting something in the settings. We may have to factory reset the router, and re-apply a saved configuration file. It may be due to hardware age, power supply, DDOS attack, etc.

 

Message 1 of 6
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Nighthawk XR500

How was FW updated on the router? 
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
Be sure your using a good quality LAN cable between the modem and router. CAT6 is recommended.

 

How many devices do you have all connected? 

What kind of things are you doing when this happens? 

 

What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Is Smart Connect enabled? 

Is 40Mhz coexistence only enabled? 

 

Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and router been performed since last update?
Be sure to restart your network in this sequence:
Turn off and unplug modem.
Turn off router and computers.
Plug in and turn on modem. Wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on the router and wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on computers and rest of network.

 

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?

Message 2 of 6
drjason
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk XR500

Thank you for your questions. I think most of them are irrelevant other than the one about doing a factory reset.
The difficulty with diagnosing these problems is having a record of what was happening before the router stops responding, or having a watchdog that can power cycle the router when something goes wrong.

 

Message 3 of 6
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Nighthawk XR500

Maybe however are important to help you find the problem and help us help you with what maybe happening. Not giving details doesn't help your cause. Reason why the forums are here and we are here as users to help each other out. At this point it could be anything. I would think you would want help to "find a solution". Power cycling the router every so often only masks the real problem. Routers should not need any reboots or power cycling frequently. IF they do, the problem needs to be figured out and solved. 

 

Message 4 of 6
Netduma-Fraser
NetDuma Partner

Re: Nighthawk XR500

It would be easier if you could quickly grab the logs from the System Information page once 2.4GHz turns off - also try making a guest WiFi network for 2.4GHz, does that then also turn off when the main network does?
Message 5 of 6
drjason
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk XR500

Grabbing the logs is part of the plan. A guest WiFi network is already created on the 2.4GHz network.

Still waiting for it to occur again...
Message 6 of 6
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