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Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

BmoreBateman
Guide

XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

 

Hey everyone,

 

I have been banging my head against the wall the last few days. I have been having a issue with my XR500 that I have had for awhile now. I cannot seem to keep my wifi speeds stable. Temp fixes are to disconnect my phone from the wifi and reconnect it to start getting it to work for 20ish min.

 

2 nights ago I went ahead and reset my router completely and set it up from scratch. I did a channel scan to make sure I am not over lapping anyone (I am now the only one on the specific channel). Yesterday I was getting about 500-600Mbps and thought it was solved but I awoke this morning to it going back down to under a 1Mbps. I have toggled QoS off and on, no devices are in Geo-Filter, No DMZ host and UPNP is turned on. 

 

Please help!

 

edit: forgot to add 

I have Gigibit Fios without a router so I dont have to worry about their device having wifi turned on. all wired devices do not seem to have a issue.

Firmware version XR500 V2.3.2.56

Model: XR500|Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 1 of 24

Accepted Solutions
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Great News! I rolled back the firmware, replaced the power cord because it randomly went into a boot loop on .32, Moved the router in a Upstairs closet on the other side of the floor... everything has held stable. I even updated the firmware to the current version Friday night. Everything has held strong in that time. I'm saying I was either getting really bad interference where it was at or the power cable was failing and wasn't providing enough power.

View solution in original post

Model: XR500|Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 22 of 24

All Replies
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

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

 

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only.

 

Is Smart connect enabled or disabled? 

Message 2 of 24
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Hey thanks for the reply. I have done a channel scan and verified that channel 8 was empty on 2.4Ghz so I'm using that, 136 on 5Ghz. I live in a townhome complex so i have alot of people near by. I can see 40 devices when I did my Channel scan.

 

Beamforming was on by default and i toggled the 20/40 Coexistence with no success.

 

Smart connect is on currently.

Message 3 of 24
Netduma-Fraser
NetDuma Partner

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Just to confirm your disabled QoS completely from the Anti-Bufferbloat 3 line menu and still suffering from slow speeds? What speeds do you get when you're using a wired connection? Disable smart connect and connect to 5GHz manually, are the speeds still slower?
Message 4 of 24
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Yes I disabled QoS completely.

 

I am normally pulling 850Mbps from Fast.com on a wired connection

 

I just got home and disabled smart connect and wow im seeing such a difference.when its on, sometimes not loading pages to the best of 30Mbps (not consistant) and when its off I am suddenly getting 640Mbps.

 

Why would smart connect/my 2.4Ghz be having such a issue? its the only one in its channel and i see this on the channel wireless scan 

 

Channel 4; Rssi -16; Noise -87 and 40MHz (coexistence is off at the moment)

 

Message 5 of 24
Netduma-Fraser
NetDuma Partner

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Ahh that's great news. Some devices don't work well with the automatic switching that smart connect offers. It could also be that the router isn't detecting the proper bandwidth needs of the device. Definitely keep it off. 2.4GHz should now work better but you won't get as high speeds but it's good over long distances. 5GHz should get you much higher speeds but works better over shorter ranges.
Message 6 of 24
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

So I left this open to see if it was long term fixed, It is not. it happened once again and it looks like the router just completely stops working with the 5GHz network. I disabled the Smart Connect and had everything connecting to it manually. It eventually just got to the point that I could see the network but everything kept failing to sign in (kept saying the password was incorrect) and When I opened it Completely so there was no password, It just kept failing to connect. I then reset the the router using the button on the back again and left it default it just stops working with the 5GHz channel. I tested this by connecting my range extender and told it to use both the 2.4 and 5GHz but it cant connect to the 5GHz channel at all.

Model: XR500|Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 7 of 24
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

attaching image to show no devices are on a 5GHz channel

Model: XR500|Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 8 of 24
Netduma-Fraser
NetDuma Partner

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

That's really strange. Could you provide a screenshot of WiFi settings - specifically the 5GHz section as well as the advanced WiFi settings please?
Message 9 of 24
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

This is after a Complete flash of the firmware. I downloaded the .img from Netgear and everything currently default. So far it seems to have held for 2 days. everything is currently default out of box even with the smart connect on. Im hoping that is the issue and I just had bad firmware. I will wait another full day and then star changing the settings from the default.

Model: XR500|Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 10 of 24
Netduma-Fraser
NetDuma Partner

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Okay keep us updated please! If it happens again please also include a screenshot of the Advanced WiFi Settings in the Advanced Settings tab.
Message 11 of 24
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Still no luck, one again all my wireless devices have stopped working.. I was trying to Check on my Nest and Home camera and once again, everything has been kicked off the 5GHz channel and the 2.4GHz channel is barely moving. I had this just over a year so I'm out of warranty. I expected this to last a few years, I cant afford a new router right now.

Model: XR500|Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 12 of 24
Netduma-Fraser
NetDuma Partner

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Could you disable Beamforming, MU-MIMO and HT160 please. It may be that your devices don't support those properly. If that starts working then re-enable Beamforming and MU-MIMO but leave HT160 off.
Message 13 of 24
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Yeah even with Beamforming, MU-MIMO and HT160 off, Im slightly getting better speeds but nowhere near what I should be getting. Computer speed tests are at 860-950Mbps. All mobile devices seem to only pull 12-20Mbps. 

Model: XR500|Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 14 of 24
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Hey @Netduma-Fraser - Would it help if I make a Unlisted Youtube of me making all the changes and the results? I can do it after work tonight. It will be a terrrible cell phone video because I need to show the wifi devices results. I am seeing alot of people having the same issues with 5GHz and want to help weed this out. I cant really afford to go with a new router so I'm locked in on getting this fixed.

Model: XR500|Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 15 of 24
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

What are you speeds if you disable Smart Connect and enable Beamforming only. Ensure WMM is also enabled. 

Test speeds with 2.4Ghz radio disabled. 

 

Wifi devices will not see anything near 900Mbps. They will max out at around 400-500Mbps for those devices that support such speeds on 5Ghz with AC mode connection. 


@BmoreBateman wrote:

Yeah even with Beamforming, MU-MIMO and HT160 off, Im slightly getting better speeds but nowhere near what I should be getting. Computer speed tests are at 860-950Mbps. All mobile devices seem to only pull 12-20Mbps. 


 

Message 16 of 24
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

@FURRYe38 Hey there, Im At work at the monent but the issue seems to be larger then just speeds lately. I will try this tonight but in the problem I am seeing is that I make a bunch of adjustments or Completely reset my router. it will work amazingly once I do this. 250-500 wireless speeds and consistant with 5GHz and about 150 on 2.4GHz (I have smart connect off). Wired has always had no issues so I dont think its anything with QoS. But unfortunately after 3 days the 5GHz is no longer letting any of my devices connect and 2.4GHz is down under 1Mbps of speed. Wired still holding strong.

Message 17 of 24
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

 

Also you might want to try downgrading to v32 and see if making any suggested changes doesn't resolve this issue. 

 

Message 18 of 24
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

I live in a townhome complex with a ton of neighbors. I have lived here over a year but the issue just started occuring. When I first started to have the issue, I did a channel scan and found the channels with the least number of people... unfortunately that doesnt seem to help.

 

I was considering a roll back tonight. I will try it.

Model: XR500|Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 19 of 24
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Ok, if you have a lot of other wifi neighbors near by, you can also reduce the power output of the radios on the router from 100% to say %50 persent initially and see if this helps any. Sometimes reducing the over all wifi foot print to interext with neighoring wifi signal less, can help. 

Message 20 of 24
Netduma-Fraser
NetDuma Partner

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

I don't think a video is necessary at this stage as I can understand the issue but thank you. Given what you've described do you have a lot of devices connected to your network? When you do a reset and the speeds are good could you see what the CPU usage in System Information is please? Then when it goes downhill check CPU again and see what it is. Do you have a harddrive or anything connected to the router USB ports? Try the downgrade as suggested above first and see what happens.
Message 21 of 24
BmoreBateman
Guide

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Great News! I rolled back the firmware, replaced the power cord because it randomly went into a boot loop on .32, Moved the router in a Upstairs closet on the other side of the floor... everything has held stable. I even updated the firmware to the current version Friday night. Everything has held strong in that time. I'm saying I was either getting really bad interference where it was at or the power cable was failing and wasn't providing enough power.

Model: XR500|Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router
Message 22 of 24
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

Glad you got it working better. Sounds like a bad power cable was faulty. Plausable signal noise as well. Hope the new location works better for it. 


Enjoy. Smiley Wink

 

 

Message 23 of 24
Netduma-Fraser
NetDuma Partner

Re: XR500 Wifi Slows to a crawl

That's fantastic to hear, glad it's all working now. Thanks for the update and well done on figuring it out.
Message 24 of 24
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