XR500 disconnects from cablemodem multiple times per day

[Aaarrgh]

Every morning when I wake up, and once or twice additionally throughout the day, the router loses connection to the cablemodem.  I have both wifi and cat5/6 devices connected.  All can still access the network (both wifi and hardwire), but not the internet.  If I look at the cablemodem lights, the internet is showing up and ready, but on the XR500, I have the orange internet light.  I can still access the router admin page (again using either wifi or hardwired connection), and sure enough, it shows that the internet is disconnected.  

To fix it, I just have to momentarily unplug the lan cable between the cablemodem and router.  Internet is restored in about 5 seconds.  

For troubleshooting, I've done the following: 

1 - made sure cable modem and router are running latest firmware.  

2 - restore to factory the XR500.

3 - left all unplugged for about 15 minutes, then plugged in cablemodem, then plugged in router after internet was up.

Everything comes up fine, then the connection loss starts up within 4-8 hours.  

Also as part of troubleshooting, I've tried swapping out 2 other older, crappier routers in place of the XR500.  Both work just fine.  Neither one has had a single connection loss.  I tried a super old Linksys WRT54 (? I think) for 3 days, and I am currently using a D-Link DIR 825 that's been up with ZERO drops for 4 days.  No drops, but I have crap WiFI range / speed, no QOS etc.  Hence why I bought the XR500... 

Almost forgot, I have a PS4 Pro and a PS4 connected via LAN cable.  First I made sure they can't auto update at night, that didn't prevent disconnects.  Then I just unplugged the LAN cable completely AND turned them fully off (weren't used for about 4 days), and again, the disconnects kept right on happening, same frequency.

I spent a while on the phone with tech support, and am now awaiting a call back tonight... I've seen lots of other folks with this similar problem, but haven't seen any fixes other than the ones I tried above.  Seems like I probably have a bad router, but if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Thanks!

Network info:

Cox cable, 100MB connection, using Arris SB6190.  Latest firmware via Cox.

XR500 running 2.3.2.40.

Netgear 24 port unmanaged switch (I actually removed the switch from the network and went down to 4 connected LAN devices to see if the switch was causing disconnects.  The disconnects still happened with same frequency with switch in the network or removed from network).

[Netduma_Jack]

Could you temporarily downgrade back to the previous firmware and see if the issue continues: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/XR500.aspx#Firmware%20Version%202.3.2.32

That will help us to isolate the cause. Thanks.

[Aaarrgh]

Ok thanks for the suggestion.  I just reverted to the .32 firmware and put the XR500 back in service.  I'll let you know in the next few days how it's going.

[Aaarrgh]

Update: Router has been up with no disconnects for about 48 hours at this point.  

I'll keep watching for disconnects.  Do you know what's causing the problem?  And will it be fixed in the next firmware update after .40?

Thanks.

[FURRYe38]

Be aware of your Arris SB 6190 modem:

http://www.badmodems.com

Something to review. 

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@Aaarrgh wrote:

Every morning when I wake up, and once or twice additionally throughout the day, the router loses connection to the cablemodem.  I have both wifi and cat5/6 devices connected.  All can still access the network (both wifi and hardwire), but not the internet.  If I look at the cablemodem lights, the internet is showing up and ready, but on the XR500, I have the orange internet light.  I can still access the router admin page (again using either wifi or hardwired connection), and sure enough, it shows that the internet is disconnected.  

To fix it, I just have to momentarily unplug the lan cable between the cablemodem and router.  Internet is restored in about 5 seconds.  

For troubleshooting, I've done the following: 

1 - made sure cable modem and router are running latest firmware.  

2 - restore to factory the XR500.

3 - left all unplugged for about 15 minutes, then plugged in cablemodem, then plugged in router after internet was up.

Everything comes up fine, then the connection loss starts up within 4-8 hours.  

Also as part of troubleshooting, I've tried swapping out 2 other older, crappier routers in place of the XR500.  Both work just fine.  Neither one has had a single connection loss.  I tried a super old Linksys WRT54 (? I think) for 3 days, and I am currently using a D-Link DIR 825 that's been up with ZERO drops for 4 days.  No drops, but I have crap WiFI range / speed, no QOS etc.  Hence why I bought the XR500... 

Almost forgot, I have a PS4 Pro and a PS4 connected via LAN cable.  First I made sure they can't auto update at night, that didn't prevent disconnects.  Then I just unplugged the LAN cable completely AND turned them fully off (weren't used for about 4 days), and again, the disconnects kept right on happening, same frequency.

I spent a while on the phone with tech support, and am now awaiting a call back tonight... I've seen lots of other folks with this similar problem, but haven't seen any fixes other than the ones I tried above.  Seems like I probably have a bad router, but if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Thanks!

Network info:

Cox cable, 100MB connection, using Arris SB6190.  Latest firmware via Cox.

XR500 running 2.3.2.40.

Netgear 24 port unmanaged switch (I actually removed the switch from the network and went down to 4 connected LAN devices to see if the switch was causing disconnects.  The disconnects still happened with same frequency with switch in the network or removed from network).

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[Netduma_Jack]

I'm not sure unfortunately. It could be something to do with the switch inside the router. NETGEAR will probably be keen to get a debug firmware over to you to test. Would you be happy to work with them to find out the cause? No problem if not.

[Aaarrgh]

Yeah, thanks, I noticed that as well during the whole troubleshooting process. I ran the dslreports puma test, and did not get any red boxes or indication anything was wrong. Not sure if that test is fool proof or not though.

[Aaarrgh]

Ok so bad news, the disconnects have started up again. Two so far, first one happened last night sometime, and again this morning. Like before, just unplugged LAN cable between modem and router, plugged in, and it worked immediately.

So if there's a test firmware or something I'm happy to try it. I'm all out of ideas...

[Netduma_Jack]

Can we pass your email address onto Netgear so they can help you directly?

[Aaarrgh]

Sure thing. I have a case open but haven't heard back from them. Case 40961033
Thanks.

[Netduma-Fraser]

Great thanks, I'll escalate to the team.

[Aaarrgh]

I spoke to the level 2 tech, so far, only thing they had me change was the MTU setting. I'll report back with disconnect status though. Still running .32 firmware.

[Netduma-Fraser]

Okay great, keep us updated!

[Aaarrgh]

No luck, still getting disconnects.  Hopefully the tech support folks will have some other ideas.

[Netduma_Jack]

Have you contacted them directly again? Let us know if we can be of any help.

[FURRYe38]

Try downgrading to Version 2.3.2.22 or Version 2.2.1.10?

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@Aaarrgh wrote:
I spoke to the level 2 tech, so far, only thing they had me change was the MTU setting. I'll report back with disconnect status though. Still running .32 firmware.

---

 

[Aaarrgh]

Well, after a few calls, it looks like they think I have a faulty router. They are RMAing this one. I should have the new one on Friday.

I figure once I get that one up and running, I'll post back and let y'all know how it's going.

[Netduma-Fraser]

Okay good, keep us updated!

[Aaarrgh]

New router received and installed as of a few minutes ago.  I'll let you know if the disconnect problem is fixed.

[FURRYe38]

Hope the new router works. 

[Netduma_Jack]

Fingers crossed for you.

[Aaarrgh]

Well it was going strong for about 2 days. Then sometime Sunday night it died. Same problem...

[Netduma-Fraser]

Sorry to hear that, still looking into the issue

[FURRYe38]

Just curious, do you still have your prior router? Might try this as a test to see if the problem appears here. Rule out the prior router and modem. 

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@Aaarrgh wrote:
Well it was going strong for about 2 days. Then sometime Sunday night it died. Same problem...

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[Aaarrgh]

Well, the disconnects are still happening.  

Furry - yes I did try my old router for a while.  It works fine, with no disconnects.  The problem with continuing to use it is that the wifi range is absolutely terrible in comparison to the XR500.  The old router is a Dlink 815 or 825 or something along those lines.  

One other thing I noticed about the issue: if I go to Monitoring -> Statistics in DumaOS, I can see that the system uptime correlates to the latest disconnect. Again even while the internet is disconnected, I can still get to the router config page. I won't have any internet, but if I go to the monitoring page as described above, i can see exactly when the disconnect happened by looking at the system uptime. So it almost seems like some sort of router crash may be causing the disconnects, and the router cannot automatically recover the internet connection.