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Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

Lapidus
Tutor

Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

I purchased an AX4 router. All other devices in my home work on it fine without disconnection issues. My surfacebook 2 laptop constantly disconnects, be it on the 2.4ghz or 5ghz network. It is variable how long it will go without a disconnection. Sometimes a few hours, sometimes literally every five minutes. I cannot seem to find any correlation to what makes it disconnect. 

 

I can say that it does not do this behavior on any other network I use that computer on, and I have had this computer since Jan 2018 with zero issues. I have Win 10 updated to latester drivers and security patches. 

 

The driver per device manager is Marvell Avastar Wireless - AC adapter and it shows that the driver was from 5/18/2018. When I click on update driver it says its on the latest version.

 

Does anyone have any ideas? It seems like netgear and marvell have had issues for a while. Something I wish i knew before i shelled out $200 on this router which does not work on my main laptop. 

 

I have zero issues when I directly plug this computer into the router via ethernet cable. I have considered purchasing a usb 3.0 wifi modem for this but seems like overkill. 

 

Please any help would be forever grateful! 

Model: RAX40|Nighthawk AX4 4-Stream WiFi Router
Message 1 of 14
Christian_R
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

Hello Lapidus - Thanks for posting. Have you gotten a chance to disable/enable AX WiFi to see if there are any changes? Forgetting/reconnecting to the network is worth a shot as well. 

 

Looking forward to hearing back! 


~Christian 

Message 2 of 14
yddtime
Luminary

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

It could be this:

 

Latest Surface Pro 6 and Book 2 Updates Are Causing CPU Throttling and WiFi Issues

https://wccftech.com/latest-surface-updates-causing-cpu-throttling-and-wifi-issues/

 

Do Not Install Your Microsoft Surface's August Firmware Updates

https://lifehacker.com/do-not-install-your-microsoft-surfaces-august-updates-1837281948

Message 3 of 14
Lapidus
Tutor

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

Hmm. Just tried rolling back the driver. Will let you know how it goes. Re connecting and disconnecting the network. Didn't do anything. 

 

Will be hard to say if the old driver works right away. Just did it. Will give it a day or two (or until the first disconnection) and get back. 

Message 4 of 14
Lapidus
Tutor

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

Rolled back drivers. Tried forgetting network. Nothing works. This router does NOT work on a surfacebook 2 laptop and by the looks of other people posting on the internet, does not work with most microsoft surface products. 

 

I am going to have to buy a usb wifi card to get this to work since I do not have money to buy a mesh network as I spent it all on modem + router already.

 

Would be nice if netgear would comp all surface owners a usb wifi card. Or at least warn on the box that the devices are not compatible with surface products. 

Message 5 of 14
Christian_R
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

Hi Lapidus - I'd like for our support team to reach out to you for further investigation. If you're interested, please send me a message with your contact info. 

 

~Christian 

Message 6 of 14
EKol00
Aspirant

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

I have the exact same issue with my Surface Pro 6. 

Is there a way to resolve this??

 

thanks. 

Model: RAX40|Nighthawk AX4 4-Stream WiFi Router
Message 7 of 14
Lapidus
Tutor

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

i had to purchase a usb modem. annoying.

 

also the update microsoft pushed out a month ago or so helped a little bit

Message 8 of 14
nenge
Aspirant

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

Same issue with the Surface Pro 5. Very frustrating.

Message 9 of 14
Christian_R
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

Hi nenge, 

 

Have you gotten a chance to check to see if your Surface Pro 5 is due for a WiFi driver update? 

 

Christian 

Message 10 of 14
Gumle
Aspirant

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

So, a couple of hours ago I made another thread facing the same problem with a Surface Pro 4. I was told to try connecting to the router's guest network with no security enabled. It helped, and I am now pretty sure, that the WPA2-PSK is the trouble for my Surface. However, WPA2-PSK worked fine on an earlier Netgear WNDR4000. 

It seems as though, the Marvell Avastar is not a favourite on the internet, and this is not the first problem people face. I would like to find a solution, though. A nonsecured network doesn't seem like the way to me. But give it a try and see if it works - maybe it can be fixed if it is a specific problem with security.

Message 11 of 14
nenge
Aspirant

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

Thanks - yes, I am fully up to date on firmware/drivers for the tablet and router.
Message 12 of 14
CrowchildBob
Initiate

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

I have the same issue and I don't think it's an issue with WPA2-PSK, since that security worked perfectly fine on my Apple AirPort Extreme router. If it is an issue with WPA2-PSK, it has to do with how it's implemented on the RAX40.

 

I replaced the AirPort Extreme with the RAX40 and noticed a significant performance improvement. I have iPads, iPhones, Samsung Mobiles, Macbook Air laptops and Lenovo laptops connecting to the RAX40 without any issues. It's the three Surface devices (SP3, SP4 and Surface Book 2), all with the Marvell AVASTAR WiFi & Bluetooth chip that are having issues when connected to this router.

 

There seems to be some finger pointing going on here. Microsoft is saying there are no issues with their drivers (and to be fair, they connect properly to virtually all other WiFi sources). Netgear is saying there are no issues with their RAX WiFi 6 devices. Yet there is something going on that is causing the issues.

 

My solution will be to bring my AirPort Extreme back into service. I'm going to config it in bridged mode, connect it to RAX40 using a network cable and set up an SSID on the Airport Extreme. The Surface devices will connect to the WiFi from the AirPort Extreme, all other devices will connect to the WiFi on the RAX40. This will stay in place until the issue is resolved. Not ideal, but it should work. I'll post an update once I get this config up and running.

 

Model: RAX40|Nighthawk AX4 4-Stream WiFi Router
Message 13 of 14
KRYPTOS
Initiate

Re: Constant disconnects on Surfacebook 2 AX40 -

I have the same issues as everyone here by connecting to multiple Surface pro's at work to the Netgear AX4 and noticing the Marvell card struggling with the AX4. 

 

However, with different routers at different locations, all routers were AC 5 Ghz standard had no problems. It is only with the AX4 we are getting incompatibility issues with the Marvell AC wifi issues. I would point the finger at AX4 here. 

 

One of the solutions presented in these forums as above user said was turning off network security. However, that should not be an option as it is not feasible in the long term due to obvious reasons. I did play with the "long preamble" to "short preamble" setting and it worked for 5 minutes then suddenly it didn't. I really think its a signal issue between the card and the router, where the router can't adjust. 

I will solve this problem by going back to my TP Link AC router that seems to work every single time or the free ISP routers provided by the ISP.

 

If anyone finds information on how to solve this, because I've tried everything, patches, firmware updates on both router and surface pro 4, nada; please post your findings here. Otherwise, I will be ebaying my AX4 to some unfortunate soul.

 

Sincerely,

 

K

Model: RAX40|Nighthawk AX4 4-Stream WiFi Router
Message 14 of 14
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