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Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

phoyte
Star

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

Thanks for the suggestion about the 120.  I checked on the prices and they are $120 more expensive.  Cant see spending that kind of additional money considering that i cant even trust in the vendor to provide a product that works. Thanks though.

Message 51 of 77
rabbs
Initiate

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

I have this exact model as well. Needless to say, I'm glad I found this thread because this exact issue has been driving me crazy. I can't watch any kind of streaming through my Chromecast or phone without video stuttering, and my wife can't use her work laptop's WiFi at all for some reason. I have a gigabit connection.

 

Eagerly awaiting a fix as it is past the point where I can return this thing. Extremely, extremely frustrating especially from a name brand company like Netgear.

Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 52 of 77
phoyte
Star

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

Here's the latest from Netgear support: they want me to DOWNRADE the firmware - this is after telling me to upgrade firmware to latest version - which its currently running.  WHat does this sound like?

Message 53 of 77
rabbs
Initiate

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

Thanks for the update.

 

At this point, I don't want to have to sell this thing to some other poor shmuck, but I feel like it has to come to that when we can't even perform basic work duties or watch Netflix on home WiFi (with a gigabit connection to boot). Netgear support seems to be non-existent and shovels off the duty to forums. 

 

Will certainly never buy another Netgear product as long as I live, or recommend it to the many friends who use me as tech support.  

Message 54 of 77
plemans
Guru

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi


@phoyte wrote:

Here's the latest from Netgear support: they want me to DOWNRADE the firmware - this is after telling me to upgrade firmware to latest version - which its currently running.  WHat does this sound like?


Its worth a shot at downgrading to an earlier version. The R7000 was/is natorious for running better on older firmware versions.  If you do downgrade, make sure to do it over a hardwired connection, reset afterward, and don't restore the backup configuration (if you made one). 

Message 55 of 77
phoyte
Star

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

Thanks.  Once they tell me which firwmare version they want I will do it.

Message 56 of 77
phoyte
Star

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

Apologies to all those following this thread.  I do no longer own the Nighthawk Rax80.  Returned for another router from a different manufacturer ( RT88U) and it works fine right out the box.  Getting speeds as expected and full functionality.

 

Could not spend anymore time on the RAX80 - changing firmware, downgrading firmware, setting parameters that dont exist, bafk and forth - not what I expected from a well know manufacturer.  No more netgear products for me.

Message 57 of 77
JimTheGreek
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

I’m sorry, I’m probably too late into this, and I may be way off base, but I was thinking....
Have you verified all your Ethernet cables are CAT5e? If any are CAT5, it’ll run at that speed, not at gigabit as per CAT5e specs.
Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 58 of 77
bmfkai
Star

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

It's pretty difficult to find old CAT5 these days. Personally I'm running CAT6 solid core to all the drops in my house (well below their rated bend limit) and CAT6 stranded to all my wired devices
Message 59 of 77
phoyte
Star

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

Thanks for the CAT5 comments.  The only cable I have access to is the one coming from the wall to the router.  Cabling is run from the outside to the inside wall which was done during the home construction back in 2015.  I can certainly use a cat5e+ cable from the wall to the router.  But if the run from the outside(main source from the ISP) is cat5 would it make a difference if i change the cable from the wall to the router?

Message 60 of 77
bmfkai
Star

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

You should only have coax or fiber outside. The health of that cabling can be roughly determined from the signal status page on the modem but if, on the router, you're getting the proper speeds then that's not the issue and changing your internal cabling won't make a difference.
Message 61 of 77
JimTheGreek
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

Probably not, but IDK how hard it would be to replace it by using current cable to pull new one. If you do, use the best all weather cable, one rated at CAT6, but use CAT5e connectors unless current hardware support CAT6.
Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 62 of 77
JimTheGreek
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

BTW chances are the outside cable is probably CAT5e since the enhanced standard was created back in 1999. You can verify this, probably, if you can “see” a small portion of the cable, it will say on it.
Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 63 of 77
JimTheGreek
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

True, most vendors use coax TO the modern, but he’s saying he’s using Ethernet cable FROM wall to equipment. Sounds like DSL.
Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 64 of 77
JimTheGreek
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

I agree if it’s coax. Now that I think of it I’m confused, even if it’s DSL, that cable is not Ethernet either, it would be regular phone cable!
Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 65 of 77
bmfkai
Star

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

Right, from the ped or pole to the house will either be coax, phone, or fiber. Unless it was a custom, janky job which is entirely possible. I've seen this more often than not. However, given the number of people with the same oddly behaving issue, it's very unlikely to be a cabling problem.
Message 66 of 77
djholt
Guide

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

I'd just like to chime in here. The issue originally mentioned, discussed, and troubleshooted is not relating to cabling (I'm using 100% fiber and CAT6, in wall and between devices). Many issues could cause slowdown, so it's worth clarifying.

 

This issue (the one originally discussed in this thread) is very specific to Ethernet speeds being reduced from ~940 Mbps to ~400 Mbps, and only when 802.3ax Link Aggregation is enabled on the RAX80. Disabling Link Aggregation will remedy the issue altogether without a second thought. Other, unrelated, slowdown issues are certainly possible with this device, but they should probably be relocated to a different thread, for clarity.

 

Thanks to everyone who is trying to help us out! I've still not heard any word from a firmware update to fix the problem (the problem is decidedly firmware at this point).

Message 67 of 77
bmfkai
Star

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

It's also been discovered that it's not singularly related to link aggregation. The speeds are normal for a time then drop by 50% or more across a number of different configurations which suggests a larger underlying problem.
Message 68 of 77
djholt
Guide

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

To my knowledge, other configurations may be changed to temporarily remedy the issue (until a reboot), even with LAG enabled. I have succeeded with this, and I have been able to keep normal speeds with LAG enabled for several weeks. Most of the reporters on the thread have claimed that disabling LAG will eliminate all issues, but there certainly could be other factors that contribute to the same, central issue. It's clearly not hardware, as I've been enjoying full speeds with LAG enabled for two weeks, without any hiccup (until my router needs a reboot).

Message 69 of 77
JimTheGreek
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

Sounds good! I hope I won't live to regret for staying w/Netgear.

So far my AX8 is awesome in every way!

Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 70 of 77
bmfkai
Star

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

My issue has the same end result but I've never enabled LAG. Mine involves QoS... the only time I can get full bandwidth (at least for a couple weeks) is with QoS enabled. Disabled I can only get full bandwidth for a day or so but in both cases, the speed is normal for a time then drops to sub 50% until I reboot and start over. I've even noticed at times WiFi will simply lock up for a seemingly random amount of time on 2.4, 5.8, or multi but that might be an entirely unrelated issue.
Message 71 of 77
JimTheGreek
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

I agree, but was just thinking, what if the other cable to one of the aggregation ports is faulty or just not up to specs?
I’m sorry, I have not read ALL the responses, so I could be wayyyy out on left field 😆
Model: RAX80|Nighthawk AX8 8-Stream WiFi Router
Message 72 of 77
djholt
Guide

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

Okay, interesting. I'm wondering if there couple be a couple root causes that have similar symptoms, or a few different configurations that produce problems caused by the same root issue. For me, I am able to fiddle with one of a few different settings, ultimately with the router configurated the way I want (LAG enabled, QoS disabled) and the router will work at correct speed for days, even weeks, until a reboot. This has allowed me to maintain a usable device long enough (hopefully) for a firmware fix. Sounds like your situation isn't nearly as workable.

Message 73 of 77
bmfkai
Star

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

Well I can either enable/disable QoS, which automatically performs a reboot. Or just reboot. I've been considering writing a script to just send a reboot command every morning until this is fixed. I've not fiddled with aggregation at all since I don't use it but I could always enable it for testing and see what happens. There was another solution to disable/enable WiFi but I believe this also performs a reboot so there's no way to know for sure if it's different than my QoS solution since they both have the same final step. Does enabling aggregation reboot the router? If so, there's another identical final step. This is what all led me to believe that there's some sort of memory or caching issue (hopefully not hardware) going on that's getting the router stuck in a lower bandwidth mode. Perhaps even an issue with it's switching when accommodating 10/100 devices on the network. Now that I think about it, I do have one 10/100 device on the network but it's connected through a separate gigabit switch. I didn't have any of these issues on an older router though. I only upgraded for WiFi 6 because I don't mind working through bugs to be an early adopter. All I know for certain is that there is clearly an issue and Netgear seems to acknowledge it.
Message 74 of 77
djholt
Guide

Re: Nighthawk RAX80 slow WiFi

From what you've described, I'm reasonably sure we're suffering from the same root cause. For me, the only workaround is to reboot the router while toggling one of the features you mentioned (QoS, wifi radios, etc.) off and then on, or on and then off. But, for me, the issue remains fixed until another reboot occurs. Enabling/disabling LAG does cause a reboot, so I leave that enabled and then toggle a different setting, like wifi radios. That does the trick. It's rather hard to trace exactly as a result of all the rebooting.

 

It seems to me (I'm guessing), that something is going wrong during boot/initialization, and some series of configuration changes is lending a lucky workaround. I'm sure there are a few possibilities that might work, and we've just randomly stumbled upon them. I'd certainly feel better if Netgear acknowledged the issue publicly and communicated that a fix is underway. You'd think they'd avoid a few returns by doing that, but they don't seem to have this wisdom (or perhaps they don't care).

Message 75 of 77
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