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Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

sgopal2
Star

RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Hello,

 

I've had the RAX120 for a few weeks now. Just upgraded to the latest firmware (V1.0.1.122) the next day after it was released. Before the firmware update, everything was smooth. But just about once a day, the router will crash. All internet traffic will freeze. Even when trying to directly connect to the router via wired (192.168.1.1), it will not accept a connection. These crashes typically happen in the afternoon or early evening (between 2-7 pm). Requires a power cycle for the router to come back online.


We have a large home, with about 15-20 hard wired devices attached at any given time, along with another 5-10 wireless devices. To manage this traffic, I have a 16 port gigabit unmanaged switch feeding into the router. I took my old routers and turned them into wireless bridges so that the extremities of the home had adequate access. The DHCP is turned off for the old routers, and all DHCP reservations are being dished out by the Netgear RAX120. DNS queries for everything on my network are handled by a Pihole, which is running on a small Raspberry pi. Internet is via Comcast with Gigabit speeds and my modem is Netgear CM1100 (docsis 3.1).

 

I looked at the router logs and modem logs. There were a bunch of DOS attacks, but from what I read on google, this is pretty standard for netgear routers. I'm attaching a copy of both logs in case anyone would like to have a look. I don't see any other pattern, and was wondering why I'm having nearly daily crashes. The only thing that works is to turn off the power to the router and then back on. Within a few minutes everything will be back up. During these crashes the modem lights are all green - indicating good signal.

 

This is becoming very frustrating. We have a family of 4 people all who need internet access for work/school. I'm thinking of returning the RAX120 for another brand router if this persists. Any advice would be appreciated.

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 1 of 31
Newfiedrool
Virtuoso

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Perform a factory reset using the rear pin hole method. Set up as new without using a saved cfg.

see if that solves your issues.

Message 2 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Thanks for the feedback. So it sounds like you think the culprit is the new firmware? Reseting to factory settings would go back to the original firmware. Happy to give it a try.

Message 3 of 31
Newfiedrool
Virtuoso

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

When you perform a factory reset it does not default to the original firmware. A reset clears out the Nvram of low level stuff.
normally it's best to perform a factory reset after an update but many don't but issues can pop up. 


Message 4 of 31
plemans
Guru

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

What I'd start with? 

A factory reset and manual reinstall. Any time theres an issue after a firmware upgrade, that's a goodl place to start. Potentially an old setting could be carried over improperly and causing the issue. 

Have you tried this? 

Message 5 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Ok thank you all. I'll do a reset later tonight and report back. Appreciate the prompt feedback.

Message 6 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Hello - I just reset the router using the pinhole at the back. Will keep a close eye and see if this fixes the problem.

Message 7 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Hello - quick update. After the reboot, the router has been running strong.

 

Uptime: 2 days, 14 hours, 31 mins

 

Will post again after a few more days. Thanks again everyone

Message 8 of 31
plemans
Guru

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

glad to hear its running strong so far!
Message 9 of 31
fcano42
Guide

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Same issue for me but it was rebooting with 1.0.1.108 so I updated to .122 and still seeing the issue. Reboots randomly.

Just reset the router with the pin hole reset and reconfigred all settings by hand (no loading of old backup config).

 

Will see if this fixes this for me too.

 

 

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 10 of 31
dcinca
Apprentice

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Today I was uploading about 500G files to my NAS over internet. It crashed a lot(at least 6 times today).

both .118 and .122, all confined manually.

without massive uploading, it was stable, only notice twice reboots before.

Message 11 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Hello another update here:

 

After 4.5 days of uptime, the router crashed last night. About the same time of day (5 pm). All lights on the modem and router were green. I tried to connect an ethernet cable to connect directly to the modem to see what was happening, but could not login to the modem config screen (192.168.100.1). I then moved the ethernet cable to the back of the router and was not able to enter the config screen (192.168.1.1) either.

 

So this required me to power cycle both the modem and router to get everything running. Checked the logs and nothing suspicious. Any other advice? This is getting pretty frustrating.

Message 12 of 31
Newfiedrool
Virtuoso

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

The logs unless you were able to look before the reboot will not show anything before a reboot of the router as it's reset on a power up.


check your internet settings are on always on and not on dial up.

 

Message 13 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

As I was perusing other threads, here is some more information that might help:

 

  • I have not observed any dropped Wifi connections, the crashes all have happend when connected via wire (Macbook Pro > docking station > router)
  • No spontaneous reboots by the router. I have to manually power cycle modem/router myself
  • I do use Firefox and was wondering if this might be the DNS over HTTP (DoH) issue. But I checked my firefox settings, and the DOH feature is not enabled.
  • Port aggregation on modem/router are disabled
  • Features which are turned off/not being used by me: QOS, USB Readyshare, Guest network, VPN, IPv6, VLAN, Traffic meter, Static routes, Dynamic DNS, Access control, keyword blocking

 

Message 14 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

@NewfiedroolThanks for the tip. I just checked the Internet setup screen. The "Does your Internet connection require a login?" is answered with a "NO".

Message 15 of 31
Newfiedrool
Virtuoso

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

What green lights are on your router?

Message 16 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Sorry, I meant green lights on the modem. The router lights are white.

Message 17 of 31
Newfiedrool
Virtuoso

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

I would remove the dock station just to see if that's an issue.

 

if it still does I would contact NG support and start a RMA. 

Message 18 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

@Newfiedrool: Thanks for the advice. It will be difficult for me to work at home without a docking station. As you know, the Macbook Pro has a limited number of ports, and I use the docking station to connect a bunch of peripherals (monitor, mouse, keyboard, printer, etc). There is no ethernet port on the Macbook Pro, so the only way I can get a hard wired connection is through the dock.

 

I see your point. But if the router continues to crash, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to return it. But I appreciate your advice.

Message 19 of 31
Newfiedrool
Virtuoso

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

I would still test without the dock just to see what's going on. 

what dock is it?

Message 20 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

The dock is a Caldigit TS3 plus (Thunderbolt 3) https://www.caldigit.com/ts3-plus/

 

 

Message 21 of 31
Newfiedrool
Virtuoso

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

What was your previous router that worked with the dock?

 

if it were me I would be testing the MacBook wirelessly without the dock to see what happens but I understand you are working at home and this is going to be an issue.

 

i take it you did a full reset after updating and a clean setup without using a saved cfg file.

 


 

Message 22 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Previous router was Linksys EA9500, worked fine with the dock. Also the crashes have occured when I'm not using the dock, and my kids were wired in through the switch. So I doubt its the dock.

Message 23 of 31
sgopal2
Star

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

Also yes, forgot to mention that I did a full pinhole reset and started from scratch. No cfg file.

Message 24 of 31
Newfiedrool
Virtuoso

Re: RAX120 Frequent Crashes

I would start a RMA if nothing cures the issue, possible hardware issue.

Message 25 of 31
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