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RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Kicks10
Guide

RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

I have had the RAX120 for about 7 months now with no issues. I started working from home three days ago with no issues. Then yesterday and today all day my router would stay connected but lose Internet. With the app I was able to remotely check internet speeds which I still had at the router 250 mbs but zero internet at my computer and wifi devices. I would reset the device and everything would work again for about an hour and half until it did the same thing. I have to work so all day yesterday and today I've been resetting my router. I went on the Netgear website and updated to the latest firmware today and change the 2.4ghz and 5 GHz channel to the recommended channels. I reset the device and thought everything would be fixed. However, I've now reset my device two more times and am growing in frustration. I turn to all of you. My internet is working on my hard wire devices such as my home server which gets routed through this router. I still have signal on my devices just no internet. Can someone help with what's going on?
Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 1 of 97
Dameek
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

About four days ago I started experiencing the exact problem you are having with my RAX120. I usually have to reboot sometimes 5 times a day. Up until this week it has performed flawlessly.
Message 2 of 97
JLinc
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

My router has been doing the same thing for the last 2-3 days, having to reset at least 3-5x/day. Was about to return it to Best Buy until I saw these posts.

Has anyone reached out to Netgear yet? Is this a firmware issue, or something else? I even changed out my cable modem (was over 3 years old) with no luck, still having to reset periodically.
Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 3 of 97
gregonometry
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

For what it's worth, I think I've found the cause of this on my router. I've had my RAX120 a few months now and haven't had a problem. Like most other posts on the subject my issues started happening early March. I saw another post about firefox switching the default protocol to DNS-over-HTTPS (https://www.computerworld.com/article/3529424/firefox-starts-switching-on-dns-over-https-to-encrypt-...) and tested it using the routers Default DNS server settings. Sure enough, soon after having a couple pages open in Firefox all DNS was broken and thus the 'internets' were unavailable. 

 

I left the setting enabled in Firefox (and stopped using it for now). I switched my default to Chromium Edge and the network has been solid for 24+ hours vs. the 1-2 hours I was getting. 

Currently my firmware is rolled back to 108 and it's been solid. After another 24 hours I'll go back to 114 with 118 hotfix. 

 

 

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 4 of 97
gregonometry
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

I should also note that my DNS servers are set to cloudflare right now. 1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1

Message 5 of 97
Kicks10
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

I did notice I was on Firmware version 114 and I added the hotfix 118. I have not tried rolling back yet. My DNS is 75.75.75.75, 75.75.76.76. I do not use firefox, just chrome. I'll roll back my firmware and see if that helps.

Message 6 of 97
Kicks10
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Interesting article. I wasn't using Firefox so I didn't start reading this right away, however, I read it and found this quote.

 

"Google has been testing this "same provider, auto upgrade" approach since 2019, but has not yet spun it to the entire Chrome user base. According to this document, Google plans to do so with Chrome 81, currently slated to release March 17."

 

On the same day I started having issues.

Message 7 of 97
gregonometry
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Oh interesting, I thought Google wasn't going to do that.

 

Also I forgot to mention that for me, TOR browser never stopped working for me.

Message 8 of 97
MAG39Marine
Aspirant

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Same here...2 - 3 days ago family started complaining that their wireless XBox, iPad and iPhone would drop Internet yet my wired dock contiuned to work fine.  Cycling the RAX120 a couple times a day now.

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 9 of 97
Kicks10
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Interesting so far today. I am still running the latest firmware and hotfix 118. I set my DNS to 1.1.1.1,1.0.0.1 and had no reset issues all day until about 45 min ago when my router completely reset itself back to factory (first time the router did this). I will keep it as default for now and report back. 

Message 10 of 97
JLinc
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

My router literally just reset to Factory Default around the same time as yours. Not exactly sure what’s going on here. Still running Firmware 1.114 when it happened, have held off pulling down the 118 Hotfix after rebuilding my setting. Any ideas?
Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 11 of 97
gregonometry
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Mine did that sudden spontaneous factory reset last night around 10pm PST. Also, in case there's a common thread my provider is CenturyLink.
Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 12 of 97
Newfiedrool
Virtuoso

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Perhaps the internet is under a bit of pressure at the moment with many working from home.

ive noticed some disconnects, I can see the logs show multiple disconnects and reconnects before the connection goes stale. 
as my issue is only recent and reading about companies like Netflix lowering data I would say my issues relate to my isp and the pressure on their network. 

Message 13 of 97
JLinc
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Mine occurred on Comcast.
Message 14 of 97
Kicks10
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

I have Comcast but I don't think that's the issue because I was able to test remotely at the router using the app and see that I still had internet hardwired just not with WiFi. I also have a small home nas that was still online and hardwired. Since my router factory reset itself, I have not had any issues. I'll report again after a full day of testing.
Message 15 of 97
Jeremyd75
Tutor

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Same problem I am having since late last week having to reboot router 2-3 times a day funny thing is though the fire sticks stream fine alexas work but no laptops no cell phones no playstations can’t understand how that works but it’s annoying and if anyone can figure out how to fix it I would sure appreciate any help that is
Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 16 of 97
Dameek
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Whenever my RAX120 looses it's Wifi connection I turn on my VPN on my phone and laptops and they have a connection. If I turn off the VPN no connection, then I need to reboot the router.
Message 17 of 97
Milehidrew
Initiate

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Same problem here as well! My router worked perfectly since purchase at the end of November. Saturday morning 3/22 woke up to a dead network. Rebooted router and it seemed to fix the problem - for about an hour and a half. Rebooted another 6-7 times to keep the network functional, but definitely not acceptable for a router this expensive. When we switched to gig fiber, I went with this router as Apple is no longer supporting their legacy airport setup and we needed something to handle the speed and traffic demands of our network. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one experiencing this problem, but what is the resolution going to be from netgear? Disappointed as my apple network NEVER crashed like this...
Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 18 of 97
Newfiedrool
Virtuoso

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

On the internet setup section issue it's set right and not on dial up. 
also as the internet is suffering at the moment would you think maybe the issues might be more to do with isp's.

in case though have you reset your router, setup fresh after using rear pin hole method.

 

 

Message 19 of 97
MAG39Marine
Aspirant

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Tried different DNS settings and reverted back to frimware from November and the drops continued.  Wired and wireless Microsoft laptops and most IoT's Internet continued to work fine while every Xbox (wired or wireless), iPhone and iPad would only go a few hours before the RAX120 need cycled.  7 hours ago switched back to an old, non-NetGear router and have not had any issues.

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 20 of 97
Kicks10
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

It looks like I've been stable and no issues since my router decided to factory reset itself. You can follow my steps above or just factory reset the router and report back. Let us know if that worked for you as well. I'm stable and on the latest firmware as of right now. Good luck all.
Message 21 of 97
JLinc
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

I’ve also recovered stability since factory resetting, updating firmware back to 118, and changing my DNS.

Only 1 semi-reboot (wasn’t the same as prior, Guest network remained up) in the last 48 hours. We’ll see, hopefully whatever network gremlins were plaguing my system have since moved on... 🙂

Hopefully there will be a firmware update soon to address these issues. Good luck everyone!
Message 22 of 97
gregonometry
Guide

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

Hey all, 

 

I've started looking at some of the global DNS issues that seem to be related to shift in network burden related to people working from home. It definitely doesn't explain spontaneous resets, but it does make a little sense for the network related issues. 

 

https://downdetector.com/status/cloudflare/map/

 

I'm hoping this all means as ISP's shift to adjust for more people working from home this will start to iron out over the next week or 2.

Message 23 of 97
ricachica82
Initiate

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset

I’ve owned this router for two weeks, and it has done this same thing to me, then factory reset on me twice when I unplugged it, forcing me to completely set up my router again from the beginning. I have gig fiber service with a static IP address. For as much as I spent on this thing, I’d hoped for more stability.
Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 24 of 97
Newfiedrool
Virtuoso

Re: RAX120 constantly dropping WiFi until reset


@ricachica82 wrote:
I’ve owned this router for two weeks, and it has done this same thing to me, then factory reset on me twice when I unplugged it, forcing me to completely set up my router again from the beginning. I have gig fiber service with a static IP address. For as much as I spent on this thing, I’d hoped for more stability.

there is an update here, download and install.

 

https://www.netgear.com/support/product/RAX120.aspx#download

 

Perform a factory reset after updating,  use the rear pin hole method and setup as new. Do not use a saved config.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message 25 of 97
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