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Forum Discussion
RAX80 time sync with NTP server and gaming
I have been reading MANY forum posts related to this, so I am now a tiny bit more knowledgeable. Note that I am a legacy developer, an old dog that can't learn new tricks. I am not exactly sure when this started, I don't think this has been happening since I started using this router.
I will try to outline what is happening and what I have found and any other information that might be relevant.
Had a Nighthawk X6 AC3200 and never had these problems.
Last year, we finally got 1G service. Never had problems with the X6 except for the coverage. So eventually we decided to upgrade even though the X6 was still going strong. Not my decision and didn't want to argue the point, if you know what I mean.
Bought the RAX80 last year also. It works great. Coverage throughout the house is amazing. No extenders needed.
FW version is V1.0.1.70_1.0.30 which I am pretty sure is the latest.
I can't remember when this started happening, I would say a few weeks ago. Note that I do not have any issues with any other connected devices, wired or wireless. I play a game on Xbox that requires a constant online connection. Many of the activities require a team, and players are penalized for leaving. The first time, you get a warning. The second time, you are banned from the activity for a set period of time.
The game keeps booting me out with a code that indicates loss of network connection. My Xbox is directly wired to the router, not using wireless. The IP address is manually assigned.
It finally dawned on me to check the router logs. 100% of the time that I am booted, I can see an entry in the router log, "Time synchronized with NTP server". This is happening a lot. I have copied to a text file and included the router log entry immediately before the event and the one after the event, if that helps.
In going thru the forums, I see that this is normal to occur in half the lease time. I found this information, and confirm that the lease is set to 6 hours. So this sync would occur at 3 hour intervals.
I think I also understand what this lease does. On the previous router, devices would accumulate, I assume because the lack of renewal time. I was okay with just rebooting the router weekly, no big deal.
The max number of devices on our network is around 2 dozen.
While I now see a pattern of time sync at every 3 hours, there are instances where it occurs within 30 minutes.
I will include the router log at the bottom, not sure if there is any security risk in posting this?
Is it possible to change the lease time? I would like to change it to 24 or 48 hours. I read something about using a telnet to the router but that seems scary, if there is no interface. Heaven knows what kinds of damage I could do.
Not sure if it matters but I also noticed that in the NTP settings, the box for daylight savings time is not checked.
What causes this sync to occur? Is it a device on my network requesting this? Not the 3 hour intervals, but when it occurs before the 3 hours has passed. There was one day when I just gave up and signed off because I got bounced like 3 times in 2 hours.
I am 99.9% sure that this lease time has nothing to do with my ISP.
I truly appreciate any input that anybody can give. I know nothing about networking, and don't have enough grey matter to understand everything that I have been reading :smileysad:
I really like Netgear routers, have had Nighthawks for a LONG time, but if I can't figure this out....besides Ubuiqity (tried that and failed), would anybody have a recommendation for another decent router?
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Monday, Feb 03,2020 09:20:42
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.6)] to MAC address D4:53:83:DD:E5:32, Monday, Feb 03,2020 09:10:21
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.3)] to MAC address B4:A5:EF:E0:36:62, Monday, Feb 03,2020 06:20:46
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Monday, Feb 03,2020 06:20:41
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.2)] to MAC address D4:6E:0E:4F:C7:86, Monday, Feb 03,2020 05:25:08
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.6)] to MAC address D4:53:83:DD:E5:32, Monday, Feb 03,2020 03:36:00
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Monday, Feb 03,2020 03:20:40
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.5)] to MAC address DC:71:44:60:0D:1A, Monday, Feb 03,2020 01:31:06
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.7)] to MAC address 68:DB:F5:E6:C3:44, Monday, Feb 03,2020 00:44:39
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Monday, Feb 03,2020 00:20:41
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.14)] to MAC address A8:54:B2:8E:88:DD, Monday, Feb 03,2020 00:20:29
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.8)] to MAC address CC:9E:A2:A1:0B:6D, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 21:51:02
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Sunday, Feb 02,2020 21:20:41
[UPnP set event: Public_UPNP_C3] from source 192.168.54.75, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 20:41:34
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.3)] to MAC address B4:A5:EF:E0:36:62, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 18:20:46
[Internet connected] IP address: 24.229.158.207, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 18:20:42
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Sunday, Feb 02,2020 18:20:41
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.2)] to MAC address D4:6E:0E:4F:C7:86, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 17:25:08
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.3)] to MAC address B4:A5:EF:E0:36:62, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 16:54:28
[Internet connected] IP address: 24.229.158.207, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 16:54:28
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Sunday, Feb 02,2020 16:54:27
[Admin login] from source 192.168.54.6, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 16:17:28
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.4)] to MAC address 00:04:F2:16:C1:B3, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 16:17:17
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.3)] to MAC address B4:A5:EF:E0:36:62, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 16:17:01
[Internet connected] IP address: 24.229.158.207, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 16:16:58
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Sunday, Feb 02,2020 16:16:57
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.18)] to MAC address AC:E2:D3:1D:95:6E, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 15:57:42
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.3)] to MAC address B4:A5:EF:E0:36:62, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 13:51:05
[Internet connected] IP address: 24.229.158.207, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 13:51:01
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Sunday, Feb 02,2020 13:51:00
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.5)] to MAC address DC:71:44:60:0D:1A, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 13:31:06
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.21)] to MAC address 9C:AD:EF:22:32:F2, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 12:10:02
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Sunday, Feb 02,2020 11:19:26
[UPnP set event: Public_UPNP_C3] from source 192.168.54.14, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 10:22:00
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.12)] to MAC address 74:DA:38:8C:59:02, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 09:25:42
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Sunday, Feb 02,2020 08:19:26
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.2)] to MAC address D4:6E:0E:4F:C7:86, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 05:25:08
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.3)] to MAC address B4:A5:EF:E0:36:62, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 05:19:29
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Sunday, Feb 02,2020 05:19:26
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.6)] to MAC address D4:53:83:DD:E5:32, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 03:40:05
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.18)] to MAC address AC:E2:D3:1D:95:6E, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 03:33:48
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Sunday, Feb 02,2020 02:19:26
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.10)] to MAC address 14:2D:27:8B:44:49, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 02:00:39
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.21)] to MAC address 9C:AD:EF:22:32:F2, Sunday, Feb 02,2020 00:10:03
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Saturday, Feb 01,2020 23:19:25
[UPnP set event: Public_UPNP_C3] from source 192.168.54.75, Saturday, Feb 01,2020 22:35:59
[UPnP set event: Public_UPNP_C3] from source 192.168.54.75, Saturday, Feb 01,2020 21:28:54
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Saturday, Feb 01,2020 20:19:24
[UPnP set event: Public_UPNP_C3] from source 192.168.54.75, Saturday, Feb 01,2020 18:09:54
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.3)] to MAC address B4:A5:EF:E0:36:62, Saturday, Feb 01,2020 17:19:29
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Saturday, Feb 01,2020 17:19:24
[DHCP IP: (192.168.54.10)] to MAC address 14:2D:27:8B:44:49, Saturday, Feb 01,2020 16:51:16
And from the game's help site for the error code that I get:
Please note that a temporary drop in your network connection will disconnect you from Destiny, but may not disconnect you from other services such as Xbox Live/Playstation Network and party chat.
23 Replies
Hmmm...looks like I might be wrong?
if I type ipconfig /all, my PC has a lease time of 24 hours.
But in the router interface, under Advanced, Connection status, that is where I am seeing 6 hours. I think this is obtained from the modem/ISP?
And FWIW...I've been playing this game for like 5 years now and never had issues before..
I purchased the RAX80 router in December, 2019 and have the same issues with disconnects. Coincidently, I have also been been playing Destiny/Destiny 2 on PS4.
I will randomly see "LAN Cable Disconnected" notification on PS4 and would be kicked out party chat/game and would have to log back into game. I don't remember having to log back into PSN though.
I'm not sure if this has caused dropped calls over Internet or only affects PS4.
I have been logging dates and times of disconnects, which would correspond with:
(These messages have also occured when not using the PS4...)
"[Internet connected] IP address: 73.40.116.112, Monday, Feb 03,2020 20:24:25
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Monday, Feb 03,2020 20:24:24"I upgraded from Nighthawk 1900AC (R7000). The RAX80 provides much better coverage at 5GHz speeds close to my 350 mbs download speeds throughtout the house. However, I did not have disconnect issues with Nighthawk R7000.
I have been in contact with customer support. I have tried restoring router to factory settings, flashed firmware, set up a static IP address, forwarded ports, etc.
I was told by customer support that the next step would be for Netgear to replace router. Not sure if this would fix the problem or would only be an inconvenience.
When reviewing some of my logs, I have seen a couple hours worth of logs replaced with this (have you seen this?):
Wednesday, Dec 31,1969 19:00:00
Wednesday, Dec 31,1969 19:00:00
Wednesday, Dec 31,1969 19:00:00
Wednesday, Dec 31,1969 19:00:00
Wednesday, Dec 31,1969 19:00:00(Repeated for several pages...)
I have seen those entries in the logs, pages and pages of them. I rebooted everything last night, modem and router. Today I have those entries again. Well, I did, anyway. When I looked at the log this AM they were the first entries in the file, but now they are gone?
I tested something this morning. I have a VOIP suppled by work as most of us are telecommuters. I also made sure I had Destiny 2 up and running on Xbox. My lease renewal time was at 10:31 this AM. At that time, I made sure I was talking to a coworker. The call did not drop and I was not booted out of the game. I had loaded into an area where I would not be alone (public event).
My connection status lease is set for 6 hours. I believe this is designated by the ISP. When this occurs on schedule, there does not appear to any issue. What appears to be a problem, is when this occurs at an unscheduled time, followed by the [Internet connected] entry in the log.
For example, there was a time sync event at 6:40 AM. The next time sync should have occurred at 9:40. But it didn't, it occurred sooner at 7:31, followed by [Internet connected].
i don't know what is the catalyst for the time sync happening at an unscheduled time, but whatever is causing it, appears to be the problem.
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 10:31:07
[Internet connected] IP address: 24.229.158.207, Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 07:31:08 <-- causes game disconnect
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 07:31:07
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 06:40:09
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 03:40:09
[Internet connected] IP address: 24.229.158.207, Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 00:40:10 <--- causes game disconnect
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 00:40:09
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 00:07:55At this point, I don't know what to think. I don't know if it is the router, ISP or modem. I have been using the RAX80 since around August 18th but haven't had problems until recently. Pretty sure that I had upgraded the FW just a few weeks ago.
Next step Is going to be calling my ISP. Perhaps with this information, they can at least point me in the right direction. I still have my old R8000, although I did a factory reset so I'd have to set it up again all over, etc. As a telecommuter that depends on connectivity for my livelihood, I am hesitant to be swapping things around.
I searched for [internet connected] and found this, could be useful:
Just got off the phone with my ISP. They looked at modem logs and performance, etc. and confirmed that there should not be any issues as described. There were no instances of the cable dropping, even though the router is logging [Internet connected]. They suggested that I update the firmware. I told them that I had just updated it a few weeks ago, right around the time that the issues started. So the next suggestion was that I contact Netgear and apprise them of the situation as this could be an issue introduced with the latest firmware update.
The problem is that I don't even know what firmware release I was on prior to this problem. Could have been 1.01.64, could have been .62 or even earlier.
I am going to download and update to .62 and see how it goes.
Will post the results in this thread.
It's been nearly 24 hours since I updated the firmware to a prior release, and this appears to not have done anything. I also changed the subject of the reply, since it doesn't appear to have anything to do with NTP sync. It appears that NTP sync occurs due to lease expire time, and to Internet disconnect. So the root cause is an internet disconnect that keeps occurring.
Here is the router log that has been generated since the FW change. There were no issues until this morning when the drops started occurring again.
[Internet connected] IP address:, Wednesday, Feb 05,2020 07:20:26
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Wednesday, Feb 05,2020 07:20:25[Internet connected] IP address: , Wednesday, Feb 05,2020 06:51:46
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Wednesday, Feb 05,2020 06:51:45[Time synchronized with NTP server] Wednesday, Feb 05,2020 04:17:53
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Wednesday, Feb 05,2020 01:17:53
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 22:17:53
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 19:17:52
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 16:17:51
[Internet connected] IP address: , Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 13:17:54
[Time synchronized with NTP server] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 13:17:51
[Internet disconnected] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 13:17:50
[Initialized, firmware version: V1.0.1.62_1.0.26] Tuesday, Feb 04,2020 13:17:33I have since been searching for RAX80 internet drop and RAX80 internet disconnect, and this appears to be quite a widespread issue among RAX80 owners.
At this point, I will likely go back to my old R8000 this weekend temporarily. I have a protection plan from the big blue store where I bought this, so I may return it and purchase another router (non Netgear), since there doesn't appear to be any kind of response or recognition from Netgear on these problems.
Just annoying to have unresolved issues like this on a $400 product.
This appears to be the same issue, and there are many more similar forum posts:
- I'm having exactly the same problem with the RAX80. Has anyone found a solution?
- Possibly the ISP dns having issues? I had issues with my isp’s dns that caused some disconnects. Started using smartdns as my #2 and #3 dns servers so if the isp dns faulters temporally I have a back up to keep things going. Has been working well thus far.
Same thing started happening to me this last week on my r7000. Approximately every 2 hours I get a NTP sync followed by disconnect, followed by reconnect in the router logs. I also have my router reports ddos attacks at the same time on occasion. I thought I had the issue resolved because some of the ddos attacks were directed at my NAS, and turning off UPnP resolved that issue. However I am still getting the NTP sync and disconnect almost every 2 hours on the dot. I had my ISP come out and check things out a few days ago while getting a second DSL line installed and they don't see the disconnects on their side and the DSL light on the modem stays solid. They swapped my old DSL modem that was PPoE for a newer modem that uses DHCP. Issue still persists. I had a second DSL line connected for my wife to work at home which is using an old apple airport extreme AC router and its solid. Have not had a drop with it in the 3 days since it was it was connected. the r7000 drops out for approximately 1 minute every 2 hours and comes back online. I was on an older firmare, but updated last night to the most recent firmware and the issue persists. I think this is Netgear issue. Hopefully they can get it figured out.