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Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Danewix
Tutor

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Get rid of it. They won't fix it and it won't get better.
Message 26 of 64
bizman
Initiate

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Set up new RAX120 (V2) on 06 Sep.  Noticed internet down for a minutes multiple times - originally throught it was the service provider.  The next day, 07 Sep, I kept getting knocked off of the internet and out of business calls where I was presenting.  I checked the router and it was rebooting.  When it happened again within the hour, I saw that it was the router rebooting again.  This went on most of the day.  I called support in the evening and they asked a million questions about what equipment I had on the network?  This should not matter.  I replaced a very old router with this new expensive one, and the old one never rebooted or had issues - with all the same equipment on the network.  They had me change a few settings and I hung up.  Now it's a new day - 09 Sep.  Sure enough, while presenting to a customer during a videoconference, I lost the connection.  It was the router rebooting again.  4 meetings in a row and dropped in all 4 meetings when the router rebooted.  Luckily, it does come back on within 3 to 5 minutes and I can get back to work, but this is SUPER frustrating.  I am already thinking I need to change brands.  I bought this because I am a huge Bitdefender fan and Netgear Armor is provided by Bitdefender. I thought it would be great to get an awesome new router to future-proof me for a while while also adding the security suite to the mix.  Netgear's Nighthawk app also keep crashing on my phone.  This is painful.  I may have to start looking for a new brand and figure something else out entirely.  I am seeing this issue all over, so Netgear must know about it.  

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 27 of 64
CylonRaiderOne
Initiate

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

So, when I first set up my RAX120, I did get some rebooting.  What was common each time was I was doing something in either the app or the extender app at the time of the reboot.  The logs were useless as they restart after each reboot.  My first thought was the app was causing it to work harder and it overheated, so I put a fan on it.  While setting up the fan, I decided to reseat all of the connections in the back of the router.  I noticed that the power connector had a really small "extra" space it could be pushed in, that I did not do the first time.  I pushed the power connecter in as far as it would go this time until the little "extra" space clicked.  Since doing this, I have not had a single random reboot.  For the 5ghz Wifi, I also turned off the protected space broadcast channels and left it in UNI1 space (channel 46).  So, it could have been that, the fan, or the power connecter reseating.  But, since, I have not had a single issue with it.

 

 

Message 28 of 64
mkhanshaw
Initiate

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Alright - With the help of these posts and my experience - I think I see the problem (literally see it).

 

So my rebooting started happening whenever additional load (anything over nominal compute) was happening...aka streaming (Video calls, Netflix vs Roku, etc). The additional load was creating heat. That, combined with a loosely mounted power port for the ac adapter appears to be the cause of the reboot. The loose powerport also prevents you from firmly inserting the male connector...and I could FEEL the heat around this area on mine.

 

Load/Temp triggers the safety reboot.

 

Although I did not take the time to disassemble my Router in an attempt to fix with a soldering iron (because my intent was just to return to amazon and be done), I DID relocate the router to a cold tile floor, add fan to conduct heat away from it...and what do you know....kept connection. 

 

All that said - Netgear: You lost a lifetime customer. I loved my AC1900 and the ones before it, but now, I cannot trust your quality control. Shame too because it seemed like a nice unit...even had a cool look!

 

If anyone cares, I moved to an ASUS AX6000 (RT-AX89X) dual band (dual band because thats really all I need, but wanted hella good range and strength) and the thing has been working flawlessly now

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 29 of 64
CylonRaiderOne
Initiate

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

So, after posting my previous post that I had conquered the random rebooting, the RAX120 decided to puke on me again.  So, it went back to the store for a refund.  I wanted to like this router.  I mean, it looks like Kylo Ren is routing my packets... great looking design but ultimately had way too many issues for me to keep it running.  I replaced it with an ASUS AX11000 ROG router.  Should you pursue a similar interest, you will notice a build quality in ASUS routers that Netgear just doesnt seem to have.

 

In a similar vein, I did decided to keep my Nighthawk EAX80 range extender.  That worked handsomely, and, synced right up with the ASUS router as well (SSIDS the same).  That is a great unit.  

Message 30 of 64
bizman
Initiate

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

In my latest call, support admitted the ongoing issues with AX120 rebooting. They recommended I return it and buy a RAX80 instead - they said they're not having any issues with RAX80. 

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 31 of 64
leebee1100
Aspirant

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

 

WHAT?! Guess where that tablet you threw in the trash is gonna go? Likely directly into a municipal landfill not too far from you, crushed and obliterated. every day it rains, remember that the lead and lithium and cadmium coctail of heavy metals are seeping right back into the water table that you (and your family and/or children) depend on every single day. Lead is unsafe at ANY level. There's no safe concentration of lead (among the majority of heavy metals, I cant think of one that isn't catastrophic upon ingestion into the human body). Look up lead toxicity and if you have an intact moral compass, you might feel guilty for throwing that tabet where you thought "...it belongs..." Please people. It is pathetically easy and FREEEEEEE to recycle electronics. Ya know that store you bought your electronics from and where you keep going to buy electronics to this day? Next time you're on your way to buy a new iphone or go to a verizon store or best buy or apple store, take your bag of electronic sh*t that you didn't recklessly throw in the municipal garbage system to that store and tell them to recycle it. For example, at the apple store, they literally have to accept any (safe) e-waste and will figure out how to properly dispose of it for you. It's free. I dropped off two old android devices, a metric ton of faulty charging cables, a few external USB battery packs that stopped working, and even a friggin printer at the Apple Store recently. 

Why do people think it is ok to throw a brick full of deadly heavy metals, including lead, straight into the trash can when their lazy ass could easily just take it with them next time they go to Best Buy or the Apple Store where they recover and RECYCLE those rare earth/deadly heavy metals. They're legit treated and processed like toxic waste because they are. You CANNOT throw away anything electronic, including cables and chargers, without being directly responsible for f*cking up the very water, soil, air, food ... etc that your children will depend on in the future just as much as you do now. thank you for your time. Sorry for the essay. Public service announcement

Message 32 of 64
ericwood73
Initiate

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Same.  Tried two routers with different ISPs.  Tried downgarding firmware.  I noticed the DoS logs so I disabled that in the WAN settings.  Nothing has worked.  

Message 33 of 64
jrgebbie
Tutor

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Disable wmm on 2.4ghz, you'll find it under qos in a different tab.
Message 34 of 64
beachmiles
Apprentice

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Disabling wmm on the 2.4ghz In the advanced setup tab under quality of service seems to have helped me quite a bit. The router has been up 12 hours straight where before it wouldn't last an hour. Hopefully this is a real fix until Netgear hopefully patches this major bug.
Message 35 of 64
TN_Dave
Tutor

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

I disabled WMM on 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz and didn't see a reboot for three days.   I reenabled WMM on 5 Ghz cause my speed dropped to 54 Mbps when disabled and 1200 Mbps when enabled.   It hasn't rebooted for five days but 2.4 gHz is down to 24 Mbps..  What a shame but most of the devices on 2.4 gHz aren't very demanding, 7 Alexa Dots, 7 Ring cameras, I do have a couple Roku devices on this too but I'll try to move them to 5 Ghz.  

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 36 of 64
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

So if you re-enabled WMM on 2.4Ghz, do the reboots happen again? 


@TN_Dave wrote:

I disabled WMM on 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz and didn't see a reboot for three days.   I reenabled WMM on 5 Ghz cause my speed dropped to 54 Mbps when disabled and 1200 Mbps when enabled.   It hasn't rebooted for five days but 2.4 gHz is down to 24 Mbps..  What a shame but most of the devices on 2.4 gHz aren't very demanding, 7 Alexa Dots, 7 Ring cameras, I do have a couple Roku devices on this too but I'll try to move them to 5 Ghz.  


 

Message 37 of 64
TN_Dave
Tutor

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

That was a good question, so I enabled 2.4Ghz WMM and within 30 minutes it rebooted.  I've since disabled it and hopefully it will go back to reliable but slow.  When enabled it ran at 340 Mbps disabled around 24. 

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 38 of 64
beachmiles
Apprentice

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Ya disabling only the 2.4ghz wmm seems to be all you need. Then you have to switch all the devices that need speed to the 5ghz band.
Unfortunately Netgears software regression test team did not test out the 2.4ghz behaviour and don't seem to care to fix this easily reproducible problem. I suspect with only 1 or 2 clients on the 2.4ghz wmm may work just fine. But if you have 3+ clients on the 2.4ghz or 2+ clients using a lot of bandwidth at the same time on the 2.4ghz with wmm enabled it tends to cause major system stability.
I've run for like 5 days straight with no reboots after disabling the 2.4ghz wmm so at least its decently functional now.
Message 39 of 64
beachmiles
Apprentice

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

I'm on the rax120v2 and can confirm the random reboots start again about 30 minutues after re-enabling 2.4ghz wmm and starting a large download on a 2.4ghz windows client. I was running for about a week with no random reboots with the 2.4ghz wmm disabled.
Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 40 of 64
jrgebbie
Tutor

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

I've had no reboots since 1/11/22when I disabled WMM. I have not re-enabled it to retest. Was purchased 1/9/22 and rebooted 2x a day every day until disabling WMM. Saw it on another post in the community.
Message 41 of 64
TN_Dave
Tutor

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

So I have Echo Dots and three Roku tv's on the 2.4ghz I'm wondering if it's any of those causeing the router to reboot with WMM turned on.  Two of the three Roku devices are on the far end and only get a good signal on the 2.4ghz band.  Does any one else with the reboot issue have Echo Dots and/or Roku devices on the 2.4 ghz?

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 42 of 64
beachmiles
Apprentice

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

I moved all my 2 echos and 1 echo dot to the 5ghz band and still was getting the random reboot with the 2.4ghz wmm enabled. So be sure to turn off smart connect so you can force your devices to use the 5ghz band. Probably want to forget the original 2.4ghz SSID name in those devices to be safe.
Netgear, please fix this terrible bug in the firmware.
Message 43 of 64
jrgebbie
Tutor

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

I have older firesticks on the 2.4ghz range. And my musiccast equipment. All works fine along with the 7 devices on the bandwidth with WMM disabled on 2.4. Pretty much only things on 5ghz are 2- 4k firesticks, 2-phones and occansional laptop
Message 44 of 64
kolia77
Initiate

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Disabling WMM on the 2.4 band did the trick. The speed dropped instantly but at least is stable. Support from Netgear was useless. They didn’t even know this was a big issue with this router and it seems like others too. I do have 15 days still with Amazon to return the router so I will do that. Already got an Asus router.
Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 45 of 64
User3030
Initiate

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Thank you for those who responded to this community thread!

Disabling QOS WWM on 2.4GHz wireless did trick for me as well, left enabled on 5GHz. Seemed to only be issue with WWM enabled on 2.4GHz when streaming or large file transfers on any device regardless if device connection was 2.4GHz or 5GHz.  Moved all devices that supported 5GHz to 5GHz or moved them to wired as well. Easy and acceptable work around fix actually, as no 2.4GHz device really needed faster streaming or large file transfers anyway.

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 46 of 64
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

jus about done with this router.  Consistently reboots randomly several times a week and, sometimes, several times a day.  It doesn’t look like there are any solution and Netgear offered only a couple of options then gave up.  I’ve also tried most if not all of the suggestions proposed here. Unless some one has come up with something recently, looks like I’ll be shopping for a new router. 

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
Message 47 of 64
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Did you try disabling WMM on the 2.4Ghz radio on the router. Others have reported that disabling WMM on the 2.4Ghz radio has tempoarily solved this until a FW fix comes from NG. 

Message 48 of 64
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Thank you for the suggestion.  Unfortunately, its been disabled for quite some tiome and the behavior of the router has been the same.  Going router shopping today.

 

Thanks again..

Message 49 of 64
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Rax120 v2 constant random rebooting

Try a factory reset or going back to last working version of FW. 

Message 50 of 64
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