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My Nighthawk R7000 -AC1900 router needs to be frequently rebooted. This just started about 2 weeks ago. It was working perfectly. We bought it less than 6 months ago. It might connect to the interet for a few days and then all the sudden stop. I have COX internet and have a ARRIS Surfboard modem and have a MAC. As far as I know nothing has changed in these 2 weeks to cause the need for frequent rebooting. I
I am wondering if there was a firmware update in the last 2 weeks that started this problem. Is there a way to see a log of when my firmware was last updated. I have also read about the Tomato Firmware.
Does anyone have any advice on what steps I should take to figure out this problem?
First, Sorry that this got to long. Please feel free to ignore and not read the whole thing. I just wanted to relay my experience and how I have the router behaving very well now.
So I have been plagued with this stupid problem to the point of where I started to look for a different router.
But I'm holding off because I seem to have the router cooperating a lot more by doing a couple of things every day or two, that seem to keep it operating just fine now.
I haven't HAD TO reboot it in a couple of weeks or so! THAT'S PROGRESS!
So first, let me say, I think that ONE of the major problems with this router and its firmware versions, is that it does not handle massive traffic very well, EVEN THOUGHT IT'S A 'GAMING" router.
For my gaming server (which I no longer run or bother with), I had a bunch of ports forwarded to my server's static IP. Being that these particular ports are well known for the environment I was running, there were constant attacks by :
Russia
China
and a few other countries where reporting bad actors was useless.
At one point, so that I wouldn't have to totally remove all the redirects, I just put in a fake IP that went no where on my network, so that any attacks to any of those port ranges would just go to that fake IP.
I also set up huge ranges to redirect attacks to there as well... THAT WAS A MISTAKE!!!! That's because the router would STILL try to process the requests rather than just ignoring them.
I would notice my entire network starting to grind to a halt , so I'd check the logs and see hundreds of attacks, trying to get into my server. From Remote Desktop attempts to DoS attacks to port hammering, etc.
I'd have to reboot my router and the modem that connects me to my ISP. Doing so would get me a new external IP as well as clear the cache in the router. I would also clear the logs, apply and refresh to clean that up.
Sometimes, I couldn't even log into the router and I would have to power cycle it.
I still have some ports open for my security cameras so that I can access away from home.
But with that, I still had the router choke up every couple of days.
I finally decided to REMOVE ALL PORT FORWARDING except for my cameras. Those are vital.
Well that settled things down A LOT!
However, then I would see those same countries trying to access my cameras.
So for those, I tightened up their passwords. At least it won't be easy for those BOZOS to monitor my cams.
But still, the router was not stable. Sure, it was a lot more stable, but I still had to reboot every few days!
To troubleshoot this problem, I have a Command Prompt constantly pinning google.com -t. When the router would start to get wonky, I'd see packets dropping from the ping.... INTERESTING.
Sure enough, in the logs, I would see attacks, including still, DoS attacks.
But something still didn't seem right.
So then, I added another command prompt window and constantly piinged the router's internal IP. I wanted to see if pinging outside my network to the internet would fail, but internal pinging was ok.
Sometimes, this was the case ,but other times, more often, when one would start dropping packets, so would the other! HMMMMM
So then, I powered up my laboratory computer, which sits right beside the router and is wired directly into it. This computer does NOT go through anything else, no switches, nothing. I also ran a command prompt, pinging the router as well.
Now, with 3 pings being monitored, I could get a better visual on where the breakdown is happening.
So now here is where I found what is in fact one of the biggest problems with this dammed router.
THE LOGS! Yes! THE FREAK'N LOGS!
What I discovered that as the log file increased in size, is when the router would start to get wonky!
I could see dropped packets on the external ping, then drops on this machine that pings the router (but it goes through switches). But sometimes, the Lab computer wasn't seeing drops!
But then, I'd start seeing drops on the connected Lab computer.
I started monitoring the logs closer but nothing unexpected was seen.
I did notice, however, that the drops were right around the time that the attackers were trying to get connected to the ports that I did have open.
But at other times, even with that, there was no issues.
I got into the habit of clearing the logs so I would get a clear picture each time.
It's then that I noticed, when I cleared the logs, within seconds, the dropping of packets stopped and the router settled back down!
I've seen this kind of file corruption in older software, but I would have thought that in 2020/2021 there would be much better routines to keep caching in check.
So, very long story short,
- remove any port forwarding that you do not NEED
- do not set up huge ranges of ports to forward to a fake IP (if you don't forward ports, the router will just ignore requests to ports not listed)
- clear the log daily (at least to confirm if this solves the problem).
You put that you need to reboot it but not specifically why. Just that the internet isn't working. Is it connected to wifi but giving you "internet not available" or what exactly is happening?
We just need to figure out if it truly is a router issue or a modem issue.
I've had an arris modem or 2 that would get hot and need the modem and router rebooted to function. Once we isolate the problem, then we can work on steps to fix it.
Here are the extra details I left out in my last message
The firmware I am using is V1.0.9.88_10.2.88
I am needing to reboot because I am loosing my WIFI signal. It usually starts out with my phone or computer asking me to enter to enter my wifi password and then it tells me it is wrong. Or it might ask me to select the wifi and both of my signals appear on the list of available wifis (2.4Ghz and the 5Ghz) but then it won't connect. I have been able to reconnect once I reboot the router, so I am pretty sure it isn't the modem. I did once try to only reboot the modem and that did not work I had to reboot the router.
Sadly, I'd start with the firmware. If you search the forums, the R7000 has had quite a few firmware issues. Even worse on the .88 version because of the rollout of Armor.
I'd try downgrading the firmware to the .42 version over a hardwired connection, factory resetting the R7000, and then doing a manual setup (not from a backup configuration).
This tends to have the best results with the R7000.
Totally agree. Netgear has taken a really great performing router and turned it in to garbage with their firmware updates. I bought one back when they came out and after the usual new product issues just ran. Was a put on shelf and forget. Now folks are rebooting them just to keep things working. I, personally would not own a router that I could not put on shelf and forget.
@Computersystoms wrote: I would upgrade to the r7450 I only had it freeze once and after just that one reboot it hasn't done it since.
The R7000, when its running decent firmware (big when), is a very capable router and will suit most situations. the R7450 runs a mediatek processor versus the R7000 is a broadcom. Its does rate a higher wireless speed but thats because its a 4x4 antenna setup versus the R7000 is a 3x3. Most wireless devices are 1x1 or 2x2 antenna arrangements. occassionally you find a 3x3. so you're not going to see a whole lot of overall wireless improvment. Mainly stability. But again, stick the R7000 on the .42 firmware, start with it factory fresh with a manual install, and its pretty stable. Just disable the auto updates.
I have had a similar problem of needing frequent reseting with the C7000 v2 Netgear router. I posted on this just a minute ago, but thought I'd reply here once I noticed this very similar issue happening on an R7000.
For what it's worth, V1.0.11.100_10.2.100 was released in April. For some reason, the router doesn't detect it when you check for an update on the router (it says no new updates), but if you navigate to the Support page, you can manually download it and update it from the downloaded file.
I've just updated about an hour ago. We'll see if it's any good...
I do believe I solved my problem. What I did was I rolled back the firmware to the version that ends in .44 I found the firmware on the Netgear websites and followed the directions I found online. I haven’t had a problem in 2 1/2 months. Good luck- I hope it helps
@stevieflower wrote: I do believe I solved my problem. What I did was I rolled back the firmware to the version that ends in .44 I found the firmware on the Netgear websites and followed the directions I found online. I haven’t had a problem in 2 1/2 months. Good luck- I hope it helps
I think he meant fw .42. Ive upgraded every fw past that but reverting back to .42 in the end. I just upgraded to 11.104 hotfix and it seems to be working much better than anything past .42. So far no issues for past 12 hrs and everything is stable! Hopefully this is the fw that everyone can be happy with (fingers crossed)
I also had this problem wherein I would get the small explamation point beside my wifi icon on my phone. It was really such an issue as I could not even connect to the network to remotely reset the router. I had to walk over to a different room and restart manually. I tried getting a cooling fan, which did not work. I tried changing to a different outlet thinking it was a power issue. We had to restart the router almost every 3 hours since we kept on getting disconnected. I tried updating my Firmware manually (since for some reason it doesn't show that there's an update on the admin interface) to 11.104-hotfix, but this didn't help either.
I can confirm that rolling back the Firmware to 1.09.42 has fixed the problem and I have not encountered any issues after doing this.
This router is a solid router. I have had it for almost 6 years, but the new Firmware updates just nuked its performance. Better to stick with something that works. The old firmware works fine. I just stick the router in a shelf and forget.
Thank you for the suggestion. This really was a great solution.
I have a newer router also and this just started happening a few days ago. I have to reboot my router every morning now. I have read all the posts here and maybe give the suggestions a try... or just wait until they release a new version that may fix it.
Roll back the firmware to this version - V1.0.9.42_10.2.44
Once I did that I haven't had an issue. Sucks as there are probably security holes as this is an older firmware.
Here's what I that fixed my issue.
1.) Downloaded the firmware and had it saved on my desktop so I did the firmware push via a network cable vs. wireless.
2.) Factory reset the router to wipe all settings out.
3.) Once logged into the newly reset router, did the manual firmware update that I downloaded above.
4.) Router rebooted.
5.) Setup my wifi network and anything else( I have a NAS and some remote stuff that I had to redo) and then went and added all my devices to the WIFI and all has been good since. (Did this over the summer so its been over 6 months solid).
Good luck and Netgear sucks for not doing something better to resolve this issue...
I am still on the older firmware that I rolled back to since Summer and we have 5 people on all day every day for work/school and it hasn't rebooted on its own since summer 2020. Keep us posted after a couple weeks to see what your results are.
issue is not that it reboots on it own, issue is that speed is dropping to 1/4 of the incoming speed (250Mbps). When rebooted the speed is 250Mbps again
issue is not that it reboots on it own, issue is that speed is dropping to 1/4 of the incoming speed (250Mbps). When rebooted the speed is 250Mbps again
