I wouldn’t hold my breath to get a response. Netgear has been terrible on supporting this product. I opened a Case 2 months ago and they have been silent on resolving this. They last responded to me about a month ago.
I’ve since moved on to TP-Link. It’s been solid. Unfortunately I can no longer recommend to anyone to use any Netgear product. The TP-Link comes with a 2 year warranty and lifetime built in Network level Anti-Virus and Anti-malware protection.
Well actually I’ve already returned the router back to Costco because I realized that your company does not care about it’s products or ‘it’s customers or it’s consumer base.
Thanks, I returned it this morning. Costco took it back and didn't even question it. I told them the problem and I was recommended to next time return it to Costco instead of trying to get Netgear to fix it.
Is there a reason that this won't upload using the Netgear Admin "Router Update - Browse" function (using a wired connection, of course)?
Does this hot fix need to be applied ONLY via your Tftpd64 software? The release notes don't indicate that Tftpd64 is required, and Tftpd64 is a whole lot more complicated, with many steps for regular users to navigate. Tftpd64 seems like an unnecessary stumblinig block.
I tried the TFTP method. It wouldn't work for me, even after I factory reset the router and a clean install of windows.
The router never initiates the upgrade. It's almost like the user does not have access to write in that partition. Hard denial and reboot so you cant access the logs or any elevated privilege.
I am guessing they are building the firmware based on a similar router (R8000) but the firmware writers are failing to change a line of code involving the identification of the device. So when the firmware updater sees its designed for an R8000 and not the R7960, the firmware does not install. However, this is ridiculous Netgear's troubleshooting team can't figure out the issue. I wonder if my data gets stolen, I can hold them liable for failure to provide a secure a device with known data breach issues.
Im not sure what the issue is. But at one point Netgear support advised me to load the firmware for the R8000P. I attempted it and it failed. They wanted me to load the R8000P’s firmware and after rebooting to load the latest R7960P firmware. But the router would not accept the firmware of the R8000P.
Ultimately I had to give up. The router was constantly dropping connections on the 5GHz bands. So I went with another brand. This was the second router that Netgear ruined because of firmware updates.
Have YOU actually tested this firmware hot patch on an R7960P router? Has anyone at Netgear ACTUALLY tested this firmware patch on a R7900 or R7960P router?
If your techs are experiencing inconsistent test results, i.e. it works for some R7960P routers, but not others, or not every time, I'd like to offer my router as a sample of one that DOES NOT accept Netgear's firmware patches. I am a technical professional, and can work with your tech's to execute tests. We can either set up a second, parrellel router and configure my problem R7960P in a separate subnet, to conduct repetitive tests. Once we have a solution, I'll even write the tech note to document the solution for users.
This has gone on for over four months, and it's well past time for Netgear to solve this problem.
My contact information is available in my profile.
Yeeeaaahhh.... I'm a network engineer with 15 years of experience and spent two hours messing with this which is too much. This is a case of very poor quality testing on rolling out firmware to EVERY model.
I will take it back to Costco this weekend to get full refund and look in another direction. Which is sad for Netgear too, they are losing out on three new additional customers as I was due to hook up some friends and family home networks that are working remotely and want better wifi coverage and also parental controls. I was about to recommend multiple Netgear products to them, but not now after this poor personal experience. I will use different products for myself and all friends and family in the future.
I watched this exact thread for months waiting, they did not respond in a resonable amount of time with an actual fix. The whole you can "try" doing the TFTP upload as a workaround was a joke.@DarrenM
I'm most dissapointed that this firmware is for security fixes and we can't get the patches! Grrrr...
Sure would have been nice if this had been thoroughly tested before putting a bunch of people through the pain of taking everything off the network and going through the motions because everything STOPPED working at the point where you said Un-Plug the router. When I unplugged the router my tftp Server Interface immediately changed to Loopback Local host so when I clicked on PUT, it was PUTTING to the Local Host address. Then the Orange light that supposed to come on solid then start flashing, NEVER started flashing, it went straight to bringing the whole router up. So there was never a time when I could get the TFTP even act like it was working. How can Netgear have a problem firmware for several months and NEVER even ackowledge that it has a problem, and NEVER takes the time to inform their customer's of ANYTHING. I believe that DarrenM was suckered into posting this crap online just to stop the complaints. The last Netgear Router I will ever purchase. The range on this router was only slightly better than a 7 year old router I was using before this one.
Model: R7900P|Nighthawk X6S AC3000 Tri Band WiFi Router
Yeah, it toggles to the loopback and you have to force it back quickly.
All efforts are worthless though... I tried it like a dozen times at various times with a continous ping going and know connection between tftp and router were fine. I had the same issue with the power light. Super annoying we are following a doc that isn't accurate for our model.
Did you buy from Costco? Just take it back.. which is super annoying, having the whole household down while you have to deal with it at the store.
For how much time we are spending on this, I think Netgear should be giving us a $50 or $100 credit or something.
Well, we may all be talking about different routers with similar problems (i.e. not upgrading to the "latest" March 2020 firmware version). I've seen references to the R8000, and others.
Taking this back to Costco is not that simple. I purchased this unit on sale (R7960R/Nighthawk® X6S AC3600 Tri-Band WiFi Router) last January for about $150.00. I can't replace it with anything nearly as fast, or with the same range, unless I go to a $250 to $400 unit. Costco is out of anything comparable, but is currently selling Netgear's their DUAL band AC1900 router for $179, and most other units are out of stock (e.g. TP-Link). Amazon's prices aren't much different ($230.00 for this unit).
Bottom line, my unit works fine, as long as no one hacks it because it lacks security patches, and I'm not willing to ante up $100-$150 more to get the same performance. I too, am probably using my last Netgear product of any kind, but for now, returning it is out of the question.
(My guess is that supply chain disruptions between China and the USA are causing router shortages, and scarcity is raising prices. This may also be why we're receiving no support for Netgear's products, if most of their higher level of technical support is China based, or if the China-US corporate support links are "damaged".)
For now, I'm holding pat, and keeping the firewalls on my individual network devices tight. (If all else fails, I could hook up an old server configured as a primary firewall, but I don't really want to go through the setup and maintenance hassle. That's why I buy a router like the R7960p.)
Same problem no firmware updates have worked for the past 3-4 versions...called the support line and the only option given was: pay for extended support and they will fix the firmware. I have no confidence this would fix the issue. Save your time and avoid the headache by returning Netgear products (if possible) and purchase from another company that will stand behind their product. Netgear has failed miserably!!!
