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Nighthawk R7000, V1.0.9.88_10.2.88, wifi drops

mj1pate
Tutor

Nighthawk R7000, V1.0.9.88_10.2.88, wifi drops

 

 

There are numerous posts on these issues.  My R7000 has begun developing more frequent internet outages over the last 6 months. Now the frequency is about every 10 days. The topology picture follows.

 

r7000_topo.jpg

 

For a period, we were getting construction related, Periodic brownouts were driving the extenders nuts until I rebooted them.  I added a compact UPS for each of the R7000 and wifi extenders over a year ago and the extenders have been rock solid since. They never require rebooting. But as mentioned, I have more recent R7000 dropouts.

 

Booting the TM822 Telephony Modem doesn't help.  Rebooting the R7000 fixes everything.

So, I'm adding a smart power strip switch to sense a few home IOT devices that should always be online, and power cycle the R7000, pending a host outage.

There are numerous switches that very similar and more expensive options for the same. We have reasons as many do that the home network should stay online. I wont know how all this helps for some time, but surely by mid-summer and I'll update.

MSN_Switch.jpg

 

Message 1 of 5
mj1pate
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk R7000, V1.0.9.88_10.2.88, wifi drops

Hmmm.... no pictures are showing up.  I apologize, but I think the content of the post is evident.  I should mention that whereas the smart power switch has 2 "smart sockets", I intend to only use one switchable socket, intended for the R7000.  I don't yet see a need to jokt the modem with power cycle hits until further indications.  Of course, the smart power switch will be plugged into the UPS.

 

Message 2 of 5
plemans
Guru

Re: Nighthawk R7000, V1.0.9.88_10.2.88, wifi drops

The R7000's been a problem child for firmware. 

There is a newer version 1.0.11.116 thats been released. 

There's also an agreed upon stable version that works fairly well for most. That'd be 1.0.9.42

 

with the R7000, I'd recommend any firmware changes be done over a hardwired connection. After the firmware change, a factory reset and clean install (not from backup) tends to result in the best performance/stability. 

 

Nighthawk R7000 | AC1900 Smart WiFi Router | NETGEAR Support

Message 3 of 5
mj1pate
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk R7000, V1.0.9.88_10.2.88, wifi drops

yeah... the stable version you mentioned has been identified as a fix for some. Like many other WFHome-ers, I'm my own on-site IT tech.  We have a security system, cameras, IOT stuff and the network just needs to work.  With UPS on every access point/extender, my devices should have theoretically been pampered.  After going thru the recommended "reset to factory defaults" action, and spending 4 hours getting everything stably back on a network, and another 3 hours getting the smart power switch set up and tested; I'm very happy to have a watchdog on the R7k.  This is suitable for the semi-monthly outages I have.  I really feel for those going thru daily outages, whatever of the cause.

Message 4 of 5
mj1pate
Tutor

Re: Nighthawk R7000, V1.0.9.88_10.2.88, wifi drops

As a followup, the smart power switches are probably something everyone should consider.  Mine is set up and I really appreciate the features. I havent set up remote (away from home) access as of yet, but the automatic operation is valuable.  I suspect that most smart switches are similar in opereation: I've set up a series of external sites (google, yahoo, etc...) as ping targets such that if all sites are unpingable, the switch resets power to the Nighthawk. Ping timeout and Power restoration timing is programmable. I can also set up internal (home IOT) tagets as ping sites for the same purpose. The smart switch sits on a wired lan port of the Nighthawk and there are possibilities for undetectable outages, such as if for example wired connections can reach both internally and externally, but wifi connections have problems.  In the aforementioned, the smart switch would be unaware of of a wifi connectivity issue. In any event, with the smart switch in place, I'll be able to experiment and determine how to best set ping targets for best recovery operation with the smart switch.

IF I can succeed setting up the cloud access function for remote operation, these smart power switches offer a real attribute for important home IOT operations.

As a reminder, obviously have a smart power switch on UPS.

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