Nighthawk R7960P Lag and DNS Issues -- I'm losing my mind!

[Xephisol]

I'm at my wits end with this router.

Back in July 2022, my father gifted me a Nighthawk R7960P router. Being the IT geek and avid gamer I am, I figured this router would be more than enough for myself and my partner to use, and then some! Netgear has (in my opinion) made some really quality products, so I had no qualms or negative thoughts towards the brand. Especially the Nighthawk line, which I was led to believe is top-of-the-line.

Well, I'm having some major major issues and I want to see if I can get them fixed before I ditch the router.

First, it started with the DNS_PROBE_NXDOMAIN issue anytime we searched a new page on Chrome. That was annoying, but mitigated once we manually set the DNS on our laptops.

Then, it started lagging intermittently when gaming. Making FPS games unplayable because of the screen tearing and latency issues.

The router itself is great. High speeds, great range for an apartment, capable of streaming 4K with multiple devices. I don't want to give up on it. But I've about had it. I'm ready to throw it in the trash.

Does anyone have any guidance? I'm on the latest firmware, DNS is set to 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1, and I can provide any other info if needed. I'm practically begging for help.

[plemans]

Do you have IPv6 enabled? The newer 2 versions of firmware have had issues with dns unless ipv6 is enabled. 

If that doen't help, actually downgrade the firmware. (avoid the 1.4.1.50 firmware, it locks up the firmware)

the 1.4.1.68 version has been pretty solid. but with any downgrade, do a factory reset/clean install with it. 

[Xephisol]

Hey @plemans! Thanks for the speedy response and recommendation! I've seen some response before suggesting that the firmware be downgraded. I've done it before and it wiped my router, but that was 100% user error haha. Ideally, I want to avoid wiping the router (I have some Google smart devices that are a pain to setup and I've done it 5 times with this router already) but will give that a shot if the IPv6 doesn't work.

I currently do not have IPv6 set up on the router, but I can set that up once I get back home. Anything special I need to set up along side of it? Or will the DHCP do the rest for me? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

[FURRYe38]

Set up IPv6 (Auto) and you should be fine. 

Be sure to save off a back up configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves time if a reset is needed.
https://kb.netgear.com/24231/How-do-I-back-up-the-router-configuration-settings-on-my-Nighthawk-rout...

[Xephisol]

I activated IPv6 and did not notice any changes in my network performance. I think it's worth noting, I have not had NXDOMAIN DNS issues recently. After setting the DNS manually on the router and computer, they went away for a while. At least, they don't pop up nearly as much as before. I think IPv6 helped with this as I still didn't have any issues.

Now, I'm still having latency issues. I verified it's not just the game I've been playing (CoD MWII) as I had the same issues with Rocket League and Fall Guys. All three of those games were launched from different launchers for variation as well. I can't quite figure out what the cause of the issue could be.

We rarely have issues with streaming and I get about 380mbps down with Spectrum, so buffering shouldn't be much of an issue. It's like the games get hung up sending data because the lag spikes come in waves. I'll start a game with about 40ms of latency, and then it spikes up between 220ms and 380ms, then settles. The latency just fluctuates from there.

I know there is real possibility that it's not the router, but I don't have these issues on other networks when I game. Any helpful tips?

[Kitsap]

---

@Xephisol wrote:

I activated IPv6 and did not notice any changes in my network performance. I think it's worth noting, I have not had NXDOMAIN DNS issues recently. After setting the DNS manually on the router and computer, they went away for a while. At least, they don't pop up nearly as much as before. I think IPv6 helped with this as I still didn't have any issues.

Now, I'm still having latency issues. I verified it's not just the game I've been playing (CoD MWII) as I had the same issues with Rocket League and Fall Guys. All three of those games were launched from different launchers for variation as well. I can't quite figure out what the cause of the issue could be.

We rarely have issues with streaming and I get about 380mbps down with Spectrum, so buffering shouldn't be much of an issue. It's like the games get hung up sending data because the lag spikes come in waves. I'll start a game with about 40ms of latency, and then it spikes up between 220ms and 380ms, then settles. The latency just fluctuates from there.

I know there is real possibility that it's not the router, but I don't have these issues on other networks when I game. Any helpful tips?

---

Did you also set the IPv6 values for DNS addresses?

See attached for some options.  Note there are two pages in the file.

[FURRYe38]

What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
Be sure your using a good quality LAN cable between the modem and router. CAT6 is recommended. 

Might try running a www.pingplotter.com test with a wired PC connected to the ISP modem/ONT to check for any issues here. Then do same with the router in the middle with the WIFI AND ALL other devices disconnected from the modem accept for the one testing PC. 

Are you gaming over wireless or wired connection? Wired is preferred. 

---

@Xephisol wrote:

I activated IPv6 and did not notice any changes in my network performance. I think it's worth noting, I have not had NXDOMAIN DNS issues recently. After setting the DNS manually on the router and computer, they went away for a while. At least, they don't pop up nearly as much as before. I think IPv6 helped with this as I still didn't have any issues.

Now, I'm still having latency issues. I verified it's not just the game I've been playing (CoD MWII) as I had the same issues with Rocket League and Fall Guys. All three of those games were launched from different launchers for variation as well. I can't quite figure out what the cause of the issue could be.

We rarely have issues with streaming and I get about 380mbps down with Spectrum, so buffering shouldn't be much of an issue. It's like the games get hung up sending data because the lag spikes come in waves. I'll start a game with about 40ms of latency, and then it spikes up between 220ms and 380ms, then settles. The latency just fluctuates from there.

I know there is real possibility that it's not the router, but I don't have these issues on other networks when I game. Any helpful tips?

---

[Xephisol]

@FURRYe38 Here is the information you requested:

MFR: Technicolor DOCSIS 3.1

Model: EU2251

I use wireless connection, but there's no major drop-off between hardwired and wireless (as shown in attached images). Wire is CAT5E, but might make a purchase for CAT6 or higher soon.

I ran pingplotter and these are the results:

As you can see by the results, there isn't too much variation. But, it looks like the connection gets severely hung up at one of the netops.charter.com locations. Not sure what to do with this information, so I'm hoping you could assist me at least a little bit. I think this is a mix of issues between the router and the servers in my area.

[FURRYe38]

There not too much we can do with anything past the ISP modem. 

Be sure your using a good quality LAN cable between the modem and router. CAT6 is recommended. 

This ISP modes are not the best. Might ask the ISP if there is something newer or if you can use you own modem.

Have the ISP check the signal and line quality UP to the modem. Be sure the ISP provisions the modem correctly.
Be sure there are no coax cable line splitters in the between the modem and ISP service box. 
Be sure your using good quality RG6 coax cable up to the modem. 
Start with removing any amplifiers, signal attenuators, or splitters from the coax.
From there check the line for kinks, damage, moisture in the line.
Check the connectors for improperly made ends, foil touching the copper coax line, loose connections, bad/old/cheap connectors, or corroded connections. Replace them if you do.
Be sure to power OFF the modem for 1 minute then back ON.
https://www.duckware.com/tech/solving-intermittent-cable-modem-issues.html

Set up IPv6 (Auto) on the R7960P and you should be fine. No specific configurations are needed.

[Kitsap]

The bufferbloat test below might provide some additional information as you try to understand what is going on with your connection.

https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat 

[Xephisol]

I wanted to finally reach back out and give an update.

I just had the ISP here and it appears there's two issues at once. Upon investigating, the coax line to the service was above 12ghz (or whatever the increment is) from channel 76 and up which was causing some increased connectivity issues. By implementing a 10gb splitter, the signal is now in the 9's and not being overloaded. He stated he believes the router was pulling too much power from the ISP pod in my apartment complex since it tries to manage so much traffic. That's one part of the issue.

After using pingplotter some more, I'm getting about 50% packet loss on the router itself. Every half second, there is complete packet loss and then no packet loss. The latency issues connecting to that earlier server were mitigated slightly, but I'm still having latency issues. To resolve this, I am going to go ahead and factory reset the router, as well as update the firmware over ethernet. Then from there, I'm going to start setting up everything manually.

It sucks that there have been so many issues. I want to love this router, but with all the pain it's causing I'm starting to despise it. Unfortunate, but I'm frustrated.

I'll provide an update as soon as I get some substantial results. I will attach some screenshots as reference to my earlier paragraph to show what I'm getting on the router with packet loss.

[FURRYe38]

What results do you see if you disconnect the router from the ISP modem? Just let it sit there and ping it's IP address. 
Also try with the wifi disabled on the router as well...

[Xephisol]

I tracked the details of the information you requested, and here is what I got (post router factory reset and after installing v1.4.1.68):

Results of pinging the router's own IP address:

Results of pinging google w/ all wifi bands off (through ethernet):

Results of pinging through modem:

A lot to take in here haha. What are you looking for with this information?

[FURRYe38]

Looking to see were the packet loss is happening. We don't typically test over wifi as that has many variables. Just wired. 

[Xephisol]

Not sure if it's worth noting, but that previous post all the pinging was done hardwired. I turned off the wifi bands for the first two tests, and obviously the third one was done directly through the modem. Wifi was turned off on my PC as well.

[FURRYe38]

So I did some ping testing with my R7960P.

Ping with Mac Book ethernet connected to router alone, not connected to anything:

Ping with Mac Book wirelessly connected to the router alone, not connected to anything:

Ping with Mac Book ethernet connected to router and connected to a CAX80 modem in modem mode: