After experiencing the crashing for a while and posting about it, I had downgraded my router to firmware RAX40-V1.0.2.60_1.0.1 for a while to have a stable experience.
With the talk of a beta firmware I went ahead and upgraded again to 1.0.3.80 and opened a support case (on the last day of the window) to see if I could get a copy of the beta firmware but had no luck with that. Curiously though, it's been almost a month now with 1.0.3.80 again and so far I've had no issues with it.
No idea if the downgrade then later upgrade fixed the issue or if something about the wireless environment here has changed and caused it to be more stable. Recently I even bought a new Wifi 6 adapter for my pc to see if that might cause the crash (previously I had no Wifi6 devices yet) and still it's been a week or so with no issues.
After complaining on the officiale Netgear FB page, I was contacted directly by the Italian Netgear support, I must say, very polite and capable. They made me sign to get the beta firmware and since I installed it (V1.0.3.83_1.0.2) I had no more problems (on the same network I also have an EAX20 that was arguing a lot with the RAX40). I activated AX and SmartConnect on both of them and finally I have a high performance Wi-Fi network without reboots or continuous bugs. I'm still waiting a few days before exulting definitively but the premises are good.
After complaining on the officiale Netgear FB page, I was contacted directly by the Italian Netgear support, I must say, very polite and capable. They made me sign to get the beta firmware and since I installed it (V1.0.3.83_1.0.2) I had no more problems (on the same network I also have an EAX20 that was arguing a lot with the RAX40). I activated AX and SmartConnect on both of them and finally I have a high performance Wi-Fi network without reboots or continuous bugs. I'm still waiting a few days before exulting definitively but the premises are good.
I've been on V1.0.3.83_1.0.6 for about 3 weeks now. I contacted them with updates regarding my experience about 2 weeks ago and yet they still haven't gotten back to me. Support has fallen off the face of the earth again for me. I'm hoping they finalise the new firmware soon, as I have a similar experience as you, albeit only 1 initial dropout on the first day after installing the beta. It's been MONTHS, I seriously don't understand why they're taking so long to finalise the firmware.
I'm using firmware 1.0.3.80 and have been experiencing issues, wifi dropped out today and some devices did not recconect without a reboot. Could someone from support get me in the beta tester program? I would like to assist in finding bugs/issues with this device.
Also it seems that the router is changing channels or using other channels then the one selected, not even when using DFS channels.
Thanks all for the info, my router has auto updated to 1.0.3.80 and broke itself, I used it for AP and suddently it stopped working.
Hard reset it and it failed to let me change SSID, password, region, everything. I can only use the standard SSID/password, what the heck.
Found this thread and I cannot believe almost 6 months now and they didn't fix the firmware, and the broken firmware is still auto updating to our router!
Found this thread and I cannot believe almost 6 months now and they didn't fix the firmware, and the broken firmware is still auto updating to our router!
Have you tried disabling auto-update in the router's admin console?
I seen this post on the netgear RAX40 support page, probably not a great idea to run old firmware as it appears there is a security misconfiguration. Security Advisory for Security Misconfiguration on RAX40, PSV-2019-0267
They advise to update to the latest firmware. This is an issue is on firmware prior to 1.0.3.80. So if your running previous versions you could be at risk. Hopefully they fix the firmware but, it doesn’t seem like it. I chatted with support and they couldn’t answer any questions I had about my router. Waited 45 minutes without a reply to a basic question and I’ve also posted a few questions on here but, it doesn’t seem like any netgear support are active in the community or they are just dodging any post about this router.
@jweaver4475 wrote: Waited 45 minutes without a reply to a basic question and I’ve also posted a few questions on here but, it doesn’t seem like any netgear support are active in the community or they are just dodging any post about this router.
Do what I did and have the matter escalated to L2 support by @Christian_R Netgear support are really dropping the ball... I've been able to get in contact with L2 to provide me with a link to test out the beta firmware but apart from that, it's all radio silence since then.
It blows my mind away that people can't share the firmware and that it's still not fixed but also that to get the firmware you need to call support in which they try and make you pay for fixing a product that is known to have issues. This is annoying I just went back to my wrt1900ac. I wish they would just publish the beta firmware that seems to work as I need the extra range for security cameras.
So let's see... I bought this POS about a year ago, it didn't work and it still doesn't work correctly. The choice is constant disconnects or drop back to firmware thay has serious security issues. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. But wait!!! There's beta firmware to correct the problem! Aw-w-w, but you can't get it and there's no plan for general release. Moderators are hiding under their desks. Support wants you to PAY so they can tell you that they don't have a solution. Sounds like a great deal to me. What a flippin circle J! Fix it or refund our money. I'll be posting the CEO's email address and I encourage each of you to tell him about his RAX40 team.
Couldn't agree more how can you have a product that just doesn't work at all. Not kind of not working but completely not working. I rather an unstable beta than absolutely no function at all.
So let's see... I bought this POS about a year ago, it didn't work and it still doesn't work correctly. The choice is constant disconnects or drop back to firmware thay has serious security issues. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. But wait!!! There's beta firmware to correct the problem! Aw-w-w, but you can't get it and there's no plan for general release. Moderators are hiding under their desks. Support wants you to PAY so they can tell you that they don't have a solution. Sounds like a great deal to me. What a flippin circle J! Fix it or refund our money. I'll be posting the CEO's email address and I encourage each of you to tell him about his RAX40 team.
I agree with your sentiments, and this whole thing has been an absolute debacle. I still haven't gotten any further response from my case raised after I started testing the beta and I've made numerous follow ups. I've even asked @Christian_R to also follow up but still nothing..
OK after weeks and numerous follow ups to my L2 support representative, they finally have another beta for me to test.. RAX40-V1.0.3.83_1.0.10 dated 4th November 2020
I'll be testing and monitoring over the course of the week and will report back my findings and experience with the update.
Yes reverting to previous firmware stabilizes the router. If I upgrade again it will render it useless, I’ve upgraded and downgraded several times. I have spent who knows how many hours on the phone with netgear support and they exchanged router for a new one. Issues still persist as soon as I upgraded to 1.0.3.80. This is a major issue since we are not able to use wpa3 unless we update firmware. Is a fix being worked on?
Yes.. if you’ve been following the discussion around the forums a number of us have been testing beta versions which include numerous fixes. I don’t use WPA3 so cannot comment on that. However I haven’t had any dropouts with the latest beta I’ve been shared by the Netgear engineer and I have ax enabled and have not disabled anything.
Sorry but no I don’t have their email. So communications were done through Netgear level 2 support who were provided the beta firmware from the engineer team. You’d need to raise a support case with Netgear which will go to L1 support first. I had to go through so many hurdles and required the assistance of one of the mods here to escalate my initial support case to L2.
