RAX80 regularly disconnects devices, then they reconnect

[GabboCH]

It will be interesting to see if your problems return or not after changing channels.

There are only 2 SSIDs near my (both mine) so normally I should have no problems with congestion.

However, one of my networks is from my ISP which provides "Wifi for All" and is using 2.4G channel 1.

My RAX80 is in "Auto" for 2.4G and didnt work at all (no devices could connect to it even after rebooting) when the RAX80 router had selected channel 1 in Auto mode.

After rebooting through the Web Interface the RAX80 selected a different channel & 2.4G connection returned again.

As I have no other networks within range of me, the router stayed on this channel & I didnt have global connection problems again on 2.4G.

However, I wasnt able to find a channel for the 5G band which gave the same results.

I did wonder whether the mesh networks I have from my Nest & Sonos devices was interferring with the router connection as these dont show their SSID & are not visible to a Wifi Analyzer scan.

However, when connecting an Wifi5 (TriBand) Netgear Extender in place of the RAX80 I have 3 days without any connection problems so clearly the way the RAX80 is handling 2.4/5G connections is not working correctly.

[anfibil]

What a piece of junk! I just "upgraded" to this router as well (after seeing moderately positive reviews online). Nothing stays connected to it on my 5Ghz network. I spent hours trying to figure out why my 3-year old asus router was giving me higher speeds than this. That problem is still not solved. But it's hard to even try to work through it because every 5min my devices keep dropping out of the network. Come on, Netgear! This is not a $10 router. Ridiculous.

[TomM_RAX80]

Christian,

I am a software developer and have been a beta tester for years for different products.  I am more then happy to be a beta site and test fixes within 24 hrs of recieving them.  I was very stable until just recently.  The two big changes I recently made:  added a Samsung SmartThings hub to my system and upgraded my BIOS. I think it was either 56 or 58.  I have several Fire TV 4K sticks.  These seem to be affected first.  I have several Echos too. They seam to be very suseptable too. Phones and computers seem to hang on a bit longer, but eventually they lose their connection too. A reboot of the router ALWAYS solves the problem. Today was the worst as even the hard line ethernet devices failed too. I reboot 3 to 5 times a day.

I will run without the SmartThings hub connected for 48 hours and see if that was interfering or overloading the router. They are about 3 feet away from eachother. But if they are on seperate channels, then you would think it shouldn't be a problem.  If you want me to send you logs, please email me specific settings for the debug mode. 

Thanks! 

[BubbleCat]

@anfibil , sorry you got duped by the reviews online. Every time I see positive reviews for this router I cringe and want to respond in the comments, but I just don't have it in me to make accounts for the various sites.

They seem to review them for a short amount of time and don't really put the router through the ringer like a regular customer would.

This router really is a piece of crap.

[BubbleCat]

@anthonjhnon1  - I hear you on trying to get rid of this router, unfortunately I feel super guilty about pawning it off on someone else knowing it's such a POS. ='(

[cliff344]

I discovered a new firmware release (1.0.1.70), looks like Dec 13th.  Was nice that Netgear posted it on their website, Haha.  The only way to get this update, is via the Nighthawk app.  It cannot be found anywhere else.  So I downloaded it yesterday, and went through setting it up (it's been boxed becuase it was unusable).  First 24-hr test seems stable.  No disconnect issues.  Speeds pretty decent, pulling 600+Mbps on 5Ghz, using wifi-SweetSpots app, as compared to my X-8 at 500Mbps.  Qos setup and device setup was a bit buggy, but got all priority and device labels to stay.  There was some talk about not holding time Server setting or constantly searching for time in the router logs, so I changed the time server to time-a-g.nist.gov, and that seems to work well.  I have 35+ devices and all seem to be working rock solid. I have the AX setting on, and the DDNS and VPN features are working well also.  So let's give it some time and see where it goes.  So far I am tickled that it actually working this well right now.  I am also using the Static LAN assignment, as I have the first 100 IP addresses reserved.  Also some of the other forums are complaining about dropping internet connection and reconnecting, I have not seen this at all.  I did allow the router to go through the internet setup automatically, so maybe that helped.

[cliff344]

Well new firmware released mid Dec (1.0.1.70).  Pulled my $400 piece of junk out it's box to see if maybe they actually did something to make it usable. Loaded new firmware, reset up with my settings and got her going.  Ran very well and impressive for about 30hrs, then once again, total disconnect to both wired and wireless devices.  Reboot, and within 24hrs did it once again.  Somehow it seems to be related to the time or time server setting.  Whenever it disconnects, it shows a future date and time change in the logs. Also new firmware will not hold device icons and descriptions in both the GUI or the app.  I was however very impressed with the wifi speeds (when it was working).  Well back in the box it goes to wait on Netgear to get off their butts and try again.  I am really beginning to love my R8500, as it never requires any attention, it's fast, and just works, unlike this piece of garbage!

[GabboCH]

I did exactly the same, out of the box, factory reset, update, setup & I had Ethernet dropouts (which was new for me).
Back in the box the day after.

[PigletRider]

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@GabboCH wrote:
I did exactly the same, out of the box, factory reset, update, setup & I had Ethernet dropouts (which was new for me).
Back in the box the day after.

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Absolutely stunning!!!

I use all of the Ethernet ports on my RAX120 and have never had an issue there.  (I have had all the reported issues with the Wi-fi radios, however.)  It's frightening to think that a simple upgrade to the next firmware release could change all of that.  If this thing starts dropping Ethernet connections, I'm boxing it up, same as you.

Netgear... what is going on with your routers?   I have serious angst over upgrading, or even rebooting, my router.   Really?

[bostony126]

I have had all the same problems.  Each time I update the firmware it is like a bandaid.  I have over 35 devices around my house but this thing is supposed to be able to handle it.  I even have wireless access points setup that should not be needed.  My device regularly needs rebooting so that my Alexa's work correctly.  They let you know each time they are disconnected just to rub salt in the wound.  Very disappointed with this router.  That being said, when it does work, it works fairly well. 

[xjn]

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@bostony126 wrote:

I have had all the same problems.  Each time I update the firmware it is like a bandaid.  I have over 35 devices around my house but this thing is supposed to be able to handle it.  I even have wireless access points setup that should not be needed.  My device regularly needs rebooting so that my Alexa's work correctly.  They let you know each time they are disconnected just to rub salt in the wound.  Very disappointed with this router.  That being said, when it does work, it works fairly well. 

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I got rid of my smart displays cause I got tired of seeing internet go down... Google was even worse cause it wouldn't even show basic clock anymore. 2019 will be year I remember that killed my enthusiasm for new technology... multiple returned products due to basic functionality broken out of box... and stuck with broken products can't return 

[dragonpak]

what I found is if you enable both AX feature and MU-MIMO at the same time, then the router will disconnect devices after a while, so I have disabled the MU-MIMO which is not doing much anyway. but the new 70 firmware seems to fix that already. maybe you can try to disable the MU-MIMO if your router still got problem. 

another issue maybe your neighbour is using the same DFS channel as you do , once the router detect it , it will try to switch to other channel, it also causes some problem sometimes, you can try to use 48 channel first,  I have been using 60 or 64 channel and now very stable. 

[cliff344]

I see Walmart is now selling these off for $299. Netgear must be dumping these bricks since they know they don’t work.

[kingjahrome]

With the latest firmware (RAX80-Firmware-Version-1-0-1-70) I still have to power cycle the router due to it locking up.  It's happening more like once every day or two rather than the 2-3 times a day it was doing before.  Based on the lack of support/feedback I won't be a future customer. 

[Bigtime68]

I upgraded to the latest firmware and still have the same disconnection problems. I gave tech support a call and have arranged to exchange it for a new one. Not sure that will make a difference, but it's better than the situation I'm in now. I'll post a follow-up.

[TomM_RAX80]

I have had some success playing with some things.

I have downgraded to Firmware Version V1.0.1.58_1.0.24.  Rebooting 2 to 3 times a day wasn't working for me and since I downgraded, it has been much more stable.

I noticed that the 5ghz channel was disappearing alot.  I put most everything on the 2.4 ghz channel and things have been working well. I have a lot of Amazon devices and they seem to be the most sensitive.

I changed NTP Settings to use nist.gov   https://tf.nist.gov/tf-cgi/servers.cgi

I changed the 5 Ghz channel to a static 64 - Because everything got downgraded to the 2.4 ghz channel, I am just now starting to test how this will work.  

Once I verify that the 5 GHz channel is working fine with these settings, I will upgrade the BIOS to the latest and see how that works.  Thanks to the other members who made several of these suggestions. 

[kingjahrome]

RAX80 experiences fewer daily lockups/freezes than in the past with the most recent 1.0.1.70 firmware, but still I am having to power cycle the router several times a week or more; last night during a Skype call being the most recent example where the router simply freezes!!

After several months of opening a support ticket, Netgear has agreed to let me return the product to them for a refund!  It's good news, and honestly I had hoped for a fix to the firmware to eliminate these issues, but since one is not forthcoming and they say they cannot reproduce any of the issues multiple people are complaing about, I am going to go ahead and return it, go back to using the N600 I still own, and shop for another router.  The stability (i.e. quality) of this router has always been unacceptable and I regret not having returned it in the initial 15 day window at the big blue electronics store, because support has been extremely slow going and not resolved anything.

[allarone]

Congrats!  I wish I could do the same thing but never opened a ticket because my 90 days was up and I refused to pay a crazy amount of money for the privilege of Netgear earning even more money on a crap product.  Without ever opening a ticket I know I'm out of luck.  I'm glad you had the perserverance to stick with it and had a good outcome!

[kingjahrome]

Thanks!  Somehow I was able to open the ticket very near or only just past the 90 day cutoff date.  By that time I was absolutely fed up with needing to manually power-cycle the router several times daily.  Like you, I'm not willing to pay for "tech" support as this is not a "user needs support configuring their router " type of issue.  The first time calling in I got tech support from a foreign entity of Netgear - NOT GOOD!!!  They basically did nothing, promised a bunch of stuff on the phone, and closed the case immediately!!!  I was pretty disappointed with that experience to say the least, so I complained on twitter @netgear and their tech support, and they tweeted back and it went from there.  It really does take perseverance sometimes and a willingness to spend the time and remain calm and very firm.  Most bureaucracies will eventually bend if you are in the right and can take the time to deal with them.  Also, I never bother anyone unless I have a legitimate gripe or grievance.  Just stick to the facts, leave emotions out of the conversation even if they are woefully slow and inept, and remain respectful.  More often than not it has worked for me.

[cliff344]

I find it rather comical that Netgear can’t seem to reproduce the issues explained all over the community pages. Are you kidding me? I swear these idiots must sit at the bar when they test these paperweights. One look over the community page threads and you could spend hours reading all the similar complaints about this router. They should have a buyback program for all of us who got screwed on this piece of garbage. Netgear really dropped the ball on this one!

[PDWhite · Accepted solution]

My experience with this problem is slightly different. In my case, the RAX80 simply slows a specific (random) system's connection down to a crawl. Rebooting the system dows nothing to fix this. The only fix I've found so far is to reboot the router and problem is gone.

Tech support has suggested changing the MTU setting to 1468. (Advanced>setup>Wan Setup) So far, I haven't noticed any improvement from this.

So they made another suggestion I haven't had the opportunity to check out yet. Here it is:

">>click on advanced on the top of the page
>>Then Select Advanced Setup
>>under Advanced Setup click on Advanced Wireless setting

under Wireless Advanced Settings (2.4GHz b/g/n) under Fragmentation Length (256-2346): changed the number 2346 to 2300
for CTS/RTS Threshold (1-2347): change the number from 2347 to 2301
do the same for Wireless Advanced Settings (5GHz a/n/ac)
Hit apply.

After this please observe the connection at least six hours."

Perhaps this is worth a try. I have some other problems with this box. If they can't resolve them, I'g going to ask NetGear to buy the RAX80 back or replace it with something that is stable enough to actually work correctly. - My own optinion is that they shouldn't be messing with public domain code to run this box, generally, this has too many glitches and security issues.  - You'd think they could afford to have professionals writing the firmware for these systems. 

[TomM_RAX80]

It has been a couple of weeks.  Everything worked good for about a week and then it started up again. I had to reboot almost every hour and the 5Mhz channel would just disappear all together.  I thought I saw in a message that someone said the OFDMA isn't really working properly anyway, so I turned that off and problems went away (expensive AX router that won't do AX).  During messing around with this stuff I changed the channel a couple of times on the 5Mhz band and got errors that there was Radar Detected and it was deactivated.  This would explain why the 5Mhz channel is disappearing now and again.  Why there isn't logging for this in the error log is beyond me. Maybe it is and I am looking in the wrong place. I remember with some of my old routers it would find the best channel now and again automatically.  It would be nice if this $400 router had that feature. Why should I have to test them out manually? I also don't know if their is a limit to the channels for my clients (1-150 or something).  I am going to try updating to BIOS 1.70 next week and see how that goes. 

My gut is telling me this is local to my environment and that is why Netgear is having a hard time with finding the problem.  In addition, as a programmer, I know that most young programmers don't put nearly enough logging into their code to track issues.  They assume way to often that a problem could never occur with something and don't bother.  Like channel issues.  It is also interesting how I didn't have any problems until I updated my BIOS about the same time I connected a Samsung Everything hub (about 9 months of great connectivity with a reboot about once every 3 weeks). It is currently turned off while I figure this thing out, but the problems persisted even with the Samsung hub discounted and turned off. When I installed the Samsung hub, I saw it was doing a major BIOS upgrade and thought I should check the router to see if it was up to date too. It wasn't so I update the Netgear router too. Within about a week, the router went into itis downward spiral.  Why didn't it happen right away if it was the BIOS or the Samsung Everything hub?  

These devices should be polling the channels on the hour every hour and keeping a weeks worth of data and either suggesting or out right setting the channel for us.  Maybe under setup have a page that will do that.  Let me turn it on and off as an advanced setting.  I shouldn't have to guess or experiment with my channels. This advanced of a router should be able to suggest the best channel for me.  

[mafo5000]

Has anyone figured out how to get this router working? My connection is insanely unstable and does not work 65% of the time. When it does work my download speeds are 40% of what they should be.

I can't believe I wasted $350 on this piece of junk..

[Bigtime68]

I changed the time server and the DNS to Google's and it's working really well. Not sure if/how that makes a difference but my router is staying connected.

[xjn]

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@mafo5000 wrote:

Has anyone figured out how to get this router working? My connection is insanely unstable and does not work 65% of the time. When it does work my download speeds are 40% of what they should be.

I can't believe I wasted $350 on this piece of junk..

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Right now only way I can get stable speed on Ethernet and Wi-Fi is by turning QoS on... on previous firmware I had to turn QoS off. My modem is on gigabit plan and I am getting around 500Mbps on WiFi and 700 on Ethernet. With QoS off both speeds drop for some reason. On previous firmware with QoS off my speeds were higher 900 on Ethernet and 500 to 600 on WiFi.