Netgear X6S EX8000 connectivity - Resolved

[Chas_M]

Previously, I have experienced erratic connectivity of devices attached to my EX8000 extender.  My basic network consists of a Nighthawk 9000 router with several wired and wireless devices.  The EX800 extender provides high speed connectivity to the R9000 to support three Tivo DVRs.  When I first configured the EX8000 I used a Netgear 5 port Gigabit switch to attach the three Tivo devices to the EX8000 to save the cost of running three longer ethernet cables from each of the Tivos.  At first this configuration seemed to work but after a few hours I found the Tivos were not being conencted to the router.  It seemed to be an unrecoverable situation requiring a reboot of the EX8000.

Reading numerous posts on this forum about erratic EX8000 connectivity did not provide me a reliable solution.  In desperation, I decided to connect the Tivos directly to the ports on the EX8000 with longer cables.  After restoring the EX8000 to its factory default ( done seevral times prior with no success), I reconnected the EX8000 to the router.  I then connected the three Tivo devices directly to the EX8000 ports.  Wonder of wonders, the three Tivos showed up on the connected devices list.  Now after three days of trouble free operation, they are still connected through the EX8000 to the router and Internet.

Why did the added switch in the network configuration between the Tivos and the EX8000 prevent a reliable connection?  It appears there must be some subtle networking parameter which is being violated when this occurs.   I have used the switch connectivity whn connecting devices to the router with no problems, but it seems to have introduced some problems when connected to the EX8000.  Can anyone explain why this has occurred and how the switch is cauing the problem?

Charles

[FURRYe38 · Accepted solution]

Yes change from Auto to 1, 6 or 11 on the R9000 router. 

Yes Smart Connect is desireable for the R9000. 
If you set SC enabled on the R9000 then select enable One WiFi name on the extender.

[Chas_M]

Coorection to my original posting.

While the direct connection of my devices to the EX8000 appeared to be reliable, I have found that it still from time to time drops the connections of the attached devices.  This situation is unrecoverable unless a hard reboot is performed using the power off/power on cycle.

My firmware version is V1.0.1.192.

I am thinking of using a digital timer on the power brick to routinely power cycle the EX8000 every 24 hours to ensure a reliable conenction as a workaround for this inherenct defect in the EX8000.

I also notice on the status page with the green diagram that both the 5GHz (Channel 9) and 2.4 GHz (Channel 44) bands show there are no connected devices.  However, the list of connected devices shows there are 7 wired devices connected.

Please let's have someone provide some reliabel information about how to resolve this connection dropping situation so this expensive device can be trusted.  

[FURRYe38]

What is the distance between the router and extender(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.

Has a factory rest been performed on both R and EX units then setup from scratch? 

How is the wifi on the R9000 configured? 

Beamforming enabled. Any smart connect enabled on the R9000? 

I have a friend who has a EX8000 and doesn't see this issue. However he doesn't have a R9000 router. 

[Chas_M]

Thank you for the sugestions.

"What is the distance between the router and extender(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected."

• About the 25 feet with the router on the second floor and the extender on the ground floor.  The signal would pass between the flooring consisting of 3/4 inch plywood and 5/8 inch sheetrock ceiling with floor joists parallel to the signal path.

"Has a factory reset been performed on both R and EX units then setup from scratch?"

• Tried this and it has had no effect.  It also takes considerable time to reconfigure after a reset so I have not done it on a regular basis.  I recently disconnected the extender for about a day while I was trying an alternate connection using ActionTec MOCA over the house coaxial cabling.  It made a connection but did not work well with very slow data rates.  I then restored to the wireless configuration and reconnected the extender and powered it on.  The Tivos were directly connected to the extender and not run to a multiport switch first.    So far it has been working well  with excellent data rates over the past two days.  Perhaps the reconfiguration with MOCA changed some router parameter?

"How is the wifi on the R9000 configured?"

• Smart connect enabled
• SSID broadcast
• Enable 20/40MHx coexistence
• WPA2-PSK (AES) security
• Beamforming - standard attenna pattern out of the box
• Dynamic QoS disabled
• Firmware version 1.0.4.28
• Device connections using 2.5GHz and also 5GHz, and direct wired to router 

If this disconnect problems continues, I may revert to a timer controlled pwer reset of the extender in the very early morning before I wake up.  This power reset always seems to recover the network.  However, I would like to get the network to behave so this power cycle is not necessary.

Thanks for your help.

[FURRYe38]

25feet maybe too close. Try 30 feet. 

Try setting a manual channel of 1, 6 or 11on 2.4Ghz and any unused 5Ghz channel on the main host router. 

You might try a previous version of FW on the EX as well and see.

[Chas_M]

So far it is working without any disconnects.   I have no understanding why the system seems to be rock solid in its capabilities.  Channels being used are:

Router to extender:

2.4 GHz, channel 9, 192 Mbps

5.0 GHz, channel 153, 1733 Mbps

Extender to device connections:

24 GHz,  channel 9, 400 Mbps

5.0 GHz.channel 44, 867 Mbps

I will consider your channels suggestions if the Extender becomes problematic again.  

[FURRYe38]

channel 9 is not a good channel to use on 2.4Ghz. 1, 6 or 11 or 13 are primary channels to use. 

Good Luck. 

[Chas_M]

Thank you for the suggestions.  These channel assignments were setup automatically during the WPS connection process for the router to extender connection.  Should I change from channel 9 on both the router to extender connection, and also on the devices to extender connections?  Looking at the channel activity in the neighborhood with WiFi Explorer, it looks as if channel 9 is in the middle of a very busy part of the spectrum.  In fact, I now notice that WiFi Exporer is warning me about overlapping channels.  I will probably try channel 13 since it does not appear to be as congested.

[FURRYe38]

Just change the main host router only. If the EX is extending wifi from the main host router, then it will follow to the channel you select on the main host router. Channel 13 would be good too. 

[Chas_M]

Thank you for your help.  On looking at the NG x10 9000 router settings, I notice that the 2.4G network channel selection is set to AUTO.  For the extender connection this is defined as Channel 9.  Also, the highest channel permitted on the router is Channel 11 not 13 with up to 800 Mbps.  Should I change from Auto to another channel other than channel 9?

I notice that the Router wireless setup shows that Enable Smart Connect is checked - is this desirable?

Should I select Enable Smart Connect for the Extender as well?  I had read on another posting that Smart Connect was not a desired mode of operation for an extender.

Finally, would you recommend that I enable One WiFi Name on the Extender?  Currently it's disabled so I have the  -2GEXT and -5GEXT suffix  added to the name.

I really appreciate your help on this matter so that I can get a good releable system.

Charles

[FURRYe38 · Accepted solution]

Yes change from Auto to 1, 6 or 11 on the R9000 router. 

Yes Smart Connect is desireable for the R9000. 
If you set SC enabled on the R9000 then select enable One WiFi name on the extender.

[Chas_M]

Thank you all your help.  I have learned a lot about the network and the relationship between the router and extender.  I finally chose channel 1 based on neighborhood network activity to avoid competing relatively high power channels from neighbors that would overlap with my channel 1.  Other changes were made for Smart Channel and One WiFi name.

Everything worked as you said it would without any problems.  I will let you know if problems show up over the next few days.

Thank you so much for your help.

[Chas_M]

Another thing I noticed when I was changing the configuration.  It was not until I was looking at the new wireless setting wth WiFi Explorer that I noticed the warning note about 40 MHz bandwidth may cause interference.  This could have been part of the original problem I was having.  I have reverted to the 20MHz bandwidth by changing the max data rate from 800 Mbps to 347 Mbps in the channel change dialog.  On the spectral chart this appeared to be much more neighborly than before since it did not span so many adjacent channels.

[FURRYe38]

You can use 20Mhz however it's better to use 40Mhz if your want increased speed. If you keep the channels away from nieghbors, then interference should be minimal. 

Glad it's working now. 

Enjoy.