Eqwalker, I'd appreciate if you can keep the forum up-to-date on your progress. This issue has been reported by others but not sure how they went. I have this problem also - exactly as you just described - although I admit to being lazy. I've just been living with it and powering on/off as necessary, as I'm not aware of an equivalent solution and I need it!
Good luck. IMHO this needs to be fixed in a firmware upgrade urgently - it's go to be a protocol issue.
Tried swapping before and problem followed - it's always the Bridge. But, hey, it could be just mine... 😉
Well, since swapping, my problem has moved to the Access Point end.
Now the disconnects are fewer but when the Bridge can't connect I have to power off the Access Point instead. I now have X10 devices on both so the walking is minimal, but X10 in a UPS doesn't always work so there's more button-mashing than normal going on.
I'll play for a while longer, then figure out how Netgear feels about a RMA or whatever...
I am currently still working with support on my problem. I will update as more progress is made. So far they are just getting information from me at this point so they can analyze and help.
Second level support feels that I had a hardware problem and suggested that I return them to the seller and get a replacement pair. It would appear that he was correct. The new pair so far are functioning perfectly. I installed them no differently that I did the first pair and I have streamed about 2 hours of HD on these and have not had a single failure whereas I could not get more than a few minutes on the previous pair. Now lets see if the units stay on during the night and not go offline. I will report my findings here. If they stay on then it looks like all of my problems have been solved.
Oh, one inportant piece of information that I did not mention in the previous post. On the new pair I did not let them perform the firmware upgrade yet. They are at Current Firmware Version : V 1.2.3_1.0.1 As long as they are performing without issues for my uses I am not going to upgrade them to the new version. On the previous pair I upgraded the firmware upon installation. I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not, but I'm not touching the new pair at this time while they are working.
I am pleased to say that the units stayed on all night and worked perfectly without any issues. So, at this point, I would suggest that anyone that is having problems like I had with my first pair to return them for an exchange or arranged to have them replaced via Netgear support. Also, if you can/do take them back to the reseller that you purchased them from, be sure you get a new sealed box unit(s). When I went back to my seller, at the exchange desk they told me to go get me a new set and come back to the exchange desk. So I went back to get a new set and found one box on the shelf that had been opened. I got the one behind that was still sealed. I didn't want to take a chance of getting a pair that someone may have bought and brought back because of the same issues. The seller may have hooked them up and seen that they worked, not knowing that they would work for a short while, and think that there was nothing wrong and put them back. Anyway, new pair here now and working good so far.
A few weeks of testing shows that ONLY one of my WNHDE111 units has issues, and the job of Access Point or Bridge doesn't make any difference in the eventual disconnect. It's not a bad flash since reflashing didn't change anything. The receipt from Best Buy and the packaging are long gone so a local return seems iffy. I can limp along hoping for the next firmware to help, but I'll try asking for a factory RMA and see what they say...
Oh, one inportant piece of information that I did not mention in the previous post. On the new pair I did not let them perform the firmware upgrade yet. They are at Current Firmware Version : V 1.2.3_1.0.1 As long as they are performing without issues for my uses I am not going to upgrade them to the new version. On the previous pair I upgraded the firmware upon installation. I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not, but I'm not touching the new pair at this time while they are working.
Thanks for this tip. I had the same drop off problem with the latest FW. I revert to 1.2.3_1.0.1 and I get no more drop off.
TO NETGEAR FELLOWS : PLEASE TAKE NOTE FOR THE NEXT FW UPGRADE.
After many hours of going back and forth with Netgear support on the issue of the WNHDE111 bridge randomly dropping an N connection to it's partner WNHDE111 Access point without any real progress. I finally found something that fixed the problem.
Go to the wireless settings on the access point administration page and disable the Auto Scan for channels. This will fix you on one channel and if the results are the same as mine, a stable N connection to the bridge with no random drops.
My conclusion is that set the autoscan causes the access point to randomly reset the channel and effectively orphans it's bridge partner. So the bridge drops the connection and re-establishes on the new channel.
I didn't upgrade to the beta, although it was suggested. When I finally got onto the beta site there were two posts. One for the beta drive and another which was full of testimonials that the beta didn't solve the drop out problem.
I've been experiencing this as well and I gotta say, it's about the most frustrating thing in the world. I've always had good luck with Netgear products but if I'd seen this thread before I bought these puppies.... :mad:
I just turned off the auto-scan on the AP; the bridge doesn't have an option for setting the channel or the auto scan so hopefully that just carries over...?
I'd REALLY like to be done with this issue and get reliability out of these. In concept, it's a nice device and will save me a great deal of hassle...if I could just get it to work consistently....
fyi, this did not work for me. i still lose the connection long enough to interrupt slingbox and my popcorn hour streaming and logmein sessions.
i never need to reboot the units, it re-establishes the connection by itself, but the interruption kills everything running.
i will try switching to just using 802.11a, but otherwise, i have tried everything (static IP, no auto anything, hard switches on AP/bridge, no security, both firmware versions, etc) that i can and these units are just not reliable.
if i can't get it working today, i will have to return these and find an alternative product. anyone have a suggestion? i am thinking to use the tomato or other firmware alternative on one of the standard wireless routers to see if i can create a bridge that way that is reliable.
it stinks that these things don't work as advertized. shame on you netgear.
jam1401 wrote:
After many hours of going back and forth with Netgear support on the issue of the WNHDE111 bridge randomly dropping an N connection to it's partner WNHDE111 Access point without any real progress. I finally found something that fixed the problem.
Go to the wireless settings on the access point administration page and disable the Auto Scan for channels. This will fix you on one channel and if the results are the same as mine, a stable N connection to the bridge with no random drops.
My conclusion is that set the autoscan causes the access point to randomly reset the channel and effectively orphans it's bridge partner. So the bridge drops the connection and re-establishes on the new channel.
I didn't upgrade to the beta, although it was suggested. When I finally got onto the beta site there were two posts. One for the beta drive and another which was full of testimonials that the beta didn't solve the drop out problem.
Chalk up another mad-as-hell user. My two boxes actually turn themselves off (or at least turn off the light and appear to be completely dead). I have to power cycle them every few hours.
One unit worked great for 1+ years. The new one (just purchased) has never worked for more than four hours, straight. Netgear has not updated firmware in almost two years and I'm looking elsewhere.
Reading all the problems people have had with them, I seem to have had the only semi-working one and now it's dead, too.
Hey, refurbished versions of the WNHDE111 are flooding on ebay now, for the bargain price of £30. Unfortunately I suffered the same disconnections as mentioned a few years ago. It came with the original firmware, tried the update, then tried the beta, all suffer from a crash and reboot after transferring 500MB. I've tried every possible fix mentioned but those didn't solve it, however I think that by turning off WMM in the "Advanced Wireless" section it stops the crash, but at the expense of loss of 50% throughput. So by turning it off I go from about 8MB/s copying from a wired PC to 4MB/s. Btw I'm set to N only, channel 136, transmission auto (its connected at max because is right next to it), channel width 20/40, security none.
If anyone else still has theirs perhaps they could try with WMM off too?
I used two Netgear WNHDE111 devices as a temporary solution in getting internet access to our granny flat since the Ph lines and network cables had been severed!!! This got us back up and running again, however since the CAT5 cables have been relaid, we no longer require this Network Wireless Bridge solution. The can also be configured as normal Access Points also.
Agreed. I actually just tried all the firmwares, all the settings you can think of, trial and error, and nothing at all was able to get these to stay connected. It's a shame.
I wouldn't be so mad, if it weren't for my other netgear router WGT624, completely from another era, that actually had a class action suite because it hangs or drops out when using the wireless! (dslreports.com/forum/remark,12918191)
I seriously will never trust in Netgear again for anything.
