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Forum Discussion
CAX80 won't work at all on WOW Internet; firmware update ruined it
Here's the deal. I just got in the mail today a replacement from Netgear for my CAX80. (Hindsight says I may not have needed it, but here we are.) I am with WOW Internet as my ISP in Columbus, O...
I admit, I was expecting the same issue for the CAX30 because they're basically very similar on paper. I haven't tried a minute-long unplug, and can't right now because I am in a work seminar, but I have updated the router firmware, and it is still working properly. The unplug/replug will happen this evening as I place the unit in its normal spot with the wiring properly hidden for cable management purposes.
I will continue to monitor the CAX30, and if I have issues, I'll post them. I will be doing a lot of work seminars and streaming, so, I am pushing this unit right away. If there's going to be an issue in general, it will show up very quickly for me, but hopefully there won't be any issues.
đź‘Ť Thanks for the info and feed back.
I just wanted to chime in that i'm in the Chicago suburbs and I experianced a very similar issue to what is being reported here. I'm also on WOW.
Long story as to why I do this but without getting into the details, I run a CAX80 as my cable modem, in modem mode (Router-mode = no). Everything works perfectly fine. Every few months, i usually take a little bit of time to flip it back into router mode, update to the latest firmware, then then flip is back into modem mode again. Yes, i realize that is not necessary and that if the modem firmware does not change, i'll experiance no change, but for the sake of keeping things up to date, i like to update it every once in a while. That has served me fine since the day i got this modem but this time, i flipped it into router mode and it rebooted as usual...but then never really came back, i couldnt get an IP and was unable to access the unit. So i go and factory reset it, all the LED's indicate it's up and running...still dont get an IP. I started troubleshooting and i realized that if you time it right and do an ipconfig /renew right after the modem lights go solid, you'll get an ip and you can access 192.168.1.1...just long enough to complete the initial router setup via a browser (select that you dont have mobile device so that you can access the GUI in your browser). That allowed me to go back in a set it back to modem mode. Once i did that, it came up without issue and i was able to access again.
I realize that this does not help most people, most people do not have a router/modem combo only to use it as a modem, but i feel like it's worth mentioning that this works for me and should work for others to at least get you back online if this happens to you. You wont have wifi and will have to have a spare router in order to actually get wifi connectivity back, but...for those who dont have a spare modem lying around, this might at least help you get back online temporarily if you run into this.
My CAX80 on WOW is currently running:
Firmware Version
V2.1.2.6
Cable Firmware Version
V1.02.08I'm unable to actually upgrade to Firmware version 2.1.3.5 because in modem mode, you dont have the ability to flash the firmware and flipping to router mode make the device unusable. I tried flashing the firmware during that brief window that i mentioned above but every time, just before it finishes, i lose my connection to the modem as the amount of time it takes to upload the firmware is longer than the unit will function before going into 'brick' mode.
So while i dont have a solution for those of you wanting to use this as a router/modem, if you wanted to use it as a modem while this gets sorted out, you should be able to factory reset, watch for the lights to go solid and then quickly using a wired computer his 192.168.1.1, speed through the setup and flip it to modem mode in order to get it to function as a modem. When in modem mode, it seems to continue to work flawlessly, router mode is what turns it into a brick.
To FW update the CAX series the unit has to be in "Router" mode. It can't be in modem mode. The FW that is user updateable is ONLY for the router portion of the unit. The modem portion FW still comes from the ISP only. When in router mode, as long as the ISP Coax line IS connected to the CAX, the unit will not auto reboot. The Coax line doesn't have to be associated with the ISP or the modem has to be activated with the ISP, just as long as there a ISP modem signal on the line, the CAX will NOT auto reboot.
Correct, my point was that in order to update the router firmware, you have to flip it back from modem mode to router mode; doing so make the modem unusable as myself and others have described in this thread. The only way i've found to actually get the CAX80 to work is in modem mode; even after factory resets, it works just long enough for you to speed through the setup and flip it over to modem mode, if you miss that window you have to power cycle and try again or it'll just get into a state where WOW says they see the modem fine on their end and all the LED's on the front of the CAX80 show a successful connection; yet the device does not hand out any IP's and does not work at all when left in router mode. It was perfectly fine about 2 months ago, then 'something' happened as others have reported where router mode no longer works.
