New - RAX35/38/40/42/43/45/50 Firmware Version 1.0.12.120 Released

[FURRYe38]

New Features: 11/09/2022

• Support Japan MAP-E and DS-Lite IPv6 feature
• Support manually configure DNS sever option when SPC enabled.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixes the issue where IPv6 DHPC renew issue in Comcast environment.
• Fixes the issue where port forwarding feature cannot assign multiple port range.
• Fixes the issue where Guest Wi-Fi network and Main Network cannot in same SSID.
• Fixes the issue where 20/40MHz co-existence cannot auto switch back to 40MHz.
• Fixes the issue where hidden SSID settings invalid after change Wi-Fi settings Nighthawk mobile APP.
• Fixes the issue where multicast packet failed to forward between Wi-Fi and Ethernet clients.

Security Fixes:

• Addresses security vulnerabilities.

Download Links:

RAX35v2: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rax35v2.aspx#download

RAX38v2: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rax38v2.aspx#download

RAX40v2: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rax40v2.aspx#download

RAX42: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rax42.aspx#download

RAX43: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rax43.aspx#download

RAX45: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rax45.aspx#download

RAX50: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rax50.aspx#download

To update your router’s firmware, follow the instructions in your router’s user manual.

https://kb.netgear.com/23960/How-do-I-manually-update-the-firmware-on-my-NETGEAR-router

NOTE: Nighthawk app or the routers web page may not report seeing new FW updates. NG may not push this to there auto update services immediately and may activate the newer FW update being seen on there auto update services at a later time. User will have the choice to manually update if you want too.

To Manually update FW on the router if this isn't seen on the routers web page:

https://kb.netgear.com/23960/How-do-I-manually-update-the-firmware-on-my-NETGEAR-router

NOTE: Use a wired PC and web browser to update router FW. If continued problems are seen after a FW update, it's recommended to try a factory reset and setup from scratch with out loading any saved configurations from backup files.

https://kb.netgear.com/9665/How-do-I-perform-a-factory-reset-on-my-NETGEAR-router

NOTE: Recommend setting the default DHCP IP address pool range to the following after applying and a factory reset: 192.168.#.100 to 192.168.#.200

This only supports v1 models:

• RAX35v2
• RAX38v2
• RAX40v2
• RAX42
• RAX43
• RAX45
• RAX50

Let us know how it works for you...Please leave feedback.

[mangotango]

This new firmware completely screwed up my RAX43.   It started with a reset of all my SSIDs, but I just renamed them.

The real problem was wi-fi connectivty stopped working on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels.  It would only stay connected for 3-4 minutes and then die. I would have to reset router, and then it would die again in another 3-4 minutes. This kept happening and I couldn't fix it.

I finally reverted firmware back to an older version and everything is working just fine now.

I have never had any issues with my RAX43 until today, when I got this new 1.0.12.120 firmware.  It has some real problems.

[FURRYe38]

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? I recommend giving a reset and setup from scratch WITHOUT loading any saved backup configurations from file a try. And also mentioned this this post thread as well. Needs to checked before we can rule this a FW issue. 

Also need to know how your wireless Basic and Advanced Settings are configured or had been configured. Possible maybe some changes in newer FW that could cause older configurations not to work right. Why a reset and setup from scratch is needed to check this.

What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?

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@mangotango wrote:

This new firmware completely screwed up my RAX43.   It started with a reset of all my SSIDs, but I just renamed them.

The real problem was wi-fi connectivty stopped working on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels.  It would only stay connected for 3-4 minutes and then die. I would have to reset router, and then it would die again in another 3-4 minutes. This kept happening and I couldn't fix it.

I finally reverted firmware back to an older version and everything is working just fine now.

I have never had any issues with my RAX43 until today, when I got this new 1.0.12.120 firmware.  It has some real problems.

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[rcl_3]

Similar to others, this auto-update caused my SSID and password to revert to factory defaults. I was able to access sites pretty consistently via Ethernet, but www access via WiFi was intermittent. I had to roll back to firmware V1.0.11.112_2.0.77 and also perform a factory reset afterward in order to make WiFi stable again. The firmware rollback alone didn't fix the issue.

[FURRYe38]

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch this FW update? I recommend giving a reset and setup from scratch WITHOUT loading any saved backup configurations from file a try. And also mentioned this this post thread as well. Needs to checked before we can rule this a FW issue. 

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@rcl_3 wrote:

Similar to others, this auto-update caused my SSID and password to revert to factory defaults. I was able to access sites pretty consistently via Ethernet, but www access via WiFi was intermittent. I had to roll back to firmware V1.0.11.112_2.0.77 and also perform a factory reset afterward in order to make WiFi stable again. The firmware rollback alone didn't fix the issue.

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[NavierIsStoked]

This update was pushed to my router and numerous disconnect issues started happening immediately. I thought I just needed to reboot the router and when that didn’t work, I started looking at the router settings from a hardwired computer.

The wireless networks were reset to the defaults, but my custom MAC address for the router did persist (I use a dumb switch connection method for AT&T fiber). I put the wireless networks back to what I had previously, but the internet was still getting serious pauses and lags. Even my hardwired computer suffered from the same issues.

I did a hard reset of the router, reconfigured the networks and MAC back by hand (not from a config file backup) and the issues persist.

I then reflashed the 1.0.11 firmware, did a hard reset, configured the router by hand and all devices still have lag and pauses in data flow, both wireless and Ethernet.

I have been forced to go back to using the AT&T pace modem and none of my devices have any issues.

This firmware update seems to have messed up the router enough that reflashing older firmware and factory resetting doesn’t fix the issues.

What the hell am I supposed to do now? Buy a new router? That’s unacceptable.

[FURRYe38]

What mode had yoru modem been working in? Bridge or Router mode? Your ISP Modem already has a built in router and wifi. This would be a double NAT (two router) condition which isn't recommended. This would be a double NAT condition which isn't recommended. https://kb.netgear.com/30186/What-is-Double-NAT
https://kb.netgear.com/30187/How-to-fix-issues-with-Double-NAT
Couple of options,
1. Configure the modem for transparent bridge or modem only mode. Then use the NG router in router mode. You'll need to contact the ISP for help and information in regards to the modem being bridged correctly.
2. If you can't bridge the modem, disable ALL wifi radios on the modem, configure the modems DMZ/ExposedHost or IP Pass-Through for the IP address the NG router gets from the modem. https://kb.netgear.com/25891/DMZ-on-NETGEAR-routers
https://kb.netgear.com/24086/How-do-I-set-up-a-default-DMZ-server-on-my-Nighthawk-router

You might try a manual FW load of v.120 using a wired PC and web browser. Then factory reset and setup from scratch. I would ensure the ISP Modem is bridged or use option#2 for the RAX. As you factory reset the RAX, power OFF the ISP Modem for 1 minute then back ON as well. 

Ensure your using CAT6 LAN cabling between the modem and router. 

I recommend seeting the DHCP IP address pool to .100 thru .200

What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

I would disable the FW Auto Update feature as well if seen under Advanced Tab/FW update. 

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@NavierIsStoked wrote:
This update was pushed to my router and numerous disconnect issues started happening immediately. I thought I just needed to reboot the router and when that didn’t work, I started looking at the router settings from a hardwired computer.

The wireless networks were reset to the defaults, but my custom MAC address for the router did persist (I use a dumb switch connection method for AT&T fiber). I put the wireless networks back to what I had previously, but the internet was still getting serious pauses and lags. Even my hardwired computer suffered from the same issues.

I did a hard reset of the router, reconfigured the networks and MAC back my hand (not a config file backup) and the issues persist.

I then reflashed the 1.0.11 firmware, did a hard reset, configured router by hand and all devices still have lag and pauses in data flow, both wireless and Ethernet.

I am been forced to go back to using the AT&T pace modem and non of my devices have issues.

This firmware update seems to have messed up the router enough that reflashing older firmware and factory resetting doesn’t fix the issues.

What the hell am I supposed to do now? Buy a new router? That’s unacceptable.

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[NavierIsStoked]

I use the dumb switch method. You put a dumb 5 port Gigabit switch between the router and fiber oan.

Turn on the OAN, turn on the AT&T provided router and let everything get up and running. You then turn on your netgear router, let it fully start up and configure the MAC address to be the same as the AT&T router.

Unplug the AT&T from the network switch and plug in the netgear modem to the switch. The netgear modem will take over and your should be connected to the Internet.

The AT&T modem is powered down and is only needed again if the OAN loses power or loses its connection to AT&T. The AT&T router has the authentication certificate that AT&T uses to authenticate the device (through the MAC address). But it only does it one time. If AT&T reauthenticated on a regular basis, the dumb switch method wouldn’t work. I have been using this method for 5 years now.

TLDR, the issues started immediately after 1.0.12 was pushed to my netgear router. Factory resetting and flashing an older firmware and factory resetting have not fixed the issue.

[libertyeagle]

Netgear is a completely joke, the **bleep**ty update not only factory reset my router, but completely unusable as I am experience periodically connection issues that the only solution is to reboot. I bet they even didn't test the firmware before releasing it. It is a **bleep**ing joke.

[libertyeagle]

The stupid netgear firmware does not even allow bypassing the inital setup wizard when I try to rollback the firmware.

[FURRYe38]

How about using the ATT modem in router mode then using the modems DMZ for the RAX router? 

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@NavierIsStoked wrote:
I use the dumb switch method. You put a dumb 5 port Gigabit switch between the router and fiber oan.

Turn on the OAN, turn on the AT&T provided router and let everything get up and running. You then turn on your netgear router, let it fully start up and configure the MAC address to be the same as the AT&T router.

Unplug the AT&T from the network switch and plug in the netgear modem to the switch. The netgear modem will take over and your should be connected to the Internet.

The AT&T modem is powered down and is only needed again if the OAN loses power or loses its connection to AT&T. The AT&T router has the authentication certificate that AT&T uses to authenticate the device (through the MAC address). But it only does it one time. If AT&T reauthenticated on a regular basis, the dumb switch method wouldn’t work. I have been using this method for 5 years now.

TLDR, the issues started immediately after 1.0.12 was pushed to my netgear router. Factory resetting and flashing an older firmware and factory resetting have not fixed the issue.

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[Bushmaster78FS]

The real problem was wi-fi connectivty stopped working on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels.  It would only stay connected for 3-4 minutes and then die. I would have to reset router, and then it would die again in another 3-4 minutes. This kept happening and I couldn't fix it.

This is what my experience has been since last night. Reverting to 1.0.11.112 at the moment.

[FURRYe38]

Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and router been performed since last update?
Be sure to restart your network in this sequence:
Turn off and unplug modem.
Turn off router and computers.
Plug in and turn on modem. Wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on the router and wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on computers and rest of network.

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?

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@Bushmaster78FS wrote:

The real problem was wi-fi connectivty stopped working on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels.  It would only stay connected for 3-4 minutes and then die. I would have to reset router, and then it would die again in another 3-4 minutes. This kept happening and I couldn't fix it.

This is what my experience has been since last night. Reverting to 1.0.11.112 at the moment.

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[Bushmaster78FS]

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?

Yes. About four times.

I recommend giving a reset and setup from scratch WITHOUT loading any saved backup configurations from file a try. 

Yes, exactly, I rebuilt my configuration.

Also need to know how your wireless Basic and Advanced Settings are configured or had been configured.

Nothing special but I use 1800 Mbps with channel 161 on 5Ghz and Auto channel up to 2.4 GHz. Must have One Wifi identifier via Smart Connect so I use same SSID for both 2.4 and 5 GHz. And no, unfortunately, I cannot revert to test or troubleshoot, I have too many devices. Older FW worked fine with this config. I also use short preamble, I have a USB drive for readyshare, DNS are Cloudflare, and do not utilize QoS, I use OFDMA and all related AX features, that is about it. 

Why a reset and setup from scratch is needed to check this.

My thought as well, but similar to other complaints, Wifi connection is not consistent, devices remain connected to the router but there is no internet connection. I eliminated my EAX20 extenders from the setup and still the same problem.

Just reverted back to 1.0.11.112 and reconfiguring the setup again. I also noticed that the new FW's UI is relatively slow compared to how .112 was.

[Bushmaster78FS]

Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and router been performed since last update?

Yes, been doing this for a while. That is the first step. I even factory reset the Cable Modem.

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?

Yes. Refer to post above. 

It is likely that the new FW does not come through via Nighthawk app or the Router UI because end users are testing it. Will hard pass on that. I spent quite a long time testing RAX40 in 2020 before they sent me a new RAX43.

[FURRYe38]

Ok, thanks for the details. Will pass this on to NG for review. They are already aware of the auto update issue seen and seem to have disabled this v.120 from being auto updated on users units. So I guess for now, use v.112. Hopefully NG will fix all this. 

@DarrenM @DexterJB @ChristineT 

[PaulGo]

This is the third time this has happened.  The two previous times I exchanged the router.  It appears on some rare instances when making changes to the Wi-Fi settings the NVRAM setting become corrupted greatly slowing down Wi-Fi speeds. First I tried reloading the config file and then I tried re-installing the firmware.  Both were unsuccessful.  As a last measure I did a factory reset which put the NVRAM back into its original state and that worked.

[FURRYe38]

Glad you got it working. Be sure to save off a back up configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves time if a reset is needed.
https://kb.netgear.com/24231/How-do-I-back-up-the-router-configuration-settings-on-my-Nighthawk-rout...

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@PaulGo wrote:

This is the third time this has happened.  The two previous times I exchanged the router.  It appears on some rare instances when making changes to the Wi-Fi settings the NVRAM setting become corrupted greatly slowing down Wi-Fi speeds. First I tried reloading the config file and then I tried re-installing the firmware.  Both were unsuccessful.  As a last measure I did a factory reset which put the NVRAM back into its original state and that worked.

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[PaulGo]

I did a Google search on the issue of the Wi-Fi slowdown and last year several other users of this community reported similar problems.  They also had to do a reset.  Yesterday it happened again to me when I rebooted the router.  I had to do another reset and then when I tested the Wi-Fi speed before I restored the backed up config file it was still low.  Somehow after I restored the config file it is now back to the correct Wi-Fi Speed.  The correct Wi-Fi download speed to over 700Mbps and when the router becomes faulty it drops below 300Mbps.  I rebooted the router several times and it is now staying at the correct speed (but for how long?).  Perhaps there is a hardware bug than needs be patched. 

[PaulGo]

One more thing to add:  I have the router 5G band set is up for up to 4800Mbps which results in a 160 MHz bandwidth (i initially choose channel 36).  The channels for 4800Mpbs are limited in the United States but I decided to try channel 44.   One this router most of the time changing the channel causes the permanent Wi-Fi slowdown (changing back to channel 36 does not help).

[PaulGo]

I just looked at the Netgear download website and they just published an updated article on the previous firmware dated 11/30/2022.  In addition the same article appears on the RAX54S and RAX45 page and these routers run identical software as the RAX50 an RAX43.  On the download page for these routers only the older firmware is available.  My guess (based upon my experience) is that the current release needs to be updated.

[FURRYe38]

Thanks for posting about this. I looked at this as well. Odd that there is a lower version just posted last week.

I've passed this on to NG for review. 

[Bushmaster78FS]

After initially 1.0.12.120_2.0.83 didn't work for me, I had returned to 1.0.11.112 for my RAX43 (which RAX54S uses) and the network in my home was solid for a couple of weeks. I had left auto-update function on and today it must have somehow pushed 1.0.12.120_2.0.83 again and my wife lost connectivity during work and our handheld devices and phones were posting three times slower wifi speeds while our AppleTVs could not even connect.

So just reporting that 1.0.12.120_2.0.83 is still not functional for RAX43 routers. I used to test and submit logs for Netgear for better firmware but I can't do that anymore as my wife works from home and can't mess with the network as much. 

[PaulGo]

Bushmaster78FS - Did just going back to the previous firmware resolve the problem?  For me it was a lot more difficult.  I had to  go back to the previous firmware (that did not help) do a reset (that did not help). I could not load the config file I saved since it was for the newer firmware and was not compatible with the older firmware.  I the put the newer firmware back (that did not help).  Finally what worked was loading the saved config file which I saved and that restored my Wi-Fi speeds.  So far it is working but I am not changing any settings since that seems to trigger the WI-Fi slowdown.

[FURRYe38]

What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
Be sure your using a good quality LAN cable between the modem and router. CAT6 is recommended. 

Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and router been performed since last update?
Be sure to restart your network in this sequence:
Turn off and unplug modem.
Turn off router and computers.
Plug in and turn on modem. Wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on the router and wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on computers and rest of network.

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? A complete pull of the power adapters for a period of time after the factory reset then walk thru the setup wizard and setup from scratch. Recommend setting the default DHCP IP address pool range to the following after applying and a factory reset: 192.168.#.100 to 192.168.#.200.

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@Bushmaster78FS wrote:

After initially 1.0.12.120_2.0.83 didn't work for me, I had returned to 1.0.11.112 for my RAX43 (which RAX54S uses) and the network in my home was solid for a couple of weeks. I had left auto-update function on and today it must have somehow pushed 1.0.12.120_2.0.83 again and my wife lost connectivity during work and our handheld devices and phones were posting three times slower wifi speeds while our AppleTVs could not even connect.

So just reporting that 1.0.12.120_2.0.83 is still not functional for RAX43 routers. I used to test and submit logs for Netgear for better firmware but I can't do that anymore as my wife works from home and can't mess with the network as much. 

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