NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
derekcannady
Dec 23, 2021Guide
RAX120 V2 Constant Random Reboots
The router reboots frequently sometimes every 30 minutes. I have noticed that the router reboots under heavy system load of +50% on the processor. The only way I have been able to drastically lesse...
- Jun 11, 2022Installed beta firmware 1.2.3.33 on it and then turn fan on in debug.htm. Just check mark it , don’t click on apply.
And bought a cool pad from amazon $10 . 4 days in a row no restart and router works perfect.
Laptop Cooling Pad,ESGAMING Laptop Cooling Stand Laptop Cooler 10-15.6 Inch 2 USB Ports 2 Fans with Blue LEDs https://a.co/d/dXVVnxw
Bladestorm
Sep 20, 2022Star
Firmware update 1.2.8.40 and still getting Random reboots with the RAX120 router. Factory reset and disable the wmm for 2.4 and still reboot persists.
- FURRYe38Sep 20, 2022Guru
beachmiles Bladestorm Have you tried enabling Thermal Fan under debug page and or put a laptop cooler fan under the router? Others reported in this thread that this helped stave off these reboots.
We've make NG aware of this and they are working on it.
- BladestormSep 20, 2022Star
tried to enable but after reboot it disables again. wish it would stay on too 🙂
Adding: i have even tried hanging on wall which was under AC vent. Then tried to place on shelf and elevated router so had extra space for air and still same issues.
- BladestormSep 20, 2022Star
My settings with new firmware when it rebooted about and hour and a half later. As you see load is not bad. Really do not think this is thermal issue.
- beachmilesSep 20, 2022Apprentice
Yes I enabled the thermal fan under the debug page but that setting does not persist through random reboots.
I also have tried this 140mm fan under the router with no noticeable reduction in the random reboot frequency.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MWH4FL4/
Many others in this forum have tried the same external fan with no benefit.
I bought and returned this power supply as it didn't help with the reboots as well
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GBG0U6Q
Some on the forum have had success with a different power supply so maybe the one I tried was still to noisy or something, but fairly sure the core problem lies somewhere in the firmware possibly in the 2.4Ghz radio / QOS sections.
Both of these very common 2.4Ghz wifi arduino esp32 boards both had issues running a asynchronous web server hosting a webpage using Skeleton CSS and jQuery-like lightweight zepto.js for handling events
https://www.wemos.cc/en/latest/s2/s2_mini.html
https://www.wemos.cc/en/latest/c3/c3_mini.html
This is the webpage library and asyncwebserver code that runs on the esp32 devices.
https://github.com/s00500/ESPUI/
https://github.com/me-no-dev/ESPAsyncWebServer
I didn't try running the code on the other flavors of the esp32 chips or the older 8266 chip but I imagine the same problem will show up where only ~10-20% of the webpage is displayed. Im guessing some 2.4Ghz packets are getting their streams crossed/delayed in the RAX120v2 causing the webpage to stop loading.
The instant I disconnected the RAX120v2 and switched back to my old netgear R7500-200NAS router the web pages running on the esp32 started working perfectly and serving 100% of the webpage. So this is an issue separate from the random reboots that is a show stopper for me, and may be a key part of the random reboot problem.
Since these expressif 8266 and esp32 modules and clones of these are heavily used in smart devices Im guessing people like me with 15+ 2.4Ghz smart home devices all could be having little hiccups the cumulatively add up to badness causing the router to trip itself up. I can send you the arduino code to flash to recreate the issue. You can buy the boards on aliexpress or amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/DWEII-ESP32-S2FN4R2-Connection-Compatible-MicroPython/dp/B0B2ZWTMH1
Ive popped open these smart bulbs and verified they have use the esp32-c3 chip for instance which is what I was making the custom arduino firmware for.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B092PR9TBJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here is a list of expressif based smart devices that may contribute to router reboot issues.
- _NDS_Sep 20, 2022Apprentice
beachmiles wrote:Some on the forum have had success with a different power supply so maybe the one I tried was still to noisy or something, but fairly sure the core problem lies somewhere in the firmware possibly in the 2.4Ghz radio / QOS sections.
I had the random reboots go away for exactly one month (30 days) by replacing the stock USA power adapter with the one Netgear supplies for this router model in the UK market (I am in the UK). However, even after this prolonged period of stability, the random reboots eventually returned - on a once a day frequency. There was no change in the usage pattern or connected devices during this period, I therefore was not able to root cause the problem.
The random reboot issue could be caused by multiple factors combined, which complicates the resolution.
Considering the ongoing silence from NG on their approach to the issue and apparent lack of consistent effort to resolve this (e.g. release a firmware version that keeps the log in the protected memory rather than loses it at every reboot, records router temperature, cpu load etc.) suggests to me, that they are not under any pressure to resolve this.
Another evidence to this being the fact that this thread has a 'resolved' marker on it.
It's far from being resolved, isn't it DarrenM, FURRYe38 ?