XR500 Constantly Crashing

[ryanc]

Got the XR500 the other day and I have had a issue I haven't been able to resolve. I haven't seen anyone else with the same problem so I thought i'd start here.

 

Some general information in case it helps: I'm using it as a wireless router; it's not wired into any computers, just the modem that Spectrum has provided. I use my laptop which is a macbook to wirelessly connect to it.

 

First I setup the router. Everything went smoothly during the setup. No problems or interruptions during the process. Firmware was updated to it's current version. Setup was completed and I was logged into the Netduma OS router page. Everything was normal and there was no problems. Speed was great and signal strength was strong throughout the house.

 

Couple of hours later I logged back into the router page and my connection to the router was severed and it was no longer broadcasting a SSID. Went to check on it and saw the lights on the router were blinking in a cycle. Here's a gif of what it looks like https://i.imgur.com/kpfhAH9.gifv

 

I turned the power off on the router and let it sit for awhile and then turned it back on. Everything was fine and back to normal and I logged into the router page and it didn't crash on me this time. A couple of hours later I logged back into the page and the router stopped working again in the same fashion as it did previously with the blinking led lights.

 

I powered it off and on again and got it back on again. This time I decided to not even try logging into the router page. A couple of hours later it did it again while I was randomly browsing the internet. I hadn't touched the router login page so I was at a loss for what was causing this.

 

I then decided to troubleshoot the problem. I first tried setting the router up again using the setup wizard within the router settings page, after a couple of hours the same problem happened again. I then tried a factory reset using a paperclip to the back of the router, I ran into the same problem a couple of hours once again after it was setup. I then thought the firmware was corrupted so I downloaded it and manually and tried to reinstall it; once it started installing the firmware the router began doing the same thing with the led lights and the router would not work until I powered it off and rebooted it. I also saw that some people were having problems with firewalls interfering with some of the features of the router so I disabled the firewall on my laptop and tried to see if it made any difference; it didn't.

 

Not sure what else I can do and I don't know if i'm looking at a software problem or potentially a hardware problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Netduma Admin]

Hi Ryan - thank you for the detailed information. It was very helpful. 

 

Based on the fact your issue is occurring even after a factory reset, and with no settings configured, it’s most likely to be a hardware issue. I recommend you contact NETGEAR directly (we are the developers of the software). They have 24/7 live support so will be able to help you very quickly. If you go to this link it will give you multiple options for contacting them: https://www.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx

 

Whilst you are doing that, do you know what mode you have been setting Anti-Bufferbloat to (Always, High Priority Traffic Detected or Never)? Could you try just using Always or Never and see if that solves your problem. 

 

Let us know how you get on and if we can assist with anything else.