Installation and Configuring Nighthawk XR500

[NightmareOfNighthawk]

Hi

I have just purchased the Netgear Nighthawk XR500 router for gaming on my Playstation 4 Pro. I bought this router with the purpose of optimizing my home network for when i play Call of Duty. I was really drawn to the features of viewing in game ping while playing as this is usually not possible with PS games(although some titles are incorporating this feature nowadays). Also being able to set the Geo filtering, monitor network usage and devices, prioritizing traffic and keeping the whole family happy so that i can game without issues. This is offcourse what this device sells on in short.

I have spent the whole weekend reading forum after forum after forum to get this router to work as it should, but every forum seems to end up on the down side leaving clients unhappy and returning the product with no clear resolution to the issues.I also noted all the detail required to investigate and solve issues on these forums, so here goes my lengthy attempt to give concise information needed to get a clear perspective.

My ISP details:

I have a 20mbps UL and 20mbps DL Fibre connection from Web Africa in South Africa.This uses a CPE box where the Fibre connection is terminated and has 4x Lan ports of which only Lan port 1 works and is used for connecting to a router.

Original Router Setup: TP-Link Archer AC750 C20(EU)Ver4.0 router connected with cat 5 cable from CPE box Lan port 1 to WAN port of router. 

I have no issues with the above mentioned setup, connection or line speeds when using this configuration. I use the recommended speedtest.net to test ping and bandwidth and get my full bandwith as provided by my ISP( only the upload is a bit under).

Problem 1:

When swapping out the ISP router with the Nighthawk XR500 router i can’t seem to get internet connection using the CAT 5 cable which was used with the original TP-Link router setup. I have tried 3 different CAT5 cables(i even made my own cable to ensure a proper RJ45 connection). 

When using the supplied CAT5e cable that uses a steel covered RJ45 connector then i get internet connection as expected.

I bought a 2mtr CAT5e patch cable today to go test and see if its the cable specification as i know that the Nighthawk XR500 provides 1Gbps speeds and the CAT5 cable is rated at 10mbps-100mbps whereas CAT5e delivers 1000mbps(1Gbps). I don’t seem to think why this should be an issue because i only have access to 20mbps, but like i said, i spent the whole weekend and have exhausted all my ideas and looking at the simple things now. 

Question1:

Can it be that the Nighthawk XR500 router checks the ethernet cable bandwith and if it doesn’t meet the requirements it doesn’t use it? Or is the RJ45 connection without the steel covering a weeker connection not fitting properly into the WAN port of the XR500 router?

Problem 2:

Connecting CAT5 cable from ethernet port 2 on the XR500 to my PS4 Pro  lights up white on the LED(which according to me shows a 1Gbps connection) which is fine( so here CAT5 cable works and i terminated the cable), however, this connection doesn’t work on ethernet port 1 and the LED doesn’t even come on, using the supplied CAT5e cable to test if the port is dead, i connected it from the TP-Link router( after reverting back to my original TP-Link router setup) Lan port to the XR500 LAN port 1 and then the LED flashes Amber(indicating a 10-100mbps connection). All other ports seem to be working as expected except Lan port one.

Question 2:

Why does Lan port 2 work with my CAT5 cable connected to my PS4 Pro, but Lan port 1 doesn't even come on(no led), nor does my Samsung smart tv work which shows a amber LED on lan port 3, but nothing when connected to Lan port 1.

Problem 3:

When testing my bandwidth through the setup wizard that occurs when initially setting up the XR500 router, it shows me speeds of 9.6mbps DL and 1000mbps UL.On speedtest.net i get at best 9.6 DL and 9.6 UP. This was all tested on the latest firmware version 2.3.2.32, after reading forums with a suggestion of reverting to version 2.3.2.22 i still get the same results, except now on the initial DumaOS speed test i get 1000mbps DL and 1000mbps UL, when i run it again then i get the same as with the latest firmware version: 9.6 mbps DL and 1000mbs UL, after that i tried every firmware version found on the netgear site from version 2.1.0.4 to 2.3.2.22, and i get all the same issues regarding the ports as stated in problem 1 and 2 and the speed issues stated here.

 This was tested with QoS on and off and every other configuration mentioned on every other forum concerning this matter. I’ve overlooked these isues and specified my ISP speeds in the QoS section, but it still makes it difficult to know whats heppening. I’m not sure if what i’m seeing on the XR500 router interface is correct or not when i monitor my network because it can’t even detect my speeds properly. I saw this work on other youtube reviews etc so there must be an issue somewhere.

My final configuration:

I reverted back to my original TP-Link router and connected the XR500 to the TP-Link Lan port 1. I did a speed test on my TP-Link router and i get my ISP speeds, i connect my laptop to the XR500 which is connected to my TP-Link and run a speed test and i still only get 9.6mbps DL and 9.6mbps UL( remember that the Duma Os initial speed test gave me 9.6 mbps DL, but 1000mbps UL, so my speed test colates to the Duma OS DL values). I have since then allocated 10mbps of my TP-Link router to other devices in my household under bandwidth controll and 10mbps to the XR500 which is connected to my TP-Link router.

What i am expecting:

I need to know how to get the router to work as a stand-alone machine and not having to run two routers to manage internet speeds and bandwidth. I also need to have the Lan ports work as expected, everything should actually work as expected.

Thanks in advance and i hope we can get this resolved.

 

 

 

[NightmareOfNighthawk]

Thanks for your reply.

1)I wanted to use the CAT5 cable as that is the cable i have running to my computer/games room where i plan on having the router placed and it is longer than the CAT5e cable provided and it was and is sufficient for a 20mbps line.As i am someone who believes in wired connections over wifi, buying unnecessary cable specs which i dont need i.e 1Gbps cable for a max lin speed of 20mbps seemed like a waste of money when i first had my fibre installed.

If the CAT5e patch cable which i bought today works, then i wont mind buying a longer CAT5e or even maybe a CAT6 cable for the wire run from my CPE box to my games room where i plan to have the router placed.

 

2)The CAT5 cables aren’t very old, probably a 1year and 6months from the time i bought it from the supplier.

3)As i mentioned in my initial post, i have tried every suggested speedtest, including having the QoS turned off and replaced the speed values with my ISP values, then on the speed test i only get 9,5mbps DL and 9.5mbps UL.

[Netduma Admin]

Hi there - we will do our best to help you here, but I think the fundamental problem here is you're not getting Internet when directly connecting to your modem and this is not something we are as good at troubleshooting as it's not DumaOS related.

So the fact your TP Link router can connect properly and your XR500 cannot is the root cause of the problem. Are you just using standard DHCP to connect? Or do you need PPPoE?

Ultimately I think the best step here is to contact NETGEAR's officiall support: https://www.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx

[Netduma Admin]

Just now, NightmareOfNighthawk said:

Thanks for your reply.

1)I wanted to use the CAT5 cable as that is the cable i have running to my computer/games room where i plan on having the router placed and it is longer than the CAT5e cable provided and it was and is sufficient for a 20mbps line.As i am someone who believes in wired connections over wifi, buying unnecessary cable specs which i dont need i.e 1Gbps cable for a max lin speed of 20mbps seemed like a waste of money when i first had my fibre installed.

If the CAT5e patch cable which i bought today works, then i wont mind buying a longer CAT5e or even maybe a CAT6 cable for the wire run from my CPE box to my games room where i plan to have the router placed.

 

2)The CAT5 cables aren’t very old, probably a 1year and 6months from the time i bought it from the supplier.

3)As i mentioned in my initial post, i have tried every suggested speedtest, including having the QoS turned off and replaced the speed values with my ISP values, then on the speed test i only get 9,5mbps DL and 9.5mbps UL.

Hi - just saw you replied to Jack's post, which I've just replaced with my latest one as I think the root cause is to do with the fact you cannot get Internet when wiring your XR500 directly to your modem. This should not be the case.

[NightmareOfNighthawk]

Hi Netduma Admin

I get internet connection when using the supplied CAT5E cable instead of the CAT5 cable which I’ve been using all the time, but the DumaOs speed test only calculates 9.6mbps DL and a unbelievable 1000mbps UL when using the supplied CAT5E cable.Then when i run a wired connection speed test with QoS on and in the instance of QoS off, i only get 9.6mbps DL/UL. I get the same results as this even when I rectify the speed values manually on the DumaOs configuration.

I use standard DHCP.

I have posted on Netgears forums the same issue as here.

[NightmareOfNighthawk]

12 minutes ago, Netduma Admin said:

Hi - just saw you replied to Jack's post, which I've just replaced with my latest one as I think the root cause is to do with the fact you cannot get Internet when wiring your XR500 directly to your modem. This should not be the case.

I don’t think that was necessary. As i stated in my initial post and in my reply to your post, i do get internet connection, but only with the supplied CAT5E cable and not with the CAT5 which ive used all the time on my original setup, and needed to use it due to the length requirements. This is what Jack and myself have been discussing aswell.

Your understanding that im not getting internet connection at all is inaccurate. Please read my reply to your initial post.

Thank you.  

[Netduma Admin]

Ah ok, my mistake. Thank you for clarifying. 

What happens when you run a Speedtest on a different website like DSL reports? Do you only get around 10/10 again? http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

[xr500user]

hey guy,

Did you try rebooting your ONT that the fiber terminates in to reset the handshake with the XR500? turn both off, ont on first, then XR500 after it's fully booted.

Using logic a couple reasons to may be happening ..

As far as I remember, 1000UL (or DL) detection means this stream failed in the auto-speed test so it set it to 1000 automatically (to be safe)

Definitely consider upgrading the long cable you use to 6a at least.  Even though you only run 20mbps through it, the port on the ONT is most likely a 10/100/1000. Anything over 100mbps service will need a 5e+ cable at a minimum

It could be that the TP-LINK is older and has lower tolerances then the XR500.

It could be that the XR500 can see it is a 1000mbps connection on the other end and tries to initiate handshake and it fails over the cat 5, especially on the UPLINK (as you can see when you use the 5e cable, it works, but UL shows 1000, unable to detect)

It may be an issue with the ONT port when it's pushed to the 1000 to test for 1000/handshake.

It could be that cat 5 is so old NETGEAR never really tested this type of cable  with the XR500 and the WAN port auto sense down to 10/100 hasn't really been tested either.

Cat 5 could probably handle 1000, but at a much much shorter distance/run ..

Even so, that cat 5 gotta go ... find out if there is a newer version of ONT that ISP can provide, or are they able to switch service to LAN port 2 to test the above theories

 

 

 

[NightmareOfNighthawk]

No problem, my post was very long.

I didn't use any other speed test sites as speedtest.net is the one reffered to in all the forums suggestions and in the user manual of the router.

I will try tonight when i get home. But the TP Link on speedtest.net is correct in its test, nevertheless, will try that this evening.

[NightmareOfNighthawk]

Hi xr500user

I’m very impressed with your reply, you have just confirmed a whole lot of theories I had regarding the cable specification and hiw it affects the initial auto speed test config.

I couldn’t get any indication or confirmation of this on the internet over the weekend.

I do not have a ONT box but a CPE box, which is similar. And with that said i have turne both of and starting by the CPE box I turned the system on en when CPE is booted up i start the XR500.Nothing changes however. Also did multiple factory resets through the GUI and using the rear button in conjunction and seperately.

I hope its only a cable isue, so will try the CAT5e i bought today and if the results are the same i’ll try a CAT6a, bought the CAT5e already this morning.

Great information regarding the 1000mbps results👍. Makes sense now.

[xr500user]

no problem

keep in mind the auto bandwidth speed check/test on the xr500 and the initial Ethernet speed (10/100/1000) handshake /autosense are two separate things

the built in speed test on the XR500 is a little off sometimes, let it do it's thing, if it comes up wrong you can always manually set your 20/20 into it after it's up and running

as you said, hopefully its the cable and not the CPE port, which your ISP may be able to shift data to Lan 2 on it to test -- worst case scenario replace it for a new one -- since you've never had faster then 20 and a cat5, you'd have no idea if its port was broken, lol.

[NightmareOfNighthawk]

So just a quick update: 

After 30hrs of testing and configuring.

3x different CAT5 cables: detects no intenet connection.

1xCAT5e cable bought from a supplier: intermittent internet connection verified through DumaOs setup wizard, receives at times the DHCP settings from ISP, but CPE LAN port 1 LED comes on intermittently, but is mostly off, when it does come on it is at times green(which it should be as it is green when working on other router) and at times orange/amber, but mostly off. After going through the setup( that is if the DumaOs setup wizard verified an internet connection and failed to calculate speeds due to giving me the 1000mbps values, probably because it lost connection as it does this intermittently.) i can’t access internet or do any speed tests.

1x supplied CAT5E cable that came in the box: verified internet connection through DumaOs, but calculates 9.6mbps DL and 1000mbps UL(speedtest.net and the dsl speed test verifies 9.6mbps DL and 9.6mbps UL but i have a 20mbps line. I get the same reults when manually changing the calculated values in the QoS section and turning QoS off aswell.)Also with this cable the CPE light stays orange/amber all the time instead of green as it should when working properly, remember the CAT5e cable bought from third party does however at times signal green as mentioned above.

ISP actions: ISP cleared my lines lease and changed the IP address. This should create a new connection and once rebooted the Nighthawk XR500 will be discovered as the first registered device with its MAC address. This also didnt work.

Lan Port 1 issue: This seems to be resolved as all ports seem to be working and detecting line speeds as white or orange depending on what cat 5 cable i use between router and device.

Netgear Support: Phoned the netgear support number found on the device and reached the branch in Rosebank Johannesburg, they did a warranty check on the device serial number and confirmed that it is still under warranty. As i am in Cape Town they gave me the Cape Town branch contact details and that put me through to a company called Duxbury Networking located at Century City. I took the device to them and they will be doing checks to see if there are any faults with the device. I just couldn’t think of anything else with the above mentioned issues and testing.

So now i’m waiting to see what they say, they have told me over the phone that the device will either be fixed if possible or replaced. If i can get confirmation that its working then i can carry on with trying to get it to work in real life, but not knowing if the device is faulty or not makes it a bit of an grey area. I hope Netgear can resolve this issue for me.

[Netduma Jack]

Thank you for being so thorough with this. It definitely seems like a hardware issue in my opinion. I've not seen any other cases quite like this with the XR500. The speed test can sometimes be inaccurate since it depends on the browser and other factors, but the other issues have convinced me that a replacement is the best option. I hope Netgear get this sorted for you - please keep us updated

[NightmareOfNighthawk]

Hi Netduma Jack. I will definitely keep this forum up to date until we have exhausted all options, which is very close by now🤔.

After reading so many forums about similar issues and not always getting exactly the final resolution to these issues I thought I would have to atleast try all proposed suggestions and test them for myself. I’m sure this forum covers all the issues thus far thats been had with the setting up of the XR500.

I would really just like to have this unit to work, we are a fair sized gaming community in South Africa amongst our friend groups and we all play console games, and the biggest issue we have is Ping and Bufferbloat to a point that we can’t play. So i’ve done research and came across this model router and told all my friends about it and they all seem excited to try it out, but as it is, i’m the guinea pig and thus far they aren’t impressed due to the struggle, but i’m hoping it will all work out.

[Netduma Admin]

I think you've just had some rotten luck here - I'm confident the next one will work great. Thank you for being so nice & friendly about it all.

[NightmareOfNighthawk]

Hi

So the test results came back:

Result:

The WAN port has a network translation issue that keeps on dropping the connection.

The technician said they will prepare a replacement so long and let me know when i can pick up the new one.

[Netduma Admin]

Thanks for letting us know the cause and happy to hear you're getting it replaced.

[NightmareOfNighthawk]

Hi everyone.

So yesterday I received my replacement unit for the faulty WAN Port issue and the router works amazingly well so far. Gamed last night with the Geo Filter turned on to the open world and kept playing on a dedicated server at 141ms ping, I changed the profile to Call of Duty which only allows consoles and servers within a 6000km radius and played in a lobby that averages 14 - 20ms ping, the gaming experience was great. Obviously only time will tell, but this solves a great issue for us being in South Africa.

Only issue I have with Netgears Warranty policy is that its in direct violation to the South African Consumers Rights Regulation 44 which stipulates that a term of consumer contract is presumed to be unfair if it has the purpose or effect of restricting the consumers right to re-sell the goods by limiting the transferability of any commercial guarantee by the supplier.

Netgears warranty states that it is only valid if the product is purchased from a Authorised re-seller. You are the original owner. And that the warranty is not transferable from one owner to the next.

This is concerning as a warranty should be valid for the duration of the period irrespective of who owns it, like when buying a car, the warranty is transferable, appliances should be no different.

Hope this forum helps consumers on a technical and retail front.

Thanks for al the assistance.

 

[Netduma Admin]

Really glad to hear things are better for you now! Very happy this issue is resolved.

Might be worth letting NETGEAR know about the warranty but it's up to you.

[NightmareOfNighthawk]

I have mentioned it to them yesterday.