XR500 Drops Internet Randomly

[Zero]

I know there are probably a lot of factors that goes into losing network connectivity however, I never had this issue before with my previous router. The Asus RT-AC87U.

I purchased the XR500 and I updated to firmware version v2.3.2.40

I am experiencing these random internet outages with the router. I know this is solely on the router because once my wife says "Hey did we just lose internet again?" I look over at the router. All of the lights are white so I unplug my pc from the router, connect my pc directly into the modem (which has all of its lights on) and I immediately regain internet connectivity. 

I'm fairly competent when it comes to troubleshooting these types of issues with unplugging everything rebooting everything but this XR500 will just randomly lose all connectivity and its rather annoying.  The router runs good for a few days and then I have to power down the router completely, turn it back on. Unplug and re-plug the connection to the cable modem and then wait 5 minutes for it to establish that it has a connection with the cable modem. 

I can still return this router however, I genuinely like netgear products. Id also like to eventually take advantage of the Netduma features.

I've disabled QoS, I had some strange issues with QoS and speed so I disabled QoS. I'm also using hardwired connections to the router from 2 pc's 

Not using Geo-Filter either. 

Anyway, thanks for reading this! 

[Netduma Admin]

Hi there - thanks for all the clear info, very useful. A few questions:

1. Are these drops both on wireless and wired?

2. Do you have an Xbox One connected to the router?

3. Is the router in a ventilated place(i.e. no obvious risk of overheating?)

4. Do you have to reboot the router to restore internet, or does it just come back a while later?

5. Have you set any manual DHCP rules?

[Zero]

Thank you for the response.

1. Are these drops both on wireless and wired? All PC's and Wireless Devices stay connected to the network (NO INTERNET, just connected to the network so I can view my wireless cameras). I can connect to the router by going to http://www.routerlogin.net

2. Do you have an Xbox One connected to the router? Yes I do, Its rarely used but is connected (Wireless)

3. Is the router in a ventilated place(i.e. no obvious risk of overheating?) Yes, this sits on top of an office desk in a very well ventilated air conditioned room.

4. Do you have to reboot the router to restore internet, or does it just come back a while later? The first time it happened (A week ago), I power cycled everything, starting at the router, going back to the cable modem then we regained internet connectivity. 

Fast forward to today when this occurred (Round 2),  I first rebooted the router from NETDUMAOS (Reboot option) then waited. It obtained an IP from the cable modem but none of our pc's could browse the web for 10 minutes after it obtained the IP (It gets the same IP from the modem every time whenever it makes a connection), so I then tested my pc on the cable modem directly and I was able to browse the web again so I power cycled the cable modem, and then I just rebooted the router once more from the NetDumaOS. 

5. Have you set any manual DHCP rules? Negative (Only 6 IP Reservations no port forwarding etc) However no port forwarding, port triggering etc.

Also, UPnP is on and is forwarding external high ports to internal high ports for my security cameras. 

[Netduma Admin]

Thanks for all the info.

Given the router is still accessible, it sounds like there's a problem with the WAN connection. Which probably means one of the following is happening:

1. Modem -> XR500 has a connection issue
2. Modem has an issue
3. Overall Internet is dropping out 

But it seems unlikely to be 2&3 as you said you can get Internet through your modem when a drop out occurs (no harm in double checking this the next time it happens)

So that leaves us with an issue with the XR500 WAN or the modem. Here's a few ideas:

• Can you try swapping the Ethernet cable between the router and modem? It's possible it's faulty
• Can you set the modem to Bridge Mode or Modem mode? Not all modem's have this option, but hopefully yours does
• If you go >Settings >Monitoring >Statistics - what does the WAN uptime show as?

Let us know if this improves things. If not, I would recommend contacting NETGEAR's official support to seek a replacement: https://www.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx