PPPoE session not automatically reconnecting every 24h – Netduma R3 (firmware 4.0.540)

[JOSHR3ll]

I am experiencing a reproducible issue with my Netduma R3 running firmware version 4.0.540.

Network setup:

• Fiber connection

• ONT: Nokia G-240G-E

• Connection type: PPPoE

• VLAN ID: 2 configured on the WAN interface

• Router: Netduma R3 connected directly to the ONT

Problem description:

Every time I reboot the router, the internet connection works normally. However, exactly 24 hours later the internet connection stops working.

The WAN link remains physically up, but there is no internet connectivity until the router is rebooted.

Observation:

If I reboot the R3 at 14:00, the connection stops working the next day at 14:00 almost exactly. This strongly suggests the PPPoE session expires after 24 hours and the router does not automatically reconnect.

Diagnostic test performed:

When the problem occurs, instead of rebooting the router I performed the following test:

1. I disconnected the Ethernet cable between the Nokia G-240G-E ONT and the Netduma R3.

2. I waited approximately 10–15 seconds.

3. I reconnected the Ethernet cable.

Result:

The internet connection immediately comes back without rebooting the router.

This indicates that forcing the WAN link down/up triggers a new PPPoE session and restores connectivity.

Conclusion:

It appears that when the ISP terminates the PPPoE session (likely due to a 24-hour session timeout), the Netduma R3 does not automatically renegotiate the PPPoE connection unless the WAN link state changes or the router is rebooted.

Request:

Could you please investigate whether this is a PPPoE reconnection issue in firmware 4.0.540?

If possible I would appreciate:

• confirmation whether this behavior is a known issue

• guidance on any configuration change that could resolve it

• or a firmware fix that restores automatic PPPoE reconnection after session expiration.

Please let me know if you need additional information such as logs, screenshots, or further diagnostic tests.

 

[Devastate]

This sounds like the problem (linked below) that I reported nearly two years ago on the 11th of June 2024.

https://forum.netduma.com/topic/55787-wan-pppoe/

 

17 hours ago, JOSHR3ll said:

Could you please investigate whether this is a PPPoE reconnection issue in firmware 4.0.540?

Yes, this is an issue in v4.0.540, and I am fairly certain that it is also an issue in every firmware version starting from v4.0.219. I have tested most, if not all, firmwares from v4.0.219 to v4.0.645 for the issue.

 

17 hours ago, JOSHR3ll said:

confirmation whether this behavior is a known issue

Netduma Samuel confirmed they were able to reproduce the issue (linked below) on the 17th of June 2024.

https://forum.netduma.com/topic/55787-wan-pppoe/#findComment-415179

 

17 hours ago, JOSHR3ll said:

guidance on any configuration change that could resolve it

Firmware v4.0.41 didn't have this issue for me; however, this firmware is from the 31st of January, 2024, and is very outdated.

This is the solution I discovered to use the latest firmware without the PPPoE issue.

1. Downgrade to v4.0.41 (linked below).

https://forum.netduma.com/topic/53938-new-r3-firmware-4041/

2. Perform a factory reset and completely set it up.

3. Upgrade to the firmware of your choice.

4. Don't perform another factory reset.

If you need to perform a factory reset at any point, you'll have to do all the steps again.

 

17 hours ago, JOSHR3ll said:

or a firmware fix that restores automatic PPPoE reconnection after session expiration.

I am unaware of any recent firmware without the PPPoE issue.

[Netduma Fraser]

As above it is something we're aware of and will be fixing. You could try the firmware above, I don't have any evidence to say either way whether that one will resolve it for you. I've not seen it as much on the latest Early Access but people just may not be reporting as they wait for it to be resolved. The only things I can suggest at the moment are try the above version, the early access version, asking the ISP to extend the timeout if possible, if you have a static IP then setting this on the R3 may help, otherwise putting a router in between the two to handle PPPoE for the moment would be the only other thing you could do while we get it sorted.

[JOSHR3ll]

Thank you for the clarification and for confirming that the issue is known.

From my testing the behaviour is very consistent: exactly 24 hours after a reboot the connection stops. If I disconnect the Ethernet cable between the ONT (Nokia G-240G-E) and the R3 and reconnect it, the internet immediately comes back without rebooting the router. This strongly indicates that the PPPoE session expires and the router does not automatically renegotiate it until the WAN link is reset.

My setup is:

• Fibre connection

• ONT: Nokia G-240G-E

• VLAN ID: 2

• PPPoE authentication on the R3

• Firmware: 4.0.540

What is surprising to me is that, according to the forum discussion, this PPPoE reconnection issue has been known and reproducible since June 2024. Considering that PPPoE is a very common connection type for fibre users, it is quite unexpected that a fix has not yet been released.

Regarding the suggestion to extend the PPP session timeout with my ISP, this is unfortunately not possible. The 24-hour session timeout is imposed by the provider and cannot be modified.

Could you please clarify if there is an estimated timeline for a firmware fix?

In the meantime I will try the workarounds you suggested (v4.0.41 procedure and possibly the Early Access firmware).

[Netduma Fraser]

@JOSHR3ll We have been made aware of it by users with PPPoE, not every person experiences it (unless they're simply not reporting it) and most aren't using PPPoE as far as can be determined by the forum. The big features we're working on have caused delays in getting firmware out and going backwards to fix issues like that would take more time than continuing on this path to get out a firmware with those features and hopefully a fix with that initial version. We don't give out any ETAs and I couldn't give you one for when any specific issue may be resolved. I do share and understand your frustration. It looks like you've had the router since towards the end of last year or maybe longer, have you had the issue the entire time or have you just upgraded to a connection that uses PPPoE?

[JOSHR3ll]

2 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

@JOSHR3ll We have been made aware of it by users with PPPoE, not every person experiences it (unless they're simply not reporting it) and most aren't using PPPoE as far as can be determined by the forum. The big features we're working on have caused delays in getting firmware out and going backwards to fix issues like that would take more time than continuing on this path to get out a firmware with those features and hopefully a fix with that initial version. We don't give out any ETAs and I couldn't give you one for when any specific issue may be resolved. I do share and understand your frustration. It looks like you've had the router since towards the end of last year or maybe longer, have you had the issue the entire time or have you just upgraded to a connection that uses PPPoE?

Thank you for the explanation. I understand that firmware development priorities and larger feature updates can delay fixes for specific issues, and I appreciate the transparency about that.

To clarify the timeline: the issue started after I upgraded to firmware 4.0.645 and performed a full factory reset. Before that, I did not notice this behaviour.

I then decided to downgrade back to firmware 4.0.540 and performed another factory reset, hoping that returning to the previous firmware would resolve the issue. However, the problem remained. Since then, the PPPoE reconnection issue occurs consistently every 24 hours on both firmware versions (4.0.540 and 4.0.645).

As soon as possible I will try the workaround that was suggested (downgrading to firmware 4.0.41 first, setting everything up, and then upgrading again) and I will let you know the results.

[Netduma Fraser]

34 minutes ago, JOSHR3ll said:

Thank you for the explanation. I understand that firmware development priorities and larger feature updates can delay fixes for specific issues, and I appreciate the transparency about that.

To clarify the timeline: the issue started after I upgraded to firmware 4.0.645 and performed a full factory reset. Before that, I did not notice this behaviour.

I then decided to downgrade back to firmware 4.0.540 and performed another factory reset, hoping that returning to the previous firmware would resolve the issue. However, the problem remained. Since then, the PPPoE reconnection issue occurs consistently every 24 hours on both firmware versions (4.0.540 and 4.0.645).

As soon as possible I will try the workaround that was suggested (downgrading to firmware 4.0.41 first, setting everything up, and then upgrading again) and I will let you know the results.

Okay interesting, if you do have success on that .41 version it may be worth then re-upgrading to .540 to see if you can stay on a more up to date firmware while keeping connectivity.

[Devastate]

1 hour ago, JOSHR3ll said:

To clarify the timeline: the issue started after I upgraded to firmware 4.0.645 and performed a full factory reset. Before that, I did not notice this behaviour.

Would this have been your first factory reset on a firmware after v4.0.41?

 

1 hour ago, JOSHR3ll said:

As soon as possible I will try the workaround that was suggested (downgrading to firmware 4.0.41 first, setting everything up, and then upgrading again) and I will let you know the results.

I believe factory resetting after downgrading is the most important part.

[JOSHR3ll]

I encountered a new issue while trying the workaround that was suggested (downgrading to firmware 4.0.41).

After installing firmware 4.0.41 and performing a factory reset, the router starts the initial setup wizard. The problem is that the wizard requires a successful PPPoE connection before allowing me to continue to the next step.

However, my ISP connection requires VLAN ID 2 in order for PPPoE to work. The setup wizard in firmware 4.0.41 does not provide any option to configure a VLAN before attempting the PPPoE connection.

As a result, the PPPoE connection cannot succeed during the setup process.

There is an option to skip the internet setup step, but in my case this option appears to be bugged and does not allow me to proceed to the next screen. The wizard remains stuck and I cannot reach the main DumaOS administration interface to manually configure VLAN 2 and PPPoE.

Because of this, I am currently unable to complete the setup process on firmware 4.0.41.

Is there a way to bypass the setup wizard and access the full administration interface directly so that I can manually configure VLAN 2 and PPPoE?

At this point it feels like every step reveals a new puzzle, but I’m sure we’ll get there eventually 🙂.

[Netduma Fraser]

44 minutes ago, JOSHR3ll said:

I encountered a new issue while trying the workaround that was suggested (downgrading to firmware 4.0.41).

After installing firmware 4.0.41 and performing a factory reset, the router starts the initial setup wizard. The problem is that the wizard requires a successful PPPoE connection before allowing me to continue to the next step.

However, my ISP connection requires VLAN ID 2 in order for PPPoE to work. The setup wizard in firmware 4.0.41 does not provide any option to configure a VLAN before attempting the PPPoE connection.

As a result, the PPPoE connection cannot succeed during the setup process.

There is an option to skip the internet setup step, but in my case this option appears to be bugged and does not allow me to proceed to the next screen. The wizard remains stuck and I cannot reach the main DumaOS administration interface to manually configure VLAN 2 and PPPoE.

Because of this, I am currently unable to complete the setup process on firmware 4.0.41.

Is there a way to bypass the setup wizard and access the full administration interface directly so that I can manually configure VLAN 2 and PPPoE?

At this point it feels like every step reveals a new puzzle, but I’m sure we’ll get there eventually 🙂.

I generally wouldn't advise going back to versions this old for reasons like this as those early versions are going to be where more issues are but if you open the browser developer tools by right clicking the interface, inspect element or pressing F12 usually then go to console on that window that appears and paste this command in exactly then press enter it should allow you to skip the wizard. Also .219 might be a good one to try as we did specifically improve PPPoE compatibility in that one.

await duma.RPCHandler.PostRPC({rapp: "com.netdumasoftware.config", method: "get_time_zone", params: []})

[JOSHR3ll]

5 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

I generally wouldn't advise going back to versions this old for reasons like this as those early versions are going to be where more issues are but if you open the browser developer tools by right clicking the interface, inspect element or pressing F12 usually then go to console on that window that appears and paste this command in exactly then press enter it should allow you to skip the wizard. Also .219 might be a good one to try as we did specifically improve PPPoE compatibility in that one.

await duma.RPCHandler.PostRPC({rapp: "com.netdumasoftware.config", method: "get_time_zone", params: []})

I tried the workaround you suggested, but unfortunately I am still unable to proceed with the setup.

Here is exactly what I tested.

After downgrading the router to firmware 4.0.41 and performing a factory reset, the router launches the initial setup wizard. The wizard requires a successful PPPoE connection before allowing me to continue.

However, my ISP requires VLAN ID 2 for PPPoE to work. The setup wizard in this firmware does not provide any option to configure VLAN before attempting the PPPoE connection, so the connection cannot succeed.

I also tried the command you suggested in the browser console:

await duma.RPCHandler.PostRPC({rapp: "com.netdumasoftware.config", method: "get_time_zone", params: []})

The router returned a successful response (errorCode: 0), but the wizard did not skip and remained stuck on the same step.

I then attempted several additional troubleshooting steps:

• Clearing browser storage and forcing redirection to the dashboard via the developer console

• Trying to directly access internal pages such as /#/dashboard and /#/settings/internet

• Disconnecting the WAN cable and attempting to skip the internet setup step

• Connecting a temporary DHCP internet source to allow the wizard to complete

Unfortunately, none of these methods allowed me to bypass the setup wizard or reach the main DumaOS interface.

So at the moment I am blocked on the setup screen and cannot configure:

• PPPoE

• VLAN ID 2

which are required for my fiber connection.

For reference, my setup is:

• Fiber connection

• ONT: Nokia G-240G-E

• PPPoE authentication

• Required VLAN ID: 2

Could you please advise on how to bypass the setup wizard or access the full configuration interface directly, so that I can manually configure PPPoE and VLAN?

We are getting close to solving this puzzle, so I am confident we will get there 🙂

Thank you for your help.

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