WNDR3400 N600 Router repeatedly drops internet connection on both Wireless and Cable

[ABitTooSpicy]

Joe,

Thanks for the feedback. Sadly the stability was only limited. I have now had about 5 disconnects in the span of 2 hours. The connection dies and then comes back again within 15 to 20 seconds.

This never happened with the 6 year old Linksys Router!!

I have also been watching the signal with inSSIDer and apparently both my signals (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) drop at the same time or very close to each other, when this happens.

I changed the setting to be 54Mps, reconnected all devices. 2 Laptops, 1 Blackberry and 1 Nintendo Wii (streaming netflix). (Since 3 out of 4 connect at 54Mps anyway).

Started streaming netflix and within 20 minutes had another disconnect. inSSIDer shows both connections dropped (the Time Graph has a disconnect in the signal).

I am all out of ideas... any one have any suggestions on what to try?

I am pretty much ready to take this thing back!

[Joe_]

ABitTooSpicy,

Do you have your router standing vertically (ie. on the 2 "feet" provided) or lying flat (ie. horizontally)?

Just a thought, but I have my 3400 vertical because I do find that it runs a bit on the hot side and this position allows for better heat dissipation. Could it be that your router is overheating and after it cools off a bit it works better???

[ABitTooSpicy]

Great minds think alike. I thought the same thing, as initially I did have it lying flat and it did feel very hot. Now it is vertical for the last day or so, and doesn't seem to have resolved anything.

I ended up calling support and I was told that returning it is my only option as this is a known issue with some of the routers, a firmware update usually fixes it but since I have already done the firmware update and tried all the things listed above, the support person had nothing else for me to try...

I guess back to Best Buy it goes...

[Joe_]

ABitTooSpicy,

It could have sustained sufficent damage already to weaken some internal components.

I agree that since you still have that window of time to return it then you should.

Good luck!

[Netgearuser38]

Hi ABitTooSpicy,

I don't know if you've tried this yet, but if not, try it.

1. Go into your router settings page.
2. Go into the wireless settings section.
3. If you have two networks, it shows the wifi name twice, look for Mode.
4. Change it to "Up to 145Mbps"
5. Do this for both if there's another one.

Hopefully this will fix your internet.

-Netgearuser38

[Jezo]

Was a fix found for this issue?

I have a new N600 and the same thing is happening. I can rule wireless out as wired connection also show the same thing. It's not the individual PCs as everything can see the router but the router cannot see the modem. The modem works fine as plugging a pc directly into the modem lets that pc see the internet.

[Joe_]

Originally Posted by Jezo

I have a new N600 and the same thing is happening...

And your router was working for a period of time before you started getting disconnected from both wired and wireless PCs?

[ruviwije]

I have a similar problem but different enough that I will list my situation:

• I lose connectivity to the Internet, but my local connection (network drives, printers, etc) remain intact
• Fixing the connection is as simple as restarting my Netgear, which is why I figured the problem is with the Netgear router, and not the Motorola SB5101 cable modem (with Cox as my ISP)
• It affects my wired and wireless connections (running 5GHz and 2.4GHz) and the Router is in a room that is about 40' from the microwave. Our home cordless phone is 5GHz and I don't have any other wireless broadcast devices (except cell phones)
• The Netgear worked great for about 6 months but in the past two weeks has become very unstable - with frequent disconnects.
• According to the software update built into the router web interface, I am running the latest version
• I have the router set up with a 5GHz (Up to 300Mbps), and 2.4GHz (up to 130 Mbps) wifi but Guest Wifi is off
• I use the router's USB to connect an external drive that is shared throughout my network (works great, albeit a little slower than my Buffalo drive)
• I use WPA2-PSK [AES] Wifi security and have done so since setting up the router 6 months ago - but the connection problems only started recently
• I use WinXP, Win7 and Mac OSX on machines on the network and all experience the same problem
• I used to have the modem horizontal, and changed it to a vertical mounting - and I am not sure if that triggered the instability. After reading about this (even though the suggestion was the opposite), I have removed it from the vertical mount position and will post an update if I see any change

Thanks in advance for any assistance/advice.

Ruvi

[Joe_]

Originally Posted by ruviwije

I have a similar problem but different enough...

To begin with, IMHO you really should have started a new thread if you read this. Nevertheless...

The Netgear worked great for about 6 months but in the past two weeks has become very unstable - with frequent disconnects.

Have you thought of any event or change that may have coincided with your issues?

According to the software update built into the router web interface, I am running the latest version

Did your issues perhaps start after a FW upgrade? What FW version are you on? I'm running FW version V1.0.0.38_16.0.48 and I don't upgrade my FW since I don't have any issues and IMHO doing so is looking for trouble.

I used to have the modem horizontal, and changed it to a vertical mounting - and I am not sure if that triggered the instability. After reading about this (even though the suggestion was the opposite), I have removed it from the vertical mount position and will post an update if I see any change

Since you did read about it, is or was your router running hot? The idea mentioned here about having the router vertical on the stand it came with has to do with heat dissipation. Although if you read the manuals, they recommend one orientation or the other to suit how you may prefer the signal to be projected.

If your router has already sustained heat damage unbeknownst to you, there is little that changing the orientation can do for you now.

I lose connectivity to the Internet, but my local connection (network drives, printers, etc) remain intact

Based on this it is a possibility that your WAN port is failing. There may be other reasons of course, but no other comes to mind at the moment.

[ruviwije]

Originally Posted by Joe_

To begin with, IMHO you really should have started a new thread if you read this. Nevertheless...

Sorry Joe - it seemed that others posted about experiencing both Wifi and Ethernet dropping... same as me. And there seemed to be nobody posting saying that their problem was solved, so I hoped that I was contributing to the original thread.

Have you thought of any event or change that may have coincided with your issues?

None that I can think of except changing the orientation of the Router. I cannot be certain, but it may have been around the same time that the need to restart the router began.

As an experiment, I returned the router to the horizontal position - but it didn't help. I had to reset the router to read your post. And I don't even have to unplug it. I use the switch on the router to power down the router, and then after a few seconds, restart it.

Did your issues perhaps start after a FW upgrade? What FW version are you on? I'm running FW version V1.0.0.38_16.0.48 and I don't upgrade my FW since I don't have any issues and IMHO doing so is looking for trouble.

I too function on the "if it ain't broke..." basis with firmware upgrades. I don't recall ever upgrading the firmware on this router - certainly not when I started experiencing problems. It does an auto-check each time I log into the Web management interface, and I've only gone in a few times since setting it up.

Hardware Version WNDR3700
Firmware Version V1.0.7.98NA
GUI Language Version V1.0.0.64

Since you did read about it, is or was your router running hot? The idea mentioned here about having the router vertical on the stand it came with has to do with heat dissipation. Although if you read the manuals, they recommend one orientation or the other to suit how you may prefer the signal to be projected.

The router seems normal... whatever that may mean. It doesn't feel hot, just the regular warm feeling you get from most any electronic device. It is not hot like a most dual-core laptops get. I also have it in a well ventilated space with no carpet/cloth to affect airflow.

Router signal range hasn't been an issue for me - whether stored vertically or horizontally. When it works, it works well.

Based on this it is a possibility that your WAN port is failing. There may be other reasons of course, but no other comes to mind at the moment.

This makes sense.

The one other thing that comes to mind is that for some reason it's losing track of the IP assigned by my ISP - and restarting causes the N600 to go back to my cable modem and request the IP.

Thank you for your advice and patience. I'll try contacting Netgear and see if they have any suggestions and/or will replace it for me. If I learn anything of significance, I'll add it to this thread.

Ruvi