G3100 web interface stops working - fixed by rebooting router

[gburlingame1]

I've had the G3100 for a couple of months now and I've noticed that the web interface has stopped working on about 3-4 occasions.  It happened most recently this morning.

Neither its IP address nor the URL myfiosgateway.com send a response to any computer or web browser that try to connect on my internal LAN.  It as though the G3100's web server gets into a crashed or hung state -- I suspect a firmware bug.  Perhaps if I forget to logout the session doesn't ever time out?  I noticed there is a cap of no more than 6 concurrent sessions.

The iPhone app myfios works as expected when the web interface is borked, in fact that is how I rebooted it this morning.  In the past I have pulled the power cord.

Once the router reboots the web interface becomes responsive and things work as expected.  Example:  Open web browser, try to connect -- will not connect.  Leave browser window open.  Reboot router.  Once router finishes rebooting, connect via web interface and observe it works as expected.

Has anyone else run into this issue?

It's running firmware 1.3.6.27

Hardware rev is 1103

Cheers,

Greg

[dslr595148]

#1 While we get you that you have FIOS Internet. Do you also have FIOS TV?

#2 Before the router crashes, are you able to access the Internet?

#3 Besides using a Wireless (your iPhone) connection, does a wired connection work?

#4 Do you have a  separate RJ-45 WAN port NAT router?

Note even if you are not using the separate NAT router, please say so. For example

---

Yes but not in use and the other router is a Linksys E4200

---

[gburlingame1]

Thank you for your reply dslr595148.  Here are my answers to your questions:

#1 While we get you that you have FIOS Internet. Do you also have FIOS TV?

Answer:  Yes, I do have FIOS TV.

#2 Before the router crashes, are you able to access the Internet?

Answer:  I would not say that the router crashes.  I am able to access the internet without any difficulty, that works as expected.  What I believe MAY be crashing is the web server running on the router that serves the configuration pages.  But that is just a theory, it could just as easily be something else.  

#3 Besides using a Wireless (your iPhone) connection, does a wired connection work?

Answer:  Neither wired nor wireless connections to the G3100 are able to access the web interface when it is not responding.  

#4 Do you have a  separate RJ-45 WAN port NAT router?

Answer:  No, I only have one router.  I do not have a double NAT configuration.  

Best regards,

Greg

[dslr595148]

Ok.

I suspect that you are right. Firmware bug

In the meantime, while waiting for a fix - trying to find out more info about this router.

Does this router have another way of controlling it?

Like telnet or SSH.

telnet://192.168.1.1

[gburlingame1]

It doesn't reply to Telnet or SSH.  

It responds to the Fios app.

[nasal]

I thought it was my kids preventing me from accessing the router until I found your post.  The only way to fix it was to reboot the router.  Thanks for raising this issue.  Hopefully, they will push out a fix for the router.

I'm running the same firmware and hardware version.

[gburlingame1]

Thank you for posting that you're having the issue too.  I hope they take care of this in a firmware update.

[CWODRSRET]

I am having this issue as well. The WebGUI works for several days after a reboot, then it wigs out, have to reboot again to be able to log into it! Verizon is this a Firmware Bug and if so when will you guys push out a fix, this is really annoying!

Thanks

[gburlingame1]

I'm the original poster -- I continue to have the problem.  I called tech support last week and they recommended saving my settings, doing a factory reset, and then restoring my saved settings. 

In case they have you do that -- DON'T DO IT.  There appears to be another bug -- after I restored my settings the G3100 refused to route any traffic to the internet.  It had a WAN IP address, was fully responsive on the LAN using its local IP address -- but it simply would not route to the internet.  Tech support could see it remotely and kept trying to convince me everything was OK and it had to be something on my LAN -- couldn't possibly be the G3100.  Good lord, so frustrating.

I did another factory reset but this time I did not restore my settings and the router functioned properly.  Of course that meant I had to manually  then manually change all the settings back the way I had them before I wasted my time on this journey.  

I had a sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe the factory reset would help but alas, after just a few days the web interface stopped working again. 

Tech support did tell me they have a new build that is internal beta testing -- I hope we see that soon.  I'd hoped the Tier 2 tech would tell me "oh yeah, we know about that bug...don't worry a fix is coming" but instead I was told "you seem to be the only person with that problem" which is what sent me down that pointless factory reset path.

I ultimately persuaded another tech to ship me a replacement router -- which I just installed yesterday.  It's the same build of HW (1103) and it's running the same version of FW (1.3.6.27).  I'll be pleasantly surprised if the web interface continues to function after a week or so without needing a reboot, but there's little doubt in my mind they have a bug -- and apparently they're not seeing it in their internal testing and not enough of us have been complaining about it. 

[gs0b]

A user over on dslreports figured out the G3100's UI freezes s/he was seeing were due to having a smart home device with an apostrophe in the name on the network.  When the apostrophe was removed, the UI remained stable.  You can read about it here:

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r32735902-Router-G3100-web-interface-issues

If others determine this is the cause of their issues, I encourage you to report it to Verizon through @VerizonSupport on Twitter or https://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzdirect.  Both methods reach the same team, it's simply a question of if you prefer to tweet or post.

[gburlingame1]

Thanks for posting that info.  Unfortunately that appears to be another bug -- the symptom I'm encountering is different -- the web GUI works perfectly after a reboot, and then after some amount of time none of the web GUI loads -- it's like the web server has crashed completely. 

[gburlingame1]

It's been 2 weeks since I replaced my original G3100 with the replacement G3100 that Verizon shipped me.  I can report that over that 2 week time period the web server has never become unresponsive.  The reported uptime is 338:01:13, which is just a little bit over 14 days.

I will continue to update this thread in case it helps others with a similar problem.

Here are my thoughts:

• Seems unlikely that the hardware is the root cause of the web server freeze, but stranger things have happened.
• The web server freeze issue did not seem to occur with any observable regularity -- so maybe it will happen again given enough time.  I will continue to report on this thread.
• Maybe a configuration change is somehow connected to this bug.  I'm only aware of two changes I made when setting up this second G3100:
  • Stuck with the default 192.168.1.x subnet instead of changing to 192.168.0.x
  • Set SON Wi-Fi Enabled to OFF -- this had been ON, but this time I decided to have different SSID's for 2.4GHz and 5GHz

[gburlingame1 · Accepted solution]

It's now been about 5 weeks since I switched to the replacement G3100.  Over that time I have never once observed the web interface freezing.  At this point I believe enough time has past to confidently mark this issue as SOLVED. 

I have to recommend that if you are encountering this problem, push Verizon to exchange your G3100 like I did.  I don't really know if there is a HW problem with some G3100's, or a bug that only happens in some combination of steps or settings that some of us perhaps stumbled into unknowingly.  

In any event, getting a new G3100 appears to be the only solution at the moment.

I hope this helps.

Greg

P.S.  See my related post about port forwarding not working on the G3100 in case you are having trouble with that too.

[EasierSaid]

I had the same freezing GUI where I could not access network settings after they were set.  Then the green network lights would just go out randomly overtime.  Talked to router manufacturer today with Verizon support and they believe it has to do with the hardware version 1103.  They said it should be 1104.  They are re-shipping 1104 so I can see if that it the issue.

[gburlingame1]

Hi EasierSaid,

My replacement G3100 is still HW 1103, very interesting that they are sending you a newer HW revision -- HW 1104.

It sounds like you are having a slightly different problem.  I could connect to the GUI just fine for a long time, and then suddenly without any apparent reason, the GUI would no longer load when I wanted it to load.  It could take days or weeks for this to happen. It was very random, I never found anything that would make it happen.  FWIW, the replacement G3100 they shipped me has never had this problem.

Greg

[luca2]

I have this issue as well. WebUI stops loading and all the Ethernet LEDs go out. Everything still works fine though, WiFi is fine and things on the LAN are fine even though the Ethernet LEDs are out. Very weird issues indeed 

[gburlingame1]

Come to think of it, I never checked the Ethernet LED's when the WebUI stopped loading -- my router is mounted in the garage so it's not something I would have noticed.  It's possible my original G3100 did the same thing as you guys.

[danjng2020]

@gburlingame 

From my research, the turning off of the LEDs is normal. After a set time (30 minutes?) the LEDs turn off. There is no setting at this point to disable that. If you press the button on front of the router, the LEDs will turn on again and show activity. My guess is that it was just to keep the flashing to a minimum if it was actually on someone's desk/shelf...

[gburlingame1]

@EasierSaid:  Just wondering if you received your replacement G3100 HW revision 1104.  Did it fix your problem?

[danjng2020]

@gburlingame 

Seems like yes...? 

I am going through the same issue. Sometimes I wonder if I got this person's router 😂

I'll try support at some point...