Verizon FIOS Router Actiontec MI424WR-GEN3I Issue - Dropped Connections - Constant Reboots

[g00py]

So, here's my tale of woe: I received a new router (a MI424WR-GEN3I) to replace my old one around August. Almost immediately after setting it up, I noticed that it randomly reboots at least once a day and has been doing so ever since. Half a dozen calls to customer support have been no help whatsoever. I've had my ONT replaced, new routers sent to me, etc. Nothing has remedied the problem.

Today, however, a tech came by and showed me an internal document dated mid-October of last year {edited for privacy} that states Verizon is aware of the problem and the only way to fix it is to disconnect the device on the network that's responsible for dropping the connection. Frankly, I find that an unacceptable solution since, it turns out, this is a known (and apparently widespread) issue with the router itself.

I was told by another tech that Verizon is working on a "patch" that could come at any point in Q1, but I have no way to verify this. Nor do I have any understanding of the release schedule beyond this vague timeframe.

So, my question to the community is this -- has anyone else experienced this problem? 

Oh, and if Verizon is listening, when can we expect a solution? It's been three months since the document referenced above was circulated internally and five months since I started noticing this problem. I think we've waited long enough since this issue essentially makes Verizon FIOS unusable to power users like myself.

[beckolamuffin]

Is this the kind of message you are seeing in the logs that indicates a router reboot:

LAN Coax Link Rate Low Rate

?

If so, it might be the power supply.  I used to get that a lot with my Rev. C router before Verizon sent out a new power supply to everyone that had it. The new power supply fixed the problem.

[g00py]

Been down that road. Tried multiple routers, power sources, power strips, even different outlets. Made no difference. There's something inherently wrong with the Rev. I. I think that's especially true since I've never had a rebooting problem with two prior revs. 

[jphilly37]

So it's been a while since I posted, but I've been watching this thread daily.  I extended my 30 day cancellation because I really didn't want to leave verizon.  I agree that this is a specific issue with the Rev I, I don't believe it has anything to do with the STB's or ONT.  I have a feeling it's a setting somewhere on the router so here is my question to the community.  I have a VERY basic setup, but with each replacement I get I always make the same change.  I enable WEP so my Tivo 2 can connect.  Are you all enabling WEP?  Could this basic thing cause the reboots?  I want to test by resetting to factory defaults and not making ANY changes, but I wanted to here if anyone else has WEP enabled.

[beckolamuffin]

Can you post the relevant portion of your router's system log around the time of the reboot? I might have an idea.

Thanks!

[xpx]

I have had this problem for five or six months.  Finally verizon sent me a new router.  It did not help.  It rebooted several times  a day.  So a technician came out and installed yet another router, saying the other ones might have been remanufactured and this one is brand new.  It rebooted three times in the first hour.  So I found this thread, and someone suggested the IGMP feature might be a  problem.

http://192.168.1.1/index.cgi?active_page=6059

Above is the hidden page for  disabling IGMP.

IGMP Proxy (Enable/Disable):

I simply changed "enabled" to "disabled" and hit the "Apply" button.

I have now been up for 80 hours without a reboot.

[TheHangingJudge]

It doesn't matter what wireless mode you are using because my wireless is completely shut off on the FiOS router as my wife is served via another router acting as an access point only. That said I don't believe I am rebooting any more. Nothing has changed but my router has only rebooted twice in three weeks and both were due to power outages. At least on was because I was home when it happened while the other happened when I was away but clocks were reset so it was likely. Since then I am over 180 hours.

[sangs1]

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@TheHangingJudge wrote:
It doesn't matter what wireless mode you are using because my wireless is completely shut off on the FiOS router as my wife is served via another router acting as an access point only. That said I don't believe I am rebooting any more. Nothing has changed but my router has only rebooted twice in three weeks and both were due to power outages. At least on was because I was home when it happened while the other happened when I was away but clocks were reset so it was likely. Since then I am over 180 hours.

---

Ditto. Has nothing to do with wireless, considering that I've disabled wireless on every Actiontec FiOS has ever given me.

[Erasmus354]

Alright, just got done reading through this thread.

My issue has been much the same as everyone else but I have a few things to add.

I first had the issue with an older FiOS router (no gigabit, not sure what revision it is I got it in 2011). I had that replaced, no luck, had the router replaced a third time, no luck, had the ONT replaced on Saturday, no luck.

I have a fairly typical setup, HD DVR, SD STB, couple computers hooked up through ethernet, some wifi laptops and tablets, and an Xbox360. Everything had been working fine until one day it decided to start kicking the bucket and rebooting all the time. I didn't change any devices on the network until it started exhibiting problems.

So is the only solution so far to use your own router and relegate the Verizon router to a MoCa bridge? Has this been a 100% reliable solution? I have plenty of routers lying around including a really nice WNDR3700 that I haven't been using for a few years somewhere so this would be an acceptable solution. I would just have to convince the Verizon tech that is coming on Friday they need to wire ethernet into my networking terminal from the ONT to solve the issue.

[viafax999]

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@Erasmus354 wrote:

So is the only solution so far to use your own router and relegate the Verizon router to a MoCa bridge? Has this been a 100% reliable solution? I have plenty of routers lying around including a really nice WNDR3700 that I haven't been using for a few years somewhere so this would be an acceptable solution. I would just have to convince the Verizon tech that is coming on Friday they need to wire ethernet into my networking terminal from the ONT to solve the issue.

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The wndr3700 will work fine except for a couple of minor issues.

It doesn't do port mapping/translation or whatever you call it i.e. you wanto to open port 9999 in the firewall and forward it as port 80.  From the menu you'd think it allowed that as it asks for source and destination ports however it does nothing with the rule if you try to make them different.  Another annoying thing is there is no way that I could find to release the IP address.  A pain when my VZ router wifi quit working and I had to put it back as primary to talk to tech support about. the issue.  Finally just shut it down overnight so that I could swap the netgear out

Guess I'll be back with the wndr3700 as primary again later this week as support finally decided today that my issue was with the router and are sending me a new one so I'll probably be in the reboot scenario like eerybody else on this thread.

[Erasmus354]

I wonder if installing DD-WRT on it would solve those issues. Thanks for the input though! I just have to find where I stashed the 3700 now ...

[TheHangingJudge]

Try setting up the 3700 as an access point and shut off wireless on the FIOS router.  I haven't rebooted in 207 hours and I believe it only rebooted due to power failure then.  Maybe with the fios router doing less you can make the reboots less frequent and more tolerable.  

This is a long shot but worth a try before relegating the fios router to a moca adapter which is not simple.

Given no changes in my environment I think it may be a network configuration on VZ's side that triggers a counter in the router to reboot.  Something like dns request failures, connection drops, or ack failures that increase a counter until the router meets a threshold that tells the router to reboot.  

[viafax999]

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@TheHangingJudge wrote:

This is a long shot but worth a try before relegating the fios router to a moca adapter which is not simple.

---

Not really.
You configure your router as something other than subnet 192.168.1 and then connect a lan port of your router to the wan port of the VZ router.  that's about it

[TheHangingJudge]

Double nat is not typically encouraged in networks. Possible but not recommended. Many functions can fail because of this setup.

[viafax999]

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@TheHangingJudge wrote:
Double nat is not typically encouraged in networks. Possible but not recommended. Many functions can fail because of this setup.

---

Not encouraged but also not a no no.  In this case the VZ router is not really doing very much and I have been running like that for quite a while now.  Everything works for me just as it did before, however I don't have remote dvr so don't know whether that will work - theoretically it should so long as you forward the requisite Verizon Fios Service ports from your router to the VZ router.

I've actually been running double nat'd for 4 or 5 years and have never had any problems with any functions failing.  Do you have examples of such a thing?

[sangs1]

Btw, I attempted the disable IGMP "solution" a couple days ago and it did nothing to stop the 24-hour reboot cycle.

[gamer99]

thanks so much for the info buddy. basically last night i was firmware on the router 40.21.10.2. and now after the firmware update it has Current Version: 40.21.10.3. this is what causing the issue. before the firmware update everything was super fast and excellent. now everything is horrible.

EVERYONE be careful of the new firmware update.

[gamer99]

OUTAGE IN USA.  the new firmware version. 40.21.10.3 has caused dropping packets and caused an outage all over the States. just found out by technical support.  

BEWARE of this NEW FIRMWARE UPGRADE.

[sangs1]

No problems with it on my end, aside from the reboots, which were happening with the previous firmware too. Only sites that are slow to load for me are these Verizon Forums and the main Verizon site - and they've always been clunky. Otherwise, no difference whatsoever from the .2 firmware.

Could just be the default answer for the tech support people when they can't fix your problem.

[g00py]

Yeah, I second that. The .3 firmware didn't have an appreciable impact on my connection at all. Of course, it didn't fix my rebooting issue either, but I didn't have much confidence that it actually would.

So, cyberdome, tech support is telling you that the new firmware is causing widespread connection issues? Did they mention when a fix would be coming?

[gamer99]

No, ETA yet,  they said they are working on it.  I just changed the MTU settings to 1496 and everything is working fine now. so far so good.  ***knock on wood***

http://forums.verizon.com/t5/FiOS-Internet/Unable-To-Connect-To-Certain-Websites/m-p/685483#M46075

good luck to everyone!  hope Verizon is coming with a FIX.

[g00py]

FYI to the group -- I reverted back to .2 once I saw no benefit to .3. A prudent move, I figured, given Verizon's customary habit of making things worse.