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Gen5 modem webcam compatibility, modem dropouts

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mweasner
Sophomore

Gen5 modem webcam compatibility, modem dropouts

At the request of @Amanda, I have created this thread to assist HughesNet in troubleshooting the Gen5 modem issues I have been experiencing since immediately after I upgraded from Gen4 to Gen5.

 

Network Devices list (HughesNet Gen4 + Wi-Fi router)

 

Ethernet (all Cat 6 wiring):
Four computers
Network backup system
Printer
VGA webcam
10/100/1000 8 port Ethernet switch

 

Wi-Fi:
Two smartphones (5G, when available)
Two tablets (5G, when available)
One computer (2.4G)
Four VGA webcams (2.4G)
Four other 2.4G devices

 

When the first Gen5 modem was installed during upgrade from Gen4 all of the Wi-Fi devices were still turned ON, but only one computer was connected to the modem via Ethernet. The non-HughesNet Wi-Fi router was not being used. The Gen5 modem Wi-Fi network 2.4G and 5G network names were changed to be the same names as previously in use. Shortly after the installer left the Gen5 modem dropped offline (no web browser access via Ethernet and the HughesNet Usage Meter was greyed out). During a phone call to HughesNet Technical Support after the installer left, all Wi-Fi devices were powered OFF as part of the eventual troubleshooting. Modem stayed stable. But when the first webcam (Wi-Fi 2.4G) was powered ON, the modem dropped offline again. The modem had to power cycled in order to get it to come back online. The Technical Support representative stated the modem was bad and that its router address should NOT have been 192.168.42.1. She ordered a replacement Gen5 modem shipped to me. (this router IP address issue turned out to be an incorrect assessment by Tech Support)

 

When I set up the replacement modem, all of the Wi-Fi devices were OFF and only one computer was connected via Ethernet. New modem worked. But as before, when the first webcam was powered ON, the modem dropped offline again. The modem had to be power cycled in order to get it to come back online. I decided that only the webcams were consistently killing the modem as soon as they were connected to the modem. None of the other devices killed the modem within minutes of being powered ON.

 

Current Network Devices list (HughesNet Gen5)

 

Ethernet (Cat 6 wiring):
Four computers
Network backup system
Printer
10/100/1000 8 port Ethernet switch

 

Wi-Fi:
Two smartphones (5G, when working)
Two tablets (5G, when working)
Four 2.4G devices

 

About every couple of days, but sometimes every few hours, the modem drops offline for some reason even with no webcams in use. Normally, the modem returns to operation on its own within minutes, but sometimes it takes hours to return itself to normal operation. NOTE: I am not talking about satellite connectivity. The modem drops off the LAN and is not visible via a web browser or the Usage Meter via an Ethernet connection. When the modem router drops offline it also kills connectivity between devices on the LAN. This means that inprocess backups to the networked backup disk are interrupted, resulting in potentially corrupted backups. Obviously, not a good thing.

 

The modem dropping offline problem does not seem to be related to the frequent Wi-Fi 5G network disappearing act. The Wi-Fi 5G network can be stable for a day or two, and then disappear for minutes or hours before returning on its own (although the current 5G outage has gone on for a entire day. Power cycling the modem may or may not restore 5G functionality immediately. Wi-Fi 2.4G is stable when the modem is operational, but of course is dead when the modem goes offline on its own. The 5G outage affects devices in the same room as the modem and even when within 1 foot of the modem. (I understand this 5G radio failure is a known problem at HughesNet.)

 

Thursday morning (20 July) I plan to test disabling UPnP on the modem to see if that resolves the webcam issue. I don't know whether it will solve the webcam issue and/or the modem dropping offline on its own. I will report back here with the test results.

 

If disabling UPnP does NOT solve the webcam issue then I will have a decision to make very quickly: do I spend the money to replace 5 webcams with models that may or may not work with the Gen5 modem, or do I request to be reverted back to Gen4?

 

Stay tuned...

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

 

It's a great feeling when everything works!It's a great feeling when everything works!

 


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.

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5 REPLIES 5
mweasner
Sophomore

First an update on the Wi-Fi 5G: after being down pretty much all day yesterday, it was alive and working well this morning prior to my webcam troubleshooting. Remains to be seen if 5G continues to stay alive.

 

As to the issue of my webcams killing the Gen5 modem, I disabled UPnP on the modem. After waiting about 5 minutes I powered up one webcam connected via Wi-Fi 2.4G. SUCCESS! The webcam connected automatically and the modem stayed online. It has been working OK for the past 30 minutes. I will leave just the single webcam connected and see if the modem continues working properly for the next 24 hours. If it does, I will add the remaining webcams one at a time. I will update this thread sometime on Friday. Thanks to everyone who suggested disabling UPnP!!!

Hi mweasner

 

Glad to hear! I am not sure why I thought you had already tried this. Just as an FYI, we are bringing out a software update for the HT2000W that would resolve the issues with UPnP so it will not be necessary to disable it in the future. That should be happening very soon from what I have been told. 

 

Thanks

Amanda

Today I reconnected the remaining four webcams to Gen5 Wi-Fi 2.4G with the modem UPnP disabled. So far all five webcams are working properly with the Gen5 modem. Whew! Thanks again to everyone who suggested that fix.

 

Hopefully HughesNet Technical Support will add the UPnP disabling troubleshooting technique to their standard checklist. If I had been informed by Tech Support about this known UPnP issue when I called them on 7 July I would not have wasted so much of my time troubleshooting the issue and getting so frustrated with Gen5 since then.

 

I understand there a software update being rolled out that hopefully fixes the UPnP issue. For now I am leaving UPnP disabled.

 

Update on the Wi-Fi 5G: it has been stable for the past two days. Maybe a recent software update fixed that issue.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@mweasner wrote:

Update on the Wi-Fi 5G: it has been stable for the past two days. Maybe a recent software update fixed that issue.


I read in another thread that updated software was rolled out to a few gateways a couple of days ago.  I don't know if this includes the fix to the 5Ghz radio, nor do I know what gateways, but hopefully it did.  

 

Glad everything is working the way it should at present.  

 

It's a great feeling when everything works!It's a great feeling when everything works!

 


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.