Hub 5 WiFi/DHCP issues

[Dinsdale87]

Hi all

For two days, I've been battling this issue after many weeks of strange behaviour, I have finally tried to sit down and troubleshoot and I'm now at the point where I'm genuinely of the belief that there is either a hardware failure, or more likely, a result of poor firmware that was recently rolled out.

Firstly, I am on a Hub 5 running software version LG-RDK_4.6.24-2206.7.

Second, my setup has been Hub 5 in router mode, connected to a Netgear PoE network switch, and one of the devices is a Netgear WAP. I haven't used the Hub 5's WiFi, but it is there (more on testing that later). Previously, on my Hub 3, I had the same setup.

What I'm finding is that my WAP has been dropping connections to clients. When I look at the error logs, it says that it can't get an IP address. So my troubleshooting started there... I got nowhere. Reset after reset, rejig of settings after a rejig of settings. Sometimes some clients could connect, but in the case of Windows devices, I got "No internet, secured".

I then moved backwards to the switch, same thing, resets - various settings. Same result.

I then went back to my Virgin Hub, this time completely unplugging the switch and therefore WAP. Factory reset, both on the button and via the settings, into modem mode, back out of modem mode - just to wake make sure

DHCP is on, as it always was. No filters, no port forwarding. However, I get a successful connection to the Virgin WiFi temporarily... this may last an hour or so then I get "No internet" again. My iPhone says "Unable to join network". This is either on 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz, or with smart mode enabled.

When I hardwire a Windows device to the Hub, I get "Unidentified network" temporarily. I've gone through all of the Windows troubleshooting here, using PowerShell commands to reset DNS, winsock etc.

Here's the kicker - when I reset my SSID password (yes, the password), I can then reconnect again temporarily. If I set it back to a previous password, like the one my 50+ devices are on, I can't. It's like the previous passwords are all blacklisted somehow and I have to get a new password every so often.

If I customise my SSID name, as long as I haven't used it before with the same password, it'll temporarily work.

This has got me absolutely baffled. I have Alexa devices in the house that don't work, lights that don't work. Luckily my wired devices are holding up now.

On what could be an unrelated note, in December, my Plex server also was unreachable but that could be a red herring - but it does lead me to believe Virgin have pushed some nasty bugs out in this latest firmware.

I'd call the technical folk, I'd love a new Hub 5 to prove/disprove my theory but I fear I'll be asked if I've "switched it off and on again".

Help?

[Tom_W1]

Hi @Dinsdale87 thanks for your post here, although we're sorry to hear of the concerns you've raised.

I've ran some checks and it looks like there is an issue on the line at the moment - the estimated time of fix is today at approximately 14:00 but if you are having any further issues, please don't hesitate to let us know and we can investigate this further once again.

Many thanks

[Dinsdale87]

Hi Tom

Thanks but any issue on my line is separate to the local network configuration I'm talking about. 

I get issues on my line all of the time, especially at the most inopportune times when I'm working from home - but I've given up reporting them. I just keep being told to reboot my kit. 

So I do find humour in the irony that this time there is an issue with my kit and I'm being told there is an issue on my line!

[Ayisha_B]

Hi @Dinsdale87,

The outage that has been raised is estimated to be resolved on 15 FEB 2023 09:20.

Once this has been fixed, let us know if you still experience any other issues. 

Thank you 

[spikey673]

You’re not alone, installed hub 5 today, exact same issues… could not get it to work with my own SSID/Passwords.
In the end I barely got it able to work by making sure smart Wi-Fi ( or whatever it’s called ) was on, and just adding a 5 at the end of the 5Ghz without a space.

6 hours in total I spent on it and that’s the only configuration I could get to work, besides the out the box configuration.

[Dinsdale87]

Glad to know I'm not the only one. How ridiculously weird. 

I've got an EdgeRouter X coming today that I'm hoping will help, allowing me to put the Hub into modem mode. 

[Adduxi]

Does the EdgeRouter X have a 2.5Gb port?  Seems a shame to order a new Router if it can't match the Hub 5 2.5Gb port.

Fully agree with Modem mode, you'll never look back .....

[Dinsdale87]

No, it doesn't have a 2.5Gb port. It seems I can't have my cake and eat it. 

The go-to solution is put the Virgin Hub in modem mode, Virgin don't seem interested in actually fixing the underlying issues that causes people to need to do this.

Here is a hypothetical. What if they removed this feature going forward? Doesn't bare thinking about. 

I know the WiFi is poor on Virgin Hub's, that's why I invested in a PoE switch and a WAP. It was all working until Virgin decided they didn't like DHCP working correctly and wanted to introduce bugs meaning you can't have customised SSID's, even on other third party devices. 

It is now beyond frustrating. 

[Adduxi]

This is why in all the years I’ve been with VM I’ve always used modern mode. Same setup with AP’s and PoE. 

[Tudor]

Same here. I have a Ubiquiti UDM-Pro and a Hub5 and connected at 2.5 to socket 4. 

[spikey673]

I’ve resigned myself to the fact it’s broken, il just wait for a firmware update and see if it works then.

extremely frustrating so see the SSID I’ve created, to try and connect with a never ending spinning circle, I know it’s DHCP because I’ve tried connecting on one SSID whilst connected to the hub via the original SSID on another device, and I can actually see the other device connecting as it should but not assigning an IP.