Pepwave Surf SOHO Mk3 admin crashes 2x

I know little about tech but enough to appreciate computers can be touchy, and my new router seems to be working fine for the most part. However, I’m wondering whether what I’ve encountered suggests a substantial deviation from the norm? In other words, did I end up with a lemon?

I’ve been configuring this router that I just purchased in the last few days. Two times in the last 72 hours I have had to factory reset and start all over again with admin configuration (fortunately after the first event I discovered how to download a configuration file). During each of the two events, I made some changes in the admin settings, then applied them – and was eventually timed out of access to the admin page and was unable to regain access to the admin page.

I’m no techie and am new to much of this. I’ve been following M. Horowitz’s guide on router security to set things up. I think the first event may have occurred from setting a firewall rule in the wrong place, and if so, that’s on me. The second event a few minutes ago, however, occurred after I simply changed the web session timeout from its 4 hour default to a 1 hour default. I then encountered a really long spinning arrow as the change was applied, and eventually was booted off of admin and was unable to connect back to the admin page; I also lost internet connection. A reboot of my computer accomplished nothing. So I had to go back to factory default and then upload my saved configuration file. (I would note that before affecting the web default timer change I had played with settings on other pages but without saving or applying them, so I don’t know if that somehow overloaded the router/firmware ability).

Once I got the router setup for the second time (this time from a saved configuration file), I then changed the default web session timeout again. This time it worked, though I did lose connection to admin in the process and had to reconnect, to discover the change had been put in place.

Sometimes it is expected that you would lose access to the router. If you do something like change the admin port or the routers IP address, then of course you would have to re-connect using the new settings. Likewise, while the router reboots, as it has to to install new firmware, your computer may connect to a different SSID - it is best to configure the router via Ethernet. Also best to configure it off-line as much as possible. And, press the Apply Changes button often, so as not to let too many changes hang out there. Worst comes to worst, a cold boot should fix any problem the router may have.

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I have now had to reset the router 6x in the last few days. It’s official now: I simply cannot change the username or the password for administrative stuff without encountering this problem. FYI, I am configuring from the Ethernet. Any ideas? Thanks.

May i know the firmware version running for the Surf SOHO MK3 device ?

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7.0.3 build 1260

Look like you have made some changes then loss the access to MK3’s web admin. I believe the router doesn’t crash.

Can you share what you are trying to achieve? What do you need to configure on the MK3? I would suggest making the changes one by one instead of changing all the required settings then apply changes at one shot.

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I appreciate the responses. Just circling back to finish out the thread and indicate that the problem was resolved in an old-fashioned way. I reset the router to factory settings within the router admin portal, and then gradually made modifications and saved configurations along the way, and also upgraded the firmware along the way. It’s been working well and with stability for a couple of weeks now.

Will never know, but it may be that at some point while setting new configurations and upgrading firmware, the software got a little out of sync. Anyway, working up from the factory reset seems to have done the trick. It’s a great product, and I am very happy with it so far.

Yes I’ve gotten used to power cycling both my SURF Soho Mk3 and my docsys 3.1 modem when I make any significant changes. Changing LAN IP, changing Admin access data, even some firewall or content access stuff. This is because the modem might not understand what just happened, nor will your OS without renewal. Save your configuration to exported file from System > Config menu, constantly, even before doing little changes. It’s not so big a deal as the updates are so fast after a quick reboot.