Netgear MR7400 (M7 Pro) hotspot + Intel BE201 WiFi card

That’s an interesting issue. Since phones connect normally and your AX211 (Wi-Fi 6E) laptop works on 5 GHz, it does sound like a compatibility or security handshake problem with the Intel BE201 (Wi-Fi 7) adapter rather than a hardware fault.

A few things you might try:

1. Change the hotspot security mode – If the MR7400 is using WPA3 or WPA2/WPA3 mixed mode, try switching to WPA2-PSK only temporarily. Some early Wi-Fi 7 drivers are picky with WPA3 implementations.
2. Disable Wi-Fi 7 features on the adapter – In Windows Device Manager → Network Adapter → Advanced settings, try disabling options like 802.11be / MLO / Wi-Fi 7 mode (or forcing 802.11ax). This sometimes resolves connection loops.
3. Separate SSIDs for each band – If the hotspot is using a single SSID for 2.4/5/6 GHz, try splitting them and connect manually to 5 GHz.
4. Channel selection – Some Intel cards refuse certain DFS channels. Setting the hotspot to a lower 5 GHz channel (36–48) can help.
5. Firmware check – Even if it’s “latest,” Netgear sometimes releases regional firmware builds with updated Wi-Fi compatibility, so it’s worth confirming with support.

Given that you already replaced both the adapter and hotspot, the most likely cause is early Wi-Fi 7 driver/firmware compatibility, especially around WPA3 or MLO negotiation. Disabling those temporarily usually confirms whether that’s the culprit.