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Forum Discussion
I have to change wifi password after every internet outage
I have an Orbi RBR850 used with a Nighthawk modem. Every time the internet goes out most of my devices will not reconnect to the wifi. The only thing that works is to change the wifi password and t...
It happens if either the power goes out, or there is an actual disruption in service from the internet service provider. More commonly it is just a disruption in service from the internet service provider.
Thanks. When this happens, have you tried resetting the WiFi credentials, but to exactly what they were before?
An Orbi WiFi system will function with no internet connection at all. (Not particularly useful to most of us, but there have been several posts on the forum describing situations where people want to network a bunch of devices - including WiFi devices -- "out in the boonies" where there is no internet service.)
Losing the internet connection should not cause any devices to lose their connection to the Orbi system:
- Wired devices will remain connected.
- WiFi devices will remain connected.
- Every device keeps the existing IP address.
- Devices on the network can communicate with each other all they want.
- The only thing that is "gone" is the internet connection, which provides the DNS mechanism to resolve internet URLs into IP addresses and (of course) the network to connect to those IP addresses.
A power outage will certainly cause every device to "go dead", which also means having no connection (wired or WiFi). However, when the power comes back on, the WiFi system will reboot and every device will reconnect. Edison has managed to treat me to several power outages in the past couple of months, and every time power comes back on, everything reconnects.
So, this situation is totally and completely wrong.
Perhaps it would be useful to conduct an experiment (when the house is not full of people using the internet)
- Before doing anything else, make a backup of the system configuration using the Orbi web browser interface, Advanced Tab, Administration, Backup Settings. That file will contain all of the settings that you have changed and can be used to reload them a lot more quickly than entering them by hand.
- Deliberately disconnect the Ethernet cable from the modem.
- If there is a computer (Mac, PC, laptop, etc.) wired to any of the Orbi units, determine if the computer still has a connection and can 'ping' the router. (and other devices on the network)
- Open the network settings of some device and see what WiFi SSIDs are being broadcast with a strong signal. (There may be a dozen neighbor WiFi systems, but they usually will have weak signals.)
FURRYe38 is correct that "when all else fails" the last resort is to do a Factory Reset. Wipe out everything and start over.