So, I "won" this modem at auction. Description was basically that they purchased it from a store and couldn't get it to work. I was hoping it was just that their LIS had to register the modem before it could be accessed, because some modems seem to need downstream before they're active. Doesn't appear to be the case.

Here's what I tried.
Reset to factory with button on the back
Hooked up Coax
Reset to factory again
When all lights went steady, attempted reaching modem via wifi, CAX80 is showing SSID as NETGEAR-1900 but under the modem it says it would be NETGEAR43
On Nighthawk app it comes up as NETGEAR43.
Password under modem wouldn't work on neither the wifi nor the app
App got me into settings page, which showed NETGEAR43, but associated password ("kind-------") wouldn't work
Hooked up laptop via RJ45 and can't even see the modem.
Contacted LIS and they accepted the serial number (which is registered to the [or one of the] original owner[s] ). Rebooted modem and they could see it, but I still could not.
All lights were solid, except 1-4 LANs, they were not lit
Tried switching from port 4 to port 1, still nothing.
Tried switching to Aggregate, still nothing.
Tried switching to mu;ti-gig (LAN) and still nothing.
Tried hooking up a router in LAN and still nothing.

Tried the 30-30-30 method as well; and it still has the same results. Comes up as Netgear-1900 in wifi and with PC hooked to it, under Device Manager | Network & Internet Settings | Network Controllers, it just says "a network cable is disconnected", so it isn't even seeing it is plugged in. That's using either, Category 6 as well as brand new Category 8.1.

Swapped modems online, back to my "leased/borrowed" low-end modem from Spectrum and all works again.

Just AC plugged in:
Lights (all white) are off, showing power (white). Upstream flashes white for around a minute. Then 36 seconds later it flashes to the LAN port lights (pink), then 30 seconds power steady (white), upstream, downstream and internet flashing (white) for about 20 seconds, then upstream flashing (white), about 2-1/2 minutes later, all lights flash white and hold, with one being blue, maybe multi-gig... I got caught off guard, for about 2 seconds. Then back to power steady (white).

Gonna try swapping modems online with Spectrum, then hooking up the CAX80, now that they have the modem registered and I can see it online. Could have been an issue with them registering the modem, but they said I had to contact Netgear to register... they input the serial number and AFAIK, that is all that was needed. Again, they could see it, but I couldn't access it.

I originally tried to register the serial number so I could contact customer service via chat... but it's been registered already and I couldn't get past the request for serial number. So, a big hello for my first post; Requesting rather than offering help or even saying "Hello"... LOL.

(Hello!)

P.S., What has me confused is why wifi is showing as NETGEAR-1900 when it should be NETGEAR43. Is it possible some PO flashed with the wrong firmware or something? If so, then why does the App see it correctly?

Forum Discussion

Can't Reset CAX80 to Factory Settings