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Forum Discussion
Nighthawk A7000 frequently disconnecting less than 5 months after purchase, no way to contact you
I purchased my Nighthawk wifi adapter on January 10. It was working fine until May. Now, it's disconnecting extremely frequently. Troubleshooting doesn't help. Your website's "support" section doesn'...
How have you tried to contact Netgear?
If you searched the web for NG support, you probably found a 3rd party. They do charge, and 'help' is hit or miss. They are not authorized NG support. They may not even have the h/w or access to any support articles or s/w code.
You reach NG via the SUPPORT link on the top menu. You then login or register for the site (not the same uid and pw as this forum), and then click on MY SUPPORT. Assuming you registered the A7000 it should show on that page. Click on it (should have a check mark for H/W) and then CONTACT NETGEAR. That will open a CASE and NG will contact you after you describe the problem on that page. Either by e-mail or calling you. Of course, once you are out of warranty only PAID support on that web page is available.
Are you running Windows? Sounds like some problems I had with my A6200? It would disconnect when the PC went to sleep and randomly would not reconnect when coming out of sleep. I went through all the USB and A6200 settings in Device Manager making sure it couldn't turn-off to save power (have a desktop) and the same in the POWER PLAN. Reduced it but never completely stopped it from happening. I really think this is a Windows driver problem more than a device problem though. Frequency seems to change with each Windows Update. By the way, it seems it is not only related to NG, 2 PC's here, both experience this non-connect after coming out of sleep. Other PC has a completely different USB adapter, drivers, and even Chipset I think? On occasions this happens to both PC's and sometimes only one. When it does happen every time I've found rebooting the router helps for awhile, other times disabling and then enabling the device helps?
I didn't search for Netgear support, I used their own website. They want to charge me for so much as a phone call. Just to tell me what, that I have to shell out even more money for a replacement, despite this being a faulty unit?
I'm going to add a second reply with a second attachment, because I don't see another way to add two photos to one post.
My request had a "disclaimer" that the phone call is only "free" within 90 days. I purchased it on January 10 and activated it on the 12th. It's been more than 90 days.
The attachment shows my "options" for support. There are none. I have the choice of purchasing a service contract. I already attempted to put in a ticket for a defective item and it told me I'd have to call, which would cost money.
I already changed the settings to power management to make sure my PC can't turn off the adapter to save power. I don't know if I have to do it in other settings, too, but I know I did it in the wireless adapter options under Network Connections.
This is happening while I'm actively using the PC, too. For example, I'll hit "add to cart" and I'll get the browser message that I'm not connected to the internet, even though I was just a few seconds ago. I play online video games and am getting disconnected sometimes 7 times an hour. This is completely unacceptable. I wouldn't tolerate this on a $15 adapter. There's no reason at all I should for a $50+ one.
Sometimes, if I disable and reenable the adapter, it will work temporarily. Usually I have to restart after that and sometimes that works for awhile. It happens multiple times every single day, though. I think it might be more prevalent on days when I've put my computer to sleep and restarted it later, but I really can't rationalize a good reason why this would be happening once my computer is fully powered with those settings set to not turn off this device.
Thanks for your response.