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Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
Hello everyone,
I recently had to return a router because one of my laptops was not able to see the Router on the 2.4Ghz network.
Network card: A 802.11n Wireless LAN Card from Ralink Technology, Corp.
PCI\VEN_1814&DEV_3290&SUBSYS_E055105B&REV_00
I updated the router to the latest firmware but that did not fix the problem,
what would fix the problem is setting the 2.4Ghz to be configured at 56mb/s (lowest speed level available) - but that would mean that the router would not be able to support higher speeds on the 2.4 Ghz with other newer wifi cards.
Is it possible for the router to be able to support older devices while at the same time maintaining higher speeds for newer devices ? (Rather than limiting all of the 2.4 Ghz devices to the lowest speed ?)
I returned the router because of this dissappointment, if someone can confirm that this router can support older devices while maintaining the advantage of newer devices as well - I will go and buy it back
Regards.
Gabriel K.
Hello NetGear TM,
I have ordered the same router again and the problem is still there.
Except this time I played with it a bit more. The UserInterface or the settings of the router are not being displayed/applied properly.
More specifically the 20/40 Mhz cohabitation checkbox appears to be having this issue. Unchecking/Checking the checkbox and applying the settings several times can reproduce and fix the problem. My laptop was able to see the 2.4 Ghz network with both the 20/40 Mhz checked and unchecked. I am guessing the interface doesn't always apply the 20/40 Mhz cohabitation setting when you click apply - although if you refresh the page the checkbox is enabled.
To anyone else experiencing this problem: for the 20/40 Mhz checkbox - try to uncheck it - apply settings, check it apply settings several times until your wifi card will see the network.
22 Replies
Speeds are downward compatible. Set it to max speed. Did you enable WMM? What's idea of updating f/w for trouble - shooting anything? You trouble-shoot problems without changing anything until you have reached a solid cnclusion f/w is causing the problem. Then update f/w. Did card hae latest driver?
As mentioned, the only way to get it to work was to set the router work with 54Mb/s. Setting it to the maximum speed would not allow the WiFi Card to detect the SSID.
Could not find better drivers than the ones currently installed by Windows 10.
You speak about troubleshooting without updating firmware. Well considering that newer firmwares are usually packed with fixes, you could see how I was hoping for a newer firmware to have covered the issue I was experiencing. I do not see any advantage to not updating the firmware. The firmware is also a driver to the router if you will, and then you recommend updating the wifi card driver but not the router's driver - your ideas conflict themselves.
Also can not see why WMM would enable the wifi card to detect the network or not as it is probably an issue as you said of backward compatibility.So did you enable WMM or not? Did the releaser note of the firmware address your problem?
Did you even read it? Nothing wrong with R7800 which is a good router. I am using one myself.
- Signal detection has everything to do with speed. WMM comes from multimedia it is not related to signal detection at all.
Signal might not be detected on the protocols used by the router to provide higher speeds on the 2.4 ghz band. Meaning that it is not diwnward compatible with older devices and the only way for it to get it to work is to limit the 2.4ghz band with older protocols.
Also i tried all the different options available on the 2.4 ghz band. Even configured it without security.
Configuring the router to work with up to 54mbps was the only way to see the network. ( I think the router at higher speeds loses support for the older devices)speed matters after signal is detected. Detecting radio signal is matter of RF energy, Still you did not say whether you enabled WMM or not.It is like when you start your car, does it have anything to do with how fast your car can go? Sorry the R7800 took the blame. My -n devices, two wireless printers, a few wireless ip cameras all work om 2.4GHz band with speed set at max. All -ac devices are on 5GHz band.
I do not know if WMM was on or not - as I do not remember the interface. It was probably on as the R7800 Ninjas in Piajamas (N i P) version I had bought was supposed to be pre-configured properly.
What I can tell that my phone was able to see the 2.4 Ghz network on all speed levels, while my old wifi adapter was only able to see the 2.4 ghz network when the router was configured to work with 54mb/s.
