Nighthawk R8000 X10 - 2.4ghz radios not working

Question

I have a Nighthawk X10 R9000 which has been running smoothly for a couple of years. This morning, I woke up, and the 2.4ghz radios aren't working. The Advanced -> Advanced Home radio status shows both the 2.4ghz and 2.4ghz guest radios as a red "X" status.

Going to the radio settings page, if I try and change settings on Basic -> Wireless (eg channel) - it'll "take" the settings but the radios will never come back up. I've gone through a relatively large set of troubleshooting steps, including:

changing settings and saving them
rebooting (several times)
backrev the Firmware from 1.0.5.42 to 1.0.5.40 (then revving back up to 1.0.5.42)
full reset and reinitialize the configuration
reapply my old configuration

In all cases - the Advanced status shows the 2.4 ghz radios as unavailable - and none of my wifi devices work. I am able to connect fine via the wired ethernet ports.

My WiFI 2.4 and 5.0 ghz radios are set to "smart connect", and I can not change that (option is greyed out) - so I can't even disconnect the ESSID sharing, and try and setup a separate ESSID on the 5.0 ghz radio.

At this point - I suspect the 2.4 ghz radio must have gone bad? Any thoughts on how to try and go about troubleshooting this and restoring my 2.4 ghz / 5 ghz radios? The 60 ghz radio seems to say it's ok - but I don't have any clients to test against that wireless radio.

Thanks much in advance for any replies.

~~shane

FURRYe38 · Answer

After the reset for 10 seconds and wait say 1 minute, pull the power adapter for 30 seconds then plug back in. Walk thru the setup wizard and complete it with out loading any saved back up from file.&nbsp;
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Does the 2.4Ghz LED appear as WHITE or AMBER on the stop of the router after the reset and power ON comes to ready?&nbsp;
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Have you tired more recent FW? v.84 is available.

Kitsap · Answer

Have you tried to toggle the external Wi-Fi on/off button?&nbsp; Press and hold for several seconds then release.&nbsp; This button (switch) overrides any user interface configuration and does not reset with a power down and reboot.&nbsp;See attached from the manual.&nbsp;&nbsp;

FURRYe38 · Answer

If after trying the power cycles and wifi button doesn't bring back the radio, I'll presume the radio has gone bad.&nbsp;
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NG doesn't repair or service routers. Rather replace them if it meets RMA policy. I presume you unit maybe out of warranty. One suggestion that I've done before, since the rest of the router is working and still in operation, disable the wifi radios on the router and install another router and configure it for AP mode. You can even use another R8000 or maybe go for a Nighthawk MK6 or 8 series mesh system or maybe a Orbi AC RBK1 series or maybe Orbi AX 350 series.&nbsp;
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I bought one of these of amazon used and it was cheap:
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-Whole-Home-System/dp/B0823JXXX4/ref=sr_1_1?crid=272U0MBGDG2N5&amp;keywords=nighthawk+mk62&amp;qid=1668437864&amp;sprefix=nighthawk+mk%2Caps%2C169&amp;sr=8-1
&nbsp;
Just has to update it and it works fine. Has AP mode on it and would bolt right up to the R8000.&nbsp;
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Kitsap · Answer

sygibson&nbsp;wrote:Kitsap&nbsp;- yep - tried the WiFi enable/disable (I once had a cat disable it by sitting on the router ... took me a while to figure out WTH happened).&nbsp; When disabling via the button - the 60&nbsp; ghz radio is switched off.&nbsp; On enable, the 60 ghz comes back on - so it appears that the button disable/enable works fine - just the 2.4 and 5.0 ghz radios don't respond.&nbsp; Thanks for the thoughts and the pointers on the cube thingy ... I'll be replacing this with an AXE11000 / RAXE500 (again ... why the multiple model numbers for the same thing ... sigh ... ).&nbsp;FURRYe38&nbsp;- sadly looking like the radio unit is toast ... much appreciated with the thoughts and ideas to date ...&nbsp;&nbsp;It is just the nature of the beast with modern electronics.&nbsp;For your replacement device, the model number is RAXE500.&nbsp; The AXE11000 designation is throughput designation different manufactures use to supposedly allow comparison between products.&nbsp; It should serve you well.

FURRYe38 · Answer

I recommend if your getting a RAXE500, put a usb laptop fan cooler under it. Helps keep the electronics cooler. Electronics can degrade over time due to heat. Router comes with a built in fan but only triggers when temp gets high. I've found using a laptop fan cooler over the years keeps hardware working better and makes it last longer.&nbsp;

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Nighthawk R8000 X10 - 2.4ghz radios not working

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