Two different Browsers and javascript

[JohnUU]

I need some advice, please. I have two browsers on my PC - Chrome (Version 85.0.4183.121 Official Build 64-bit) and Edge (Version 87.0.656.0 Official build Canary 64-bit), both of which you would think are fairly common browsers. I also have a Netgear D6400 router - common or garden device, updated some months back with the very latest firmware (1.0.0.94) without any issues then or since. Previously I've never had an insurmountable issue with connecting to the router directly over my network, but today, when I needed to install a new DNS address, I cannot get access, since the router believes that my browsers don't talk javascript . The error shows as:- Checking JavaScript Support To provide an enhanced user interface, this Router uses JavaScript extensively. If this page is not quickly replaced, your Browser does NOT support JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript in your Browser, or use a different browser. I have checked the settings of both browsers and they show that javascript is enabled (OK, there's perhaps no immediate way to prove whether they're lying) but neither browser will permit me to actually get into the router such that I can program in the new DNS server's address. Both browsers have had their cookies 'cleansed' and have been rebooted. I've gone down the rabbit hole of using the Netgear Genie - which did at least permit me to 'see inside' but is as much use as a chocolate teapot when it comes to doing anything other than turning Wifi On/Off, so my question is ... "How the hell am I ever going to get to communicate with my router ever again?" (if I can't use either browser to connect).

[plemans]

have you tried the browser on a phone/tablet? 

[JohnUU]

Thanks, plemans. If only!!! What browser does my landline phone use? Err, I'll check that with BT. I said to my doctor "I keep taking the tablets - but that it's not getting any better." 😉 He advised me to use another 'router' - as he thought that the grooves this one was cutting weren't quite deep enough.

[michaelkenward]

Your answer is about as clear and easy to understand as your first message. That is,  not much.

It needs unpicking.

I would ask which firmware version you have on the D6400, but that would require you to get in there or to mess around with a mobile app, which you don't seem to want to, or cannot, do.

The latest firmware on the D6400 works just fine with all the browsers I have thrown at it.

When stuck, try this:

How do I perform a factory reset on my NETGEAR router? | Answer | NETGEAR Support

Maybe you have. Hard to tell.

[JohnUU]

Thanks, Michael Kenward, for your attempt to diagnose the problem and offer a solution. Yes, on reflection my response to plemans might have been seemed a trifle supercilious, but since I have neither a 'mobile phone' or a 'tablet' to be able to use as he suggested, I thought a little humour might be in order. Obviously you didn't appreciate my doing so. Nor it seems did you appreciate that my original posting actually provided the precise answer to your enquiry (as to which version of firmware the D6400 has installed). If you bother to read it again, you'll see I stated that the router was "updated some months back with the very latest firmware (1.0.0.94) without any issues then or since." I've checked again on the Netgear site and this version is still advised as being the very latest available for this modem/router. And since the router 'appears to be functioning perfectly correctly' - apart from not wanting to talk javascript to my computer's browser that is! - I seriously doubt that any malady has been done to the router's OS which might be responsible for the router behaving in such a way. As I think I stated, it responds to the Netgear Genie application - with no obvious errors in the operation of the router shown on screen (although I don't rightly know what 'language' that application may be using to communicate with the router, but presumably it's not javascript!) but that application doesn't provide access to the router's configuration details. Since my last response, I've tried connecting again using both the latest Firefox and Opera browsers - they didn't connect either - but frankly, with rather more pressing matters to deal with (besides fearing the loss of the will to live!) I've given up on making any changes to the configuration of this router - at least for the time being, as I hear the siren calls of another brand of router calling me to their door, one that will permit me to use Mesh technology from the outset.

[michaelkenward]

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@JohnUU wrote:
....since I have neither a 'mobile phone' or a 'tablet' to be able to use as he suggested, I thought a little humour might be in order.

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If you don't have a tablet, just say so. Jokes are fine, but they have to be funny while also explaining what you are trying to say.

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@JohnUU wrote:
Nor it seems did you appreciate that my original posting actually provided the precise answer to your enquiry (as to which version of firmware the D6400 has installed). If you bother to read it again, you'll see I stated that the router was "updated some months back with the very latest firmware (1.0.0.94) without any issues then or since."

I must have missed that bit in the middle of a large slab of unbroken text that included a lot of huffing and puffing signifying nothing. (That's a joke that I leave you to decipher.)

I see nothing in there to tell me that you have or have not tried a reset. Perhaps that too is buried in the waffle.

(If your keyboard has a carriage return key, it might come in useful as an aid to readability.)

I mention a reset because the problems you see is with the browser graphical user interface (GUI). That is in the hands of the firmware, which can become corrupt and show the symptoms that you describe.

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@JohnUU wrote:
I've given up on making any changes to the configuration of this router - at least for the time being,

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You never did explain why you wanted to make any changes. People often come here with half-baked notions of what they are doing and "I want to do this" questions when they really need to do something else. That's why it helps to break down the issue into bits that we can all understand.

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@JohnUU wrote:
....as I hear the siren calls of another brand of router calling me to their door, one that will permit me to use Mesh technology from the outset.

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Good luck on that front. The D6400 is a DSL modem/router. For some strange reason, perhaps pressure from ISPs, many brands have abandoned the DSL modem market. The D6400 is one of the few combined boxes still around.

You can forget about finding a DSL modem/router that does Mesh. You will even find it hard to get a cable modem/DSL with Mesh.

Then again, serious users avoid combined modem/routers and buy a separate modem that can feed any router that takes their fancy. In my case I have a modem followed by a router followed by an Orbi  Mesh system in AP mode. The choice of standalone routers is massively larger than with combined devices. Routers are also maintained more regularly with firmware updates with new features and bug fixes.

Even then you will find it hard to get a decent DSL modem only box. (I have two DM200s.) These have all but disappeared in recent months. The D6400 will do modem-only mode, but that has drawbacks which I leave you to unearth.

[JohnUU]

@michaelkenward- To go back to your original beef (about me not using the Return key to space things out) - well, as I wrote this (and the original posting) in HTML,  there were/are lots of lines spacing it all out when displayed that way. But then when I post it, it defaults to  show the posting in 'rich text' mode, which neatly removes all those spacing lines! But then you'd know that, wouldn't you?

Originally, in this posting, you'll not be aware but I used your @michaelkenward name to start each new paragraph. However the way this thread is displayed in rich text mode is as one long paragraph - which is NOT how I entered it in the first place! But then you'd know that, wouldn't you.

@michaelkenward  wrote: "You never did explain why you wanted to make any changes. People often come here with half-baked notions of what they are doing and "I want to do this" questions when they really need to do something else."

To quote from Microsoft's Win 10 Pro 20226 Fast ring release ... "We’re updating the new DNS options in Settings to make a static DNS entry required when entering a static IP, and to make gateway not a required field."  and  "We fixed an issue with the new DNS options in Network Settings where switching back from a custom DNS to automatic would result in a loss of connectivity." 

So I'm giving these items 'a test/trial' which seems to require me to get into the D6400's settings. But then you'd know that, wouldn't you.

@michaelkenward wrote: "You can forget about finding a DSL modem/router that does Mesh. You will even find it hard to get a cable modem/DSL with Mesh."

Oh, I do so agree, and what a shame that is. But then as you'll see, I'm well aware of that fact.

@michaelkenward  wrote: "Then again, serious users avoid combined modem/routers and buy a separate modem that can feed any router that takes their fancy. In my case I have a modem followed by a router followed by an Orbi Mesh system in AP mode. The choice of standalone routers is massively larger than with combined devices. Routers are also maintained more regularly with firmware updates with new features and bug fixes."

Sorry, did I omit to say that I am only using the D6400 as a modem (for my Netgear R8000 router with EX7030, EX7050 and EX7070 Mesh extenders?)

@michaelkenward  wrote: "Even then you will find it hard to get a decent DSL modem only box. (I have two DM200s.) These have all but disappeared in recent months. The D6400 will do modem-only mode, but that has drawbacks which I leave you to unearth."

I confess to have also been trying out a Draytek Vigor 130 modem unit as well, and perhaps I'll gloss over the Openreach ECI Telecoms VDSL Modem as well, otherwise you'll be finding fault with my use of that too.

Regards your comments on theOrbi Mesh system, I confess to being interested in the new Google devices (which appear to offer Mesh functionality at prices considerably lower than the Netgear Orbi units!) as well as the TP-link Deco P9 devices (which can also work with powerline, to overcome the effects of thick walls on the wi-fi signal).

And finally, is it perhaps "possible" that my original posting might just have had something to do with one of those "drawbacks" of the D6400 which you'd leave me to unearth? But then I suspect you know the answer already!!

[michaelkenward]

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@JohnUU wrote:

And finally, is it perhaps "possible" that my original posting might just have had something to do with one of those "drawbacks" of the D6400 which you'd leave me to unearth? But then I suspect you know the answer already!!

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In modem only mode, the D6400 can take so long to boot and connect – on my ISP (BT) at least – that any router behind it runs the risk of timing out before it establishes a connection.

If that happens, you have a modem that is connected to the Internet, followed by a router that does not know where it is.

So, after a power cut you can end up with a dead network. No problem if you are there when the power dies and can intervene, but otherwise you can end up with trouble.

I have no idea if this has anything to do with what you experience. Given how much detail you left out, who knows?

One missing detail is whether or not you have reset the D6400.

[Rapture2032]

Realize the response is a bit out of date from the original post but may be applicable to others that have recently updated their firmware and possibly be a little more helpful.

Scenario:

Updated the firmware on an AXE11000 (RAXE500) router to the current firmware (V1.0.12.96_2.0.45) and received the error condition described in OP comment which previously worked with Chrome browser.

Investigation:

Page loaded normally in Edge. 

Check the javascript settings in the security section of the chrome browser and it was enabled.   Also specifically put an allowed exception for the routers' IP address (v4).  Restarted browser and did not fix the error.

Discovered resolution to problem: Shotgun method

Settings-->Security setting-->"clear all browsing data-->advanced for all time"

Restart browser, voilà

Cautions:

This will wipe out stored data associated with all web pages so you will likely have to reauthenticate with web sites previously authenticated and "remember me" settings.

Perhaps I started with a broader net than would have resolved the issue but hopefully whittles down the areas to check.