Nighthawk D7000 for WiFi but no internet

[trevorp]

I was using the D7000 with zero issues, but I upgraded my speed through CenturyLink and they did so with bonded internet.  Since the Nighthawk does not support bonded, I had to use the Actiontec C1900A from CenturyLink.  While I was getting close to 40 DL speed hardwired, my wifi was only 17.  I decided to connect my Nighthawk to the C1900A to improve the wifi speed.

Here is what I have done.  I have an ethernet cable from the yellow port of the back of the C1900A which I put into the Red "Internet" spot on the back of the D7000.  I went into the C1900 router settings and disabled the wi-fi radio.  After powering up, the D7000 shows white lights for wifi and the dual bands, but the internet remains orange.  I have power cycled multiple times.  I opend the netgear genie to see if I could see anything but I cannot get into the router settings.  

Any advice?  The whole point in upgrading my speed was to get faster wifi speeds.  Hoping I can still use the Nighthawk to accomplish this.  Thanks everyone.

[TheEther · Accepted solution]

The easiest, although not necessarily the best, solution is to set up your D7000 as an Access Point.  Log into the D7000, go to ADVANCED > Advanced Setup > Wireless Access Point and select Enable Access Point.  Follow the onscreen instructions for connecting it to your network.  It will probably have you connect the Red Internet port to your C1900A, as you have already done.

If you can't log into your D7000, then disconnect it from the modem, connect a PC to one of the D7000's LAN ports and point your browser at http://routerlogin.com.  If that still doesn't work, then reset the D7000 to factory settings; push the physical reset button for 8 to 10 seconds until the lights flash on and off.

If you want to use the D7000 as a router, then put the C1900A into bridge mode.  You may have to look up how to do that.  You can force the D7000 to use the Red Internet port by going to WAN Setup and setting WAN Preference to Must use Ethernet WAN.

[michaelkenward]

I wonder if any of this applies to your predicament:

R7000P ac2300 wont connect to internet - NETGEAR Communities

Same modem and ISP.

[trevorp]

Thanks for that.  There were definitely some similarities in that article, although I am able to get the wifi network to show up, I just can't connect.  But that article is similar in that when I try to access the router settings, I can't for the netgear and can only get to the C1900A.  

I was trying to use the C1900A for ethernet and the nighthawk for wifi due to the better speeds.  So that's why I turned off the wifi radio on the C1900A.  I'm not that knowledgable on this stuff, but would a better choice be to use the C1900A as a "modem only" and then the Nighthawk for both my wired and wifi connections as the router?  Thanks again.

[michaelkenward]

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@trevorp wrote:
...would a better choice be to use the C1900A as a "modem only" and then the Nighthawk for both my wired and wifi connections as the router?

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Yes. You just want it to feed the Internet to the D7000.

But the D7000 is a modem. If you cannot use it as your modem, you may have to tweak that too.

This might be useful:

>>>>   D7000 used only a router - NETGEAR Communities <<<<

@TheEtherknows their stuff.

[TheEther · Accepted solution]

The easiest, although not necessarily the best, solution is to set up your D7000 as an Access Point.  Log into the D7000, go to ADVANCED > Advanced Setup > Wireless Access Point and select Enable Access Point.  Follow the onscreen instructions for connecting it to your network.  It will probably have you connect the Red Internet port to your C1900A, as you have already done.

If you can't log into your D7000, then disconnect it from the modem, connect a PC to one of the D7000's LAN ports and point your browser at http://routerlogin.com.  If that still doesn't work, then reset the D7000 to factory settings; push the physical reset button for 8 to 10 seconds until the lights flash on and off.

If you want to use the D7000 as a router, then put the C1900A into bridge mode.  You may have to look up how to do that.  You can force the D7000 to use the Red Internet port by going to WAN Setup and setting WAN Preference to Must use Ethernet WAN.

[trevorp]

Thank you for the reply TheEther.  I think I'm going to try the bridge option, as I found instructions on putting the C1900A into transparent bridging.  If I'm reading that correctly, I would then hook all of my ethernet cords from other devices into my D7000 since it is the router at that point, as well as using the D7000 for my wifi.  So the only thing  from the C1900A would be the DSL line into it, and one cord out directly to the red Internt spot on the D7000.  

I'll try it and let you know if I was able to get it to work.  

[TheEther]

That's correct.  Good luck.

[trevorp]

Thanks so much to both of you that replied.  I put the C1900A into transparent bridging and connected from the yellow ethernet port to the Red Internet port on my D7000.  Power cycled and tested.  Everything appears to be up and running.  Hardline speedtest came in at 37 (out of 40) and wifi speedtest via my phone is now 36.82 (compared to the 18 I was getting out of the C1900A).  

I am very happy.  Thank you again!!!