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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
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
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.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
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?
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
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.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
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)
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
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.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
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.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
Pre-configured? You mean custom configured to your requirement? All routers when they left factory are with factory deafult setting. User has to configure to meet his requirement. So you returned best router out there in it's class ATM. What router are you trying next?
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
I realise that it might be the best router out there at the moment, but I need it to support older devices as well while maintaining the top speed for devices that support it.
If i limit all devices to 54mb/s (through router configuration) in order to allow compatibility with older devices, then that would restrict the higher speeds supported by the router with the other devices which support those speeds.
Having to choose between higher speeds to just a handful of my devices and a router that can do both higher speeds and support even older devices - I would choose the later.
If Netgear can confirm that they solve this issue I will consider buying back the router, if they confirm that it is impossible to offer higher 2.4ghz speeds and also support older devices - then I will look for something else.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
Hi devlishro,
I think this is not an issue with the router but the limitation of your older devices. Your devices will only work when the router is forced to operate to only G mode which is at 54Mbps.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
Hello,
Can't the router operate in G-mode along side with the other modes ?
I have tested the RT-87u from ASUS - which is supposed to be part of the AC2400 class and had no trouble connecting the device via 2.4 GHz. - that device tough had a problem maintaing wired connections when downloading torrents thus I had it returned as well.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
The only things I have played with on the Netgear was the Wifi settings available on the 2.4 Ghz network - which had Security settings, a checkbox for 20/40 mhz and another checkbox which I forgot what it controlled.
Played with all those checkboxes enabling/disabling them on all speed levels without success.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
I re-ordered this router from amazon.de this time, waiting for it to get here within a week or so.
Would be nice to have some feedback of what can be done so that older wifi cards can be supported while also supporting newer devices with higher speed.
Also once I have the router back we can try playing with settings if you wish 🙂
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
This is not a Netgear or Netgear router problem. Your compatibility issue has to do with the 2.4GHz wireless protocol, not the router (Netgear or other brands). In order to get faster than 54Mbps routers have made changes/extensions to the 802.11b/n protocols that some older devices simply do not understand. So you have a choice of compatibility with older protocols or faster speeds.
One solution is to reserve your 2.4GHz protocol at slow speeds for compatibility with older devices and use 5GHz for faster/modern speeds. If you can't use 5GHz, e.g., because you need greater range (5GHz doesn't have as long a range as 2.4GHz) or because your devices aren't 5GHz, then setup multiple 2.4GHz access points where one is slow/54Mbps but compatible with older devices and another uses high-speed 2.4Ghz. I use an older router serving this purpose for an old Wifi scale that only talks 802.11b.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
For example:
How come the AC2400 from ASUS was being detected by the WiFi card? It said to have supported 600mbps and also it was detecteble by older devices.
I got this router to get rid of other routers and have just one to cover the entire place.
If the R7800's 2.4Ghz upgraded band loses support for older devices at higher speeds, forcing the router to be configured work with only 54mbps than the router can be compared to some of the already legacy devices.
It is not advertised that the router would lose support for older devices at higher speeds.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
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.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
Hi devlishro
To verify, when the 20/40Mhz coexistence is unchecked, the device cannot detect the 2.4Ghz of the router but if it is checked the computer detects the 2.4GHz. Am i correct?
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
Hi James,
Sort of, the checkbox sometimes doesn't display correctly if the 20/40 Mhz is enabled or not. I was able to connect after clicking save multiple times with the checkbox unchecked as well.
Re: Nighthawk R7800 - Old wifi card can't see 2.4 Ghz
Did you update the firmware? If so did you do a hard reset after before entering your settings manually not using a backup? Leave WMM on as default, leave 20/40Mhz as it is checked also don't turn on HT160 as noted in the latest firmware notes "Intel 7260/3160 has a connection problem with the R7800 when the HT160 is enabled. This issue is due to the Intel driver. Intel is looking into this."
