Cannot change wifi channel on D7000

[Channelchanger]

I've had this D7000 for a number of years now, with no issues that I can recall. Now I wish to change the 2.4Ghz wifi channel, but when I do it returns 403 forbidden. This also happens when trying to change the 5Ghz channel.

I've tried three different firmwares; V1.0.1.74_1.0.1, V1.0.1.70 and V1.0.1.68. I've connected to the D7000 via two different PCs, one with wired connection and one wireless. Both Win10. Tried connecting via three different browers; Firefox, Chrome and Edge.

Anyone got a new suggestion?

[IrvSp]

Modem/routers are covered in another area of this web site, please go here, https://community.netgear.com/t5/English/ct-p/English, and select the proper forum. Someone familiar with that h/w might be able to help.

[michaelkenward]

---

@Channelchanger wrote:

I've had this D7000 for a number of years now, with no issues that I can recall. Now I wish to change the 2.4Ghz wifi channel, but when I do it returns 403 forbidden.

What are you doing to get that message?

Can you login to the browser's graphical user interface?

[Channelchanger]

Thanks for responding Michael. I can login to the router gui just fine. It's been set up for years and working fine, so I haven't much call to interact with the device, bar adding devices to the whitelist and switching guest networks on and off. What I'm trying to do is change the wifi channel on either the 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz band via Basic -> Wireless -> Select channel from droplist -> Apply or Advanced -> Setup -> Wireless Setup -> Select channel from droplist -> Apply. The error pops up after I click Apply. Once the message displays, I can click elsewhere on the left hand menu to navigate. It doesn't hang.

[michaelkenward]

Are you trying to avoid the new firmware that is available?

That you have tried so many versions suggests that the firmware is not the issue, so it is probably a good idea to try to fix it with the latest, rather than something older.

Have you ever done a factory reset in all of this troubleshooting?

[antinode]

> I've tried three different firmwares; V1.0.1.74_1.0.1, [...]

> Are you trying to avoid the new firmware that is available?

   What's newer than V1.0.1.74_1.0.1?

[tominwi]

I just now remoted-in to my own D7000v1 running ancistrus V1.0.1.70_1.0.1 and had no trouble switching my 2.4GHz from Auto to Channel 6 and back again to Auto. Since you have tried multiple PCs and browsers I can only suggest first to do a Factory Reset and next perhaps to try the ancistrus version of the firmware as it fixes a number of wierd bugs with the D7000v1 (although it is currently only to v70 of the Netgear base).

[michaelkenward]

---

@antinode wrote:

> I've tried three different firmwares; V1.0.1.74_1.0.1, [...]

> Are you trying to avoid the new firmware that is available?

   What's newer than V1.0.1.74_1.0.1?

---

Look at the attached image. Top left:

The user is not running it. That is why I recommend trying to mend the newest version rather than something out of date.

[michaelkenward]

Depending on hardware, a mobile app may also let a user in to change wifi settings.

Does the desktop genie allow that change too?

[Channelchanger]

---

@michaelkenward wrote:

Are you trying to avoid the new firmware that is available?

That you have tried so many versions suggests that the firmware is not the issue, so it is probably a good idea to try to fix it with the latest, rather than something older.

Have you ever done a factory reset in all of this troubleshooting?

---

Not yet. My telco doesn't like handing out the VDSL settings for some reason and I wanted to capture opinions first. I guess the next step is to go back to the latest firmware, reset the D7000 and then configure it again.

I was running the latest firmware when I discovered this issue.

[Channelchanger]

---

@michaelkenward wrote:

Depending on hardware, a mobile app may also let a user in to change wifi settings.

Does the desktop genie allow that change too?

---

Good idea. Hadn't thought of that. Downloaded and connected via the Netgear Genie okay. Selected channel 1 for 2.4 and 40 for 5. Clicked save and it counted down from 87 seconds. Reported as saved okay, no errors. Logged back into the D7000 via my browser and the 5Ghz channel has changed to 40, but the 2.4Ghz channel is stubbornly still set to Auto.

To summarise, I still cannot change channel on either band via the standard D7000 gui, but I can change the 5Ghz channel from Netgear Genie.

[antinode]

> Look at the attached image. Top left:

   Look at the (quoted) text.  Which part of "I've tried three
different firmwares; V1.0.1.74_1.0.1, [...]" was unclear?

> The user is not running it. [...]

   Again, which part of "I've tried three different firmwares;
V1.0.1.74_1.0.1, [...]" was unclear?  "The user" apparently didn't
capture a picture for each firmware version.  This does not amaze me.
But, if he says that he "tried three different firmwares", then, at this
point, I'm willing to believe him without notarized affidavits.

   Back in the real world, I'm away from my D7000[v1] (V1.0.1.74_1.0.1)
at the moment, but I did manage to run the experiment remotely, and I
had no trouble.

> [...] I guess the next step is to go back to the latest firmware,
> reset the D7000 and then configure it again. [...]

   That'd be my suggestion, too.  If the settings reset does not help,
then I might try reloading the firmware, and trying again.

[Channelchanger]

D7000 is back on the latest firmware. No change. Still cannot change channels on either band. I'll reset to factory settings tomorrow and see what happens.

[michaelkenward]

I have just played around with the Netgear app on an Android device. It allows me to change wifi channels on a D6400 modem/router.

The Windows desktop app also seems to allow the same modification.

What works for the D6400 should work for the D7000.

[Channelchanger]

It's all fixed now. Performed a reset on the D7000 and then set it up again. I did receive one '403 Forbidden' error at one point, but I think I was trying to apply changes to both SSIDs and passwords at the same time. Made the changes one at a time and they applied without error. Can now change channels on either band at will.

Whatever about not being able to change the channels via the D7000 gui, the Netgear Genie behaviour was just odd.

[antinode]

> Whatever about not being able to change the channels via the D7000
> gui, the Netgear Genie behaviour was just odd.

   I don't know what that means -- Which "the Netgear Genie"? -- but the
management web site should never return a 403 error.  In some cases, it
can be caused by a simple firmware defect; in other cases, some settings
can get scrambled, causing the web server to take a wrong path
somewhere.  In the latter case, a settings reset can straighten things
out.