Re: All 5,GHz bands stopped broadcasting and are greyed out on my Nighthawk AX6600

Wayne1938 · ‎2023-01-11

Had no power problems and the unit is on a UPS, all of a sudden all three 5 GHz just disappeared. The 2.4 is the only band working.

Go into the program and all 5GHz bands are greyed out.

Any suggestions before I do a total reset would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

FURRYe38 · ‎2023-01-11

Check the wifi button, press it for 5 seconds then release to see if the radios were shut off.

Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and router been performed since last update?
Be sure to restart your network in this sequence:
Turn off and unplug modem.
Turn off router and computers.
Plug in and turn on modem. Wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on the router and wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on computers and rest of network.

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? A complete pull of the power adapters for a period of time after the factory reset then walk thru the setup wizard and setup from scratch. Recommend setting the default DHCP IP address pool range to the following after applying and a factory reset: 192.168.#.100 to 192.168.#.200.

Wayne1938 · ‎2023-01-11

Thanks for that reply.

The router is mounted 6 and a half feet up so the wireless button couldn't have been accidentally pushed.

Nothing has been done to the setup in a very long time so don't have a clue what happened.

I tried to stream a program on my TV which is set to the 5 bands and got a 'could not connect alert.

I have a password for the router that would be very hard to crack so don't know what happened.

Will bag it tonight and do a reset in the morning too so if that works.

Thanks again.

michaelkenward · ‎2023-01-12

Which Netgear model are we talking about here?

AX6600 is not a reliable guide to model number. Many devices come with an AX tag, but it is essentially a label that Netgear, and other brands, attach to hardware to describe wifi speeds.

Look at the label on the device for the model number. RAX70?

What does the 5 GHz LED look like?

Did you disable Smart Connect? When enabled you won't see separate SSIDs for 2.4 and 5 GHz.

Wayne1938 · ‎2023-01-12

Thanks for your reply.

Nothing in the settings has been touched for at least 8 months. No updates have been installed.

This morning I did a factory reset and went through the process twice just in case.

When I get into the program and check wireless settings the only thing I could get into was the 2.4 settings. Both 5Ghz settings are greyed out.

Looking at the LEDs both the 5Gz are blinking as is the 2.4 LED.

The 2.4, is working fine so can only assume the 5.0 radios have died.

I installed an N600 WNDR3700v2 router I have had for years as a backup and it fires right up on both bands.

I will be using that temporarily until I figure out what I want to do or find a solution to what is going on with the AX6600.

The router is only 10 months old so will be calling Bestbuy to see what can be done.

Thank you

michaelkenward · ‎2023-01-13

@Wayne1938 wrote:

When I get into the program and check wireless settings the only thing I could get into was the 2.4 settings. Both 5Ghz settings are greyed out.

Is Smart Connect enabled?

We still don't know what Netgear router you are using. (The model isn't AX6600.) That makes it hard to be sure, but after a reset this will be enabled by default. When that happens you will not be able to control the Wi-Fi SSIDs separately. They are combined.

That could be why your 5 GHz is greyed out.

This is what the manual for the RAX70 says:

Note: If you enable Smart Connect and the SSID and passwords for the 2.4 GHz and
5 GHz bands do not match, the WiFi settings for 2.4 GHz band overwrites the WiFi
settings for 5 GHz band.

With Smart Connect you will not see separate WiFi bands.

The 2.4, is working fine so can only assume the 5.0 radios have died.

How do you now that the 5GHz WiFi is dead?

To me it seems that your router is working perfectly. What you see is what I expect.

Wayne1938 · ‎2023-01-13

I ended up calling Netgear support before buying another router.

Found the 7-second paperclip push doesn't always work, the tech had me push it for a full minute. then turn it back on, that appears to have worked.

He took me through things I didn't know about, one being even though the Smart Connect wasn't checked he had me check it, rebooted the router then removed that check mark, as soon as I did the 5GHz bands appeared again and I could program the wireless. He had only seen that once before when someone was installing a Netgear wireless extender.

Well worth the Gearhead price. I learned a lot and now have support for a year.

The router is an AX8-AX6600-RAX 70-100NAS. That is all there is on the box other than the serial number and MAC address.