So I have two of these and today they both stopped working at the same time.
I have them setup as access points and they are both connected with ethernet cable. Internet connectivity is working fine, it is just wifi that is the problem. As they are connected by wire I can access the GUI, but cannot connect a device to the wifi (I have tried several different devices).
To troubleshoot I have: Upgraded the firmware on one of them without any improvements.
Change the SSID but that did not help.
Change the regional settings from Europe to US (different regulations in transmitting power allowed), but that did not help.
I did a factory reset, but that did not help.
Because they stopped working at the same time and I do not think that all my wireless devices have died at the same time I am suspecting this to be software issue.
Any suggestions of what I should try next?
EDIT: I have AES encryption enabled and checked the password several times. Next thing to test is to setup it up with encryption. The device reports: "Cannot connect to the network".
So I have two of these and today they both stopped working at the same time.
The first idea coming up was your extenders root AP, the main WiFi router, stopped working. However, this does not apply with the EX7000 configured as access points.
I have them setup as access points and they are both connected with ethernet cable. Internet connectivity is working fine, it is just wifi that is the problem. As they are connected by wire I can access the GUI, but cannot connect a device to the wifi (I have tried several different devices).
Had both EX7000 access point radios been configured to the same SSID and the same security key (PSK), but your main router was changed in the meantime - either the wireless name and password, or more likely the security settings which no longer allowed the wireless devices to associate with the EX7000 SSIDs -and- the main router DHCP which used to assign LAN IP addresses to your wireless client devices? Especially the second part might appear like your wireless services can no longer access your network and the Internet anymore. This is the area where I would suggest to start troubleshooting - long before doing crazy things with both access points.
On the EX7000, the Attached Devices would list wireless associated stations, regardless of their IP address assigned. Do your different wireless devices tested (associated or "connected" with the WiFi to the show up in this list?
Next I'm not fully sure I remember the EX7000 right in AP mode. Does the Attached Devices show the connected wireless device MAC address, in combination with the Virtual MAC Address used on your LAN, and challenging the router DHCP server? Does your primary router show these wireless clients requesting DHCP IP config on either the "real" or the "translated" virtual MAC address?
If there is no IP address assigned by DHCP (or by a manual config) and the wireless device does continue to reports: "Cannot connect to the network". it's very likely because there is no IP config available from your router DHCP server for your wireless devices.
The two access points are connected via wire to the main router. This one as WiFi connectivity turned off, so all radio traffic will be hitting the netgear APs. They were configured with the same SSID and the same security key. This configuration has been working fine for many years now. It will be up to the client to select the access point that can provide the best connectivity and because they have been configured with different channels, traffic has been working fine.
I tried to turn off authentication just as a test and leaving the APs open for anyone. With this setting I was still not able to get connectivity. Now, because there was no need to provide a password, the android device I was testing with stated that no IP-number could be obtained.
I knew that DHCP on the router was working fine. I tested by adding a new device to the network and an address was obtained, but I still did a factory reset on the main router just to be certain. There was not change.
I my router, because radio is turned off, all devices will be presented as connected over the wire. Normally we have the phones and the tablets listed there, but with this error no wireless devices were shown.
In the access points, no attached wireless devices were displayed either. Other devices connected with wire were displayed as they normally do. This is true regardless of if they are connected to and ethernet port of the Netgear access point or connected somewhere else in the network. I guess there is some sort of discovery function implemented.
All this leads me to believe that the access points (both of them at the same time) no longer is able to pass on a DHCP request to the router on behalf of the connecting device. Alternatively the router could have had an update of some sort that causes this to be a problem for the access points.
I had another brand of access point available at home. I started it up and connected it to the network. I used the same SSID and same security key and once configured properly the devices were back online again.
Perhaps will I not spend any more time on this. The APs are old and because we now have a working solution again it is probably not worth to spent time on troubleshooting any further. Although I very much would like to understand what actually happened here.
All 3 of my EX2700 have stopped working as you described. One I use at home. One on travel and a spare. The home unit stopped working sometime in August 2023. I needed the spare today and it did not work either. I tried the travel unit and same with it. I have Linux Mint 21.2 Win10 and Win11. The EX2700 no longer works with any of them. I dont think I want to fix this. Start shopping for not netgear.
