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Re: Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

patgleeson
Tutor

Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

Hi all. I installed a range extender last year to carry WiFi signal to my office at the other end of the house. Maybe halfway along a 30m journey. Range extender keeps dropping signal to my Mac even though Mac says it’s connected and the 2.4 and 5 ghz lights are on. This happens once or twice a day. Nighthawk app won’t let me log into range extender but at least it shows it as present now. App shows my Mac as having a wired connection not WiFi. Has ANYONE had any success with stabilizing this combination? Another hour wasted tonight rebooting router once and extender twice before it finally worked. Is the problem the Mac WiFi ???? Or is Netgear wasting my time and money. Would be delighted to hear that there is a supplementary setup step to make the range extender work properly. Thus far it looks like a **bleep**eful system.
Model: A7000|Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi USB Adapter - USB 3.0
Message 1 of 10

Accepted Solutions
plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

@mesdad The R7000 isn't the same as the R7000P

they have different hardware and firmware. And there hasn't been the same issues with the R7000P as the R7000.

Telling someone to put the worng firmware on a device can end up bricking it if they even get it to install. 

 

If I was recommending a firmware for the R7000P, it'd be the 1.3.0.20 firmware. It was the version prior to netgear armor and was a solid firmware. 

If you choose to go this route, make sure to do it over a hardwired connection and reset the router after words. Followed by a manual install (not from backup)

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Message 5 of 10

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plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

So the question is if its the extender or router. And its challenging. 

You're saying the extender led's are lit up for 2.4ghz and 5ghz. And your mac is showing connected to the extender. 

but it doesn't have internet access. 

This could be the backhaul. The EX7500 is a triband extender. It reserves 1 of the 5ghz channels just for router---extender communication. If that backhaul isn't working for some reason, the other 2 bands won't work

A couple things it could be. 

1. hardware failure on the extender

2. The router. If the router's lease to the extender expired and it isn't auto-renewing, it won't work. 

3. Interference. If the 5ghz channel the extender is connecting to from the router has issues, it could be part of the problem.

4. firmware. maybe it has issues with the firmware. Either on the extender or the router. I've seen more issues on that router than on that extender with firmware. 

 

A couple things to try. 

1. Try changing which channel the router uses for the 5ghz. You miight need to rerun setup on the extender in some instances. 

2. Try setting a static ip address in the router for the extender. 

3. Try reloading the firmware on the extender. 

4. Try a different firmware on the router. The R7000P got the netgear armor update. And it didn't always play nicely with all routers. Some have downgraded to the version prior to armor. Some have simply factory reset the r7000p and its ran better/been more stable

 

Again, its a bit more challenging when it comes to router---extender communcation because many things can cause issues. 1 step I usually have people take is try hardwiring in the extender and using it for a bit. But the EX7500 doesn't have an ethernet port to do so. 

 

 

What firmware is on the router? 

What firmware is on the extender? 

 

Message 2 of 10
patgleeson
Tutor

Re: Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

Hi plemans,

Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

I've done a factory reset on the router, and have been monitoring the router and the extender for the last couple of weeks.

 

I an now pretty sure that the router is dropping out of its own accord.  spmetimes twice per day.

Zoom sessions seem to invite trouble but that is by no means the only time it drops out.

The TV is hard wired so it is not guilty.

 

I'm using the Smart Connect setting and QoS option on the router.  But there is no setting called stable connect.  And there is no Quality of Service.

 

I've tried a few other things which do not seem to have helped.  Another 2 hours today with no result.

 

I've decided to use a hammer on this modem and purchase another - maybe a mesh system, or maybe another router to match the range extender.  

 

The problem is, I would probably have to choose another Netgear router to go with the Netgear range extender - and I'm a bit gun-shy about that.

Again, thanks for your assistance.

Message 3 of 10
mesdad
Aspirant

Re: Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

I bought an EX7500 about 3 weeks ago and was experiencing exactly the same issue with the same combination of hardware (well, I had the R7000, minus the "P").

 

Search the Netgear forum for "R7000 drops signal" or "R7000 drops 5G" or similar phrases. You *should* find multiple posts discussing this, and the frequent suggestion is to roll back the firmware to 1.0.9.42. This is 2-year-old firmware, so you might be inviting a security risk, but many posters remarked that problems like what you describe started with the firmware versions that followed this one. And even before I added the extender, there were other clues in our house about this as well - we would often get prompted to supply a password for a wifi signal that we had used many times before, or the signal would just go away temporarily.  Our problems were worse with 5.0GHz than with 2.4GHz.

 

I never got to fully test this on my end (I was just working on this last night) because I remembered that I had an unused R7800 and replaced the R7000 with that.  I haven't lost my extender signal yet, but it's only been 12 hours.  If I get through another day or two, I will conclude that the problem all along was the router and not the extender.

 

Message 4 of 10
plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

@mesdad The R7000 isn't the same as the R7000P

they have different hardware and firmware. And there hasn't been the same issues with the R7000P as the R7000.

Telling someone to put the worng firmware on a device can end up bricking it if they even get it to install. 

 

If I was recommending a firmware for the R7000P, it'd be the 1.3.0.20 firmware. It was the version prior to netgear armor and was a solid firmware. 

If you choose to go this route, make sure to do it over a hardwired connection and reset the router after words. Followed by a manual install (not from backup)

Message 5 of 10
mesdad
Aspirant

Re: Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

Thanks for clarifying that, I definitely didn't mean to send the OP down the wrong path.

 

I'll add that, none of this would be necessary if Netgear was producing hardware and firmware that was reliable, especially around a known issue like this.  I spent three weeks troubleshooting this extender, including extensive emails with NG support who knew which router I was using, which ended with their advice to return the extender.  It's super-frustrating that two Netgear devices fail to perform when used together, that bad firmware is the culprit, and that support can't do more to help.

Message 6 of 10
plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

@mesdad its not limited to netgear. I've used tplink, linksys, etc and all of them have had some type of issues with firmware.

Message 7 of 10
mesdad
Aspirant

Re: Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

I'm sure you're right, but I'll still maintain that something isn't right when there's more support from people like you who are presumably doing this because they like it and want to help to other people, rather than from people who get paid to do this work.

Message 8 of 10
plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

agree a little bit with that. 

but they also have support forums as well. 

https://community.tp-link.com/us

https://community.linksys.com/?category.id=English

 

Reason why is consumer companies can't afford free support for long or they exhaust their profit margins. 

And many people don't want to pay for support. So it only leaves the forums.  

 

You also run into the issue that most problems are fairly easy fixes. So level 1 support isn't always the best for advanced problems. 

Message 9 of 10
patgleeson
Tutor

Re: Netgear nighthawk R7000P router and netgear EX7500 Triband range extender poor combination

Hi plemans,

This is just a short note to say THANK YOU to you for your advice on the Router / Range Extender issue I was experiencing.

 

I wound the router software back to the earlier version as you suggested and things are very much more stable.  Probably only one issue in the past few weeks.  ANothing short of a miracle!

 

A week later, Apple brought out an update to Catalina iOS 10.15.7 which was designed to address a persistent issue with WiFi dropping out, so it may have played a part in it also.

 

Suffice to say that I am EXTREMELY GRATEFUL TO YOU and to all the Netgear afficionados who have to deal with critical problems, usually due to poor software engineering.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to make your recommendations.

Patrick

Melbourne Australia

 

 

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