CAX80 won't work at all on WOW Internet; firmware update ruined it

[Baint50]

Yes I have reconnected my Arris modem each time after trouble with the Netgear 80 and now 30. Reconnects with internet within a few minutes with no problem.

[FURRYe38]

Let us know how it goes after the tech arrives. Would be interested to know what they say about the CAX30. 

NG is aware of the issues with WoW and the CAX80. Others reported the CAX30 seemed to work with WoW. Hoping this isn't now effecting the CAX30. 

@ErnestTheGreat @olympos1625 

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@Baint50 wrote:
So, I returned my CAX80 and purchased a CAX30S. Having the exact same problem. WOW says there is a good signal but getting nothing to the router. Talked to a next level tech support who wasn’t much help but said he would research the issue. And he didn’t argue with me when commented that their firmware push is what screws it up. I agreed to a home tech visit only after I was guaranteed that I wouldn’t have to pay for it. Not expecting much.

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[Baint50]

I now have the CAX30S working perfectly so far after a WOW service visit. The only thing done differently was he activated the modem using his credentials and WOW access. Instead of blindly over the phone. Not sure how that made a difference but it worked.

[FURRYe38]

OK thanks for letting us know. Glad the CAX30 is working.

NG and WoW should be working to get the CAX80 going as well. Users need to contact NG if they still have there CAX80s on WoW. 

[Supmario89]

I bought a new CAX80 in February cause the router they provided is a technicolor with no features. After spending hours trying to get it set up and calling both Netgear and Wow to no avail it still would not work and I plugged in the provided router and it worked. I finally found this forum and have been following to see if it is fixed. I sent back the router the last day I could after trying again. Really wanted to be able to use a good router with Wow and plan on reordering if/when this ever gets fixed.

[Supmario89]

I am in St. Petersburg fl. This this is a company wide issue and no one seems to know anything about it with WOW.

[FURRYe38]

NG and WoW should be working to get the CAX80 going as well. Users need to contact NG if they still have there CAX80s on WoW. 

Please contact a forum moderator for additional help and information. 

@ErnestTheGreat @olympos1625 

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@Supmario89 wrote:
I bought a new CAX80 in February cause the router they provided is a technicolor with no features. After spending hours trying to get it set up and calling both Netgear and Wow to no avail it still would not work and I plugged in the provided router and it worked. I finally found this forum and have been following to see if it is fixed. I sent back the router the last day I could after trying again. Really wanted to be able to use a good router with Wow and plan on reordering if/when this ever gets fixed.

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[ErnestTheGreat]

WOW and Netgear are working together the ball is WOW court there is a solution for issue WOW is testing in their lab before rolling out to users. Not sure when WOW will be done with fix and roll it out. It has to do with their configuration.

[Lucas_Sz]

I continue having issues with CAX80.  Went through soft and hard resets multiple times, worked with support team to determine what's wrong with it, got an OK to replace under warranty .... AND to add insult to injury the support team didn't work with me on the return / exchange for new gear, just because I had Covid and sent in my paperwork late by a day.  All my emails got completely ignored.  It's a shame how I got treated, especially considering the top of the line equipment that we are talking about.

[FURRYe38]

Please send @ErnestTheGreat and @olympos1625 a PM and they will help you out. 

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@Lucas_Sz wrote:

I continue having issues with CAX80.  Went through soft and hard resets multiple times, worked with support team to determine what's wrong with it, got an OK to replace under warranty .... AND to add insult to injury the support team didn't work with me on the return / exchange for new gear, just because I had Covid and sent in my paperwork late by a day.  All my emails got completely ignored.  It's a shame how I got treated, especially considering the top of the line equipment that we are talking about.

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[ErnestTheGreat]

@Lucas_Sz I am sorry about the poor experience you had with the support team they are usually pretty flexible. The issue on CAX80 and WOW is related to the configuration file WOW is pushing to CAX80 devices that is causing the device to enter a weird state creating the problem that CAX80 WOW customers are seeing. Since this is a WOW ISP configuration file that is pushed to CAX80 rma/replacement will not help unless you clearly have a hw failure where its not powering up or the WiFi radio modules are dead.

[Lucas_Sz]

Thanks @ErnestTheGreat, if it's going to help, I'm willing to wait.  In the meantime, is there an easy way to just use CAX80 just as a router? ... so I don't have to pay $15/month to WOW for router/modem that f's up all the time? ... And so all my smart devices start working again?

[wziemer]

yes, you can get the CAX80 working on WOW if you put it into modem mode; you lose all of the router functionality, but it works perfectly as a modem. 

Factory reset device, plug it into WOW cable and plug in the power cable, wire into one of the LAN ports on the modem, as it's booting up, keep trying to get into 192.168.1.1 and as soon as you can, speed through the setup process and when you reach the router GUI, flip router mode to NO. The device will reboot and will come back online without wifi/router functionality, but it'll work. I've run mine this way for months without issue. 

[FURRYe38]

User be aware that if you switch router mode to NO, that you need to install a external WiFi router connected to the CAX80 in modem only mode or you can only connect 1 wired PC to the  CAX80 in modem only mode. 

@Lucas_Sz @wziemer 

[epicfeline]

My CAX80 is 54 weeks old (siiiigh) and it's bricked this week. I am also told that there was an update done yesterday on WOW which is when my service quit working (in Mid Michigan). Have done soft, hard, factory resets, have requested a signal refresh. Nothing changes. Intermittently the wifi lights will not even light up. So now it fails the setup test (low signal) and we have not had any changes to a fairly new wire run and I've confirmed my coax cable is finger-tight, not damaged through the basement, etc. We have had some high winds so the other real possibility is some damage (even hyper local damage) to the lines. But I am concerned because I can't even get the CAX80 to talk to the setup wizard. When connecting a computer via ethernet it says "no internet." Grrrr. 

What else are we running on WOW successfully, and what are we expecting them to do (like send a new firmware update)? I don't have a lot of good ISP choices where we live. I'm highly annoyed to have to think about buying another router so soon. But staying dead in the water isn't a choice here either. (Nor is boosting the phone hotspot data every day thinking this is temporary.....)  

[FizzyOtter]

I take it this issue is still going on with WoW.

I've been having the exact same issue with the CAX80 with WOW. Unable to access routerlogin or the 192 168 1 1

No gateway address. Can't access with the nighthawk app. Just a big ole paperweight.

Was on the phone for an hour with Wow and they were telling me to call Netgear, and had Netgear tell me that its WoWs issue.

[Jinguni]

I've been using the CAX30 / CAX30S with WOW's service, no issues after 4 months. Fortunately I was able to return the CAX80 I initially purchased.

[FizzyOtter]

I might just turn in my CAX80 for a CAX30S
I've basically been playing phone tag and had both WOW and Netgear pointing fingers at each other, and seeing folks having no issues with the CAX30S I might switch to that.

I mean I have to work and need a modem.

[FURRYe38]

As mentioned already, NG has identified the problem and has let WOW know about the issue that needs fixing on there side of the fence. NG seems to have been working with WOW on this and has made WOW aware of the issues at hand. It's up to WOW to get the fix tested and in place then sent out to users modems as they are responsible for pushing configuration files and modem side FW to users modems. Modem Mfrs do not handle this.  

[ErnestTheGreat]

WOW has confirmed that the fix has been pushed out to users in the field. To help resolve the issue users need to factory default the CAX80 to clear the old configuration out.

[FURRYe38]

Users might unplug the power cable from the modem for 1 minute then back in as well. 

[Supmario89]

Can someone confirm this is up and running. I’ve been waiting to repurchase the router til I knew it was going to be working

[ChiFast]

I tried activating my CAX80 tonight with WOW. No connection at first but then I read the post saying to factory reset. Did that I think (paperclip in the reset button for 20+ seconds) and still no connection. However, the Multi Gig, 2.4 GHZ and 5 GHZ lights were flashing which hasn't happened since before the issue started. Was trying to connect computer via hardwire. If I tried to access internet, I was mostly getting unable to connect messages but occasionally got a page telling me to download the Nighthawk app. I do have that on my phone but was unable to connect to it.

Seems like possibly some small change to what it has been but in the end, still unable to connect and had to switch to my backup modem. Any further guidance would be appreciated.

[FURRYe38]

Did you power OFF the CAX80 for 2-5 minutes then back ON and try to log into the modems web page with a wired PC and web browser connected to a 1Gb ethernet port at 192.168.1.1 after the modem was ready? 

Sometimes the ISP needs to see the modem off line for a bit then back ON before something is pushed down. 

You might contact WoW and ask them to make sure the changes are pushed. 

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@ChiFast wrote:

I tried activating my CAX80 tonight with WOW. No connection at first but then I read the post saying to factory reset. Did that I think (paperclip in the reset button for 20+ seconds) and still no connection. However, the Multi Gig, 2.4 GHZ and 5 GHZ lights were flashing which hasn't happened since before the issue started. Was trying to connect computer via hardwire. If I tried to access internet, I was mostly getting unable to connect messages but occasionally got a page telling me to download the Nighthawk app. I do have that on my phone but was unable to connect to it.

Seems like possibly some small change to what it has been but in the end, still unable to connect and had to switch to my backup modem. Any further guidance would be appreciated.

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[FizzyOtter]

OK!
I was finally able to get it up and running. It was a bit frustrating at times, but I got it.
First I did a factory reset and I was able to actually log into the device. From there I was able to name my wifi passwords and all that.

However I realized I maybe should not have used the same name/password of my old wifi router because a few devices of mine were trying to log in and caused the setup to be delayed.

Anyway after I activated the CAX80 I did get a few odd errors. First any browser would automatically redirect me to the walledgarden.wowway.com site. This is where you activate your modem. I tried to activate it and I kept getting  ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID.

At this point I had to call WOW and the person I was speaking did a lot of work behind the phone and was able to fix it. She had to manually remove the mac address and re apply it to my account.

So things seem to be running fine at the moment. So fingers crossed.

I will say to help alleviate some headaches; make sure you only have one device connected when starting this up. It seems netgear REALLY wants you to use the Nighthawk app to set it all up.