Nighthawk M1 - wifi keeps dropping out

[SuzyS0000]

I have had my Nighthawk M1 for a year and the performance has never been great, but I have persevered. The kids constantly complain about the wifi, but recently it has got a lot worse. I wonder if this is due to any firmware updates? Often I cannot get the router to work at all without restoring it to factory settings, as the light just flashes on red (I test the ISP and that seems fine so its definitely the router).

When it is working the wifi regularly drops out even though the blue light is flashing and it appears to have a signal from my ISP (which is EE). I am at my wits end. Can anyone offer any help please?

Thank you.

Suzy

[plemans]

got an old router sitting around? 

Put the M1 in passthrough and connect the router to it. Let the route manage wifi and the M1 the data connection

[SuzyS0000]

Thank you for the suggestion. I do have a Devolo "Magic" wifi mesh which I had been using. I turn the wifi off at the Nighthawk router and go through the Devolo's but it still keeps dropping out.

[plemans]

Is the Devolo hardwired into the M1 or wireless? If its wireless, hardwire it in. 

[michaelkenward]

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@SuzyS0000 wrote:

I turn the wifi off at the Nighthawk router and go through the Devolo's but it still keeps dropping out.

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That is not the same as "passthrough" as recommended by @plemans.

You need to disable the router bit of whichever M1 device this is.

That or put the secondary router into access point mode.

[SuzyS0000]

Yes there is a CAT5 cable going from the Nighthawk to the devolo

[plemans]

and is the Devolo running in access point mode? 

[SuzyS0000]

I am not sure if you are you familiar with the Devolo products? But it doesn't have 'modes', it is simply a set of wifi repeater plugs you plug in round the house to create a web. They have worked for us very well in the past. 

The Devolo is a red herring though. The issues I have with the Netgear occur even when I remove the Devolo sockets. Even when I am using the Netgear's own wifi it is unreliable and drops out. This morning, as per usuual, I woke up to no wifi. The red light was on and the router was unresponsive when I pressed the button on the front. The only way I could get it to work was to remove the power and battery and then restart it. As usual I then had to set up the router as if from scratch, selecting language, the admin password and selecting the carrier (EE in my case). Then it started working again. However I know it will happen again maybe in a few days. Furthermore, the wifi is still unreliable and drops out throughout the day (even without the Devol.o's attached).

[plemans]

I'm not argueing the wifi on it isn't reliable. Its a hotspot wifi. They're not designed for whole home coverage/stability. 

its designed for a couple devices. 

If you're going to use it at home, its why I recommend using it in passthrough/modem only mode. And you connect a router to it to manage the wifi. 

I'm not sure if your devolo has router capability or just wifi repeater capability. 

If its only a repeater, it doesn't benefit connecting to the hotspot. 

[SuzyS0000]

Thank you, I have had a look at the settings and will try that and set "passthrough mode" on

There is also another setting "use router as DHCP server". Should that be on or off?

[SuzyS0000]

Thank you I really appreciate your help.

I see, so you are saying that I need and extra router to manage the wifi because the netgear wifi is not adequate for managing a home network? (even if going through the devolo).

The Devolo creates a mesh via a set of powerline adapters but I don't think it is a router.

I don't suppose this explains the other issue I have though does it? where the netgear just freezes and become unresponsive and I have to take off the battery to restart it. When restarted it is like it has been restored to factory settings and has to be set up from scratch. This happens at least once or twice a week.

Do you think that I have two separate problems?

[SuzyS0000]

A quick update ... setting passthrough mode on does not seem to help. The wifi is still dropping  😞

[michaelkenward]

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@SuzyS0000 wrote:

it is simply a set of wifi repeater plugs you plug in round the house to create a web.

Not really, (I own some that sit alongside my Netgear variants.) They are powerline ethernet plugs. Some of them have a built in access point.