Can't access the Router Login page (again)

[Huike]

Background: I am a Microsoft and Cisco certified network engineer for many years and configured thousands of modems/routers/switches etc etc.

Bought a new X6 R8000 router and did a factory reset before I tried to connect to it. I use a desktop PC cable connected with my home network with an internet router (Asus RT-AC56U running Tomato firmware, suposed to be replced by this R8000), cable connected the R8000 to my home network switch, got IP address 192.168.1.2 on my PC, in Firefox typed http://192.168.1.1 then pressed Enter, I can see the browser page changed to 192.168.1.1/start.htm then it redirected me to the Netgear.com page saying "

You are not connected to your Router’s WiFi network. To access routerlogin.com, your device must be connected to your Router’s WiFi network. Check your current connection and try again."

What the hell? Why I can only use WiFi to config it but can't do it on Ethernet connection?

So I have to plug in a USB wifi dongle and disconnect my Ethernet cable, the wifi dongle connected to the R8000 with IP address 192.168.1.3. Tried in Firefox http://192.168.1.1 and it gave me the same error message as above. Tried www.routerlogin.net (and .com) the same. For god's sake I am on the bloody WiFi network. What the hell? I never encountered/heard a problem like this. It just won't allow me to connect to the router configuratoin page.

Googled the internet and searched this forum but all your solutions did not work. Don't know the firmware version or anything because I can't login to the router. I can ping 192.168.1.1. That's all. All lights flashing on the router and looks normal.

Please help. Thanks.

[Huike · Accepted solution]

Ok finally got to the login page by connecting to the 5GHz band. Put in 192.168.1.1 and the router asked login name and password. Used the default login info to log in and immediately flashed DD-WRT and all good now. Still strongly suggest Netgear remove the restrictions for login from Ethernet which is unnecessary.

[IrvSp]

Is the R7000 set up in AP mode? If so, then that could be the problem. Check on the AC56U's device list for the IP of the R7000 and use that IP Address and you can then access the Router with it. Wireless accesses the R7000 because they are on its network only I guess?

[michaelkenward]

You are not alone. Here is one of several messages on the same theme:

Solved: Re: Unable to access routerlogin.net - NETGEAR Communities

and a couple of more for good measure:

Solved: Re: Can access internet, but not router - NETGEAR Communities

Solved: Re: Unable to reach Router using IP from one PC ho... - NETGEAR Communities

[Huike]

I don't have Kaspersky installed. I use Comodo CIS free edition. So the solutions didn't work for me.

The problem looks like in the router's "start.htm" script. It's trying to identify where I connect from but it had bugs in it or somehow can't identify my connection even I AM connected on WiFi. So it still thinking I am on Ethernet. The most dumb thing is why Netgear blcoking Ethernet connection from configuring the router? What's the point? If you can configure the router from WiFi, then why not allowed from direct Ethernet cable connection? Isn't it give Netgear and their customers trouble for nothing?

[IrvSp]

I had something similar just the other day.

I had DD-WRT on my R7000 and I had a network problem with a printer. Decided to go back to Stock NG Firmware (V1.0.7) and I could NOT reach the R7000's configuration page much less the login prompt... I could not get to the Internet either but could get to the Modem page (192.168.100.1). It also failed using ROUTERLOGIN.NET?

I used the link on my desktop it seems that went to 192.168.1.1/start.htm. All I got was unable to connect....

Well I think entered 192.168.1.1 into the URL and it finished it as 192.168.1.1/start.htm, so I backup up and took off 'start.htm'. All of a sudden I see the NG log and it said it was searching for a router? Huh??? Went through a few screens and it asked me to change the router P/W... and then it came back with it was all set up and the SSID's and P/W's for them. Then had me log into NG's account. At that point I used the desktop link to 192.168.1.1/start.htm and it worked fine.

Try clearing your browser cache, it might be changing the URL for you.

[Huike · Accepted solution]

Ok finally got to the login page by connecting to the 5GHz band. Put in 192.168.1.1 and the router asked login name and password. Used the default login info to log in and immediately flashed DD-WRT and all good now. Still strongly suggest Netgear remove the restrictions for login from Ethernet which is unnecessary.

[TheEther]

I've never heard of this restriction.  If this was a recent change by Netgear then I agree it's not a good one.

[IrvSp]

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@Huike wrote:

 Still strongly suggest Netgear remove the restrictions for login from Ethernet which is unnecessary.

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I do not recall that restriction at all? You might be mistaken though. The only 'restriction' is that you SHOULD NOT flash the router from a wireless device, only a wired one. Reason is the wireless device could drop before the flash is completed or fully loaded.

[michaelkenward]

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@Huike wrote:

Still strongly suggest Netgear remove the restrictions for login from Ethernet which is unnecessary.

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Indeed, if this were the case. But as you can see, the consensus is that something else may have been amiss on your system.

Perhaps your network topology (layout) is atypical.

[Huike]

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@michaelkenward wrote:

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@Huike wrote:

Still strongly suggest Netgear remove the restrictions for login from Ethernet which is unnecessary.

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Indeed, if this were the case. But as you can see, the consensus is that something else may have been amiss on your system.

Perhaps your network topology (layout) is atypical.

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I have copy and pasted the error message I got when I tried to login to the R8000 router below. Can you guys clarify what exactly this mesage means please?

"You are not connected to your Router’s WiFi network. To access routerlogin.com, your device must be connected to your Router’s WiFi network. Check your current connection and try again."

My understanding is it required users to login to the router by connecting to it's WiFi, not from the Ethernet. Can't figure out any other meanings.

My network topology is just a plain single segment LAN, with a Ethernet switch cable connected to the internet router and WiFi from the internet router, all on the 192.168.10.0/24 segment. It's plain and simple, nothing special.

I configured the R8000 from PC1 which is a Win10 x64 PC on Ethernet connection to the switch. I connected the R8000 port LAN1 with a Ethernet cable (tested good) to the switch and typed in Firefox (tried Chrome as well) address bar: http//192.168.1.1 then I got the above message from Netgear.com.

I used this LAN topology and the Ethernet method configured hundreds of routers from brands like Cisco, Juniper, 3Com, Netgear, Asus, Linksys, Belkin, D-Link, TP-Link, DrayTek, Dell, Checkpoint etc; firmwares like DD-WRT, Tomato, OpenWRT; firewalls like pfSense, ipfire, M0n0Wall, SmoothWall Express, Entangle, Endian etc, even including a Netgear D6300 modem/router before the R8000 with no problems at all.

The R8000 was loaded with stock firmware 1.0.3.4 if that helps.

[IrvSp]

You have 2 different gateways I think? If you do a IPCONFIG /ALL from both the wireless and wired PC's you'll probably find 2 different GATEWAY IP ADDRESSES, one 192.168.1.1 and the other 192.168.10.0.

You said "I configured the R8000 from PC1 which is a Win10 x64 PC on Ethernet connection to the switch.". So there you could reach the router with that wired PC.

Then you said "I connected the R8000 port LAN1 with a Ethernet cable (tested good) to the switch and typed in Firefox (tried Chrome as well) address bar: http//192.168.1.1 then I got the above message from Netgear.com.". In that case you were on the SWITCH which connected to the router had an IP Address in the range of 192.168.1.xxx and gave you a 192.168.10.xxx IP Address. You were no longer on the 192.168.1.1 LAN, hence the error message. You wireless devices still were on 192.168.1.xxx so they could access the router.

.

[michaelkenward]

Nivce explanation.

Like I said, strange topology.

[Huike]

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@IrvSp wrote:

You have 2 different gateways I think? If you do a IPCONFIG /ALL from both the wireless and wired PC's you'll probably find 2 different GATEWAY IP ADDRESSES, one 192.168.1.1 and the other 192.168.10.0.

You said "I configured the R8000 from PC1 which is a Win10 x64 PC on Ethernet connection to the switch.". So there you could reach the router with that wired PC.

Then you said "I connected the R8000 port LAN1 with a Ethernet cable (tested good) to the switch and typed in Firefox (tried Chrome as well) address bar: http//192.168.1.1 then I got the above message from Netgear.com.". In that case you were on the SWITCH which connected to the router had an IP Address in the range of 192.168.1.xxx and gave you a 192.168.10.xxx IP Address. You were no longer on the 192.168.1.1 LAN, hence the error message. You wireless devices still were on 192.168.1.xxx so they could access the router.

.

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Where I have had my current LAN topology more than 20 years and never had any issues like this R8000. The PC1 Ethernet NIC is configured with static IPs, a primary IP 192.168.10.10/24 with only one gateway 192.168.10.1 for the internet. It also has 192.168.0.10/24 and 192.168.1.10/24 bound to it with no gateways. Thus I don't need to change IP addresses when I connect different routers on different IP segments. If needed I can bind more IP addresses to the NIC to reach routers on different segments.

In this setting I can access 192.168.10.0/24, 192.168.0.0/24 and 192.168.1.0/24 networks at the same time without any connectivity issues. The R8000 on 192.168.1.1 is always reachable from PC1.

The error message is:

"You are not connected to your Router’s WiFi network. To access routerlogin.com, your device must be connected to your Router’s WiFi network. Check your current connection and try again."

And if you read the error message again it clearly saying if I am not connected to the WiFi network I can't configure it. To me it's blocking configuring it from Ethernet.

Is there any Netgear staff here can clarify what's the meaning of the above error message please?

[JamesGL]

Hi Huike,

The error message will be corrected. That message should mean that you are not connected to the network of the router that is why you cannot access the UI. If you want to access the UI, the PC IP should be within the IP range of the router.

JamesGL

Community Team

[JamesGL]

Hi Huike,

We’d greatly appreciate hearing your feedback letting us know if you need further assistance.

JamesGL

Community Team

[td_]

Very same problem with R7000. Very simple setup, modem, Ethernet, R7000, Ethernet to computer, cannot login to router. Have tried everything suggested on Netgear help, FAQ, even called NetGear tech support, cannot access router admin pages. Same message appears every time.
I currently have a Netgear N900 installed, running fine, and can access login using Ethernet.
I sincerely believe that Netgear has gone into production with defective firmware, and can do nothing at all to help.

[michaelkenward]

Unfortunately, there can be various reasons for this behaviour, which is why there are so many subjects on the same theme. (You could search the forum for the topic, which is not normally modem dependent.)

You need to go through the troubleshooting systematically, investigating all the possibilities.

If it is any consolation, I have yet to see this one tracked down to defective firmware. That usually causes other symptoms.

These may be useful:

Search results

For example:

Solved: Cannot login to router login .net. - NETGEAR Communities

Solved: Can ' t Login to Router on WiFi or with the App - NETGEAR Communities

Solved: Cannot login to router wndr3700ve3 from Windows 10... - NETGEAR ...

[ynysygwas]

I realise this an oldish topic but having recently struggled with this problem (My R6250 wouldn't let me login and I had bought and returned a new ASUS and Netgear R7000 to shops as I could not access the login page wirelessly on them either) I thought someone may find my experience useful.

My problem boiled down to simply using Microsft edge  and Google Chrome as my browsers. I'd ditched Firefox last year and upgraded to Win 10 so no longer have internet explorer.

I'd come to the conclusion the problem was caused by the newish Virgin Superhub3, that I use in modem mode, stopping the wireless router login.

Then I downloaded Firefox, installed, typed in 192.168.1.1 and there it was again, the router login box and after entering the username and password I have access to all the router settings again!

So I am keeping Firefox as it is the only way I can change the router settings (important as I'm using it as a dnla media server)..

I may even try the R7000 again as it has 2 usb ports and the r6250 usb drive is getting full.

I prefer the 192.168.1.1 login to Netgeargenie as it seems to be easier to find the settings I need. 

Thinking back to the Asus, I remember when loging in it bought up a page routerlogin.net and got no further. This was with the Chrome and Edge browsers. The R7000 just stopped at the login page.

So I would suggest trying Firefox as an option for loggibg in.

[michaelkenward]

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@ynysygwas wrote:
...upgraded to Win 10 so no longer have internet explorer.

Internet Explorer is still a part of Windows 10.

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@ynysygwas wrote:

I prefer the 192.168.1.1 login to Netgeargenie as it seems to be easier to find the settings I need. 

That is not always the best way in. Firstly, that address is not universal. (192.168.1.1 is another common one.) Second, it is often better to use http://www.routerlogin.com/ or http://www.routerlogin.net

It isn't clear what you mean by the Netgeargenie. That's not your fault, Netgear confuses us all by using the name "genie" for three things; the browser interface, a Windows app and an Android/iThing app.

The Windows app is actually another way to get into the browser interface.

It is a pity you didn't try this place before you put yourself through the hassle of buying yet more equipment. The Why can’t I access routerlogin.com or routerlogin.net? question is one of the most common here and is often fixed within minutes.

It is interesting to hear that you had similar problems with a different make of hardware. As you can imagine, most of the people who come here with the issue are using Netgear kit.

[IrvSp]

Adding to what @michaelkenward answered you with, yes, IE is also included in W10, just not 'made public'. You can find it at 'C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe'. Just create a desktop link for it if you want to use it. Reason is many programs do use the IE Engine so it is needed.

Yes, the IP Address of the router can be one of many depending on other devices in use. In Windows, if you open a COMMAND PROMPT and enter IPCONFIG /ALL and look for the GATEWAY IP Address, that will show you the IP Address of the router. You just happened to use the default IP Address and it worked.

[ynysygwas]

Thank you for your reply.

I didn't buy a new router just because ofthe acess problem. I needed (wanted) one with another usb port as I wanted to add another external hdd to expand my media collection for dlna. The problem gave me a valid reason/excuse to upgrade!

The point I was making remains the same. I still can't access the router settings with Chrome or Edge but Firefox works perfectly. As does internet explorer now I've found it. Interestingly I can still access the Virgin Superhub settings using Chrome and Edge.

I just thought someone else may be in the same position of using Chrome or Edge and thinking the router was the problem.

Regards

[ynysygwas]

Thank you for your reply.

It was useful to find IE still exists!

I had already done the ipconfig bit and confirmed the router adrdess was the same as it has always been 192.168.1.1 but that didn't work in Chrome or Edge.

It does work in Firefox and, thanks to your info, I can confirm it also works with IE.

Chrome and Edge still don't give access to the router settings but do work to access the Virgin Superhub settings.

I only posted in case someone else was stuck blaming their router, 303030 resets, performing hard resets, reverting firmware, updating firmware etc., when all they need is to use a different browser!

Regards

[michaelkenward]

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@ynysygwas wrote:
Chrome and Edge still don't give access to the router settings but do work to access the Virgin Superhub settings.

Kind of smells like a browser thing.

Have you tried the desktop genie?

New version just out. It is getting better as Netgear tries to push it as an alternative to the browser interface.

[ynysygwas]

In the words of Victor Meldrew, I DON'T BELIEVE IT!

Today I can access the router using Chrome and Edge.

I've changed nothing but now typing 192.168.1.1 takes me straight to the login box and username and password take me to the router settings page!

I can't see any record of a windows update and I can't believe that Edge and Chrome would have both updated the exact same night. I know they couldn't access the router on Saturday.

I'm not complaining but it would be nice to know how things seem to have fixed themself!

I think it must be something to do with windows as I had disabled sleep and hibernation but found the laptop was off this morning in spite of being plugged in and sleep after 30mins has been re-enabled. I have Malwarebytes premium running with realtime protection and that shows no problem. Windows defender is, correctly, off because of mbam.

Probably never know what happened.