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Forum Discussion
No 2.4 Ghz Signal - RAX120
So beginning to get to the end of my patience with this router, although it also doesn't help I've written this once and then accidently closed the page *sigh*
I can no longer seem to get a 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi signal from the router, and I have basically changed every setting and also done factory reset of the router.
I didn't notice the issue till Saturday the 1st of February, when I noticed my Sonos system was offline. Investigating there were no devices connected with the 2.4G signal and using the Wi-Fi analyser app on Android my SSID was not showing up. Also the 5Ghz signal was now using a different channel than specified, and only set to a 20Mhz width, this was previously 80Mhz
So I started playing with the settings, first Enabling 20/40 Mhz Coexistence on the 2.4G band, and setting a specific channel for the system to use. No luck, then changing the mode to “Up to 573.5Mps (11ax, HT20, 1024-QAM)” and reverting from WPA2-Personal [AES] + WPA3-Personal to WPA-Personal TKIP + WPA2-Personal [AES], still nothing.
During this I had changed the 5 Ghz band back to a specific channel and at some point, it went back to operating at 80Mhz.
So I then I was getting desperate, and tried enabling OFDMA on both bands, then disabling them and the AX Wifi. Still nothing on the 2.4 G band, so I tried disabling Smart connect and splitting the networks, before enabling the Guest 2.4 G network, which also did not show up at all.
Finally Today (the 2nd) I went for a full on Factory reset, and the 2.4G band showed up again as “NETGEAR 76”. This was with Smart connect enabled and WPA2-Personal [AES} + WPA3-Personal, great I thought so I changed the name of the network back to what I had previously, and now its not showing up again!
So changed the channel checking for interference, and it showed up briefly for 2 minutes before disappearing.
Is there anyone that has any idea what this is, or do I have to RMA the router?
13 Replies
Same boat. Tried everything - factory reset, firmware update, firmware rollback, toggling every single channel on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz antennae. The 2.4 GHz channel will not appear even briefly and this is a big problem for our small office. We are not going to pay Netgear support to have them send us a new router. I'm going to throw this router in the dumpster and throw out every single Netgear switch we use. We will be switching to Ubiquity UniFI and never purchasing another Netgear product. I anticipate many IT departments will be doing the same in the coming years.
That sounds like a hardware issue, it should be a case of a RMA if it's under warranty.
this is more a domestic router and perhaps an enterprise level based router might be better for a small office. Many like your choice so it should be fine.
it may be different for you but here I can claim back under business expenses and return costs are covered in the U.K. by the retailer, in my case Amazon. I simply claimed it on expenses rather than mess around with Amazon.
I had a similar issue with a XR500 That lost its 2.4 channels. After a reset they would reappear but for some strange reason as soon as I selected channel 11 I lost my 2.4 channels and I also noticed that the 2.4 when it was working was coming and going as the devices were dropping connection.
I ended up on netgears support for an hour and they run through a reset which I had done multiple times already and in the end the unit was replaced free of charge as it was deemed to be faulty.to be fair it was a pretty straightforward exchange, I opted to send mine back to them via registered post and within two days I had a nice new router.
- Thanks for that, yeah I phoned support new router on the way.
Weirdly I on the call they asked me to change the channel to 11 and disable smart connect and the signal came back up, luckily I kept them on the phone long enough that it then dropped again otherwise I'd have been phoning up again.
Tho I've paid the delivery charge to have a new one shipped out before I have to return the old one as didn't want to be without network!I have had the RAX120 for a few days over 1 year now with no issues and now developed the same issue of a missing 2.4G signal which has broke my Hive ecosystem. Contaced support and they have said as outside warranty I would need to pay for extended support before being passed to the tech support team who would be able to help me fix the issue. She mentioned on the call that they are getting a large number of call around this issue and so I dont feel happy to spend another £100 to get a fix for a product that cost over £350 and is barely 1 year old! Sounds like this is a common issue and a known issue and IMO they should be addressing this issue with customers at no cost... come on Netgear, do the right things for your loyal customers...
