I apologize for the complexity of the description of my problem, but everything has stopped making sense. My R6300v2 is behaving very strangely and inconsistently. My desktop computer (Windows 7) and my HP printer have a wired connection to the wireless router. I hardwired the computer and printer to guarantee being able to connect without any problems, and it worked without any difficulties for more than a year, but this all seems to have gone down the tubes about 2 to 3 weeks ago.
Sometimes the printer will not print, and the error message is that the printer cannot be found. It is no longer on the network map. When this happens, accessing the router using the IP address directly through the Internet returns the error message that "This site is not available," and NetGear Genie shows only the computer and perhaps one other device is connected (even though there are 4 or 5 other devices connected wirelessly). If I use the Genie app on my Android smart phone, it shows everything that is connected, including the wired printer. It also shows the correct IP address for the router and other devices as assigned.
Since the problem started a couple of weeks ago I would reboot the cable modem and the router a couple of times, and this seemed to have temporarily fixed the problem (although not consistently, and it might take a couple of days of repeatedly doing so before it would recognize everything and connect). Everything would work for 1 to 5 days, and then all would be lost again. The router is continuously powered on, and the computer is powered down each night. I updated the firmware trying to fix the problem, but after the upgrade the ability to recognize the existence of the printer again went out the window. Today I uninstalled the NetGear Genie software and reinstalled the latest version. This did not fix the problem. In fact, rebooting the cable modem and rebooting the wireless router multiple times has failed to fix the problem.
So, after updating the Genie software, I did a factory reset of the modem, and here is where things get weird. Attempting to log in to the router using any of the previously recognized IP addresses returns an “cannot be found” error, as does the “www.routerlogin.net.” Opening the new version of NetGear Genie on my desktop computer and querying the router returns a new and different IP address (other than as assigned) with a completely different MAC address. Which to me says that the newly installed Genie software is mistaking something else for the router. When I attempt to access that IP address directly over the Internet, I get a sign-on screen that says “The server 192.168.17.1 is asking for your username and password. The server reports that it is from GoAhead,” and the sign-on screen looks like my usual router log in screen. However, no combination of passwords works (I never changed the user name Admin on the modem, but had changed the password). When I use the Genie App on the Android phone, it now shows everything that is connected to the router except the desktop computer. It shows the wireless router with its assigned IP address and the correct MAC address. It also shows that the printer is connected at the assigned IP address also with the correct MAC address. But it is not connected.
I am running Windows 7. I have a commercial account through Comcast which requires that I assign static IP addresses, so the modem and all connected devices are registered for a specific address.
Any help and suggestions are greatly appreciated. The only solution that I can see would be to buy a new router and start all over again…
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