Netgear R6250 Smart Wifi Router Ac1600 User Manual

							Troubleshooting 121
 R6250 Smart WiFi Router
Troubleshoot with the LEDs
After you turn on power to the router, the following sequence of events \
should occur:
1.  When power is first applied, verify that the Power/T
 est LED  is lit.
2.  V
erify that the Power LED lights amber within a few seconds, indicating t\
hat the self-test is 
running.
3.  After approximately 30 seconds, verify the following:
• The Powert LED lights solid green.
• The Internet LED is lit.
The LEDs on the front panel of the router can be used for troubleshootin\
g.
Power LED Is Off or Blinking
• Make sure that the power cord is securely connected to your router and t\
hat the power 
adapter is securely connected to a functioning power outlet. 
• Check that you are using the 12V DC, 2.5A power adapter that NETGEAR sup\
plied for 
this product.
• If the Power LED blinks slowly and continuously
 , the router firmware is corrupted. This 
can happen if a firmware upgrade is interrupted, or if the router detect\
s a problem with the 
firmware. If the error persists, you have a hardware problem. For recove\
ry instructions, or 
help with a hardware problem, contact technical support at  www.netgear.com/support.
Power LED Stays Amber
When the router is turned on, the Power LED lights amber for about 20 se\
conds and then 
lights green. If the LED does not turn green, the router has a problem.
If the Power LED is still amber one minute after you turn on power to th\
e router:
1. T
urn off the power and then turn it back on to see if the router recovers.
2.  Press and hold the  Reset button to return the router to its factory settings. 
See Troubleshoot Your Network Using the Ping Utility  on page
  126.
If the error persists, you might have a hardware problem. Contact techni\
cal support at 
www.netgear.com/support. 
						

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122 R6250 Smart WiFi Router 
LEDs Never Turn Off
When the router is turned on, the LEDs turn on for about 10 seconds and then turn off. If all 
the LEDs stay on, there is a fault within the router.
If all LEDs are still on 1 minute after power-up:
•Cycle the power to see if the router recovers.
•Press and hold the Reset button to return the router to its factory settings. For more 
information, see 
Troubleshoot Your Network Using the Ping Utility on page 126.
If the error persists, you might have a hardware problem. Contact technical support at 
www.netgear.com/support.
Internet or Ethernet Port LEDs Are Off
If either the Ethernet port LEDs or the Internet LED does not light when the Ethernet 
connection is made, check the following:
•Make sure that the Ethernet cable connections are secure at the router and at the modem 
or computer.
•Make sure that power is turned on to the connected modem or computer.
•Be sure that you are using the correct cable.
When connecting the router’s Internet port to a cable or DSL modem, use the cable that 
was supplied with the cable or DSL modem. This cable could be a standard 
straight-through Ethernet cable or an Ethernet crossover cable.
WiFi LED Is Off
If the WiFi LED stays off, check to see if the WiFi On/Off button on the router has been 
pressed. This button turns the wireless radios in the router on and off. The Wireless LED is lit 
when the wireless radio is turned on.
Cannot Log In to the Router
If you are unable to log in to the router from a computer on your local network, check the 
following:
•If you are using an Ethernet-connected computer, check the Ethernet connection 
between the computer and the router as described in the previous section.
•Make sure that the IP address of your computer is on the same subnet as the router. If 
you are using the recommended addressing scheme, your computer’s address should be 
in the range of 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254. 
•If your computer’s IP address is shown as 169.254.x.x, recent versions of Windows and 
Mac OS generate and assign an IP address if the computer cannot reach a DHCP server. 
These autogenerated addresses are in the range of 169.254.x.x. If your IP address is in  
						

							Troubleshooting 
123  R6250 Smart WiFi Router
this range, check the connection from the computer to the router, and reboot your 
computer.
•If your router’s IP address was changed and you do not know the current IP address, 
clear the router’s configuration to factory defaults. This sets the router’s IP address to 
192.168.1.1. For more information, see 
Factory Settings on page 129.
•Make sure that your browser has Java, JavaScript, or ActiveX enabled. If you are using 
Internet Explorer, click Refresh to be sure that the Java applet is loaded.
•Try quitting the browser and launching it again.
•Make sure that you are using the correct login information. The factory default login name 
is admin, and the password is password. Make sure that Caps Lock is off when you 
enter this information.
•If you are attempting to set up your NETGEAR router as an additional router behind an 
existing router in your network, consider replacing the existing router. NETGEAR does 
not support such a configuration.
•If you are attempting to set up your NETGEAR router as a replacement for an ADSL 
gateway in your network, the router cannot perform many gateway services. For 
example, the router cannot convert ADSL or cable data into Ethernet networking 
information. NETGEAR does not support such a configuration.
Cannot Access the Internet
If you can access your router but not the Internet, check to see if the router can obtain an IP 
address from your Internet service provider (ISP). Unless your ISP provides a fixed IP 
address, your router requests an IP address from the ISP. You can determine whether the 
request was successful using the Router Status screen.
To check the WAN IP address: 
1. Start your browser, and select an external site such as www.netgear.com.
2. Access the router interface at www.routerlogin.net.
3. Select Administration > Router Status.
4. Check that an IP address is shown for the Internet port. If 0.0.0.0 is shown, your router has 
not obtained an IP address from your ISP.
If your router cannot obtain an IP address from the ISP, you might need to force your cable or 
DSL modem to recognize your new router by restarting your network. For more information, 
see 
Sequence to Restart Your Network on page 120.
If your router is still unable to obtain an IP address from the ISP, the problem might be one of 
the following:
•Your Internet service provider (ISP) might require a login program. 
Ask your ISP whether they require PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE) or some other type of 
login.
•If your ISP requires a login, the login name and password might be set incorrectly. 
						

							Troubleshooting 
124 R6250 Smart WiFi Router 
•Your ISP might check for your computer’s host name. 
Assign the computer host name of your ISP account as the account name in the Internet 
Setup screen.
•Your ISP allows only one Ethernet MAC address to connect to Internet and might check 
for your computer’s MAC address. In this case, do one of the following:
-Inform your ISP that you have bought a new network device, and ask them to use the 
router’s MAC address.
-Configure your router to clone your computer’s MAC address.
If your router can obtain an IP address, but your computer is unable to load any web pages 
from the Internet:
•Your computer might not recognize any DNS server addresses. 
A DNS server is a host on the Internet that translates Internet names (such as www 
addresses) to numeric IP addresses. Typically, your ISP provides the addresses of one or 
two DNS servers for your use. If you entered a DNS address during the router’s 
configuration, reboot your computer, and verify the DNS address. You can configure your 
computer manually with DNS addresses, as explained in your operating system 
documentation.
•Your computer might not have the router configured as its TCP/IP gateway.
If your computer obtains its information from the router by DHCP, reboot the computer, 
and verify the gateway address.
•You might be running login software that is no longer needed.
If your ISP provided a program to log you in to the Internet (such as WinPoET), you no 
longer need to run that software after installing your router. You might need to go to 
Internet Explorer and select Tools > Internet Options, click the Connections tab, and 
select Never dial a connection.
Troubleshoot PPPoE
If you are using PPPoE, try troubleshooting your Internet connection.
To troubleshoot a PPPoE connection:
1. Select Administration > Router Status.
2. Click Connection Status. 
3. Check the Connection Status display to see if your PPPoE connection is up and working.
4. If any of the field s on the Connection Status screen indicate Failed, you can attempt to 
reconnect by clicking Connect. The router continues to attempt to connect indefinitely.
5. If you cannot connect after several minutes, you might be using an incorrect service name, 
user name, or password. There might also be a provisioning problem with your ISP.
Unless you connect manually, the router does not authenticate using PPPoE until data is 
transmitted to the network. 
						

							Troubleshooting 
125  R6250 Smart WiFi Router
Troubleshoot Internet Browsing
If your router can obtain an IP address but your computer is unable to load any web pages 
from the Internet, check the following:
•Your computer might not recognize any DNS server addresses. A DNS server is a host 
on the Internet that translates Internet names (such as www addresses) to numeric IP 
addresses.
Typically, your ISP provides the addresses of one or two DNS servers for your use. If you 
entered a DNS address during the router’s configuration, restart your computer.
Alternatively, you can configure your computer manually with a DNS address, as 
explained in the documentation for your computer.
•Your computer might not have the router configured as its default gateway.
Reboot the computer and verify that the router address (www.routerlogin.net) is listed by 
your computer as the default gateway address.
•You might be running log in software that is no longer needed. If your ISP provided a 
program to log you in to the Internet (such as WinPoET), you no longer need to run that 
software after installing your router. You might need to go to Internet Explorer and select 
Tools > Internet Options, click the Connections tab, and select Never dial a 
connection.
Changes Not Saved
If the router does not save the changes you make in the router interface, check the following:
•When entering configuration settings, always click the Apply button before moving to 
another screen or tab, or your changes are lost. 
•Click the Refresh or Reload button in the web browser. The changes might have 
occurred, but the old settings might be in the web browser’s cache.
Wireless Connectivity
If you are having trouble connecting wirelessly to the router, try to isolate the problem. 
•Does the wireless device or computer that you are using find your wireless network?
If not, check the WiFi LED on the router. If it is off, you can press the WiFi On/Off button 
on the router to turn the router wireless radios back on.
If you disabled the router’s SSID broadcast, then your wireless network is hidden and 
does not display in your wireless client’s scanning list. (By default, SSID broadcast is 
enabled.)
•Does your wireless device support the security that you are using for your wireless 
network (WPA or WPA2)? 
						

							Troubleshooting 
126 R6250 Smart WiFi Router 
•If you want to view the wireless settings for the router, use an Ethernet cable to connect a 
computer to a LAN port on the router. Then log in to the router, and select Wireless see 
(
Basic Wireless Settings on page 22). 
Note:Be sure to click Apply if you change settings.
Wireless Signal Strength
If your wireless device finds your network, but the signal strength is weak, check these 
conditions:
•Is your router too far from your computer, or too close? Place your computer near the 
router, but at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) away, and see whether the signal strength 
improves.
•Are objects between the router and your computer blocking the wireless signal?
Troubleshoot Your Network Using the Ping Utility
Most network devices and routers contain a ping utility that sends an echo request packet to 
the designated device. The device then responds with an echo reply. You can easily 
troubleshoot a network is easy using the ping utility in your computer or workstation. 
Test the LAN Path to Your Router
You can ping the router from your computer to verify that the LAN path to your router is set up 
correctly.
To ping the router from a Windows computer:
1. From the Windows toolbar, click Start and select Run.
2. In the field provided, type ping followed by the IP address of the router, as in this example:
ping www.routerlogin.net
3. Click OK.
You should see a message like this one:
Pinging  with 32 bytes of data
If the path is working, you see this message:
Reply from < IP address >: bytes=32 time=NN ms TTL=xxx
If the path is not working, you see this message:
Request timed out
If the path is not functioning correctly, you could have one of the following problems:
•Wrong physical connections 
						

							Troubleshooting 
127  R6250 Smart WiFi Router
For a wired connection, make sure that the numbered LAN port LED is lit for the port to 
which you are connected.
Check that the appropriate LEDs are on for your network devices. If your router and 
computer are connected to a separate Ethernet switch, make sure that the link LEDs are 
lit for the switch ports that are connected to your computer and router.
•Wrong network configuration
Verify that the Ethernet card driver software and TCP/IP software are both installed and 
configured on your computer. 
Verify that the IP address for your router and your computer are correct and that the 
addresses are on the same subnet.
Test the Path from Your Computer to a Remote Device
After verifying that the LAN path works correctly, test the path from your computer to a 
remote device.
1. From the Windows toolbar, click the Start button and select Run.
2. In the Windows Run window, type:
ping -n 10 
where  is the IP address of a remote device such as your ISP’s DNS server.
If the path is functioning correctly, replies like those shown in the previous section are 
displayed.
If you do not receive replies:
•Check that your computer has the IP address of your router listed as the default gateway. 
If the IP configuration of your computer is assigned by DHCP, this information is not 
visible in your computer Network Control Panel. Verify that the IP address of the router is 
listed as the default gateway.
•Check to see that the network address of your computer (the portion of the IP address 
specified by the subnet mask) is different from the network address of the remote device.
•Check that your cable or DSL modem is connected and functioning.
•If your ISP assigned a host name to your computer, enter that host name as the account 
name in the Internet Setup screen.
•Your ISP could be rejecting the Ethernet MAC addresses of all but one of your 
computers.
Many broadband ISPs restrict access by allowing traffic only from the MAC address of your 
broadband modem. Some ISPs additionally restrict access to the MAC address of a single 
computer connected to that modem. If so, configure your router to “clone” or “spoof” the MAC 
address from the authorized computer.  
						

							128
A
A.   Supplemental Information
This appendix covers the following topics: 
•Factory Settings 
•Technical Specifications  
						

							 Supplemental Information
129  R6250 Smart WiFi Router
Factory Settings
You can return the router to its factory settings. Use the end of a paper clip or a similar object 
to press and hold the Reset button on the back of the router for at least 7 seconds. The 
router resets, and returns to the factory configuration settings shown in the following table.
Table 3.  Factory default settings  
FeatureDefault behavior
Router loginUser login URLwww.routerlogin.com or www.routerlogin.net
User name (case-sensitive)admin 
Login password (case-sensitive)password
Internet 
connectionWAN MAC addressUse default hardware address
WAN MTU size1500
Port speedAutoSensing
Local network 
(LAN)LAN IP192.168.1.1
Subnet mask255.255.255.0
DHCP serverEnabled
DHCP range192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254
Time zonePacific time
Time zone daylight savings timeDisabled
Allow a registrar to configure this 
routerEnabled
Local network 
(LAN) continuedDHCP starting IP address192.168.1.2
DHCP ending IP address192.168.1.254
DMZDisabled
Time zoneGMT for WW except NA and GR, GMT+1 for GR, GMT-8 
for NA
Time zone adjusted for daylight 
savings timeDisabled
SNMPDisabled
FirewallInbound (communications coming 
in from the Internet)Disabled (except traffic on port 80, the HTTP port)
Outbound (communications going 
out to the Internet)Enabled (all)
Source MAC filteringDisabled 
						

							 Supplemental Information
130 R6250 Smart WiFi Router 
WirelessWireless communicationEnabled
SSID nameSee router label
SecurityWPA2-PSK (AES)
Broadcast SSIDEnabled
Transmission speedAuto*
Country/regionUnited States in the US; otherwise varies by region
RF channel6 until region selected
Operating modeUp to 145 Mbps at 2.4 GHz, 1300 Mbps at 5 GHz
FirewallInbound (communications coming 
in from the Internet)Disabled (bars all unsolicited requests)
Outbound (communications going 
out to the Internet)Enabled (all)
*. Maximum wireless signal rate derived from IEEE Standard 802.11 specifications. Actual throughput can vary. Network 
conditions and environmental factors, including volume of network traffic, building materials and construction, and network 
overhead, lower actual data throughput rate.
Table 3.  Factory default settings  (continued)
FeatureDefault behavior