Netgear WN802Tv2 requires restart to reconnect with a laptop

[Nicholaash]

Few days ago I have bought the Netgear WN802Tv2 Access Point from one of my neighborhood computer store. It was working fine till yesterday but from today onwards it started acting weird. The problem is I have to reboot this device several times in order to get or restore the connectivity with a laptop which is previously connected to it.

The connection works between the Netgear WN802Tv2 Access Point and laptop works perfect for few hours then the connection drops suddenly. I don’t know whether it is dropping on the Access point side or on the laptop side. But then the WN802T refuses to connect to the laptop but I can connect other wireless devices to the same ACCEss point. If I reboot the laptop, it does not take any affect on connection (Windows 7 laptop). I have to reboot the WN802Tv2 which then fixes the problem every time! Only then the laptop immediately reconnects. Actually the problem was started only after the upgrade of firmware. I've upgraded the firmware to WN802Tv2_V3.1.1. After the update I did a factory reset and re-configured all the settings manually but still the problem continues. Is there any solution?

[Harnoor]

I doubt that probably your "Access Point Name" might be creating some problem. It might be interfering with the "workgroup" which might be with the same name causing the connection drop and Windows error. The laptop might be showing your some kind of error when the connection drops from the Access point. I have changed the same and now I wonder that I need to change the SSID as well.

If this is not the case, the net mask might be preventing the laptop to restore its connection. Basically the WPN802v2 is in a different LAN and it does not know how to talk and re- connect with the laptop when the connection drops. So in this case other than rebooting the Access point, you have to disconnect the WPN802v2 from router and change the router's DHCP server address to 192.168.0.1. Once it is set, you can reconnect the WPN802v2 to the router. Now try to connect the laptop using the same 192.168.0.xxx IP space as the access point. This might work.

[Skylar]

I think that you should re=flash the firmware once again on Netgear WN802Tv2. It should add a 'Client' option inside the Bridging section of the router. By the use of new client feature or option you can able to allow the Access point acts as a wireless client so that it can be used as LAN extension of those clients that do not have wireless capability. By doing this you can use the Ethernet cable to connect to the laptop. AP should be rebooted once select this option.

[Pakhi]

I think that this is not the first person who is complaining about this issue but I have also found that users who have used the Netgear WiFi hardware (wireless access point or broadband routers) and Atheros Wireless network adapters had also experienced same kind of problem like dropping connection and unable to re-connect etc. The laptop seems to be connected to the wireless access point or router but the network manager indicates the connection as an Unidentified Network. Also it is impossible to browse the internet on laptop which are connected across the network. In order to fix this, users have told to upgrade the Atheros network adapter driver.

[Kaylynn]

First thing you have to ensure is the LAN link which is set to static IP address. Do not worry about the WAN address since it is managed by ISP. Once you have that static LAN IP address, you need to configure the access point to use it as a default gateway in case if you using the wired connection or Ethernet connection. Configure the wired interface with an IP address like 192.168.1.253/24 after that you can easily hand out DHCP address to the laptop or other devices in order to connect to this network.

If you are still having problem like connection drop or re-connection issues, I would recommend you to RMA the device and get a replacement. Stop struggling with different setting since it is a manufacturer defect.