General Points To Keep In Mind
If you are having a customer Factory Reset their Netgear router here are some important points to remember.
- WiFi will be reset to what is on the bottom of the Netgear
- Hold the Reset button on the bottom of the Netgear with a pin until the power light blinks off (approx. 7sec)
- It takes up to 3-5 minutes to finish the factory reset
After The Factory Reset
After the factory reset is complete you will need to open a web browser (that is connected to the router via Ethernet or WiFi) and it should automatically redirect you to the Netgear Genie — the router config address which is http://routerlogin.net.
Answer the prompts until it says “Take me to the internet“. Until you do this you will not be online.
When To Factory Reset
After a year or more the router may start acting flaky and WiFi may be cutting in and out. Usually a factory reset gives us a clean slate and corrects and corruption in the router’s memory. It is a good step to take in these cases.
Another time to factory reset would be if you want to re-configure the router as an AP. If the router is factory reset and plugged into another router that has internet access the Netgear Genie will detect that and simply ask you if you’d like it set up as an AP automatically. This works well.