I purchased a Netgear Nighthawk about 6 years ago and it is the Mk1 version. About 12 months ago after leaving it plugged in to mains power for extended periods the battery swelled up to the extent it would not fit into the Nighthawk case. I was advised by Telstra that they did not make replacement batteries for this model and that I would need to purchase a new router. The router still worked on mains but not on battery but I still kept it and used it that way.
A few weeks ago I found out that one can purchase a replacement battery through computer battery shops and so purchased a replacement. I put the new battery in and hooked up the charger and nothing happened. It would not charge. I then found this web site called www. routerlogin.com and logged in. You use the user name "admin" and password use "password" all lower case. This then recognizes the router and you are in business. Once logged in you go to administration and click on "update router". This takes about a minute or so and it now charges and works again on a battery. The initial charge takes a few hours and then after about three recharge cycles the battery will last for about a week without further charging.
How about that.
Mike Harding said
12:19 PM Sep 4, 2022
You did well :)
I suggest you change the password and, if possible, the account name (admin) to something else ASAP.
Bill B said
12:59 PM Sep 4, 2022
If using it on 240v it works without the battery being installed.
DMaxer said
01:42 PM Sep 4, 2022
Yes that is right Bill. I used it without a battery for about 12 months. The reason why I got another battery is that when I am off grid it saves me having to run down the battery in the laptop whilst the router is plugged in to the inverter because I did not have a battery.
When one logs in one can use the password that comes with the Nighthawk Mike. I used the generic password because I was too lazy to look up the number on the screen.
-- Edited by DMaxer on Sunday 4th of September 2022 01:44:12 PM
dorian said
07:18 AM Sep 5, 2022
I suspect that routerlogin.com is intercepted by the router and resolved to a LAN IP address, probably the address of the router's default gateway. If you are not connected to the Netgear router, then the domain name resolves to Netgear's Internet site. That's where I ended up (because I don't have a Netgear router).
In my case my default gateway is 10.1.1.1. If I type that address into my browser, I see my router's login screen and I can then reconfigure the router's settings, etc. In your case it looks like you have accessed your router via Netgear's web site, but in fact it's all done locally. At least that's how it looks to me.
Edit:
The user manual confirms that routerlogin.com resolves to 192.168.1.1. (page 22). That's a local address (LAN IP).
-- Edited by dorian on Monday 5th of September 2022 07:25:33 AM
DMaxer said
07:27 AM Sep 5, 2022
With my limited technical knowledge I felt like I was part of Mission Control at Houston during Apollo 11 when I was engaging in this massive project of recharging the router battery Dorian.
dorian said
07:30 AM Sep 5, 2022
DMaxer wrote:
With my limited technical knowledge I felt like I was part of Mission Control at Houston during Apollo 11 when I was engaging in this massive project of recharging the router battery Dorian.
I confess that I am baffled as to how a firmware (?) update was able to trigger a battery recharge. Makes no sense to me ... unless the router was an OEM unit supplied by Telstra???
BTW, you can disconnect your router from the Internet and still access the router's control panel via routerlogin.com. That's because routerlogin.com exists inside your router.
-- Edited by dorian on Monday 5th of September 2022 07:46:18 AM
DMaxer said
11:24 AM Sep 5, 2022
When the battery was not recharging I went online and one of the suggestions was that the firmware needed updating and I could do this through router log in. I did this and it then started charging.
As to why who knows and I dont really care only that it worked
DMaxer said
11:26 AM Sep 5, 2022
Yes it was supplied by Telstra, that is where I purchased it when I purchased another phone.
dorian said
11:52 AM Sep 5, 2022
My original interest in this thread was out of concern that you may have exposed yourself to an online security threat by allowing your router's admin pages to be accessed from a web site. That turns out not to be the case. However, I would still take Mike's advice and change your admin password. The admin username appears to be fixed, though.
Congratulations, anyway.
DMaxer said
12:45 PM Sep 5, 2022
No, thanks for that. I changed the password after using the default one. I thought it odd at the time because you cannot connect to the router through the laptop to enable internet without the correct digital password.
I purchased a Netgear Nighthawk about 6 years ago and it is the Mk1 version. About 12 months ago after leaving it plugged in to mains power for extended periods the battery swelled up to the extent it would not fit into the Nighthawk case. I was advised by Telstra that they did not make replacement batteries for this model and that I would need to purchase a new router. The router still worked on mains but not on battery but I still kept it and used it that way.
A few weeks ago I found out that one can purchase a replacement battery through computer battery shops and so purchased a replacement. I put the new battery in and hooked up the charger and nothing happened. It would not charge. I then found this web site called www. routerlogin.com and logged in. You use the user name "admin" and password use "password" all lower case. This then recognizes the router and you are in business. Once logged in you go to administration and click on "update router". This takes about a minute or so and it now charges and works again on a battery. The initial charge takes a few hours and then after about three recharge cycles the battery will last for about a week without further charging.
How about that.
You did well :)
I suggest you change the password and, if possible, the account name (admin) to something else ASAP.
Yes that is right Bill. I used it without a battery for about 12 months. The reason why I got another battery is that when I am off grid it saves me having to run down the battery in the laptop whilst the router is plugged in to the inverter because I did not have a battery.
When one logs in one can use the password that comes with the Nighthawk Mike. I used the generic password because I was too lazy to look up the number on the screen.
-- Edited by DMaxer on Sunday 4th of September 2022 01:44:12 PM
I suspect that routerlogin.com is intercepted by the router and resolved to a LAN IP address, probably the address of the router's default gateway. If you are not connected to the Netgear router, then the domain name resolves to Netgear's Internet site. That's where I ended up (because I don't have a Netgear router).
In my case my default gateway is 10.1.1.1. If I type that address into my browser, I see my router's login screen and I can then reconfigure the router's settings, etc. In your case it looks like you have accessed your router via Netgear's web site, but in fact it's all done locally. At least that's how it looks to me.
Edit:
The user manual confirms that routerlogin.com resolves to 192.168.1.1. (page 22). That's a local address (LAN IP).
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/R7000/R7000_UM.pdf
-- Edited by dorian on Monday 5th of September 2022 07:25:33 AM
I confess that I am baffled as to how a firmware (?) update was able to trigger a battery recharge. Makes no sense to me ... unless the router was an OEM unit supplied by Telstra???
BTW, you can disconnect your router from the Internet and still access the router's control panel via routerlogin.com. That's because routerlogin.com exists inside your router.
This is what I see:
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?strip=0&q=cache:www.routerlogin.com
-- Edited by dorian on Monday 5th of September 2022 07:46:18 AM
Congratulations, anyway.