The Digital Surgery (computer questions/problems here)

[Norseman]

Google your questions Richard. All is there as long as you care to ask.
When I can find it you can too and after all you speak & write the language better than me!!

[richard]

Thanks Norseman,

I'm the impatient type so I guess I need to play with it a bit more. I'm sure I'll discover a lot over the next few days

[Nereus]

Google your questions Richard. All is there as long as you care to ask.
When I can find it you can too and after all you speak & write the language better than me!!

Or you could try and befriend an "ex IT Guy".

[richard]

Or you could try and befriend an "ex IT Guy".

I know plenty of Ex IT guys and I'm one myself. I need a current IT guy who specialises in that area of IT

[oakdale160]

I have a Mac Air and it is becoming increasingly frustrating to use because of 2 factors
1 The increasing number of unwanted unrequested material popping up
2 The Mac trying to 'help' too much, irratating boxes popping up.

Any suggestions.

[hhfarang]

I have a Netgear wireless router that is connected to my desktop in conjunction with 3BB's included wired modem (computer wired to Netgear router which is wired to 3bb modem which is connected to wall internet recepticle). It has worked well for years, but previously I lived in a place where I was surrounded by empty lots making any other homes out of range so I never bothered securing it. I know the IP address for logging in and have done it a few times before just to poke around and see the admin interface. I don't recall ever changing the username or password from the factory setting of "admin" and "password", but over the years since I last tried to log into it there have been several visits by 3BB technicians and I do recall them logging into my modem and possibly my wireless router so I don't know if they would have changed the username or password to something they typically use but I don't see why they would, especially without telling me.

Anyway, now I live very close to other homes so I wanted to secure my wireless network. When I try to login to the admin page with the factory username and password I get the login box with the following "SmartAx" message included and cannot log in using the factory settings! Has someone probably already logged in to my modem and messed with it or is this the default message you always get (with Netgear wireless routers)?

Error.jpg (15.8 KiB) Viewed 983 times

So to summarize, either I changed the username and/or password and forgot that I did it (unlikely) or a 3BB tech did it and didn't tell me (possibly more likely), or a neighbor has already used my wifi and has changed them so I can't stop him from using it in the future (my best guess).

So I have two questions. Is there any way to recover/find out lost router usernames and passwords? I doubt it as that would make most routers unsecured in the long run, so my next question is; I have found instructions on how to reset the wireless router to it's factory default settings. If I did that would it no longer work without some configuration that I'm not sure I could figure out? It seems to me (but my memory is hazy on this) that it was plug and play in the first place and I don't remember having to do any initial configuration for it to work with the 3BB modem and my computer. However, a friend from the U.S. was visiting when I installed it so he could use his laptop around the house and it's possible he did some configuration that I wasn't aware of.

Can anybody give me any possible suggestions to untangle this wifi security problem. Mainly, if I reset the wifi router to it's factory settings will it still work with my 3BB modem and desktop without a configuration nightmare?

[buksida]

Have you tried the obvious admin/admin?

The factory reset will delete all the settings, most routers have a simple setup wizard so you can put the info from 3BB back in there and get it connected again.

[J.J.B.]

I have a Mac Air and it is becoming increasingly frustrating to use because of 2 factors
1 The increasing number of unwanted unrequested material popping up
2 The Mac trying to 'help' too much, irratating boxes popping up.

Any suggestions.

PM sent.

[J.J.B.]

Can anybody give me any possible suggestions to untangle this wifi security problem. Mainly, if I reset the wifi router to it's factory settings will it still work with my 3BB modem and desktop without a configuration nightmare?

The default Netgear settings are here: http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detai ... ar-devices

It appears to be 'admin' and 'password' but Buksi is right that in most cases it's 'admin' and 'admin'.

If you are connecting this router to your 3BB modem then effectively that takes care of your WAN-side settings and resetting to factory defaults should cause you no problems. I have a newer 3BB modem that is also a wireless router and when I returned it to factory defaults I didn't have the WAN-side username and password so it was a bit of a hassle getting it all back again. I have since turned all that off and only use the box as a modem that mow connects to my own wireless router that I frequently reset to factory defaults and have never yet lost my connection.

Try it, what's the worst that can happen?

*DISCLAIMER* Don't blame me if it all goes to sh*t!

[hhinner]

When I try to login to the admin page with the factory username and password I get the login box with the following "SmartAx" message included and cannot log in using the factory settings!

Hi hhf, The "SmartAx" message is from the 3bb router, which is a Huawei SmartAx. The user id on these depends on what company installed the modem - e.g. if it was 3bb then the password is probably 3bb, if it was back in the days of Triple T then the password would probably be TTT. The user id is admin.

However, as you're asking about your Netgear wireless router you probably should connect using the ip address 192.168.2.1, rather than 192.168.1.1. Then you can start on the netgear passwords.

Cheers

[hhfarang]

I've tried http://192.168.1.1, http://192.168.0.1, http://192.168.2.1,http://www.routerlogin.net, http://www.routerlogin.com which were all suggested on a Netgear help site for different Netgear models. And yes Buksida I tried admin, admin as well as admin, password, and admin, 1234 which were also suggested as possibilities on the Netgear site which is the same site I used to use to log onto the modem before, but that was two or three years ago when it worked and I haven't tried it since then.

[buksida]

Not in these lists?

http://portforward.com/default_username ... Huawei.htm
http://portforward.com/default_username ... etGear.htm

This also may help:

http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detai ... t-settings

[hhinner]

So, hhf, have you actually identified the IP address of your netgear router? We know it is NOT 192.168.1.1.

[hhinner]

And if you still can't get in using any default userids and passwords your best bet is probably to do what J.J.B. said and do a reset. You might have to connect to the router by ethernet to do the set up after that.

[hhfarang]

hhinner wrote:

So, hhf, have you actually identified the IP address of your netgear router? We know it is NOT 192.168.1.1.

No, according to Netgear, for my model it should be 192.168.0.1, and I'm pretty sure that used to be the one I used (either that or the one above) to get to the admin page of the Netgear, so on one of their many visits since that time, the 3BB guys must have changed something. That one obviously is now the 3BB modem as you were correct that it is a SmartAX (Thanks for that explanation, I had no idea that was the name of the modem). With all the other addresses and URLs I listed get this:

Buksida wrote:

Not in these lists?

http://portforward.com/default_username ... Huawei.htm
http://portforward.com/default_username ... etGear.htmThis also may help:

http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detai ... t-settings

Yes, on that 3rd URL page it says that mine (WGT 624 V3) is admin, password which is indeed what I remember using in the past.

I am currently downloading the IP address finding software from that 2nd page you listed Buksi. I'll let you know if that works. Thanks for finding it.