AX6000 no longer allows WiFi devices to connect with encryption
Hello.
Before I begin, let me state that I have already contacted support and requested a replacement for this unit. But this one has me a bit stumped as to why its happening.
I bought this almost 2 years ago. (warranty ends next week)
Today, the WiFi dropped all devices. Now, I don't run a lot of devices, but I have a smoke detector, thermostat, 2 phones and a tablet usually connected, along with an echo. Earlier, all of them stopped working. Up till now, this AX6000 has been a solid router, working like a tank.
I pick up one of the phones, try to reconnect, says the password is wrong. I shrug, I re-enter it. Still wrong. Log into the router, WiFi password set in the router is the same one I'm trying to enter on the phone. So I try the other phone, then a third that's rarely connected, then the tablet, then a laptop.
NONE of them would connect. All said the password was wrong.
OK. I unplug the router, let it sit. Plug it back in. Same thing.
Went in and changed the WiFi password to something else. Same thing.
Changed it back. No change.
Change the smart WiFi to off and separated the networks. No change.
Disabled the 5G leaving 2.4 on. No change. Swapped them around. No change. Disabled encryption completely. FINALLY got a connection to work! OK...
So tried different encryptions. None of them worked. OK.
Reset the router to factory defaults. Used the default WiFi and password. Nope, wrong password again. Updated firmware to the latest edition. No change!
Oh then it gets better.
So I said fine! I will setup an older spare router as a dumb AP and connect it to this AX 6000 router using a LAN cable. And I set that router (an Asus no less) as an AP, turned off its DHCP server, and connected the AX6000 to one of its LAN ports after turning off the wireless completely on the AX6000. I enabled the WiFi with the same network name and password I had been using with the AX6000 onto the Asus, so that my hard to reconfigure hardware could reconnect easily.
Guess what? IT WAS STILL TELLING ME THE PASSWORD WAS WRONG. Even though it clearly wasn't. And I was now connecting to the Asus router's WiFi!
So then, I got the bright idea to connect that Asus to the internet directly, bypassing the AX6000 (with the Asus still set as a dumb AP). THEN IT WORKED FINE!
So what the hell in that AX6000 router could muck up a wireless SO BAD that it could even bork another router's wireless connection encryption??? THAT is my question.
The hilarious part, is that the LAN traffic on the AX6000 seems unaffected. Anything hardwired works fine. But apparently anything with wireless gets borked connected to it, even with a cable!
Any ideas?