Understanding Netgear Router Lights Meaning [2023]

Netgear, being the leading manufacturer of networking devices has left no stone unturned to optimize the user’s digital experience. If you have a Netgear Nighthawk router, then there’s zero chance that you haven’t noticed LED lights on it. It has also been reported that more than 70% of Netgear users face issues with the lights of their routers. Are you also one of them? Read this guide explaining Netgear router lights meaning to find out.

What Do Netgear Nighthawk Router Lights Do?

The LED lights located on your Nighthawk router unit convey more than you expect. FYI, the purpose of various LEDs located on your WiFi router is to determine the connection status between the router and the devices accessing it. Not only this, but you will also come to know whether the router-modem connection is stable or not. Furthermore, LED lights on your Netgear WiFi router also try to signify the adequacy of power being supplied to your router. How do they convey all these messages? Understanding the Netgear router lights meaning will make it easy for you. But, before we shed light on those messages, let us tell you about various LEDs located on the Nighthawk router unit.

What Are Different Netgear Router Lights?

Given below are the names of different LED lights located on a general Netgear router. No matter whether you’ve performed Netgear Nighthawk setup for AC750 or AC1200, the following LED lights can be easily found.

1. Power LED
2. Internet LED
3. WiFi LED
4. 2.4GHz and 5GHz LEDs
5. USB LEDs
6. Ethernet/LAN LED
7. WPS LED

All the aforementioned LED lights on the Nighthawk router flash different colors delivering hidden Netgear router lights meaning. What are the different stages of these LED lights, what color do they flash, and why, the next section will reveal everything for you.

What Are Different Netgear Router Lights Meaning?

1. The Power Light

The power LED light on a Netgear Nighthawk router light flashes green, white, and amber colors. The table given below will help you understand the scenarios when the router’s power LED flashes these different colors:

Power LED Stage	Meaning
Solid Green or White	Nighthawk router is working well
Solid Amber	Your router is getting booted
Flashing Amber	The firmware of router is getting updated
Off	Router is not connected to the power

If the power LED of your Netgear router is flashing a color that is not mentioned in this table, you need to pay attention to it and do the required troubleshooting. However, you can also take help from our tech support team to get the problem fixed.

2. The Internet LED

As the name suggests, the purpose of the Internet LED on the Nighthawk router is to reveal the internet connection status. It also flashes green, white, and amber color. The table given below reveals various stages of the Internet LED.

Internet LED Status	Meaning
Solid Green or White	The internet connection is all well
Solid Amber	Router has detected the Ethernet cable
Flashing White	Data transmission is taking place
Off	Your router and modem are not connected

If the Internet LED on the router is off, then you are supposed to create a strong-router modem connection with the help of an Ethernet cable. It must be non-damaged, however.

3. The WiFi LED

Moving further with the guide explaining Netgear router lights meaning, the WiFi LED tells the status of the WiFi connection. Here’s how:

WiFi LED Status	Meaning
Solid White	The WiFi connection is working fine
Flashing	Data is getting transmitted via WiFi
Off	There’s no active wireless connection

If you see a color other than white or green on the WiFi LED of the Nighthawk router, consider rebooting your WiFi router.

4. 2.4GHz and 5GHz LEDs

Related to the radio bands of your Nighthawk router, the purpose of 2.4GHz and 5GHz Netgear router lights is to reveal their active and inactive status.

2.4GHz and 5GHz LED Status	Meaning
Solid White	The respective radio band is active
Flashing	Data transmission via the respective band
Off	2.4GHz or 5GHz band is not turned on

If any of the radio bands of your Netgear Nighthawk router is off (2.4GHz or 5GHz LED is off), then you need to log in to your device and enable the particular band.

5. The USB LED

The USB LED light is all about the connection status between a storage device and a Netgear WiFi router. Check out the following table to know how it works:

USB LED Stage	Meaning
Solid Green or White	USB (Storage device) is ready to use
Flashing	Your Nighthawk router is reading USB
Off	No USB detected

If no USB is detected by your router (USB LED is off), then you are supposed to re-connect the USB. Or there are chances that the USB is corrupted.

6. The Ethernet/LAN LED

The Ethernet LED is the next light that we will discuss in this Netgear router lights meaning guide. It completely deals with Ethernet connections. Refer to this table to know how.

The Ethernet/LAN LED Status	Meaning
Solid	A wired device is accessing the router via an Ethernet port
Flashing	Your router is sending or receiving data through the Ethernet cable
Off	No device is accessing the Ethernet port

The Ethernet connection related to your Netgear Nighthawk router must be finger-tight in every scenario. However, the hard and fast rule of using a well-working Ethernet cable is always a priority.

7. The WPS LED

Since Nighthawk routers are WPS-enabled, they facilitate the push-button configuration. In other words, you can access the internet on a WPS-enabled device with the help of this feature. However, the connection status is revealed by the color flashed by the WPS light.

WPS LED Light Status	Meaning
Solid Green or White	The device is accessing WPS connection
Flashing Green or White	WPS connection in progress
Off	No active connection via WPS

Final Words

Now, it is time to put a full stop on the guide explaining the Netgear Nighthawk router lights meaning. We are assuming that you are not on the list of that 70% of users which we discussed at the beginning of the post. If you are among them, reach out to our experts. They will not only reveal hidden information about the Netgear router lights meaning but also provide you with appropriate troubleshooting hacks to resolve the problem.