Resetting your router wipes every custom setting, so your devices no longer recognize the network. You'll need to reconfigure your WiFi name, password, and security type from scratch. Outdated device drivers and wireless interference can make reconnection even harder, which is why some devices drop out while others stay connected.
When you reset your router, it doesn't just restart — it forgets everything. Your custom WiFi name, password, security protocol, and band preferences all revert to factory defaults. Your devices, meanwhile, still remember the old settings. That mismatch is usually what causes the disconnection loop. Here's the part most guides skip: your security protocol resets too. If you had WPA2 or WPA3 configured, your router may now default to a weaker or different setting that some devices simply refuse to authenticate against. Your phone might connect fine. Your older laptop might not budge. Band preference is another hidden culprit. You may have manually set your router to broadcast on 5GHz for better speed. After reset, it often defaults back to 2.4GHz — or broadcasts both bands under the same name, confusing devices that expect a specific one. If your neighbor's microwave, baby monitor, or cordless phone also runs on 2.4GHz, you've just handed yourself an interference problem you didn't have before. There's also a firmware timing issue. Many modern routers auto-download and install a firmware update immediately after reset. If that update changes how the router handles device handshakes, your devices may struggle to reconnect until you update their drivers or operating systems to match. It's rare, but it happens — especially with older phones connecting to newer WiFi 6 routers.
The biggest assumption people make: that resetting the router will fix everything. It won't — not always. A reset only helps if your problem was caused by corrupted configuration settings. If your router's hardware is failing, or if a neighbor's network is crowding your channel, a reset solves nothing. You've just added reconfiguration work on top of an existing problem. Second mistake: resetting both the modem and the router at the same time. These are separate devices doing separate jobs. Your modem talks to your ISP. Your router manages your home network. If you reset both simultaneously and something goes wrong, you have no way to know which device is the actual problem. Reset your router first. Only touch the modem if your ISP specifically tells you to. Third — and this one frustrates a lot of people — is expecting the old WiFi password to still work. It won't. Your router has no memory of it. The password is gone. You'll need to log into the admin panel and set a new one before any device can reconnect. Finally, watch your band settings after reconfiguring. A lot of people accidentally leave their router broadcasting on 2.4GHz only, then call their ISP to complain about slow speeds. Your ISP can't help with that. You switched bands yourself during setup, and switching back takes about 30 seconds in your router's admin panel.
Most people believe resetting their router will magically fix all WiFi issues—it won't. A reset only helps if your problem was caused by configuration corruption, not hardware failure or environmental interference. Second, many folks think they need to reset their modem too, but that's unnecessary unless their ISP specifically requests it. Resetting both simultaneously actually makes troubleshooting harder because you can't isolate which device is causing disconnections. Third, people assume their old WiFi password will work after reset, then get frustrated when authentication fails. Your router literally doesn't remember that password anymore—it's gone. Finally, users often blame their Internet Service Provider for slow speeds post-reset, when they've actually accidentally switched from 5GHz to 2.4GHz, which has slower real-world throughput despite identical advertised speeds.
No — they're two different devices with different jobs. Your modem connects your home to the internet. Your router distributes that connection across your devices. Only reset your modem if your ISP specifically asks you to, or if you're losing internet on every single device even when connected via ethernet. Resetting both at once just makes it harder to figure out what actually went wrong.
Different devices have different WiFi chips, driver versions, and supported security protocols. Your laptop might handle the router's new default settings just fine, while your phone's older driver chokes on a WPA3-only configuration. Start by updating your phone's operating system — that usually updates the WiFi driver too. Then check your router's admin panel and make sure security is set to WPA2/WPA3 mixed mode rather than WPA3-only, which older devices can't join.
Log into your router's admin panel — usually found at 192.168.1.1 in your browser. Set a new WiFi name and a strong password, and make sure security is configured to WPA2 or WPA3 (not WEP, which is outdated and insecure). Don't leave the default admin credentials in place — that's a real security risk. Once that's done, reconnect your devices one at a time using the new password. Give each device about 30 seconds before moving to the next.