Still not sure what caused my issues with the 'unidentified network', but as a thread update, I replaced the WNDR4500 with an R6200 and had no more issues. I felt that my time with the 4500 wasn't quite up, so in an effort to speed up my wireless network, I replaced the Netgear WNR2000 range extender (which cut my wireless bandwidth in half) with the WNDR4500 (used as an access point now) which I was convinced was not dead, but just being contrary for one reason or another. No further issues cropped up with the 'unidentified network', and I was able to pretty much double my wireless throughput with this setup.
Only issue I see from time to time is when I resume a PC from sleep, I hit an occasional 'IP conflict' as an added device (usually a laptop I'm working on) grabs the same IP that a sleeping desktop PC has, and when I resume the desktop PC, it kicks them offline until I do a \release, \renew on the address. Networking is by far my weak link in my PC education, so if anything, I hope that I learn just a little bit after each and every foul-up on my end.