Weird network issue resolved!

[Harry Bloomfield]

#1 router was a newish DSL 3780 as provided by Talktalk and the one acting as modem to connect to broadband, plus providing one access point at the top of the house.

#2 used a wired LAN to connect to #1 and provided a 2nd wifi access point on the ground floor.

Swapping from AP #2 to AP #1 could be done almost instantly, swapping from #1 back to #2 could take upto an hour, before a full connection with Internet access could be had.

I tried lots of routers as #2, lots of variations of settings without any success.

Today I decided to swap #1 and #2 around, so #2 was actually connecting to the broadband. Then I tried to reconfigure what had been #1, the

3780, to work as just an access point. Lots of issues with logging in, lots of issues with changing anything and getting it to save the settings and in the end I swapped it out for a spare router.

My guess is that it had some serious issues, though it had seemed fine and to work/sort of.

With that 3780 no longer in the loop, I can now swap back and forth from #1 to #2 in a second. :-)

[Dave Liquorice]

How odd, glad your sorted. ISTR that this has been a long standing problem. Itching to find out what's wrong with the old #1. Partly mangled flash settings memeory. Wonder if a factory reset would cure it?

[leenowell]

I assume you switched off dhcp / DNS on router 2 and gave it a fixed IP address which is

- on the same subnet as 1

- is not the same as 1

- is outside of the range of IP addresses that the dhcp server on 1 dishes out?

I think the default gateway on 2 also needs to be the IP address of 1.

Thanks

Lee.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Dave Liquorice presented the following explanation :

I changed the settings on it remotely, whilst set up as #1 in the loft, numerous times without any problems. Only when I swapped the two over and tried to reconfigure it in place of #2, did the problems begin to show up. I tried direct wired, doing several factory resets, changing passwords, but nothing would stick.

My #1 is now a reasonable spec., not too old one I spotted cheap in a charity shop. My #2 is a really ancient low spec one, just kept as a working spare - so I have ordered a much better independent dual band Netgear from Ebay, that (hopefully) ought to allow the Firestick to connect via the 5Ghz and everything else via the 2.4Ghz.

I have since switched access points numerous times, every time it was instant except for once when it took a few seconds to get connected to the #1, I'm guessing due to a temporary poor signal.

[Roger Hayter]

Harry Bloomfield wrote: snip summary

Well done! No-one seems to have thought of that. Still not sure how it failed the way it did, but if all works that's good.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Roger Hayter formulated on Tuesday :

I never even considered it, it was a fairly new one.