WAC104 dropping connections disassociated deauthenticated and DHCP issues (possibly solved)

Question

Sorry for a long post, and if this issue has been raised and answered. But I've had wireless connection issues on a WAC104, and believe I found the cause.

I have somewhat complex home network which includes a server, two netgear managed switches, an AT&T 2-Wire residential gateway, and a WAC104 access point. I have been experincing issues with dropped wireless connections, failures to connect, WAC104 logs showing frequent entries for "disassociated", "deauthenticated", and "WLAN access rejected: incorrect security". The WAC104 "Attached Devices" would only list a single device when we have multiple wireless devices.

I believe the issue was caused by my using a static IP address for the WAC104. Given the complexity of my network I prefer to use static IP adresses for certain devices, my server, switches, printers, televisions, and the WAC104. But all other devices were DHCP assigned from a range established on the 2-Wire gateway.

We have been expreiencing frequent disconnects of wifi devices, and failures to reconnect. I enabled debugging on some android devices, and found log entries with "NETWORK_SELECTION_DISABLED_DHCP_FAILURE"

It seems that by having the WAC104 configured with a static IP address it was breaking DHCP assignments for devices that were connecting through it. I reconfigured the WAC104 to use DHCP for its own address and immediately saw an improvement. The UI on the WAC104 now shows all connected wireless devices and so far, (2 hours time passed), no connections have dropped.

I would not have expected that the use of a static address for the WAC104 would have prevented the wireless clients from using DHCP from the 2-Wire gateway. But this seems to be the case.

antinode · Answer

&gt; [...] my using a static IP address for the WAC104. [...]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Did you leave this (unspecified) "a static IP address" in the DHCPpool on your main router?&nbsp;&gt; I would not have expected [...]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nor would I, if you did it properly.

JMcGee88 · Answer

On the main router I had designated the free pool for dhcp as a range from xxx.xxx.xxx.100 to xxx.xxx.xxx.249.

I used the range from .250 to .254 as static addresses for the main router, the two switches, and the WAC104. My server and other fixed address devices are statically set from addreses below .100.

My theory now is that the issue is actually within the AT&T 2-Wire gateway/router. But it's puzzling... wireless devices connecting through the WAC104 were getting dchp assigned addresses from the free pool; but just with erratic connection issues and the errors mentioned in my post. I've also run a wireshark capture, and see a lot of ARP packets repeating from the 2-Wire.

But wireless connections have been solid since I changed the WAC104 to use DHCP. I also set a rule in the 2-Wire so that the mac of the WAC104 will get assigned address .249, (so at least I'll know where to find it without looking).

antinode · Answer

&gt; On the main router [...]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That all sounds plausible to me.&nbsp; The only other typical DHCP erroris having multiple (uncoordinated) DHCP servers, which can causeconfusion.&nbsp;&gt; But wireless connections have been solid since I changed the WAC104 to&gt; use DHCP. [...]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That does change its IP address.&nbsp; Any chance that it was collidingwith some other device on its original/static address?&nbsp; Otherwise, I maybe out of ideas.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Shrink the pool a little more, and give the WAC104 a static addressof ".249"?&nbsp; Is the problem "static", or the particular address?

JMcGee88 · Answer

I re-tested as you suggested, the problem really is with the use of a static address for the access point.&nbsp; After a bit of research I found a good explanation that confirms the problem...&nbsp; http://www.ka9q.net/Uverse/static-ip.html&nbsp;It seems that when I had the WAC104 configured as a static IP, the 2-wire would not have been supplying unique addresses to devices connecting through the WAC104. So I guess each wireless device the attempted to connect through the WAC104 was fighting to use the single static address.&nbsp; The article also seems to explain the numerous and persistent arp packets I saw when I captured with wireshark.So, I'd call this resolved... bottom line, anywone using an AT&amp;T 2-Wire gateway needs to be careful with the use of static addressing; it may work find for a single interface, but not for an access point.&nbsp;&nbsp;

antinode · Answer

&gt; [...] I found a good explanation that confirms the problem... [...]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That refers to a case where the user has a block of public IPaddresses, not the usual one.&nbsp; Is that your situation?&nbsp;&gt; It seems that when I had the WAC104 configured as a static IP, the&gt; 2-wire would not have been supplying unique addresses to devices&gt; connecting through the WAC104. [...]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I'm not sure that that makes sense. Your description of your "anAT&amp;T 2-Wire residential gateway" as a "gateway" led me to believe thatit was acting as a "gateway", which normally means modem+router.&nbsp; Inwhich case,&nbsp; I'd expect it to offer a DHCP server, and connecting awireless access point to it should not cause a problem.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If, however, it's simply a modem, so that you have no local DHCPserver, then you ought to have a NAT router between that modem and theWAP.&nbsp; Unless you actually have a block of public IP addresses, not theusual one.&nbsp;&nbsp; Without knowing what your (unspecified) "an AT&amp;T 2-Wire residentialgateway" actually is, and how it's configured, and exactly how you'reconfiguring the WAC104, it's tough to be sure of much.

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WAC104 dropping connections disassociated deauthenticated and DHCP issues (possibly solved)

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