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Forum Discussion
JMcGee88
Mar 22, 2021Aspirant
WAC104 dropping connections disassociated deauthenticated and DHCP issues (possibly solved)
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 whic...
antinode
Mar 22, 2021Guru
> [...] my using a static IP address for the WAC104. [...]
Did you leave this (unspecified) "a static IP address" in the DHCP
pool on your main router?
> I would not have expected [...]
Nor would I, if you did it properly.
JMcGee88
Mar 22, 2021Aspirant
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).
- antinodeMar 23, 2021Guru
> On the main router [...]
That all sounds plausible to me. The only other typical DHCP error
is having multiple (uncoordinated) DHCP servers, which can cause
confusion.> But wireless connections have been solid since I changed the WAC104 to
> use DHCP. [...]That does change its IP address. Any chance that it was colliding
with some other device on its original/static address? Otherwise, I may
be out of ideas.Shrink the pool a little more, and give the WAC104 a static address
of ".249"? Is the problem "static", or the particular address?- JMcGee88Mar 27, 2021Aspirant
I re-tested as you suggested, the problem really is with the use of a static address for the access point. After a bit of research I found a good explanation that confirms the problem... http://www.ka9q.net/Uverse/static-ip.html
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. 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&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.- antinodeMar 27, 2021Guru
> [...] I found a good explanation that confirms the problem... [...]
That refers to a case where the user has a block of public IP
addresses, not the usual one. Is that your situation?> 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. [...]I'm not sure that that makes sense. Your description of your "an
AT&T 2-Wire residential gateway" as a "gateway" led me to believe that
it was acting as a "gateway", which normally means modem+router. In
which case, I'd expect it to offer a DHCP server, and connecting a
wireless access point to it should not cause a problem.If, however, it's simply a modem, so that you have no local DHCP
server, then you ought to have a NAT router between that modem and the
WAP. Unless you actually have a block of public IP addresses, not the
usual one.
Without knowing what your (unspecified) "an AT&T 2-Wire residential
gateway" actually is, and how it's configured, and exactly how you're
configuring the WAC104, it's tough to be sure of much.
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