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Forum Discussion
MR70/MS70, no wired backhaul?
I am trying to get wired backhaul to work. Wirelesly the satellites are found. They connect and show up in the admin ui as connected wirelesly. When I plug in a network cable to the satellite the led stays blue. However, the satellite can't be found anymore in the admin interface, let alone seeing a status which says the connection is wired. Also, visiting the satellite status page shows there is no connection. This is when they are located next to eachother.
Taking the satellite to another room and connecting it to power and ethernet results in an orange led and no signal. I have tried syncing directly with network cable, syncing wirelessly and then plugging in a network cable. Also tried rebooting after syncing. Changed network cable. Don't have the originals anymore though. The satellites are connected through a 16 port Netgear 1gbbs switch and a PfSense router, which correctly supplies all devices with an ip address. All web interfaces are available.
Does anyone have an idea where to go from here?
11 Replies
If the goal is to have every device in the house part of one IP subnet, then the MR70 needs to be in Access Point (AP) mode (to prevent it from creating its own IP subnet).
The satellites should be connected to the router either wirelessly or through a switch that is connected to the MR70 LAN port.
There should be one connection from the MR70 system to the pfSense router (the MR70 WAN port).
Do you have a simple gigabit switch that can be used to test such a configuration?
Yes I could test that. Are you saying that the MR70 actually needs to sit between the pfSense router and the gigabit switch that distributes my network?
Yes, Any and all MS ethernet connected need to be behind the MR router, then the MR router connected to the host router, MR in router or AP mode. If a switch is needed, since the MR is limited on LAN ports, then LAN switch sits in between the MR and any and all connected MS satellites.
visiting the satellite status page shows there is no connection. This is when they are located next to eachother.
For this test, the Ethernet cable goes directly from the router to the satellite? (I understand that with only one Ethernet port on the MR70, connecting more than one satellite requires a switch, but just want to verify what test was performed.)
satellites are connected through a 16 port Netgear 1gbbs switch and a PfSense router, which correctly supplies all devices with an ip address.
It would help a lot to see a diagram of how the equipment is connected.
At first, I didn't try directly but I now did and it worked. My config is like this picture only with added pfSense router on the same switch, Nighthawk in AP mode and cable in the WAN port as per the manual:
To set up the router as an AP:
1. UseanEthernet cable to connect the Internet port of this router to an Ethernet port
on the other router
Is the MS directly connected to the back of the MR or is there a LAN switch in between?
Make sure the LAN switch that connects with the MS satellites, is directly connected behind the MR router, not behind the PfSense router:
What CAT# LAN cable are you using? CAT6 UTP is recommended.
Firmware loaded on the MR and MS?
At first, to the switch. But later on I tried directly to the MR and they were actually connected. Thanks for the link. I have searched, but found a different article from Netgear also. This one was unknown to me. My config is like this picture only with added pfSense router on the same switch, Nighthawk in AP mode:
Only difference being that the MR70 WAN port is used. Sounds counter intuitive, I know, but that's what the user manual indicates. Besides that I actually tried the LAN port and the MR indicated there was no internet connection. Firmware is latest, UTP is CAT6 and now proven to work ;)
