Nighthawk AX4: DHCP Not Working - IP not assigned automatically

Hello all,

I recently purchased a Netgear AC1750 router to replace my local ISP router that I had been renting. Setting it up was fairly easy enough, but I noticed that when re-booting the router or if the power goes out for some reason, many devices on my network have trouble re-connecting. They appear to sit spinning waiting for an IP address to be assigned.

I have many "smart" devices connected to my network such as light switchs, light bulbs, outlets, TVs, "smart" speakers, etc. I have ~30+ devices all connected to the network. While I'm in IT software development for a living, I do not do hardware or infrastructure... so I'm by no means an expert in this area. Yet, I know enough to get myself into trouble... :-)

When the power goes out and all devices start scrambling to get re-connected, the router seems to have trouble dealing with the high-volume of traffic. Not sure if there is a setting somewhere that somehow throttles this or tells devices to refresh or something.. but, here's what seemed to solve my problem.

I simply went into the LAN setup page and assigned static IP addresses to all the devices in the home that are always here. Every light switch, outlet, lighbulb, smart TV, smart speaker, etc. is reserved its own IP address.  Now when I re-boot the router, everyone goes to their spot and connections happen VERY fast.  Seems to have resolved the issue for me.

Then when I connect something new like a laptop, smart phone, etc... not all of those are assigned and IP and the router seems to have an easier time of assigning just those few as needed. It's not doing it for every device every time I reboot or power or network hiccups for a brief moment.

Hope this helps someone.

Steve