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Troubleshooting NETGEAR's Powerline Products
Troubleshooting NETGEAR's Powerline Products
- Powerline products work better when plugged into the wall without power strips, extension cords, surge protectors, or interruptible power supplies.
- Passwords. Powerline products have both a network password, and a device password. A particular device's password, which is not changeable, is printed on the Powerline product label. Once you have collected all your Powerline device passwords, use the encryption dialog box, as described on pages 9 and 12 of the XE102 User's Guide, to change the network password. (Without password protection, it is possible, although unlikely, for someone very nearby to access your network.)
- If you changed the default network password, make sure that all the Powerline products use the same network password.
- If you've moved a Powerline unit, or disconnected the cables, your other network devices may need about 5 minutes to refresh their information about the Powerline's current status.
- If you have earlier Powerline products, switch to the encryption used by later products. (Early versions of XA601 and XE602 are known to have compatibility problems with newer models.)
- To test whether a house's electrical wiring is contributing to Powerline problems, plug units in the same room. Examples of potential problems are: Old fuse boxes. Old wiring that does not meet modern wiring building codes.
- Interference may be caused by a Major draw of Electrical power through the circuit, or the wiring may not be up to code, The following major appliances may cause Interference: Refrigerator Freezer or Microwave Air Conditioning system Power equipment or other house equipment that draws a large amount of power like: Hair Dryer Air Compressor The above devices use a large amount of power, combined with the Television, and other A/V Equipment that may be plugged in will contribute to this interference.
- An outlet tester will help you identify problems such as bad grounds, reversed wires or bad connections - all of which you should avoid, of course. In fact, if you do encounter any of these problems, you should bring in a certified electrician to make the needed repairs.
- Swap devices to isolate the problem to a particular Powerline unit.
- Reset the Powerline adapters to the default settings using the utility.
- Use all the same Powerline models for best connectivity. Also, software for one model may not work for another model. In particular, remote and advanced features may not work between Powerline manufacturers.
- Powerline is not directed at businesses, however it may work in a business environment, anyhow. See Assessing Powerline for Business Environments. In some cases noise can be limited by placing line conditioners or surge protectors between the source of the noise, and the Powerline units. (Not between the units.) Consult a professional electrician to evaluate your electricity's noise and to suggest remedies.
53 Replies
- Orbital:
Toward the end of your message at the beginning of this thread you stateOrbital wrote: Troubleshooting NETGEAR's Powerline Products
... In particular, remote and advanced features may not work between Powerline manufacturers.
Here's my story:
I have been using my two NETGEAR XE104 adapters successfully by themselves for several months until AT&T U-verse was installed recently. AT&T provided 2 Asoka PlugLink 9650 adapters as part of their solution and the XE104s were disconnected when the Asokas were installed.
Based on statements I have seen from homeplug.org it seems I should be able to expand my powerline network by using my XE104s together with the Asoka units. The XE104s work fine by themselves and the Asokas do too. But so far when I try to use them at the same time they are unable to see each other. I don't think I am trying to use any "advanced features". I just want all the devices to recognize each other and talk nicely.
Is there a solution or am I out of luck?
8uLiebr - OK, I figured out how to mix devices fromdifferent manufacturers on the same network.
I used the Netgear XE104 Powerlink Encryption Utility program. It's available for download from the Netgear web site.
It automatically recognizes the "local device(s) on your computer" (in this case it is an Asoka device) and it recognized the Netgear XE104 devices.
I used the "Add" control to add the second Asoka device onto the list. I then used the Rename control and the Password control to assign meaningful names and to ensure I know the passwords for each device.
With all of these adapters talking to each other I now have (1) the 802.11g wireless router supplied by AT&T U-verse covering part of my house, (2) a separate D-Link 802.11n router located at the opposite end of the house connected to a powerline adapter, (3) an apapter connected to a switch that supplies a desktop computer and a network printer, and (4) a spare powerline adapter available to meet future requirements.
BTW, Asoka supplies a utility program also but IMHO it is not as full-featured as the Netgear tool. - Here's the screen shot:
- i followed the "plug and play' instructions that were included with the XETB1001 85 Mbps Powerline Network Adapter Kit that i purchased. my laptop showed a 100 mbs connection, but i could not access the internet. not only that, my other computer, which was connected directly to the wireless router (a netgear Rangemax Wireless Router WPN824) could no longer access the internet either. it was as though using this product disabled my ENTIRE ability to access the internet. Has anyone else had this type of problem? VERY FRUSTRATING!!!
- Hi,
I got 2 HDX101's and a HDXB101 kit. running 2 PCs on them for a good while now, about 10 months. For that many months, they've been running very well. I got 100Mbps from them no problems and can use them anywhere in the house. But 2 months ago, the network starting to drop out. And now dropping out more and more frequently. Now dropping out about 8-10 times a day. Some time it comes back after 10 mins but sometimes doesn't come back for hours. Sometimes I had to unplug it and then plug it back in after 10-15 mins and it'll work again. Now these guys are hot. not as hot to the pt that u cant touch them but I think they must be around 30-35 degrees.
Are they just getting too OLD? too hot? But they are just about only 12 months old. They are not like toys, right? should last longer than that.
Help please.
Thx - [QUOTE=SKL1;119543]HDX101 - the product information states:
I cannot confirm that as a general rule that they WILL NOT work across a circuit breaker, but I have tested mine on one node of the breaker and they are fine, once I put one on the other side of the circuit breaker not only does that one not work, but the two that used to work stop working as well.
If someone knows how to fix this I would love to know because I was so looking forward to the same great experience from the first pair after adding a couple more, but of course NOT ! ApacheCleric wrote: I cannot confirm that as a general rule that they WILL NOT work across a circuit breaker, but I have tested mine on one node of the breaker and they are fine, once I put one on the other side of the circuit breaker not only does that one not work, but the two that used to work stop working as well.
As a general rule - they do.
However - depending on the wiring in your home, and maybe those of your neighbours - yours might not.
Question - what do you mean by "on one node of the breaker"?
By the way - I saw your other post - have you had some sort on power quality survey done to know that noise is the cause of your problem or are you just jumping to that conclusion?- I was also told by support that the XAV101's will not work across different breakers in my home. If that's true, they are unusable for the situation I have. Our house has been completely rewired in recent years, including a new breaker box. I would have to use the XAV101's in the same or immediately adjacent rooms to be on the same breaker. If that's the case, I can run CAT5 cable. I wanted to connect equipment at different ends of the house and avoid running 70+ feet of cable.
NetGear - is this true about different breakers???? - Powerline networking devices will - in most cases - work even when they are connected to circuits fed from different circuit breakers.
If you can run CAT5 (or preferably CAT5e cable) I suggest you do it. - yup, i think i have the same problem but with XET1001s...do you find it takes down your entire network as well? I'm hoping its just the ethernet cabling which needs to be replaced or i can move the powerline to a better (cleaner) power source
alpha1 wrote: Hi,
I got 2 HDX101's and a HDXB101 kit. running 2 PCs on them for a good while now, about 10 months. For that many months, they've been running very well. I got 100Mbps from them no problems and can use them anywhere in the house. But 2 months ago, the network starting to drop out. And now dropping out more and more frequently. Now dropping out about 8-10 times a day. Some time it comes back after 10 mins but sometimes doesn't come back for hours. Sometimes I had to unplug it and then plug it back in after 10-15 mins and it'll work again. Now these guys are hot. not as hot to the pt that u cant touch them but I think they must be around 30-35 degrees.
Are they just getting too OLD? too hot? But they are just about only 12 months old. They are not like toys, right? should last longer than that.
Help please.
Thx
