WNCE2001 inappropriately providing DHCP connections

I had mine powered off now for a couple of days. Connected it and it still works fine and config is correct and dhcp server in unit is off. So disconnecting / connecting lan cable is not enough to get mine to start acting dhcp server.....

We have over 40 of these devices and several have shown the handing out of DHCP described in this thread. These devices are connected 24/7 via it's ethernet port to a device which is on. So the suggestion that this issue occurs on disconnection to it's wired port would not seem accurate, at least in our experience. What I have noticed is this issue occurring when there is a prolonged interruption that this device has to the wireless network. I.E., when it cannot obtain an address. All the devices are set to DHCP an address. Someone suggested changing the static ip and changing back to DHCP. I'm going to set one of the problem devices we have to static to see if this resolves the issue.

I am having the same issue with a bit of a twist. The WNCE2001 hijacks my wired connections. the computer I am using now... Talk about frustrating. Randomly, I could access my NETGEAR router but not DNS server or the internet. Last night, the WNCE2001 config page pooped up on WIRED PC! Seriously. I thought someone was playing a game with me and that they had connected me to the WNCE2001 ..nope...Unplugged the two WNCE2001 devices which were not connected to anything, they are for the kids XBOX's and they were using an ehternet cable to connect the two xboxs and thier WNCE2001s disconnected but powered on. Once I turned off the devices(WNCE2001)..Everything works fine....CRazy problem and this thread is over a year old....IS there really no fix?

I am having a problem port forwarding to a device on this wireless bridge. Anyone else managed to get the ports to forward?
http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=89673

I'm having a port forwarding issue with one of these devices - I don't suppose anyone's managed to sort port forwarding to a device connected through one of these?

My thread: http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=89673

Funny, from time to time my WNCE2001 hijacks DHCP as well, assigning 192.168.1.251 as gateway for all devices on the wifi in the house - That address is the webconfig address of the WNCE2001 and has the latest firmware.... Quite annoying and renders the device useless and a bit destructive, the house NAS, servers, movie streaming devices and everything looses connection ... This device is going to the trash - I've bought Netgear before finding the specs look appealing but it just doesnt work properly - Not buying any other Netgear products ever again, seems feature wise Netgear knows what to do but implementing it poorly again and again...

Hello-What is the best set up for an XBOX 360 connection(wired) using the WNDR4500 with V1.0.1.40_1.0.68? I have it now with factory settings and I keep losing my internet connection or it's very laggy all the time. thank you for your help.

Just created an account to post what I believe resolves this problem.

First off, thanks to the folks for posting observations. Very helpful. I'll note that the lastest firmware (1.0.0.26NA), still has the problem. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to use a rogue DHCP checker to return the MAC address of the bad device, so yeah, the WNCE2001 definitely is the bad actor here.

The problem happens when you try to specify a static IP address for the device. The firmware kicks on DHCP with a very fast response time, causing any other devices to connect to it's subnet first. Fortunately, the firmware disables the internal DHCP when you have it connect out using DHCP (If that sounds confusing to you, don't worry, it's because I'm not going into details about WAN/LAN and other bits)

How do you have the device lock to a specific IP address? Most routers allow you to map MAC addresses to specific IP addresses. You can get the MAC address off the bottom of the device (it's the bottom most number).

Annoying as all get out, but it works.

jrconlin wrote:

Just created an account to post what I believe resolves this problem. The problem happens when you try to specify a static IP address for the device. The firmware kicks on DHCP with a very fast response time, causing any other devices to connect to it's subnet first. Fortunately, the firmware disables the internal DHCP when you have it connect out using DHCP (If that sounds confusing to you, don't worry, it's because I'm not going into details about WAN/LAN and other bits) How do you have the device lock to a specific IP address? Most routers allow you to map MAC addresses to specific IP addresses. You can get the MAC address off the bottom of the device (it's the bottom most number). Annoying as all get out, but it works.

Okay, you NEVER said specifically HOW to solve the issue. You mention all this mumbo jumbo, and we are supposed to guess?

Please, just come out and say what needs to be done:
1) Don't specify a static IP address and just let the device get its own address
2) Something about locking IPs to MAC addresses? Are you suggesting we should do this? Should we do this for ALL devices on our LAN?

I hope you see how utterly confusing your comments are and, all that aside, it is a "workaround," not a solution; not a true 'fix.'

Also, what makes you think users are setting a static IP for the device? I don't remember EVER setting a static for the device and here it is April 28, 2014, and THE PROBLEM STILL EXISTS!

There is NO commonality of "users messing up the setup;" there is just, plain and simple, a BUG in Netgear's product, and they don't want to admit it, nor do they want to fix it.

Additionally, if I had set (or other users had set) a static IP for their device, how/why does that ip seem to be 192.168.1.251? Seems very odd that almost everyone having this problem sees THAT specific IP.

And, all the above aside, whether or not users decide to set a static IP for their Netgear device, the device SHOULD ALLOW DHCP SERVER FEATURE TO BE TURNED OFF! PERIOD. END OF STORY.

Isn't it AMAZING that this BUG IS FIVE YEARS STRONG, AND NETGEAR STILL HAS *NOT* ADDRESSED THE ISSUE? And NO FIRMWARE UPDATE HAS FIXED THE ISSUE. I haven't taken mine apart to see if there's a Client/AP switch. If so, that could be the issue, but it would be nice for NETGEAR TO TELL US.

I smell a class action lawsuit as a possibility in Netgear's future!

Yep still an Issue! I have a brand new school that has 10 of these devices throughout the building. Every student has a laptop, all of my projectors are Wi-Fi, and all of my printers are suppose to be. At least thats what I ordered. The company we have a contract with for managed print services decided to use regular printers and these devices. Now every morning I have to go around and trouble shoot these. Some days it's only one or two others (This morning) ALL OF THEM! Screwed up my whole morning.

Lucky for me I did not purchase them and I can put it all back on the print company to solve.

Kevin