AC1900 WiFi Range Extender

I tried deleting and re-adding the connection. It didn't make any difference.  I'm pretty sure the little icon animation that plays is during the DHCP negotiations. The extender is in an adjoining building to the router, and it may not always be getting the strongest signal.  I've got the wireless setup checked to route ethernet traffic thru the 5G band.  Sometimes I have to switch that to the 2G band if I'm getting enough signal with the 5G band.  I've also noticed that it seems to work much better if I switch off the wifi on my phone first.  If the phone grabs a connection (on 2G, usually), the extender doesn't seem to want to talk to the ethernet connection any more.  Whenever I unplug and plu-in the ethernet cable, I get an immediate reaction from the network manager, so I don't suspect a bad cable, or anything like that.  I suspect it's occaisonal problems with the DHCP negotiations that prevent me from getting a "connected" message.