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Forum Discussion
WN2000RPT - Internet Access Keeps Dropping
All of my devices can continually access the WN2000RPT device and access the local network as well as the internet. However, after some time, the internet connection drops for the repeater only - I c...
Just one more to add to the list of disaffected customers. My configuration is:
ADLS Modem <-> WNDR3700 <-> WN2000RPT. I have a Linux server, a Power Mac and a Network Printer all on the Ethernet ports of the repeater and two MacBooks and a Sony Vaio on the repeater wireless network, and 2 Macs connected to the 5GHz network on the WNDR3700. The original configuration had the WNDR providing DHCP to all devices. I have been experiencing the same dropouts between the repeater and the router as everyone else. However I made some recent changes and it now almost works correctly. I list what I have done in case it helps anyone else.
1. Upgrade the firmware on both router and repeater to latest version. Note that when you do this the repeater won't connect to the router if the SSID is not broadcast as it was in my case. I had to set the extender network on the router to broadcast the SSID. Even after it has connected, if you turn off SSID broadcast on the router it will fail to reconnect.
Note that when I did this all the wired devices worked correctly but the wireless ones still started dropping connections. On closer look it would connect for a while and then lose the IP address. After first losing the IP address it would be able to connect again to the wireless network but almost immediately lose the IP address again. This led me to:
2. Enable DHCP on the WN2000RPT. You need to go to http://X.X.X.X/cgi-bin/hidden_dhcpd.html. The options are very simplistic but at least you can set the IP address range. I was assigning addresses by MAC address from the WNDR which is not supported in the RPT. This means that I have had to manually set some of the addresses I was previously using DHCP for.
This has provided a stable configuration for longer than I have ever previously experienced (an it is still going). However, here's the rub. Being mostly Mac, I extensively use bonjour to advertise services from my servers. Now instead of losing the extender network I lose bonjour service advertisements at a similar frequency to to what used to occur with network dropouts. It seems that the RPT at some point stops forwarding multicast and/or broadcast traffic through the wireless AP. This is not the case on the ethernet ports as all the devices on Ethernet ports can see the bonjour services.
A recent thought that I haven't yet tested is that it might have something to do with the fact I lock the wireless access to specific MAC addresses. Maybe as soon as this is done it breaks multicasting. I will test this out and report back.
ADLS Modem <-> WNDR3700 <-> WN2000RPT. I have a Linux server, a Power Mac and a Network Printer all on the Ethernet ports of the repeater and two MacBooks and a Sony Vaio on the repeater wireless network, and 2 Macs connected to the 5GHz network on the WNDR3700. The original configuration had the WNDR providing DHCP to all devices. I have been experiencing the same dropouts between the repeater and the router as everyone else. However I made some recent changes and it now almost works correctly. I list what I have done in case it helps anyone else.
1. Upgrade the firmware on both router and repeater to latest version. Note that when you do this the repeater won't connect to the router if the SSID is not broadcast as it was in my case. I had to set the extender network on the router to broadcast the SSID. Even after it has connected, if you turn off SSID broadcast on the router it will fail to reconnect.
Note that when I did this all the wired devices worked correctly but the wireless ones still started dropping connections. On closer look it would connect for a while and then lose the IP address. After first losing the IP address it would be able to connect again to the wireless network but almost immediately lose the IP address again. This led me to:
2. Enable DHCP on the WN2000RPT. You need to go to http://X.X.X.X/cgi-bin/hidden_dhcpd.html. The options are very simplistic but at least you can set the IP address range. I was assigning addresses by MAC address from the WNDR which is not supported in the RPT. This means that I have had to manually set some of the addresses I was previously using DHCP for.
This has provided a stable configuration for longer than I have ever previously experienced (an it is still going). However, here's the rub. Being mostly Mac, I extensively use bonjour to advertise services from my servers. Now instead of losing the extender network I lose bonjour service advertisements at a similar frequency to to what used to occur with network dropouts. It seems that the RPT at some point stops forwarding multicast and/or broadcast traffic through the wireless AP. This is not the case on the ethernet ports as all the devices on Ethernet ports can see the bonjour services.
A recent thought that I haven't yet tested is that it might have something to do with the fact I lock the wireless access to specific MAC addresses. Maybe as soon as this is done it breaks multicasting. I will test this out and report back.