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Forum Discussion
WNHDE111 disconnects/issues
Recently picked up the WNHDE111 kit and am having a few issues.
It hooked up fine, and found each other not problem. I have been able to access the internet with nice speeds from the far bridged end by being able to fully patch a new HTPC OS build through it. Did some testing of streaming some video and that worked fine too. I get an average rate of about 80%.
Now, the problem. I was trying to COPY some large files (multi-GB) from a wireless workstation on myh 11g network through the WNHDE111 kit to the far end workstation. It seems this higher than DSL speed activity causes the bridge WNHDE111 to lose its connection within 2-3 minutes (sometimes less). The device will have no lights on what-so-ever.
I have now set each device to their proper roll (i.e. AP and BRIGE hard coded instead of AUTO). I set static IP addresses for each.
Something strange I am noticing is on the AP when looking at the wireless status, it shows the IP of the bridge as one from my DHCP range (not the static address that has been assigned to it, and is used for management of the device). Why?
Any other suggestions for helping this device work under load? As it seems it isnt noise, but amount of traffic at LAN speed when copying files, as I have had no issues with normal internet speed activities.
It hooked up fine, and found each other not problem. I have been able to access the internet with nice speeds from the far bridged end by being able to fully patch a new HTPC OS build through it. Did some testing of streaming some video and that worked fine too. I get an average rate of about 80%.
Now, the problem. I was trying to COPY some large files (multi-GB) from a wireless workstation on myh 11g network through the WNHDE111 kit to the far end workstation. It seems this higher than DSL speed activity causes the bridge WNHDE111 to lose its connection within 2-3 minutes (sometimes less). The device will have no lights on what-so-ever.
I have now set each device to their proper roll (i.e. AP and BRIGE hard coded instead of AUTO). I set static IP addresses for each.
Something strange I am noticing is on the AP when looking at the wireless status, it shows the IP of the bridge as one from my DHCP range (not the static address that has been assigned to it, and is used for management of the device). Why?
Any other suggestions for helping this device work under load? As it seems it isnt noise, but amount of traffic at LAN speed when copying files, as I have had no issues with normal internet speed activities.
46 Replies
- A few weeks of testing shows that ONLY one of my WNHDE111 units has issues, and the job of Access Point or Bridge doesn't make any difference in the eventual disconnect. It's not a bad flash since reflashing didn't change anything. The receipt from Best Buy and the packaging are long gone so a local return seems iffy. I can limp along hoping for the next firmware to help, but I'll try asking for a factory RMA and see what they say...
eqwalker wrote: Oh, one inportant piece of information that I did not mention in the previous post. On the new pair I did not let them perform the firmware upgrade yet. They are at Current Firmware Version : V 1.2.3_1.0.1
As long as they are performing without issues for my uses I am not going to upgrade them to the new version. On the previous pair I upgraded the firmware upon installation. I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not, but I'm not touching the new pair at this time while they are working.
Thanks for this tip. I had the same drop off problem with the latest FW. I revert to 1.2.3_1.0.1 and I get no more drop off.
TO NETGEAR FELLOWS : PLEASE TAKE NOTE FOR THE NEXT FW UPGRADE.- After many hours of going back and forth with Netgear support on the issue of the WNHDE111 bridge randomly dropping an N connection to it's partner WNHDE111 Access point without any real progress. I finally found something that fixed the problem.
Go to the wireless settings on the access point administration page and disable the Auto Scan for channels. This will fix you on one channel and if the results are the same as mine, a stable N connection to the bridge with no random drops.
My conclusion is that set the autoscan causes the access point to randomly reset the channel and effectively orphans it's bridge partner. So the bridge drops the connection and re-establishes on the new channel.
I didn't upgrade to the beta, although it was suggested. When I finally got onto the beta site there were two posts. One for the beta drive and another which was full of testimonials that the beta didn't solve the drop out problem.
Hope this helps - I've been experiencing this as well and I gotta say, it's about the most frustrating thing in the world. I've always had good luck with Netgear products but if I'd seen this thread before I bought these puppies.... :mad:
I just turned off the auto-scan on the AP; the bridge doesn't have an option for setting the channel or the auto scan so hopefully that just carries over...?
I'd REALLY like to be done with this issue and get reliability out of these. In concept, it's a nice device and will save me a great deal of hassle...if I could just get it to work consistently.... - fyi, this did not work for me. i still lose the connection long enough to interrupt slingbox and my popcorn hour streaming and logmein sessions.
i never need to reboot the units, it re-establishes the connection by itself, but the interruption kills everything running.
i will try switching to just using 802.11a, but otherwise, i have tried everything (static IP, no auto anything, hard switches on AP/bridge, no security, both firmware versions, etc) that i can and these units are just not reliable.
if i can't get it working today, i will have to return these and find an alternative product. anyone have a suggestion? i am thinking to use the tomato or other firmware alternative on one of the standard wireless routers to see if i can create a bridge that way that is reliable.
it stinks that these things don't work as advertized. shame on you netgear.jam1401 wrote: After many hours of going back and forth with Netgear support on the issue of the WNHDE111 bridge randomly dropping an N connection to it's partner WNHDE111 Access point without any real progress. I finally found something that fixed the problem.
Go to the wireless settings on the access point administration page and disable the Auto Scan for channels. This will fix you on one channel and if the results are the same as mine, a stable N connection to the bridge with no random drops.
My conclusion is that set the autoscan causes the access point to randomly reset the channel and effectively orphans it's bridge partner. So the bridge drops the connection and re-establishes on the new channel.
I didn't upgrade to the beta, although it was suggested. When I finally got onto the beta site there were two posts. One for the beta drive and another which was full of testimonials that the beta didn't solve the drop out problem.
Hope this helps - Nothing has worked for me. I am beyond disappointed. Unfortunately, I do not have another hundred bucks or more to plunk down for another solution. :(
Noctaire wrote: Nothing has worked for me. I am beyond disappointed. Unfortunately, I do not have another hundred bucks or more to plunk down for another solution. :(
Yea, it's time to punt and nail Netgear to the cross in all the user reviews. They suck hard.- Chalk up another mad-as-hell user. My two boxes actually turn themselves off (or at least turn off the light and appear to be completely dead). I have to power cycle them every few hours. One unit worked great for 1+ years. The new one (just purchased) has never worked for more than four hours, straight. Netgear has not updated firmware in almost two years and I'm looking elsewhere. Reading all the problems people have had with them, I seem to have had the only semi-working one and now it's dead, too.
- Fortunately, I bought mine from Amazon and they gave me back all my money!
In the end, I ran a physical wire because no wireless bridges appear to be reliable. It was painful, but once it's done, it's done.
