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Forum Discussion
Access Control - Nighthawk RS600 "Whack-a-mole"
Router Firmware Version V1.0.5.12
I am using a Nighthawk RS600 along with a BE5000 (version EXS27 firmware v1.0.1.34) WiFi Extender. The issue that I am running into is that when I turn on Access Control > Block all new devices from connecting, a number of devices that I have set to allowed automatically switch back to Blocked.
Example:
- Wireless TV and Xbox One are currently set to 'Allowed'. The Extender is listed as 'blocked'.
- In Access Control, I set the Extender to 'Allowed'.
- Upon applying this new setting, the status of the Wireless TV and Xbox One automatically swap to 'blocked'.
- In Access Control, I set the Wireless TV and Xbox One to 'Allowed'
- Upon applying new setting, the status of the Extender automatically swaps to 'blocked'
The Extender has a fixed IP address and the TV and Xbox have status IP addresses. We have other devices attached to our router and they are listed in the Access Control which do not seem to be affected, however, these few devices seem to be the ones with the issue of playing "Whack-a-mole" trying to keep them all set to "Allowed" at the same time.
Is there a reason that the router's Access Control does not keep the "Allowed" status that I set? a conflict of some sort?
8 Replies
Does this happen with out the extender being online?
Might try updating the RS router as well. There is newer FW available: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rs600
We manually updated the firmware to the latest. Unfortunately, even with the extender unplugged, the Xbox was still showing as 'Blocked' even after changing setting to 'Allowed'
I recommend factory reset the router then setup from scratch.
Set up some IP address reservations for devices that your trying to use with Access Controls.
We manually updated the firmware to the latest. Unfortunately, even with the extender unplugged, the Xbox was still showing as 'Blocked' even after changing setting to 'Allowed'
Page 38 of the User Manual might provide a clue:
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/EXS27/EXS27_UM.pdf
I ran into a similar issue with a different brand of WiFi extender. I had carefully reserved IP addresses for some devices and found that when they connected to the WiFi extender, they did not get those IP addresses. WTF??? Turns out that the WiFi extender created fake MAC addresses for these devices and I had to add those MAC addresses into the LAN Setup table
p.s. It appears this is mainly an intellectual exercise, as not enabling Access Control makes the problem disappear. My attitude is if someone can guess my 20 character WiFi password, they are welcome to use my network. (Knowing my neighbors, not much chance.) I do not seem to see a lot of posts on the Forum praising Access Control ("How Wonderful!") Just one complaint after another.
Yes! not enabling Access Control makes all problems disappear. Unfortunately, at this time, we need to activate Access Control.
Does this happen with out the extender being online?
I ran into a similar issue with a different brand of WiFi extender. I had carefully reserved IP addresses for some devices and found that when they connected to the WiFi extender, they did not get those IP addresses. WTF??? Turns out that the WiFi extender created fake MAC addresses for these devices and I had to add those MAC addresses into the LAN Setup table
I recall seeing that with some Netgear extenders too - not sure which ones, as I've been using Orbi for a long time now.
I've never bothered with MAC address access control. Operationally they can be a nuisance, and really don't add much (if any) security. MAC addresses are easily spoofed, and anyone with the skills to crack the wifi password almost certainly has the skills to spoof the MAC address.
