Nighthawk X6S- R7960 Protocol Data Units (BPDU) spanning tree no workie- invalid BPDU type error

[KWRICHTER]

I have Spectrum Business Internet (Hitron Router/Modem) connected directly to a Dell Networking N1500 Series Switch (port 24) and HP Laptop windows 10 (port 23).  Everything works fine.  When I connect the Netgear Nighthawk X6S Model R7960P, the Dell N1500 switch immediately reports the following errors: <187> Aug  5 11:59:01 10.99.0.4-1 DOT1S[dtlTask]: dot1s_txrx.c(269) 1305 %% ERR dot1sBpduReceive(): Discarding the BPDU, since it is an invalid BPDU type<189> Aug  5 11:59:03 10.99.0.4-1 DOT1S[dtlTask]: dot1s_txrx.c(1246) 1306 %% NOTE dot1sBpduReceive(): Invalid Forward Delay.

According to Dell, the engineer said the Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDU) spanning tree does not work on the R7960P and the Dell N1500 gives the error BPDU Receive- Disregarding the BPDU since it is an invalid BPDU type.

Question: does the R7960P support STP (spanning tree BPDU)? Can you disable STP on the R7960P?

Thanks,

[KWRICHTER · Accepted solution]

Update: I received an email from tech support and there is no option for spanning tree. 

[myersw]

From description of your network the Netgear should be put into AP mode. Having 2 routers on a network is asking for trouble. 

[KWRICHTER · Accepted solution]

Update: I received an email from tech support and there is no option for spanning tree. 

[KWRICHTER]

It was in AP mode.  I purchased the R7960 at Costco to proivde WIFI in a warehouse area.  However, apparently it does not play well with the Dell 1500 managed switch and floods the command line with errors.

[schumaku]

In general, consumer WiFi routers never make good APs. Some Nightawk routers create network issues in AP mode when using the WAN port - you might want to use a LAN port to connect to the switch. 

What kind of errors?

Some switches allow disabling spanning tree processing on a port.

[KWRICHTER]

Thank you for the response. Apparently, the R7960 is transmitting an invaild BPDU code.  I looked at the R7960 on wireshark and you can see the Dell 1500 switch broadcast (looking for other routers, switches, etc) and the R7960 answers back.  The R7960 is not using the standard BPDU placement (or at least the Dell is excepting something different).  I connected various other switches to the Dell (Cisco 3400, Linksys WRT3200 ACM, Netgrear) and ether they don’t care about spanning tree, or they are transmitting with normal BPDU. 

Bottom line- R7960 is ok for home use….not so much for business. Lesson learned.