Orbi Router not issuing IP addresses, but Satellites do

[Meloncharlie]

Hi everyone - 

I would appreciate anyone's help as I'm starting to pull my hair out.

I have an Orbi RBR50 System that includes the Router and 2 sattelites in my home.  Basically, at the core of the problem, I'm unable to get addresses from the Orbi Router with wired connections.  If I plug my laptop directly into the router, I'm unable to get anything but a 169 address.  Same goes for other devices that I attempt to directly wire to it.  I've done release and renews multiple times to ensure nothing is stale.  Still only getting 169 addresses without a gateway.

However, if I plug my laptop directly into one of the sattelites, I immediately get my expected 192 address and it works perfectly.  This is the same for other devices as well.

The router is set to Router mode, "Use Router as DHCP Server" is selected and the range of addresses is wide.  One other suggestion I saw on here was MTU size, that's currently set to 1500 as expected.

What else can I try?  Is it a faulty unit?  I'm running FW: 1.12.0.18  

Is there any benefit to using this in AP Mode?   My setup is Cable modem plugged into Orbi Router, and then attempting to have wired connections in the other slots for items close by.

Everything is working great except for this - Any and all advice and suggestions are hugely appreciated and I will get back to you ASAP.

Thank you!!

[Meloncharlie · Accepted solution]

Update:  All 3 ports now issuing 192 addresses.

I had turned off DHCP and turned it back on, then rebooted the router and that seemed to do the trick.  Not sure if that's all that was needed, but it does seem to be working now.

Thanks everyone!

[st_shaw]

If your cable modem is also a router, then you should run Orbi in AP mode.  Having two routers could cause numerous issues.

If your cable modem is a modem only, then maybe the switch is bad on the Orbi router.  Assign a 192 IP address to your laptop manually, plug it in to the Orbi router LAN port, and see if you can reach the Orbi GUI page and your other devices.  If you cannot, then it sounds like a hardware problem.

A reset could possibly help.

One last thing.  You said you have the modem plugged into Orbi.  This is ambiguous but sounds reversed from how I would describe the proper setup.  You need to connect an Ethernet cable between a LAN port on the cable modem and the yellow Internet port on the Orbi router.

[Meloncharlie]

Sorry about that, I probably said it backwards.

I have a cable modem which then goes out to the internet port on the Orbi Router.  My cable modem is a modem only, no routing capabilities.  

I will give the 192 static address on the laptop a try and see if I can access anything and get it to work.  Appreciate the reply and will see if I can update a bit later.

[peteytesting]

with the orbi router issue is it all 3 ethernet ports that dont work ?

and are you using the default dhcp subnet range , eg 192.168.1.1 for the lan ip address and the dhcp from 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254

also check if ipv6 is disabled

[Meloncharlie · Accepted solution]

Update:  All 3 ports now issuing 192 addresses.

I had turned off DHCP and turned it back on, then rebooted the router and that seemed to do the trick.  Not sure if that's all that was needed, but it does seem to be working now.

Thanks everyone!